Unnamed

Raiden

I watch Daniel exit my room and sigh heavily. That kid should learn to mind his own business. I pick up the few chip bags laying around the concrete room. Now I have to leave.

"Raiden?" Ashlynn calls, knocking on my closed door. At least the ginger had the common decency to close it.

"Who's there?" I ask, knowing full well it was Ashlynn.

"You know who it is. Can I come in?" She replies.

"I'm not sure who it is," I say with a soft smile. "How can I let you in?"

"Are you... joking?"

"Come in, Ashlynn."

She enters the room with a quizzical look. "Are you okay?" she asks, gently closing the door behind her. "It's not like you to joke."

"I joke... sometimes," I reply with a soft shrug. "Not too common, but it happens."

"Are you in a good mood then?" Ashlynn seems suspicious, but there's a mild amusement in her eyes. She takes a few steps away from the door.

"Quite the opposite actually," I say. "I'm in an awful mood. The joke covers it up. At least, that was my original intention. You didn't really go along with it."

"Sorry," she replies plainly. She's not sorry. "So what put you in such a bad mood? Was it Kody? You weren't really friends with him, were you?"

"You could call it friendship. He trusted me. I killed him. Then ginger comes in here accusing you of murdering me. It's just been a rough 24 hours."

"Hold up." She interjects, "you killed him? Didn't you say he knew who the killer is? Why would you kill him? Was Kody the killer? No, that doesn't make sense. Do you know who did it?"

"He came to me about 12 hours ago, claiming to know who did it, but he didn't have proof. I told him I needed proof. Less than five hours later, I wind up in a room full of smoke and a dead Kody. I should've trusted him. He was terrified. I'm such an a**hole. It's my fault he's dead. I even had a bad feeling about him going after proof. Kody wasn't the killer. I'm sure of that. His burns weren't self-inflicted. Whoever killed him continued burning him long after he was dead. I should've stopped him. I should've trusted him. He knew..."

Ashlynn steps forward and rests a hand on my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Raiden. He would've died either way. You just... sped up the process."

"I thought you were supposed to be good at cheering people up." I murmur, looking away from her but not shrugging off her hand.

"You're the one who decided that. I never claimed to be any good at anything." That's true. She technically didn't.

"Well... I thought you were." I say, turning to look at her again.

"I can be." She shrugs. "But keep in mind, you're not the only one having a bad day."

"What happened?"

"Everything happened. You know it. Kody was a great source of information. Not to mention, you're upset now, and that clouds your judgment." She looks into my eyes with that defiant glare that I'd learned to expect.

"So..." I pause, preparing a second joke. "Are you upset over me?"

Ashlynn nods, leaving me completely confused. "I suppose you could say so."

"I... uh didn't mean that literally." I admit quickly, but she just nods again.

"I know. I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were."

"It sounded implied. Anyway, that's beside the point. Why don't we talk out your issues so we can get back to business? Things are spiraling out of control, and we can't afford to waste time."