.Long Lost.

Rumour Has It

"Mate, what are we doing here? It's too early for this shit."

I freeze at that voice, ice cold fear slithering through my veins, stopping my heart and making it hard for me to breathe.

Why is he back? It's been 7 years, why now?

"You said you'd explain when we got there," Oscar goes on to say, turning on his torch and sweeping it over the small warehouse. "I don't wanna be here man, brings back bad memories."

"Which is exactly why we're here. We need to double check that I got rid of all the evidence," Charlie responds casually, no emotions at all. He sounds so different. Robotic.

Not the fun-loving Charlie I used to know. Maybe he changed after he killed me, maybe I just never noticed his empty gaze but he literally sounds like a sociopath.

"Evidence? It's been 7 years. She ran off, we haven't even heard from her since. It's fine."

Oscar hangs back by the door while Charlie moves further in, banging at his flash light until it finally turns on.

His lights shines straight at me.

My heart drops and I find myself holding my breath until the beam of light finally shines somewhere else.

"I killed her."

There's a silence. A long one. So many questions hanging in the frigid air as Charlie begins searching for something unknown to everyone else present.

Oscar didn't know?

"What?"

"I killed her," he repeats louder.

"What do you mean you killed her? She's dead? You said you'd give her that money to move away and not say anything... I don't get it," Oscar stutters.

Charlie shines his torch at him, causing him to flinch and shield his eyes. He looks confused, maybe he didn't know I was dead after all.

He looks much better than he did all those years ago. Nice clothes, good hair, a nice shiny watch on his wrist.

Life goes on I guess.

"Look, I panicked. I killed her. I hid the evidence. There isn't much I can do about that now but rumour has it that Paul's found out that she died. He's been proper off with me. He's probably already gone to the police so we need to sweep this place before forensics does."

"No. No I'm not having anything to do with this. ...I know I made a mistake but this, Charlie, this is awful. Why the hell would you kill her? What is wrong with you?"

"It was in the heat of the moment! I was protecting you!" Charlie shout finally showing some sort of anger.

"You don't just kill people Charlie!" Oscar yells, on the verge of some sort of breakdown. "That's not what you do! You don't lie to your best mate for 7 years! You don't steal from them either!"

"Look, you need to help me because we're both going down for murder if there's evidence here."

"£200 pound every other month for what? Where did that go huh?"

"We'll sort this out later."

"We'll sort this out now."

"NO. WE COULD GO TO JAIL OSCAR!" Charlie paces back and forth tugging at his hair. "I don't care if you don't like it. Do you wanna die in prison like your father? No? Then help."

"What... How...?" Oscar asks, searching for words he can't seem to find.

"I cracked her head open on the concrete where you left her. Dragged her out, stuffed her in my car and buried her under the big tree in Ackers Forest."

"Isn't that where... man, that's disgusting."

"It seemed like the best idea at the time."

"That's sick, Charlie. How can you... how can you even smile and joke around with Paul when we're literally on top of her body?"

"You're the reason. I was protecting you. You raped her. You started this. It's your fault, now help me."

Oscar goes quiet at this. He's terrified.

He starts searching along with Charlie but I can tell he has no clue what he's looking for, he has no idea what's going on.

I stand up as they get closer backing into my little corner as far as I can.

I feel as if I'm being watched, that they can see me hiding, helpless in this corner. I feel like they can see the same fear that they saw the day I died.

"Charlie?"

"What?" He snaps.

"There was police tape at the door. There's no point being here now, they've already been and gone. We just look guilty searching here."

Charlie pauses before shining his light back on the fallen police tape. He stares for a little while, expression hidden in the shadows.

"Shit. We need to get out of here. Now. Fuck."

Oscar doesn't bother to reply. Instead he just follows Charlie out of the warehouse and back into the night.

I hope they never come back.