She told me

Chapter 14

I stand there for a minute, looking away from the body. I need to know who it is, but I can't bring myself to move closer.

I hear footsteps behind me, and I suddenly find myself slammed against the wall out of the building.

I blink, "Cory?"

"What are you doing here Lucas?"

"There's, uh, there's someone there".

"We need to get out of here, the cops are on their way".

He lets go of me and runs back towards the front of the building without a second glance. I start to follow him when I catch a glimpse of something shining on the ground. I grab it and stuff it in my pocket before following him.

I reach the car and without thinking toss the keys to Cory. He catches them and we both get in and speed off. Once we pass the school, the initial shock wears off and I can feel my body getting cold at the realisation of what I just witnessed. Another person was dead, the cops were there, and they would have probably caught me if Cory.... Cory. He was there. We were the only two people on the scene at the time of the murder and I knew for sure that I hadn't killed anyone. But Cory couldn't be the killer, right? He was almost the third victim. Accomplice, my mind screeches, he could have an accomplice you idiot and now you're in the car with him, alone on a lonely street.

"How'd you know the cops were coming?" I blurt out, "I didn't hear any sirens".

"I passed them on my way here" he said calmly, "trust me, drug charges aren't going to look good on your college resume".

"Why did you even come to the high school?"

He takes his eyes off the road and looks at me, "I was worried about you guys".

For some reason, the way he says it freaks me out, but I don't probe further. I don't ask him how he got to the high school if I had his car, I don't ask him how he could have possibly passed a police car if he was on foot because when you're stuck in a car with someone who could possibly have murdered three people, you try not to piss them off.

I let out a sigh of relief almost involuntarily as I catch sight of my house. The car idles to a stop, and I grab the door handle, its locked.

"Lucas"

I swallow, "yeah".

"Be careful alright, this town is really going to shit, and you shouldn't be wandering around the high school at night, you could get hurt".

"Understood" I pull on the door handle, "uh, could you..."

"Yeah" he leans over, and I flinch, but he just pushes the door open, "sorry about that, passenger door always jams".

I get out but not before I see the smear of dark red liquid on the floor of the car. I swallow, casually wave goodbye at Cory, and jog up to my front door.

Once he drives away, I check the soles of my sneakers. They're clean. I let myself into the house and switch the lights on. I collapse on the couch, burying my face in my hands. Three victims. Three people are dead. I could be next. In another two days, I could be dead.

I don't even realise when the night ends because the next thing I know my mom is standing over me, "Lucas, why didn't you sleep in your room honey?"

"You're back" I say, still half asleep, "I'm glad you're back".

"Me too" she smiles but her smile looks a bit forced, "so what do you want for breakfast today?"

I push myself up, "what's the time? I need to get to school".