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Willow giggles before speaking up, “She’s really sore, big guy.”
“Big guy?” Cole growls, turning his scrutiny to Willow, then CJ, his brows scrunched together.
CJ booms out a laugh, slapping his thigh, before glancing down at me. “Ah, Cupcake, you’ve been bragging about me.” He turns to Cole, grinning smugly. “Shucks, but your girl knows I’m bigger than you now.”
Cole goes to get up off the floor, but a laughing Willow stops him. “Stop teasing him, CJ.”
Still acting smug, he shakes his head. “I can’t help it. It’s so easy.”
The door to our flat flies open, banging against the wall with a loud thud. I jump, turning towards the door, finding Becca and Rosie clutching arms, breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” I ask, pushing out of CJ’s arms.
Rosie bursts into tears, and in a second, both CJ and I are by her side.
“What’s wrong?”
“I—it was… Oh, God, I’m going to be sick,” Becca announces, before rushing down the hall to the bathroom.
I glance at CJ, biting my lip worriedly. He shrugs, pulling Rosie tighter to his chest. “What happened, Rosie? Can you talk about it?”
She must be in shock because she’s letting CJ hold her. My eyebrows rise, his doing the same when notices.
She wipes under her cheeks, he sad, sky-blue eyes meeting mine. “We were walking down Alton Avenue when we heard a couple start screaming for help. We rushed over and… and a girl was lying there, bruised and beaten, in a bush. She was only half covered.” She pauses, her skin as pale as snow. “It was horrible. I’ve never seen anything like it,” she whispers.
She starts to sob again, and I gasp. “Are you okay?”
It’s a stupid question, but I don’t know what to say. I’m stunned and a little shocked that another body has been found so quickly. It was only yesterday Marie Fleet was found. This is out of character for the killer. And if she was beaten, it’s another thing to add to the list that doesn’t add up.
“Do they know who it was?” Cole asks, pulling Willow against his chest.
She shakes her head. “She was pretty badly beaten; she was barely recognisable. The police questioned us, but there wasn’t anything we could really say to help. We heard the couple scream and ran over. Everything from there seemed to happen quickly.”
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” I tell her, just as Becca comes out of the bathroom.
“I swear, I’m looking into a new school. This place is hell.”
Tears run down her face and Willow moves to her friend, wrapping her arm around her shoulder. “Hey, everything will be okay.”
“Not for those girls it won’t, or their families,” she cries.
She’s right, it won’t. When someone is killed so tragically, there isn’t just one victim, there are two. One is the victim who is killed, the other are the family and loved ones who are left behind to grieve. This killer is doing that, and he doesn’t even care. It makes me wonder if he’s even human.
“We’ll get through this, Becca. Don’t make any rash decisions just yet, okay? You’ve worked hard to be here. Hopefully, the police will have some suspects soon and can stop whoever is doing this.”
“And what about the next thing that happens? Did you know, before we arrived there was an explosion at the city hall? No one was killed, but twelve people were seriously injured. Then there was Logan and Jamie, and now this. How much more could happen? And why do we keep finding ourselves right in the middle of it? I don’t know how much more I can deal with. My heart can’t take it.”
Willow steers her over to the sofa, sitting a hysterical Becca on the sofa. CJ pulls Rosie with him, sitting her next to Becca and taking the free seat next to her.
“We stay together. We’re stronger together,” CJ tells her, squeezing Rosie a little tighter against his chest. She’s pale, and still in shock. “I promise we will do everything in our power to keep you girls safe. It’s horrific—the things that are happening around Whithall, but sadly, it’s the world we live in. It won’t matter if you move across the county, or to another country all together, bad things will happen wherever you go. We’re a United Kingdom for a reason, though. Together, we will prevail. Together, we will get through this. Together, we are united.”
“Dude, that’s deep,” Cole whispers, his eyes wide with shock.
“I’m a deep, emotional person. But I stand by what I said. We will make sure nothing else happens to you. I know it’s hard to see with everything that is going on, but things will start to get better, safer.”
“It’s just so hard. How could someone do this? These girls are innocents, victims, and he’s killing them for no reason other than enjoyment. I can’t wrap my mind around his reasoning. Someone doesn’t get up one day and decide to start killing people.”
“I don’t know what to say. But we have to trust that the police will find this person.”
