The Swiss Murder | Completed

4. The Fight

Carter went up to Eric's cabin and saw Scarlett already there, her eyebrows pulled together. Carter's expression soon matched her's as the shouting only grew louder on the other side of the door. He raised his eyebrows in question, but Scarlett only shrugged in response, conveying that she was just as clueless as him.

From the voices, they could easily make out that it was Eric and Anthony who were fighting, but about what? They never fight, Carter thought with a frown. He wondered what it could be about. He could hear what they were saying, but without any context, it was useless.

"You know the truth will be out someday! So just do it already!" Anthony shouted.

"No."

"Confess!"

"No! Do you know what that means for me? Everything I've worked so hard for... It will all be gone," Eric said, his voice lowering with each word.

"You have to, one day." Came the reply.

"Do you think we should intervene?" Scarlett asked Carter when the shouting died down abruptly.

"Yes, I think they have calmed down."

Scarlett opened the door, not ready for the sight that greeted her. 

Anthony had pinned Eric against the window, his hands fisting the collar of Eric's jacket. Both of them were glaring at each other silently, but the sound of the door opening seemed to have snapped them out of their trance as they both composed themselves.

"Is...everything okay?" Scarlett asked them, her eyes darting from Eric to Anthony and then back again.

"We were just having a mild argument," Anthony said.

"Mild? Try again, buddy." Carter replied.

"I lost something, I panicked and then acted out. That's it." Eric said. "I have to look for it, so please leave." He looked at Anthony and said, "Everyone."

"We can help yo-"

"Leave." Eric cut off Scarlett mid-sentence.

A few moments later, Eric was alone, sitting on his bed. He looked around the small cabin. His hand carry was practically empty, all of his belongings were scattered around as a result of him frantically searching for his medicines.

Eric had woken up half an hour ago when his alarm went off. It was time to take his medicine. But when he reached into his bag, he couldn't find it. Growing anxious as each minute passed with no sign of them, he texted Anthony. He was the only one who knew Eric was on meds as well as the nature of them.

Turns out calling out to him was a big mistake as their conversation only turned tense before breaking out in an extremely heated argument. Their arguments had only increased ever since that unfateful day, but none of them had ever been this bad. Eric felt like he was losing his best friend slowly, but he also knew that he was just looking out for him.

Eric leaned back against the wall and ran a hand across his face. He was so tired, and not just physically. But this was no time to think about these things. He was on a trip, for heaven's sake! The main reason he was here was to restore his friendship with others. He was aware of how distant he had gotten, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't even help himself.

Eric felt bad for behaving rudely to Scarlett, she only wanted to help. But how could he let her? Helping him meant she would eventually find out what the medicine was for. That meant questions, loads of them. 

Questions he wasn't ready to answer. Not yet, anyway.

Banishing all dark thoughts from his mind, he convinced himself that he didn't need his medicine. After all, it was just a matter of 10 days, what could go wrong?