Chapter 3: Chapter 3

The first thing I did was run to one of the guest bedrooms to grab a large blanket, I used it to wrap Veronica in and began cleaning the floor till it was spotless. I did find myself wrenching a couple of times because of the strong smell of bleach and blood, I hated every minute of what I was doing. The bucket I was using to rinse the mop with was blood red, so to relieve myself of not having to see and smell it I hurried everything up and drained the bucket at the back of the house making sure no one saw me running around like a headless chicken. Once the floor was squeaky clean and no evidence of me ever being there was cleaned up I only had one job left which was to lug the dead girl's body up the stairs to the back of the house and somehow sneak around to the front gate where my car was and escape unnoticed, easy peasy lemon squeezy I mean how hard can it be serial killers do it all the time on tv and never get caught.

I just loved jinxing myself I swear, when I tried to lift Veronica after saying a little prayer just for the sake of being the nice person that I am, I tried to lift her the stairs only to struggle my ass off like I was trying to lift a damn car why did people have to weigh so much when they were unconscious or dead.

"God damn what did you eat girl?" I grunted straining all my muscles as I tried again to pull her a couple more steps up,

"Four steps down and three hundred more steps to go," I groaned dramatically sitting on a step as her body slid back to the floor. I couldn't do this alone. It was impossible, I'd be here all night by the looks of things I needed help but who could I possibly trust my life with to not rat me out to the cops? Someone who would always be on my side, I immediately dialled Cole without a second thought because he was my only true friend, he picked up on the second ring.

"Yo, you still alive?" he asked

"Duh I just need you to come to the cellar-like right now but come alone," I nervously said

"Uh ok," he said hesitantly and hung up, I waited impatiently chewing my lip anxiously as I imagined all different kinds of scenarios of Cole finding out what I did and his reaction, all bad reactions though.

"You alright?" I heard Cole ask me as he walked down the stairs to sit beside me.

"Ya, never been better just need your help with something," I asked anxiously

"Of course anything you name it," he instantly said meaning every word

"Great, so mind being my muscles and carrying that blanket up the stairs to my car?" I asked hopefully, he finally looked at the wrapped blanket and cocked his head at me

"What's in the blanket?" he asked me sceptically

"Just a passed out Veronica is all," I lied smoothly

"Why?"

"I may hate her now but that doesn't make me a total monster so I thought I would make her comfortable before she wakes," I was lying through my teeth but since Cole wasn't a hundred per cent sober he believed me.

"Alright, but why your car then?" Why are you asking me so many questions aren't intoxicated people supposed to go with the flow or was that only in movies, wow I truly lived under a rock.

"I'm taking her to the hospital to look at her arm of course," I lied again the words leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I hated lying especially to very important people in my life. When I was a kid and Haley would ask me to lie about who she was spending the night with I would go into a full anxiety attack because somehow I would just know my mom would see straight through my bullshit and it didn't help that I always stutter when I lied, it was like my brain would slow its thinking role and seconds seemed to last for eternity.

"Right ok let's go get her patched up," He finally listened and picked her up with ease flexing his muscles just to show off, I couldn't help but laugh at his playfulness.

"Are you sure she can breathe through this?" He asked, noticing how tight I wrapped the blanket around her and sellotaped it tight.

"Ya of course," I lied, breathing is the least of her problems surviving hell was. He easily carried her up the stairs and turned to walk through the front door where the gang was and I flipped out, now how would people presume this situation Cole was carrying a taped blanket in the shape of a human a dead person would be their first assumption it would be mine of course, so I freaked out it was surprising that he didn't catch on to what I was really up to because the cellar reached of bleach and chemicals.

"NO!" I yelled making him freeze in his tracks to look at me questionably

"What?" he asked

"Take the back entrance, it's better," I said with an awkward smile pointing at the back door with shaking hands he didn't seem to notice.

"Uh ok weirdo," he said and listened to me taking the back path, I was constantly looking everywhere to make sure no one saw us with my heart beating through the roof. Once we got to my car I breathed a sigh of relief and opened the boot automatically forgetting Cole was with me, I acted irrationally when I was freaking out.

"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked me eying my every move with a raised brow,

"Ya, I am," I quickly answered, closing the boot and opening the back door moving out the way as he gently placed Veronic lying down vertically. He began to unwrap the blanket and I nearly pissed my pants.

"NO!" I shouted, grabbing his hands roughly with a firm grip.

"What the hell is going on with you?" He asked me with a scowl ripping my iron grip off him.

"I'll explain everything later," I told him, closing the door and entering the driver's seat.

"Aren't you going to tell everyone you're taking her to the hospital?"

"Later now get in," I ordered.

"Fine,"

We drove in silence passing the turnway to the hospital but Cole didn't redirect me, just kept quiet and looked outside as we drove out of town far away from everyone and everything. Miles and miles of trees stretched as far as the eye could see, I stopped at the garage getting a few resources before we carried on the darkness surrounding us, the crunching of Cole eating chips was the only sound filling the air. I nearly tossed him out of the moving car for irritatingly annoying me with chewing loudly. I finally stopped when I realized how far we truly were and decided this was a pretty good spot to burn a dead body.

"Bring her with you," I ordered Cole, who seemed to be putting two and two together, and took him long enough. I grabbed a few items I bought from the garage and walked deep into the forest using my torchlight on my phone.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume she's not alive," He said as we walked, every sound sent my nerves alight.

"Right you are," I told him

"So you killed her?" he asked

"No, technically she was trying to kill me. I just stepped out of the way and she killed herself," I explained stopping at a small clearing near a river.

"Place her there," I told me pointing at a spot, he dropped her on the floor not so gently, I started dousing her in gasoline and placing twigs and leaves all over her to start the fire quickly. I was so going to hell for having a bit of a thrill while doing this.

"I'm basically helping you commit murder," he said to himself finally realising what was happening, I started feeling bad for dragging him in this mess.

"Welcome to the party," I granted, lighting the match and dropping it on Veronica, the blanket caught flame and the fire grew completely engulfing her. It was quite a sight to behold, the flames shed some light around us scaring away small creatures near us.

"You sure were a bitch but I'm sorry you had to die so young," I said to the fire, a tear escaping my eye. I may not feel any remorse for her death but that didn't mean I wasn't completely incapable of feeling bad for being the cause of her death.

"That's an understatement of the year, but hey you burned out before your time, maybe you could've changed who knows," Cole said, lighting up a cigarette and blowing the smoke in my direction.

"Seriously?" I asked him annoyedly, I was already annoyed with the smell from the fire. I didn't need the horrid smell of his cigarette.

"What? It's how I deal with difficult shit," he argued. I just rolled my eyes and watched the flames consume Veronica's very essence making sure the flames didn't get out of hand. We stood staring at the fire for god knows how long before there was nothing left but ash, I scattered it with my foot, blending it in with the earth and scattering a few twigs and leaves.

"It terrifies me how well prepared you are for this," Cole said, watching my every move.

"It's called common knowledge,"

"No its called psychopaths common knowledge,"

"Grow up," I said to which he gasped, "Come on let's go before someone wonders this far and finds us,"

"Don't have to tell me twice, "He was way calmer than I imagined him to be but I guess that's because he had drugs pumping in his system, tomorrow morning might be a different story though. The sun was already rising by the time we got to my mom's place down in the countryside, I rang the bell repeatedly until I heard her cursing on the other side of the door angrily swinging the door open only to be surprised to see Cole and me.

"Hey ma," I said and headed straight for the kitchen to make myself some tea to calm down.

"A call would've been nice," She bitterly said, joining me on the kitchen island. My ma was not exactly a how do I say an American mother, she was nice to some people but to my sister and me we got the uncensored mom. Sometimes I had the feeling she didn't like us in the slightest, she was a short woman barely reaching five feet with light brown eyes, short black hair and a plump figure. We have only had one parent through our entire life span, my dad left the picture before we could even crawl to this day she didn't like discussing him in the slightest we didn't even know his name or what he looked like and for the sake of our mom we never pried much.

Haley and I were the most inseparable twins you could ever meet, always at each other's hip and not going anywhere without the other. I loved Haley with all my being, she was the best sister in the world and I thought we would have that strong bond forever until we reached our teens and she got into more fights with ma, I wasn't the most talkative twin so I just shut up whenever my ma yelled at me but Haley went off like a cannibal. The day she said she was going to move out was the day I lost half my soul, I never knew how eager she was to leave me and ma. The day she stayed with her boyfriend I couldn't sleep nor did I eat for the following couple of days. She was my rock and without her, I just fell into an endless void of bad decisions from boyfriends to drugs to failing in my class. It was a miracle that I found Cole who set me on the straight path and I began focusing in my classes and left the whole boyfriend stories alone, my ma didn't care what I did because and I quote "It was my life I was ruining not her's", it was like a slap on the face but I knew deserved it.

When I graduated at the top of my class I thought my ma would be proud of me but she shrugged it off like any other school achievement I've ever gotten and so I vowed to myself to try harder than most in life to get that proud look in her eyes. So I studied medicine and became a medical practitioner, I was so proud of myself for my achievements and when I told my ma about it again she just shrugged it off like it was nothing that was the day I realized it didn't matter what I did she didn't care what achievement I got as long as I paid her back for wasting twenty years of her life taking care of me. So I started paying her back by paying her rent and her swimming classes, I sent her money for grocery shopping every week, I even popped in now and then to check in on her even though she didn't want me there. I tried to be a good person I truly did but it just got harder and harder because at the end of the day people are just disappointing.

I should've grown a tougher shell growing up but I didn't cause all I wished for was her approval that I knew I would never get, I wanted everyone's approval that's why I dated Liam, to begin with, because he was perfect every girl wanted him and every guy wanted to be him. When he asked me to be his girlfriend I wanted to say no because he wasn't really my type and we just didn't like much of the same things but with Lila nudging me to say yes and if I didn't I would regret it for the rest of my life how could I not say yes, now I do regret ever saying yes why did I listen to Lila, rhetorical question of course because I wanted her approval so I said yes when will it ever be enough for me why do I want to please everyone so much, it was a suffocating job honestly.

The only person who didn't care what I did or didn't need to give me his approval was Cole, the guy loved me the way I was flaws and all. He didn't care that I couldn't eat breakfast without brushing my teeth first or that I still enjoy watching cartoons on the weekend or even the fact that I'm not like most girly girls and hate wearing bras. Cole was the other half of my soul when Haley left, he kept me afloat in my darkest hour and I will forever be grateful for the hand he gave me when I was younger. Without him, I would be six feet under.

"What's wrong with you?" My ma asked rudely as tears streamed down my face I tried to hold back the scream bubbling in my throat, why was I so pathetic.

"She just needs to rest Mrs Glenn," Cole laughed awkwardly coming to my aid as he led me to the guest room. I practically crawled into the covers like a baby wanting anything to comfort me,

"Cole?"

"Ya"

"I love you," I don't say it much but I meant every word truly I owed him my life once again.

"I love you too buddy get some rest," he said gently, moving a couple of strands of my hair behind my ear before kissing my forehead. His skin was cold as the winter snow but he didn't seem to mind it. As I laid there on the bed with my eyes blurry from my tears I vowed to never fall for the fake promises of men again. They bring nothing but trouble into my life and I didn't need that, not in the slightest. All I needed to focus on was myself and my future. I wasn't stable for a romantic relationship.