Kevin Died

20. Birthday Bash

20. Birthday Bash

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"Are you okay?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Luke asked me again.

We had just left his home and we were all on our way to the party now. I was on edge, for more reasons than one now, and it must have been showing on my face.

"Um, yeah," I said not making eye contact.

I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I wasn't able to look him directly in the eye. Not after what I'd heard. Not after what I knew now.

It was now confirmed that my friends knew Kevin was alive. But even worse, they were terrified of that idea. And that shook me to the core.

What had they done? What did they do to him?

Danielle said Luke hadn't meant to hurt Kevin. Jory said they thought Kevin was dead. Meaning that they had done something and an accident happened, right? An accident that they believed left Kevin dead, right?

I kept replaying their words in my head, especially the way that Luke had snapped at Jory.

Luke didn't usually express anger in that way. Granted, he's done it before especially with his father, but not often. When he was pissed off, he usually sulked, didn't talk to anyone. And when he did verbally communicate anger he wasn't one to raise his voice much.

But in that moment, it was as if he'd forgotten that he was supposed to be staying quiet. The fury mixed with anxiety in his voice... it was scary. And that meant whatever they had done, it was bad.

Really bad.

"You sure?" Luke probed, disbelieving.

"Just... Just thinking about Sayora, man," I said. A lie, but he bought it cause his facial features suddenly relaxed. I mentally high-fived myself because I remembered Luke saying that I had a tell and he knew when I was lying.

So much for that.

"Just think about having a good night instead," Luke said, patting me on the back.

I nodded, but now suddenly I was thinking about Sayora.

It quickly occurred to me that Sayora hadn't been involved in either of the situations involving my friends.

She wasn't there that day at lunch when they went through my phone. And she wasn't present in the kitchen fifteen minutes ago when Danielle, Jory and Luke were talking.

My heart nearly fluttered out of my chest. Did she even know about any of this? Was she innocent? A smile threatened to cross my face. Of course she was.

But that good feeling was short lived because there was still so much unknown.

For example, if my friends were the ones somehow responsible for Kevin's disappearance and presumed death, then who the hell was behind the mask? Who had attacked Travis and I?

I crossed my friends off the list immediately. Jory wasn't stronger than me, Luke could definitely hold his own against me, but he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to overpower me as the attacker had. And like Jory, Danielle was simply out of the equation, she wouldn't be able to overpower me neither.

And aside from that, there was still so much to uncover. Uncle Raymond, my mother, some mysterious boy they talked about, SPI, Kevin's picture in the article, the letters I'd found in Kevin's room, the hidden video diaries and the biggest mind-fuck of all; Kevin's remains and the spot where he was buried!