Rose Tinted Glasses

Chapter 9

"Rosie is the motive"

Could it be? Rosie isn't connected... or... wait. The note Sera got. "It pains me to harm those who have the same goals that I do." Is this the kidnapper's cruel way of avenging Rosie? So everyone connected in the slightest to Rosie's death.... they're all in trouble. Rosie is the motive, not the first victim. Rosie, who had so much more going on inside than we thought. Poor Rosie, too good to be safe and too scared to get help.

I had to tell Sera when she woke up. But what if she blames herself? For not being there? For not noticing? But she deserved to know. We could figure this out together, Sera knowing Rosie so well that we could trace the victims back. I would just have to keep a close eye on her.

I went through school in a haze, which was good. I let my grades drop because they kept me out of the spotlight. I watched for any signs of trouble, and checked on Sera every afternoon. One day, in the middle of Mr.Godeaux's daily explosion, I got a text.

It sounded like she could. But I could be assuming. It was hard to get a read of emotions by text. And Sera didn't express many positive emotions, as far as I could tell.

During lunchtime I hurried over to the doctor's office, desperate to meet up with Sera. The doctor, recognizing me from the many times I visited, gave me a smile and a wink.

"She's awake."

I beamed and hurried in, spotting the petite little girl with her blue eyes open and attentive, staring at me with a smile.

"Sera! Did they hurt you? Are you ok? How much do you remember?" Sera held up her hands, signaling me to stop. I clamped my mouth shut. She rubbed her temples, as if she had a headache and, well, she probably did.

"A stranger called me at 3 AM saying that he or she knew who murdered Rosie. I was going to report the call to the police.. but they got me before that. I had bruises and cuts and stuff, but I'm fine now. I'm just a bit delicate, and I get some nasty headaches. Rowan really wasn't lying about how bad they are."

I bit my lip. She noticed and gave me a quizzical look, so I pulled out the piece of paper.

"So I discovered something about Rosie.... promise you won't get upset?" Her eyes flickered over me, with the same look most people had when reading. That look of carefully observing everything before they flipped the page.

"I promise," she said, before hungrily snatching up the paper, her eyes devouring the words. I saw her expression change from confused to sad to guilty, and I stopped her there.

"Remember, none of this is your fault. But this means Rosie was not the first victim... she was the motive. So they will be targeting her adversaries next. If anyone who was her enemy doesn't show up to a class... we need to investigate"

Then I heard a scream. We froze, before bolting out the door, ignoring the doctor calling after us. We darted up stairs, along with all the other students. "OVER THERE!" Someone shouted, and everyone rushed over to a large bank of windows, staring out at the stream that had come to haunt my nightmares. There, yet again, I saw a body. A short one in huge heels and with blonde hair. She looked a lot like Alice from Alice in Wonderland with her hair tied in a bow like that. Lavinia.

Lavinia was the next target. But why? What did... think Min, think! So if they were getting revenge for Rosie, why would they target Lavinia. What had her diary entry said, what did the janitor say? That the other kids would sabotage her? It sounded like Lavinia.

But why Sera and Rowan? As far as I could tell, Rowan had no connection to Rosie... except- the note that he mentioned. So some incident happened, and Rowan was involved. And Sera knew Rosie- she was her best friend. None of this really made sense to me. It was all jumbled and confusing, and I shook my head in anger.

"I can't believe it," Sera whispered from next to me. I had forgotten she was there, just as shaken as the rest of them. "I feel like this is my fault."

"What? Why?" I asked, worried but also getting that feeling, when your stomach flips and your vision blurred at the edges, when you're so close to what you needed but couldn't quite reach it. Sera sniffled.

"If I had stopped Rosie... maybe this wouldn't have happened. I had kind of drifted away from her- I was just angry that she blamed Rowan for everything." That's it. That's it, that's it, that's it, my brain sang, but my subconscious apparently went faster than me, because I was still playing catch up.

A moment later, it clicked. Oh. The killer would be mad at Sera, for not stopping this, even though she couldn't possibly have known. Rowan was important to Sera, and obviously hurt her. Oh God, this was it! I hadn't found the killer but the motive and, sometimes, that was more important than the killer.

"Min, are you okay?" Sera asked, grabbing my hand and giving it a quick squeeze. "You kinda blanked for a second there. Are you okay?" A heartbeat passed. "Min?"

"I think," I said quietly. I doubted that anyone would care enough to overhear, but I couldn't risk it. "I know why all of this is happening." Sera straightened as if someone had shocked her.

"What?" she asked. "What is it?" I grabbed her arm, dragging her down the hallway while hurriedly explaining. I wasn't sure where we were going. Next thing I knew, we were by the bench. The one we had first talked on. That one. The moment seemed so far away, though it was... what, yesterday? Today? Last week? I couldn't remember. Time was useless with all this chaos happening. "Oh my God," she said quietly.

"Oh my God," I repeated, not sure what to say. What was there to say? We still didn't even know who it was.

"Who would do it?" she asked. "It had to be someone close to Rosie and, as far as I could tell, that was only me. And I didn't kidnap myself. So... who?" I couldn't answer that.