*03/03/2020 - 𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙎𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙁𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏*
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Everybody at Black Hill knows about the lake by the old house. They know never to let an open wound bleed out in the murky waters. Never to take their e...
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There were three police vehicles outside our front door.
They lined down our driveway like hearses down a street, colored but silent. A cool spring breeze wafted into my room, chilling my overheating joints. I cracked my neck and forced myself to relax. It was nearing midnight. Most of the officers in the cars had gone back to the Evergreen Hotel by the shopping district. It was so silent I could hear the leaves of the old tree rustling.
Mulroy and Fiona were still off investigating the new murder, and they hadn't been back in over a week. I was free for a while.
Somebody was still down there, sitting in the last patrol car with the light off and the window rolled down. Soft blues music spilled out and rode on the breeze, drifting into my room. It was now or never. They had to be asleep, right?
With trembling fingers, I slipped out of the window. I reached for a thick branch and clutched the closest one I could find. I curled my legs around the wide trunk. Quick and silent, I climbed down the rest of the tree and plopped onto the soft, wet grass below. The swing creaked in the wind. I ran down the side of the house, glancing over my shoulder every five seconds, my heart racing in my chest.
We trainers slipped over the grass, but I walked on until I reached the edge of our back garden. There was a wooden door embedded in the fence. Slipping out the keys that I'd pilfered from Mum's room, I unlocked and the door ran out. My ears pricked at every sound, listening out for a shout of 'Hey!' and the unmistakable sizzling of a taser.
The streets were quiet at this time of night. It reminded me of the times when Emily invited the gang out to get wasted on expensive beer and scream at stray pigeons that passed by. The bitter taste of beer tingled the back of my mouth, and I longed for her white smiles and crazy ideas.
She had such weird beliefs.
I pushed the thought out of my head. Pulling the hood of my old jacket up - Mum promised to sew my other pink one up - I avoided the streetlamps. They sprinkled yellow light onto the wet tarmac, illuminating whole areas. I wandered down our neighborhood, taking the back alleys lined with trimmed topiaries. I was halfway down to the Black Crag cliffs and thinking of a way to find Zayn when I noticed it. Bunting covered every tree, strings of red and black. The colors of the Black Hill Golf Team.
Somebody had stuck posters over the lamp posts, pieces of paper stamped with Kyle's face. His bright blue eyes stared at me from every angle. He wasn't smiling. I suppose he wasn't allowed to, with his sister found dead in a lake.
Kyle's Return Party! All Night at the Richardson Home!
I remembered seeing Zayn's wild head of hair at the few parties I'd attended before I started hanging out exclusively with the gang. She was always in a gloomy corner somewhere, surrounded in her own wafts of blue smoke, her dark eyes painted a watery red. I hoped she would be at this one. I needed something in Emily's house that gave me some information about my friends. Then I could start to piece together what might have happened. Something was off about all this.
