RoseBlood

Elias

We're both staring at him.

Hayley, whose gun stays aimed at me, looks over her shoulder to blink up at the boy between strands of fluffy blonde hair. She looks taken aback, staring back at his glowering glare, then behind him, to the empty, silent hallway above us. He's alone. We're alone.

Her stare tinges with that ridiculous, ditsy confidence, and she taps the trigger with her finger, gazing at him with a half-smile.

"It's rude to interrupt," her pretty voice says, and Elias' teeth grind in anger, his eyes almost as dangerous as hers.

I glance at the gun, her finger ready to shoot, and think about darting away from it, using the quick second of distraction to improve our odds. But her attention snaps to me before I can move a muscle, and she comes closer in one fast step, the gun's end pressing against my forehead. I look up at it, at her, at Elias, who assesses the situation with a long look, a touch of caution holding back his anger.

"I don't think you're as rude as you look. Do you... like Holly?"

Elias says nothing, his dark gaze bleeding into hers, and she sighs impatiently.

"Do you?" She repeats, the cold metal of the gun pushing against my head a little harder, and I look at him with expectant eyes.

"Yeah. I do," He says finally, and Hayley smiles her sickening smile.

"Alive?"

"You won't kill me like this," I say, "you like making a big thing out of it. Roses, music, your little speech."

"Don't be so certain," Hayley warns me, "I've said what I need to say, and we can always find another rose to go with your little friend's."

"You put that gun down right now, or-"

"I've waited long enough," Hayley snaps back at Elias, grabbing me by the shoulder and yanking me into her arms. I grip at them tightly, trying to wrench them off me, but she hits me hard with the gun, over the side of my head. I falter, my head pounding with the throbbing pain, and I stay still, keeping my eyes on the hand that holds the gun, pointed at my temple now. "Give it up, Holly, you insufferable brat!"

I hold my tongue, shifting my focus to Elias warily, and he looks at me desperately, before returning his gaze to Hayley.

"What the hell did Holly do to you? You're the murderer here."

"I don't owe you the explanation," Hayley tells him, "you have nothing to do with it. So shut the door, nice and gentle, and come join us. We're just about done here."

"I have everything to do with it, you psychopath," he rages. "I'm Elias Tyrel. Do you remember me? Do you?!"

"Elias," I cut in cautiously, and he glances at me, at the gun, making him relax slightly. Hayley looks him over thoughtfully, a small smile gracing her lips.

"I don't think we had the pleasure of meeting, Elias," she replied. "But I did meet a Tyrel once. You're just as bad with words as he was."

"You little-"

"Shut the door," Hayley orders him, tilting her head to the side and squeezing my shoulder, watching him. "Now, please."

Elias does what she says, stepping reluctantly down the stairs, his narrowed eyes trained on her.

"What I said was true, Holly," Hayley tells me, "I loved your father, and he loved me, once. But when I had to disappear until you did, new name, new look, I came across Danny."

"His name," Elias growls, "was Daniel."

Hayley smirked, shrugging an uncaring shoulder. "I called him Danny. Anyway, he was a real comfort when I needed it. I was at my lowest when I met him, trying to distract myself from Bobby, from what was mine, enough to cope every day, ticking off days and weeks in calendars again and again. But when we met in that coffee shop, he was so nice, in his own way. Not as sweet and earnest as my Bobby, but nice all the same. I was writing a poem and he saw it. Not quite the poet, but he was interested, asking me about it, about myself. I didn't want to give too much about myself away. I'd loved and lost once, and I couldn't trust anyone. Even Danny. We were such good friends for a lovely while, but then, all of a sudden, he tells me how I'm saying things I really shouldn't be. How my interests and my thoughts are dark and wrong, how he could help me understand that, how he could help me however I needed, just how he tries to help others. It was very hurtful, you know, Elias. It wasn't helpful. So he had to go, too. And, by that time, I needed to get back to check on Bobby and on how quickly Holly was growing up, anyway."

"You spiteful cow," Elias hissed, and she raises her brows at him. "You're freaking insane, you know that? Insane!"

"But I'm not," Hayley responds calmly.

"You're guilty of three murders, Hayley," I state, and she looks at me in amusement. "You're guilty of the murder of Daniel Tyrel, who you killed in his own home, using his silencer, the one you're currently aiming at my head. You're also guilty of the murder of Bobby and Judith Cassia, who you murdered only weeks ago in this very room, as well as Clarissa Newman's. Are you really going to make it worse for yourself?"

"I'm making it all better, Holly," Hayley corrects me, rolling her eyes. "And who says it was me? I was away on a trip, it was confirmed. If anything," she continues, her eyes glittering with a new thought, "it could have been you, Elias. Or you, Holly. Who knows? Who cares? It'll all be another cold case in the end. No suspects, nothing concrete, except the flowers I'll give you as little parting gifts, and a fitting Lesley Gore tune, maybe."

"And what the hell makes this my fault?" Elias questions her. "I don't have a motive. I'm not a suspect."

"You weren't," Hayley agrees. "But you're two very damaged, sad teenagers. Holly could have killed you out of anger, or maybe she found out that you were the one who killed her poor parents. Maybe even your own."

But that wouldn't be totally unbelievable, I realise, wincing at the horribly wrong conclusion. Elias found his dad's body.

"Murder-suicide, even," Hayley suggests thoughtfully. "No matter. They'll rack their brains trying to figure out what's gone on, and sooner or later, they might realise that it was the two of you up to no good after all. Then, the world goes back to normal. Whenever I sleep, I can dream of Bobby, and he won't run from me. When I sleep in old age, in death, I can be with Bobby all the time, knowing things are how they're meant to be. And for you two... well, I guess you'll find out."

Hayley suddenly pushes me to the ground, aiming and readying the trigger.

"Don't you dare," Elias yells desperately. "Holly!"

"I love you, Bobby," Hayley whispers with a bittersweet smile, and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to shut off the senses that'll pick up on the pain, that'll let me die from the shot.

Bang.