Whodunit

Chapter 24

Anisa combed her matted locs behind her ears and practiced her innocent face as she walked to the guest bathroom where she told Zaria to hide out.

She couldn't believe her luck. She'd done it. She'd killed Dmitri and everyone close to him, and she didn't even have a sloppy best friend or clingy, little cousin to media train. Her and Zaria were the sole victims, and Zaria didn't know the real story. Why had she berated herself for failing? Everything ended up working out perfectly. Exactly the way it was meant to.

She reached the bathroom door and forced the muscles in her face to push out tears and a fake cough and cry.

"Zaria," she knocked on the door nonstop, "Zaria, it's me, Anisa. Open up."

"Anisa?" Zaria's sleep-infested voice whirred from behind the door.

"Yeah, it's me. It's safe to come out now."

The doorknob twisted slowly. She pulled the door open with blood red eyes. She wrapped her arms around Anisa's waist and hugged her like she didn't want to let go.

"It's okay," Anisa purred like an angel and rubbed her back in soft, circular motions. "I'm here. I got you."

Zaria pulled away and rubbed her puffy eyes like she'd been rubbing them nonstop for hours. She looked down and scrunched her nose. "Why do you have a bloody knife?"

The knife hit the floor with a pang. "I had to kill Dmitri after he killed Desi and tried to kill me."

Zaria squinted one eye but accepted the answer as she grabbed Anisa's hand. "What about Amahd?"

Anisa kneeled to her level and squeezed her shoulders. "Amahd didn't make it. I'm sorry."

Zaria burst out into tears. Anisa embraced her and comforted her like a mother who had just told her child about the death of her father.

"It's going to be okay. I'm going to come visit you and hang out with you all the time." Anisa pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I'll be like your big sister."

"Y-you you promise?" Zaria forced through sobs.

"I promise," she asserted as police sirens wailed in the distance. "Come on. The police are finally here. We did it. We survived."

Anisa led her down the hall, past the staircase, and through the den area where she covered her young eyes to avoid seeing Ximena's rotting body. They approached the double doors, and Anisa thanked her demons once more for letting her win back what had been taken from her: innocence.