|Eight|

•Week Three• (4)

Inside the waiting room was a few chairs and a TV. The TV was playing the news, and usually in a situation like this, I wouldn't have paid attention. But this time, it was playing live footage at the circus we were at half an hour ago.

Willis was talking about Annie's death, and the longer I listened, the more my heart sank. She had her whole life ahead of her. How could someone do this?

"It was a complete accident," Willis was saying, fidgeting with his top hat. "The rope was obviously not sturdy and-" He paused, and for some reason my mind wandered to Ryan's rope-burned hands. "Well, she fell. Poor girl...... She was the best at what she did." Willis looked solemn and heartbroken at the fact he had lost one of his performers. "Always bubbling with mirth..." He finished.

7 crows...

I blinked a few times, trying to clear my mind of all the chaos I called "thoughts".

"Ry," I said, turning to look at him. "How did you get all those scratches? And the-"

Ryan sighed. "I- well... The thing is, I found Annie."

My eyes widened. "What?"

He began to frantically run a hand through his hair. "I found her and tried to tell her that she was in danger, but she flipped out. She started screaming and well..." He began to show off the scratches on his arm. "I didn't know what I did wrong, so I just left."

Tears began to well up in his eyes. "And when she climbed up the ladder to do her performance, I noticed someone had cut the rope down where I was. I screamed at her to come back down, but when it became obvious she couldn't hear me, I ran to the cut rope." He took a shaky breath, and I gently held his hand for support.

"I grabbed onto it to try and stop her from falling, but she gained too much momentum and the rope slipped out of my hands and it was all my fault because if I had just been stronger or warned her better or yelled louder or gotten someone's help or held tighter-"

"Ry, it's okay. It's never your fault. You didn't kill her, okay? You tried that's all that matters."

He was now freely sobbing and I didn't know what to do.

Everything was a mess and this whole thing seemed to be centered around Ryan. But why? Why would someone want to hurt him so much? It made me sick. It felt like the killer was playing with us. The two main suspects I had were Jasper and The Detective. Jasper was the most likely suspect..... But The Detective gives me off vibes. Like, why would he have all that stuff on his computer? Is he working with Jasper?

Realization hit me.

The head detective must be working with Jasper. That's why he's been trying so hard to find Ryan.

Either I was going crazy or this made perfect sense.

"Ryan Metzger?" A woman holding a clipboard stood in front of us.

Ryan wiped the tears from his eyes, probably embarrassed. The woman just smiled sympathetically.

"Your brother will be fine." She then turned to me. "You can stay here if you'd like, or you are welcome to take care of other business you might have."

I paused. If I couldn't see Jack, then what was the point of staying anyway?

I turned it over in my mind, and came to the conclusion that I should go looking for the next victim on the Detective's list. It would be better if I went alone because then I wouldn't have to worry about Ryan getting hurt like Jack did. I don't think I could handle something like that again.

"I have other business," I said, then gave Ryan a reassuring look. "Take care of Jack, alright?"

"I will."

~

After exiting the hospital, I decided I should probably call Alba. She deserves to know what happened.

I took out my phone and dialed her number, and as it rang I contemplated what to say.

How do I tell her that her boyfriend is in the hospital because he was injected with lethal poison?

Luckily (or unluckily), I didn't have to. She didn't pick up.

"Damnit...." I mumbled, sliding my phone back into my pocket.

Now what?

Well, I needed somewhere to go. I didn't have a car, which was fine since I'm used to walking, but I felt like I was on a time limit. A car would be much faster.

I tried to remember who was next on the Detective's list, but my mind was drawing a blank.

I sighed, pulling out my phone once again. I opened my photos and tapped on the picture I took of the list.

Jason Ignite (3rd Crow)

Who the hell was Jason Ignite? I hoped he'd be as easy to find online as Annie was.

I quickly googled his name, and luckily, a Twitter account came up. I clicked on it to see if it was him, but a thought crossed my mind. How would I know if it's him? I have no idea what he looks like and there could be thousands of people with that name.

I still checked the account and looked through recent tweets and photos. From the information on there, I gathered he was getting married...... Today.

Three for a wedding....

Him and his fiancé looked very happy together, and a part of me felt so horrible knowing what might happen.

I needed to find out where the wedding would take place, and at what time. I prayed that Jason had mentioned something like that in one of his tweets.

After scrolling for what seemed like ages, I found one mentioning how he'd like the wedding to be at a small church just a few miles away.

It didn't say what time, and I realized I might already be too late.