The Soothville Murders.

Chapter 7: Under pressure.

Once, Thaddeus had been a cute, innocent boy. But then, he ended up in the same school class as Tonio LeBlanc. Things changed. Tonio started hanging out with TJ wherever he went. And Tonio changed TJ. Thaddeus Jasper Dale became a brutal, childish bully not caring about other's feelings anymore. He bullied Jason, made fun of David, and avoided Serena completely because she wasn't "hot enough". The only positive thing TJ did have left the last time Emma saw him, was him playing the guitar. They had a worship band, together with Emma's younger brother, Eric. It was called Salvation. 

No! Emma didn't want to think about her not liking TJ anymore. He was dead, after all. She had liked his friendship whenever he wasn't with Tonio. Poor Tonio. He was dead, too. Nobody seemed to notice that they were two. Even the detectives found TJ first, believing there was only one victim. 

Emma wondered what had happened to her two friends. The detectives had said TJ had been tortured before he was killed. Emma didn't even want to imagine what they had done to him. She didn't know if the police had found Tonio yet. Nor if Christina, Jason and David were okay. They had all barged out of the station. She had seen Jason fight with a police man. She had never expected him to do something like that. But, on the other hand, many things weren't as expected today. She hadn't expected her friends to die. She hadn't expected her other friends to run off. And she certainly hadn't expected to spend the whole day in an interrogation room. Her day was perfectly planned. She would have her best friend and cousin, Serena, sleep over with her in the studio. Then they would have a nice breakfast finished by chocolate milkshake. After breakfast, Serena would go home, and Emma would go out to meet another good friend, Simen Olsen. The exotic, handsome boy with blond hair and blue eyes. From Norway. He talked different. She found it attractive. He was one of her closest friends. She didn't know if they were only friends. Sometimes, she imagined them being more than that. But she shook it off as hormones.

Simen. He didn't know what had happened. He was probably still sitting on her porch, freezing. Poor Simen. She hoped he didn't get too disappointed in her not showing up. Well, he couldn't get mad of course. Her friends were dead. 

Her friends were dead. A cool thought hit her. What if Simen died? What would she do then? What if the killer killed Simen. No. He wouldn't. She knew Oliver Hearst, and he would never do such a thing. Oliver killed only those who deserved it. 

Did TJ and Tonio deserve it?'Emma had never thought about it that way. She had never imagined TJ and Tonio to die. But now, they were already gone. Perhaps she didn't know Oliver as well as she thought... 

She looked at the mirror. On the other side, there was probably a camera recording everything she did. She looked around, and then she faced directly at the camera, mouthing one word without making any voice: "Ravens!"

***

Jason Ravens was sitting in his own room, staring out the window. The bullet had only hit the flesh in his arm, and was only a meat wound. Still, Jason had a low threshold of pain, and had thought he was going to die. It had hurt that much. 

Lucian Roberts was dead. Jason had seen him die. He wasn't completely sure exactly what had happened, but Lucian Roberts was dead. He couldn't hurt anybody anymore. Strangely, it made Jason feel happy. He had never felt this excitement of somebody's death before.

He looked through the glass wall. Outside, this weird bearded guy sat in a wheelchair, observing him. Jason suspected him for being a cop. Surely, Jason was going to get arrested for stealing a cop's firearm. Perhaps he would even be charged for the murder. Jason didn't care. His friends were safe now. 

The bearded man continued to look at him, continued to stare at him. It was creepy. The man could be a criminal. Or mentally challenged. Jason saw him as a threat, but decided to avoid looking at the guy too much. If he ignored him, the man would probably go away soon.