What Happened To Her

Epilouge

Sunday 2:40am...
A faint sound floats into my ears and I blink my eyes open. The dim light is still too bright and my head feels heavy. I'm probably halfway to a hangover by now.
"Chloe," someone says from outside the door.
At least I think I heard my name. I sit up slowly and wait to hear the voice again.
"Chloe?"
I slowly get to my feet, careful not to wake Mateo, and make my way to the door of the pool house. I open it and squint into the night, looking for the source of the noise.
Olivia is standing by a lounge chair with her hands in her hair, looking frantic.
"Liv?"
"Oh, thank god, come on we have to go," she says, walking toward me.
"What happened?"
"I did something bad, Chlo," she says as tears start forming. "I hooked up with Jake, again and I think I'm really starting to have feelings for him."
"You're serious?" I ask, the shrill sound of her voice irritating my drunken brain. "I thought you said you were just talking."
"I thought we were but he just has such a hold on me, I can't help myself."
"Who even are you anymore?" I ask, my alcohol confidence lingering. "You get these new friends and suddenly you start treating me like shit and acting like a whore."
Olivia instantly stops crying, as if her tears weren't even real, and makes a disgusted face. "Just because I actually like people and want to have relationships and you'd rather be weird and alone all the time doesn't mean I'm a whore."
I glance back at the pool house and want to tell her about my night with Mateo but that's beside the point.
"You know what, never mind," she says, backing away. "I'll find my own way home."
She turns to walk away and I feel my anger start to boil up. "If you leave me, we're done."
Olivia stops and turns around. "You'd be nothing without me."
"Why not? Because I'm just quiet, weird Chloe? I can't do anything especially if I'm not being pushed by you to do it," I say, letting the alcohol left in my system take away my usual filter.
"Uh, yeah pretty much," Olivia says. "You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me."
"Oh, thank you so much Liv, what would I do without you?"
She chuckles. "Please, I know you weren't passed out alone in there," she says, pointing to the pool house. "You can thank me for that."
The way she's smirking and the tone of her voice pushes me over the edge. My mind starts playing dark thoughts that I can't stop. I lunge for her, grabbing her around her throat with both of my hands. She grabs my wrists and tries to pull them off of her.
"What are you doing?" She sputters.
I don't say anything, I just squeeze harder and harder until she starts flailing her arms, hitting me in my arms and face. I step closer to her, spin her to face away from me and wrap one of my arms across her neck, holding my wrist with my other hand.
Olivia's legs go limp but she's still trying to get my arms to loosen. I feel my muscles tense up and force all of my strength into one last squeeze, yanking my arm toward my body. I hear a crack and Olivia stops moving.
I relax my muscles, feeling suddenly exhausted. Dropping my arms causes Olivia's body to fall forward, splashing into the pool. The sound echoes in the darkness.
I turn to leave but a glimpse of silver on the ground catches my eye. I bend down, pick up Olivia's staple diamond necklace and slip it into my pocket.
I see movement in the distance and look up to see Mateo standing in the doorway of the pool house. The look on his face tells me he's been standing there for a little while. He could've stopped me. He could've ran over and pulled me off of her but he didn't.
Mateo lifts one side of his mouth, forming a salacious smile. I lift one finger and press it against my lips