What Happens In Mayrose: The Story Of Stacy Green

Chapter Twenty-Four

- Saturday, November 8 -

"Shawn?"

And there he was. Standing in front of them, leaning on a wooden desk, looking the worst he'd ever been. His eyes were an intense red, harsh grey bags sagging under them. His lips and skin seemed dry and calloused, as if he hadn't taken a sip of water in days. And he looked... afraid. His whole body trembled as his now wrinkled hands held him up against the desk. It was like some sort of evil was bashing a bat at his legs, trying to make him crumble to the floor, as he tried his best to fight it.

Yara's tone instantly went from calm to furious. "Shawn, where the hell are we? What are you doing here?"

He slowly parted his cracked lips, letting out an aching moan. "Y-Yara. You c-cant be here." His voice was tremulous and shriveled, confirming his dehydration.

"We can't!," Yara yelled sarcastically. "We're tied up! You have to untie us!"

Shawn blinked his eyes rapidly, tears beginning to form. "Un...tie?," he repeated. Then it was like a whole new wave of emotion had just washed over him, as his eyes went round and his body flinched then quivered all at once. "N-No!," he spat. "I... I can't. T-Too dangerous."

Yara turned her head over to Spencer, who in return shrugged at her confused. She looked back at Shawn. "What's too dangerous Shawn? What happened? Why are you here?" Then, it all started fitting together. She slowly pieced it all in her mind... and it all perfectly made sense.

Why he was so engrossed in the investigation.

Why 'The Multiple' was always one step ahead of them.

Why even after being broken up for months, with no communication since last week, he wanted to work with her. Because he wanted to frame them. Because he wanted to frame her.

He wanted vengeance. Which was exactly what 'The Multiple' was about.

Tears rose and fell from Yara's eyes. Even with her wrists and ankles tied, she could feel her body fragmenting, her heart sinking below her very chest. "Shawn..." Her voice was brittle, her mouth dry at the thought of even speaking the words she never thought she'd have to. "It's you, isn't it? You're 'The Multiple'?"

Everyone was absolutely mute. The sound of a pin dropping was more audible than even a breath.

Like the others, Spencer was locked on Shawn, just waiting for his lips to part with an answer, when in the corner of his eye, he saw something that made him completely shift his gaze. "Uh, Yara?"

His interruption in tranquility only increased the burning sensation within Yara's veins. "WELL?!," she bawled, her face fiery red and every vocal cord in her throat blistering.

Spencer continued to urge, never moving his eyes but straining his neck in haste. "Yara, seriously, you really should-"

"Is that why you said all that shit about me?!," Yara disregarded Spencer, her slowly seething fury reaching it's max. "That I would never fucking change? You just had to belittle me, knowing damn well you ruined your own life?! THAT YOU KILLED YOUR OWN FUCKING SISTER?!"

Her voice echoed the room in waves, leaving an eerie silence that not even Spencer dared to disrupt. All you could hear was the loud and heavy breathing emitting from Yara, her face wet and steaming. "Heh...heh... well?"

Shawn moved with an obvious pain in his body. His arms shook as he reached out one to Yara, his dry lips barely opening to talk. "Y-Yara... I swear I can expla-" POW!

"NO!" Yara howled, her voice breaking into giant sobs, as she watched Shawn fall to the floor, his hand squeezing his right arm as blood soaked his grey shirt and formed a puddle around his body. He groaned with a piercing pain in his upper arm, twitching and rolling in his own pool of blood.