The Mystery Of Eastbrooks High

Chapter Eight: River Of Crimson

BANG. BANG. BANG. Three shots reverberated throughout the empty space, making Norah flinch. Three bullets pierced the back of Ruby's head, and Ruby fell forward. Norah's body operated on autopilot, remembering how helpless she'd been when her elder sister was attacked in front of her. She didn't want to be useless now.

Norah opened the car door and sprinted towards Ruby's fallen body, her heart beating in her ears as she fell down beside Ruby. Distantly, she could feel Austin catching up with her, and she saw him bending to his knees on the other side of Ruby.

Norah fumbled with her hands to remove her phone and to call an ambulance, helplessly watching Ruby's blood pooling on the grass. "Hello?" Norah's voice came out breathless. She quickly summarized the situation and the address, throwing the phone onto the ground with shaky hands and staring at the amount of blood increasing at an alarming rate.

Not my sister's blood. Norah's eyes widened with fear, and she shut them firmly, reminding herself that it wasn't her sister's blood. She dug her nails into her flesh, pushing away the flashback threatening to surface.

Norah helped Austin as he tried to stop the bleeding, but both of them knew it was helpless at this point. She lost too much blood, and Ruby's breaths were becoming shallow and brittle too quickly. Norah was desperate to do anything to save her now, so she took Ruby's face in her hands and gently patted her cheeks. "Ruby," Norah urged her, remembering her sister dying in her lap. No, no, no, that couldn't happen again, Norah must save Ruby somehow.

"Ruby, come on, please," Norah tried again, her eyes wide and teary. Ruby exhaled once and didn't inhale again. "Shit," Austin gasped, his fingers curling into a fist. "Shit, shit, shit."

Norah's vision blurred as she gazed at the blood on her hands. Blood was everywhere, on her hands, her shirt, her jeans, and the grass her knees were on. The blood was pooling and flowing everywhere. It reminded her of her sister all over again, slapping her in the face, punching her in the gut. "Oh my god," Norah whispered, a tear slipping out of her eye.

Norah struggled to push that day away, lifting her head to stare at Austin. Austin was staring at Ruby with wide, shocked eyes. There was a movement behind them in the trees, leaves crunching below someone's foot. Norah stood up immediately, her feet dragging her towards the woods. Towards the person there. She could see their faint silhouette behind one of the trees, watching them, less than twenty metres away. But Norah couldn't make out their details or how they looked, what they were wearing.

Again, she remembered how her sister's killer ran away, and Norah didn't do anything about it. Staring at this killer now filled her with rage. They probably were hanging back to see if their job was done. Norah darted towards the silhouette without even thinking about the consequences because she was too enraged. Someone just died in front of her, right below her hands. She wanted to do something about it.

Norah broke into a run, almost expecting the killer to raise their gun at Norah. The sudden noise of Norah running seemed to snap Austin out of his shocked trance, and he was immediately behind Norah. "Norah, no! What are you doing?! That's too dangerous, don't be stupid!"

Norah stepped into the starting of the woods, the air's temperature cooler inside. It was darker here because of the trees, the ground hard below her feet. The killer ran away to the right, and took quick turns, too quick for Norah to follow. But she did notice something useful.

She saw a wisp of dark hair exposed beneath their black hood.

Austin wrapped a hand around her arm, his eyes wide as he stared at her, his pupils swallowing the green of his eyes. They were both startled when they heard the ambulance approaching. They watched as the stretcher was brought out and Ruby was carted onto it gently. A woman with kind, gentle eyes approached them both, wrapping an orange blanket around her shoulders, and ushering them to sit down on the little white bench.