The Degenerates - Under Edit

t w e l v e

I left Lila and Sasha back at the dorms once we had gotten home, I didn't have the energy to continue arguing with Sasha. She will not budge, and it's pissing me off that she continuously dangles it in front of my face, then rips it away, then gets angry when I ask her to explain. It was a long, exhausting cycle.

I wandered off campus to explore the main street in Alsbury. We had driven off campus this morning to the hairdressers, but I hadn't seen much of the rest of the street.

I passed a Pavilion, but it looked to have a caution tape around it, probably under maintenance. Sasha's comment rang through my head on repeat, I couldn't shake it. Some were born badly? What does that even mean? How was Trey born bad? Unless he was some sort of genetic designer baby that had psychopath imprinted into his DNA, then I hardly believed that he were born evil.

I get that he looked like the stereotypical bad boy, with the tattoos and the dark features, the brooding personality and dressed like a serial B&E offender, but that hardly made him evil. I tried to swallow the idea that Sasha had some sort of idea in what happened to James, and that she was trying to tell me that it were Trey who did it.

I really didn't want to believe that he did, otherwise, why else would he lead me straight to the body? Maybe it were reverse psychology, I wondered. Did I really believe that he had something to do with it?

A small pinch of hurt arose in my stomach when I remembered kissing him on the balcony. He had suddenly remembered where he was, or who he was with, and it's like he switched personalities, because he broke off the kiss abruptly; separated our bodies and told me to go back to sleep, that I needed to stay away from him.

Maybe he did do it.

I didn't mind lying to Sasha about the true nature of my whereabouts, but I didn't particularly enjoy lying to Lila. She was a sweet girl, and I felt as if I ever needed someone to talk to, she'd be pretty good for it, and maybe she'd tell me the truth about Trey, or whatever it was that Sasha wouldn't tell me. Maybe I'd tell her the truth later, without Sasha around.

Think about it, maybe he did do it.

I ignored my subconscious and my ever growing paranoia, and I came across the public library, where I instantly thought of Brad and James. Maybe I could do some digging, find their history, and perhaps will give me an idea on who they were. I never met James, hell, I didn't even know he existed before he rocked up announced to the dorm.

What was he looking for at the dorm? I suddenly remembered that it weren't Brad, so obviously James wasn't looking for Lila. Unless he was... But why? Perhaps he was looking in her bed for Brad, because maybe he really did never come home. So why did James end up dead later that afternoon?

I let myself into the library by heaving the giant oak door open, stepping inside, wondering which era I had walked into. The library ceiling loomed overhead, deep brown oak support beams meeting in the middle of the roof. It was eerily quiet inside, the sound of my footsteps echoed as I walked along the stone floor. It was a ghost town inside and I wondered why they needed such a large library for such a small population.

"Lucy," someone called and my heart skipped a beat. I had assumed it was empty, so the voice startled me out of my thoughts.

"Lucy, back this way," the voice called again and looked around, who the hell was Lucy?

I stopped walking and twirled around, finding a small child, maybe the age of 6, wandering quietly after me.

"Sorry, dear," the voice belonged to an elderly lady, who wore a name badge, so I assumed she was the librarian, "she likes to wander off."