Made of Ice

Chapter 17 - Hope is a dirty four letter word

The curfew had struck paranoia, fear, and a heavy weight of uncertainty across the whole town.

Madison could feel it as she walked through the school, towards the cafeteria. Students were chatting about the curfew and they seemed worried, but mostly afraid. There was a killer on the loose, after all.

Madison felt more eyes on her than usual. This was because her friends were the ones that were dead. Maybe the students wondered if she would be next. Or if she was the killer, considering that she was out on bail for their murders.

Lunch was intense. Everyone was on edge about the curfew and her friends didn't seem to worry about showing their vulnerabilities to her. They were scared and certainly had a right to be.

"How are we meant to party with this curfew on?" Brooke asks the group, worried about her reputation as a great party host.

"Are you serious? You're worried about not getting wasted, when there's an actual killer out for our heads?" Carter replied, seeming pissed off.

"I'm just saying, this could go on for a long time. What the hell are we going to do for fun on the weekends?" Brooke asks.

There was a brief moment of silence at the table before Adam spoke up. "How about this weekend we could all go on a trip?"

"Where?" Grayson asks him.

"How about my beach house?" He offers to the group.

A few murmurs of agreement and it was decided. They were all going to Adam's beach house for the weekend.

To get away from the curfew. To get away from their parents. And hopefully to get away from the killer.

Although Madison knew that inevitably the killer was coming with them. After all, it was one of them that was doing this. She just hoped that she wouldn't be the next one to end up dead.

Jake got a text message on his phone just as the group were discussing travel plans for the weekend.

"Oh my god." Jake says, his head spinning at the message he had just received.

"What is it?" Adam asks him.

The group fell silent as they looked at Jake, waiting for him to say something.

Madison could feel her heart drop a thousand feet as Jake spoke his next two words.

"Logan's dead."

The whole group were in shock.

"What?"
"No, he can't be dead! He's just missing."
"What are you saying?"
"What do you mean he's dead?"

Liam glanced for a moment at Madison, trying to catch her eye but she didn't notice him. She was too busy trying not to break.

"Mrs Bradley's just texted me. They found his body in a crusher at a construction site. They were only able to identify the body from a family ring he was wearing." Jake continued, rereading the text.

Jake looked up from his phone to look at Madison, who was pretty much losing it.

The rest of the group followed Jake and stared at Madison also.

Grace covered her hand over Madison's in comfort. "I'm so sorry, Madison."

"I have to go." Madison said, shakily, her voice barely able to speak words.

Liam followed her as she fled the cafeteria. She fell to her knees once she reached the back of the school.

She was done. This was it. She was so done. She was going to jail forever. This was the end for her.

Liam held her as she sobbed her heart out. She had now lost all hope of ever leaving this retched town.