Kayla is dead.
It’s obvious—I know it right away. I know it before Tim goes to feel for her pulse with a shaking hand, the bat gripped in his other hand. I know it before Chelsea collapses onto the ground, kneeling with her face inches from the floor. I feel like doing the same thing.
Keep it together. You’ve got to keep it together, Brooke.
Tim backs away from Kayla’s body. He looks even more shaken than he did when we found Brandon. After all, he was kissing this girl only hours earlier. That’s got to be a shock.
And this is different. When Brandon was found dead outside the farmhouse, it seemed possible that some random psycho had been wandering by and maybe Brandon got in a fight with him because that’s what Brandon does. But this is different. Kayla was inside the house. Which means whoever did this to her was inside the house.
And they’re probably still here.
“You!” Shane’s pointing a finger at Tim. “You did this.”
“Me?” Tim clutches his chest. “Are you out of your mind?”
“You were alone here while the girls were out back and I was out looking for a signal.” Shane’s voice is hoarse. “You’re the only one who had a chance to do this. It was you.”
He makes an excellent point. Tim is the only one who had the opportunity. But it couldn’t have been him. Not Tim. Never. I’d sooner believe that I killed Kayla myself.
“Why would I do this?” Tim shoots back.
“I don’t know. Because you’re crazy?” Shane says. “Maybe she rejected you and you got angry.”
“This is ridiculous!” Tim’s eyes bulge. “You were alone outside for all that time. Maybe you’re the one who did this! You went in through the
window and stabbed her while we were all downstairs.”
“Come on—this is the second floor. Who I am—Spider-Man?” Another excellent point.
Tim takes a step toward Shane, raising the bat in the air. “I don’t know how the hell you did it. Maybe you had a ladder—I don’t know. But it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Chelsea or Brooke. So it had to have been you.”
“Watch it, Reese.” There’s a menacing edge to Shane’s voice. “You better not be thinking about swinging that thing at me.”
“I will if you give me a reason to.”
My heart is jack-hammering in my chest. I look back at Chelsea, who has scrambled back to her feet. We exchange looks in the darkness. I don’t know what’s about to happen, but it’s something bad. I try to figure out what I could say to make this right, but it’s gone too far.
“Brooke.” Tim’s voice breaks into my thoughts. “You believe me, don’t you? I wouldn’t hurt anyone. Shane… He must have done this.”
Shane swivels his head in my direction. “Brooke, you can’t seriously think I would kill somebody. Tim was the one in the house!”
I open my mouth, even though I’m not sure what I’m going to say. But before I say the wrong thing, a hand grips my arm. It’s Chelsea.
“You can both go to hell!” she spits at them. “Come on, Brooke.”
I allow Chelsea to drag me out of the room while Shane and Tim stare at us. She pulls me over to Shane’s bedroom, and she slams the door shut behind us. She leans her weight against it for a moment, breathing hard.
“I don’t know who killed her.” She’s blinking back tears. “But it was definitely one of them. We’ve got to stay in here until somebody comes for us. Help me barricade the door.”
I stare at the door, not sure what my next move should be. She’s right. We are the only people here, which means Tim or Shane must have killed Kayla. Which means the only way we’re safe is if we stay away from them.
But that also means one of them isn’t the killer. And we have effectively left that person alone with a murderer.
“Chelsea,” I say.
“Brooke!” Her voice is strangled. “Do you want to live through the night or not?”
I want to live through the night. Of course I do. But so did Kayla, and she also barricaded herself in a room. And now she’s dead.
Still, I go along with the plan, to humor Chelsea. Shane’s bookcase is too heavy to move, so we build a wall of books in front of the door. In reality, I’m not convinced the boys couldn’t get through it easily, but it’s better than nothing.
A hand raps against the door. “Brooke? Chelsea?” It’s Shane’s voice.
“Go away!” Chelsea screams. “We’re not coming out until morning!”
I’m not sure about the validity of this plan. Both of our phones are downstairs, so if one of the boys is looking to kill us, they’ll still be able to do it in the morning as soon as we emerge from the bedroom.
“Come on—this is crazy!” Shane yells through the door. “Just come out. We’re safer if we stay together.”
“We’re not coming out, Shane.” Chelsea folds her arms across her chest. “You’re wasting your breath.”
Although there’s a part of me that thinks he’s right. We might be safer if the four of us stay together. After all, the killer can’t get all of us. Their only hope is to take us down one by one.
“Brooke?” It’s Tim’s voice this time. “Are you okay?” I touch my fingers to the door. “Yes, I’m okay.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “I think you should stay in there. Both of you.”
There’s something about the way he says it—a tremor in his voice— that makes me back away from the door, my hands shaking. Tim is right. We need to stay in this room for the rest of the night.
It’s our only chance.
