I Dare You...

I

Turns out, I didn't get an earful when I got home. There was a note taped to the wall next to the door: saying that both mom and dad had been called out on emergency work at the station. My parents are both Policemen: my mother as a Detective and my father as a Forensic Analyst. The note read:

"Dear Alice, 

Your Dad and I have had to rush off to the station. It's an emergency.

Should be back by 8:00pm. Latest.

There's some microwave meals in the freezer if you want one and chocolate pudding in the fridge. And yes, it's the melty kind!

Take care, love,

Mum xxx"

I had to wonder though, why have both Mum and Dad been called out? The last time this happened, was after the very first body had been found 'under suspicious circumstances'. So I don't particularly want to think about why they're both out again this time...

I jumped when a deep voice sounded suddenly in my ear. "Your name's Alice?" Alec had been reading over my shoulder.

"Ummm, yeah?" I paused a moment. "Didn' t I tell you my name before?"

He shook his head lightly, "No. S'alright, funny though." Taking a step back from me, he muttered sheepishly. "Sorry for reading over your shoulder."

"S'alright," I repeated back at him. "But, why's it funny?"

"Well, Alec and Alice. Alliteration." He smirked, blue eyes light with mirth but still shadowed with a darkness that couldn't quite be described. Reminding me once again of the traumatic experience that we had endured together not long ago. The smile slipped off my face with an icy chill. Voice hard, I met Alec's eyes. "We need to talk."

Eyes hard, he nodded firmly at me. "Yes, we do."

With a tense silence descending upon us like a predatory hawk, we made our way upstairs, Alec only a couple of steps behind me as I opened the creaking door leading into my bedroom. Smiling awkwardly at him as I shut the door behind his back, I then had to step over him awkwardly as he seated himself on my intense purple bean bag - blocking the way to my bed slightly. There was a minor amount of shuffling and mumbled apologies as he tried to shimmy himself and the beanbag out of my way. Finally seated, I crossed my legs on my bed and stared fixedly at Alec. Eyes flicking around the room, nervously taking in his surroundings, Alec had yet to notice me waiting for him to begin. I coughed lightly: drawing his attention back to me, from the corner of my eyes I saw his knuckles turn white against tightly clenched fists. A strangled moan of misery escaped his lips. "Are you okay?" Those ghostly azure eyes of his focused on me with a world of silent pain thrashing in their tormented depths.

"No. Haven't been for a while." He choked out bitterly. "And you're gonna have to listen real fucking closely because now neither are you, Alice."

At his viciously uttered words registered in my mind, a shot of undiluted terror made its way into my bloodstream. I waited anxiously once more. Then, at last, Alec raised his head, eyes shining with a determined gleam, thick eyebrows casting shadows over his angular face. "Her name is- was," he corrected himself hurriedly. "Mary: Mary White." He rested his chin on his fists, eyes growing faded and distant as he retreated into memories long passed. "I used to live next-door to her and her Dad. Jerry- her Dad, wow, h-he was just a fucking monster of a man... Always hitting Mary, blaming her for everything: like her Mom's death, beating her until she dripped blood the same colour as her hair." A grimace of disgust. "I felt sorry for her: I pitied her." A moment of silence ensued as Alec struggled with his own emotions. Shifting slightly on the bed, I pulled a pillow onto my lap and began to fiddle with a loose thread hanging off the end. I did not look up when he began to speak again. "Then I found out, that everything really was her fault. She was more messed up than her Dad; even when she was little, she was obsessive, cruel even and always trying to pull me into her schemes with a dare. She-"