Blood Red

Phase 2: The Execution

Death was messy. It was an unopened pandora's box. A box of loose ends, broken hearts and pain. A mess.

Amy Jones didn't look dead.

She looked more alive than she'd ever before. Her cheeks had a rosy tint to them, her lips were pulled to a smile and her eyes, bluer than ever before.

We'd been brought back to her house. But now, the cream walls seemed to be colored with the red of her blood and sharp footsteps of the police rang into the silence of the house.

Ava had taken one look at the body and gone rigid. A heartbeat later she turned tail and fled the scene. I later found her sitting on the bench, by the park still in her denim skirt and top—her dress representing her mood. Blue.

She sat, head bowed, the blonde strands of her hair spilling over her face—creating a curtain, a barrier separating the world from herself.

I sat beside her, not saying a word.

"I just can't believe it, you know?" she said in a calm voice. Too calm, I mused. "I mean, I just saw her today. She kissed me goodbye. And now suddenly, she's gone?"

"If this helps in any way, I know I've certainly learned something from today." I felt her curious eyes bore into the side of my face. "I must give you a two-hour notice prior to my death."

She cracked a smile. Then, the day's events seemed to come back to her and the smile melted away to a frown.

"I know it's not possible, it's just-" She let out a sigh "-I just can't come to terms with it."

"Mia, I'm scared."

I let another sympathetic smile graze my face. 

"You aren't throwing things around, and that's an achievement in itself. You're taking it better than most," I replied. I was impressed. I'd pegged her as the girl who threw tantrums. The one who'd wallow in self-pity all her life, but she'd proved me wrong.

"Oh-no. The tantrums will come. So will the tears. I'm just allowing myself to be numb for a while," she muttered, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. I doubt she realized.

"They say it's suicide, you know," I offered. "Barbiturates poisoning"

"They're wrong." came the soft reply a heartbeat later.