The feeling of betrayal overcame my entire body as I sank to the bottom of the crystal clear lake, only now it was pure darkness. Not a single drop of moonlight or a sight of the auburn hair that was beside me moments ago.
The angry water was black in every direction, there was no brightness to direct me upward.
Was it her?
Was she the one responsible?
"Maddy c'mon wake up, seriously wake up!" I hear the sound of Billie's worrying voice as I woke up to the movement of someone shaking me.
I jolted my body up as I coughed out the lake's liquid that suffocated my lungs and inhaled more oxygen than I knew I was capable of.
"You're okay, just breathe okay?" Billie's soft voice tells me as I take deep breaths while she holds my body upright making sure all the water gets out of my lungs.
"What happened? Was it too cold?" She asks to turn her eyebrows upwards while Zoe wraps a towel from behind me.
"I t-think." I answered as my voice was still shivering from the freezing lake.
"See Robin I told you this wasn't a good idea!" Billie screams at Robin in an angered tone as she stands up and walks towards her.
I follow Billie's movements with my eyes as the land upon Alison shivering in a towel as Robin helped warm her up. Billie was also soaking wet.
It was her...she has to be the one Scar was talking about. I mean how common could a flame tattoo be on a bitchy popular girl out of the 50 girls in our grade?
But Alison? Besides her overly eccentric personality she seemed nice...even if she wasn't the one who physically killed her, she bullied Scar and made life a living hell. I didn't say a word as I stared blankly at the red haired girl sitting across from me wrapped in a towel. I was too exhausted to deal with the thought of Alison right now.
"Hey are you okay? Zoe take Ali inside, I'm gonna take Maddy into our room lets just all go to sleep." Billie says, putting her arm around my waist, helping me back to the cabin.
I sat down on the bed as she pulled a big shirt over my head after taking off the soaking clothes I had on.
"How did I get out? The last thing I remember was being at the bottom and it was all dark?" I looked up at Billie who was changing out of her wet clothes as well, wondering how I got out of the lake.
"After Ali came up, you didn't, and then after a few more seconds passed and you still were under, so I jumped in and got you." She said, pulling her dry shorts up and walking towards the fireplace to turn it on, poking the firewood with a steel stick as a crackling fire sound floated across the room.
"Thank you. Bil.." I say as she tucked the covers over me and shuts the dim warm lamp off. I see her shiver from the coldness of the lake since she had to jump in too.
"So this really topped of the birthday huh?" She laughs sarcastically getting under the covers with me.
"I'm fine Bil I promise plus I still have this." I held up my hand with the ring she had given me earlier catching the light of the fireplace shining in every diamond making it glow like a sunset.
"Mmmhm okay good baby." She turns over, wrapping her arms around me.
"Goodnight Billie, Thank you for everything." I say cuddling closer to her to get warm.
"Goodnight, happy birthday love." She whispered, placing a gentle kiss onto my forehead as I drifted off to sleep.
I felt so safe in her arms but my mind could not stop thinking of the tattoo.
Alison's hiding something
And I need to prove it.
***
I woke up to the smell of blueberry pancakes and the fresh air from the lilacs outside. My eyes slowly opened directly staring out the slightly opened window, the wind breezing through the sage tinted curtains. I turned over to see Billie but she had already gotten up. I looked over at the clock and read the time. 10:22 am.
I stepped outside on the cold creaky wooden floor and walked over to the kitchen when I saw Alison and Robin dead asleep on the pull out couch. Part of me wanted to strangle Ali in her sleep right here, right now.
"Good morning baby." A tired looking Billie said while pouring some blueberry sauce over two plates of pancakes.
"Oh my god these smell so sexy." I say as we take the plates and a pitcher of orange juice quietly onto the patio , not wanting to wake the others up.
"I wanted to ask you something." Billie says while cutting a huge piece of her pancakes off and stuffing her mouth with it.
"Yeah what's up?" I say resting my head on my hand as I look at Billie and the blueberry stain on her cheek.
"Were you okay last night? I mean you seemed fine but something about it was off, besides the whole almost dying part I mean." She says, swallowing her food and looking at me concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine don't worry. Yesterday was really fun. I haven't had a birthday like that good in a long time Billie, I really appreciate all the work you put into it. I think I was just tired from the whole lake thing." I smile at her and take a bite of the warm pancakes. I didn't want to tell her about the Ali thing, not yet at least. I can't accuse her of killing scar if I don't have proof.
We continued to eat our pancakes for a minute in silence until I decided to say something about yesterday.
"So about yesterday when we were on the hammock.." She cuts me off looking at me with a hurt expression.
"Did you not like it?" She asks, looking down fidgeting with her fork on the plate.
"No! I did like it Bil, I really did. I was just wondering what it meant." I tell her leaning back on the fence behind the seats.
"It means whatever you want it to mean." She says looking up at me laughing, wiping some of the blueberry jam off her finger.
"Billie really though!" I whine. I want to know what we are doing.
"It just means I like you." The shy girl across from me says as she looks down at the table with her signature smile taking a sip of her juice as we finish our pancakes.
***
Finally a few hours of me sitting with Billie in the car and me ignoring Ali the whole time, passed and I was finally back home in my room.
I was taken away with how sweet Billie was this weekend and everything she had done for me and noticing Alison's tattoo was not going to ruin it. A part of me feels almost relieved to have noticed it...because now I know who to look at.
"Really, I'm okay. It's just... this bitch at school won't leave me alone and she's so annoying for no reason. I swear she wants to make my life a living hell...her and her stupid flame tattoo."
The sound of Scar's voice lingered in my mind as she said those words over the phone from what seems like forever ago.
Ever since the first day of school Ali has always been trying to talk to me, and get into my conversations with others but why? Was she doing it on purpose? Does she even know who I am?
Alison's involved in Scar's death, I just need to find out what part she played.
_______
Author's Note:
What do y'all think about Ali?
Word Count: 1274 / 98,775
Chapter Song: Afraid - The Neighbourhood
YOU ARE READING
𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙩 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 - 𝐵.𝐸
Mystery / Thriller"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire. I hold with those who favor fire...She was gone. The girl I had loved was taken by the glowing orange flames that surrounded her. The way the fire danced around...
