"Pretty girls like you get lost in these woods all the time, Alexa."
On the night of Sebastián's annual Beginning of Summer Bash, amiable and adventurous Melody Tryniski went missing. What might have appeared as a juvenile escapade - a casual incide...
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"YOU KNEW ALL OF this and didn't think to tell the police?" Sebastián says, the incredulity evident in his slightly raised voice.
We're sitting in front of each other on the floor of my room, our legs crisscrossed with our feet folded under our opposite knees in an Indian style position. The paintings and letters are scattered between us, forming a barrier between Seb and me. The evidence that's been piling up under my bed for months is brewing a new wave of guilt in my chest, now that Seb is looking at it with hardened eyes. Now that it's all out in the open and a person other than Christopher knows the truth, I can see that our moral code is completely different. Seb would've called the police without hesitation. I decided to keep it as a secret for Mel and chase the killer myself.
Maybe Seb should've been the one to find all of this, not me.
"Melody wrote to not⸺"
"I know what Mel wrote, Alexa." He sighs, rubbing the skin between his eyes. "You know I love Mel more than anything, but she doesn't... didn't have the best judgement."
He's right.
"She said it wouldn't be safe," I whisper, looking at him through my lashes.
"I know you were just trying to be a good friend." He pauses, then sighs. "But this is serious. We're talking about murder here. Mel's murder. There's some psycho killer out there who wants you. He could've had you tonight if you hadn't fought back. Who knows if he followed us all the way here or if this is all part of some twisted plan to get you."
I shiver and look around my room for someone who isn't here. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not trying to make you feel bad," he mumbles, his tired eyes going over all the evidence once again. "It's just... Mel's dead and now Christopher, too. It's too much of a coincidence to be a suicide, don't you think? Mel knew too much, and she was murdered. Chris apparently knew more than he should've, and now he's dead. And you... this U person has always wanted you and now he's got the perfect reason to kill you. You know too much. And now I know too much, so that means I'm as good as dead."
I flinch. He's letting my thoughts out in the open, speaking them into existence, assuring their validation. Everything that's happened, and everything that's waiting to happen, has been my fault. If U would've killed me before reaching Mel, everyone would be safe right now.
My life in exchange for multiple ones.
But would that had really made a difference? I know how killer's think, and they're never satisfied with just one life. The more they kill, the more their sinister desire intensifies. If I would've been the one murdered from the beginning, who would've been next?
