Once again Robyn was seeking comfort in Julius' arms. Her eyes were sore from crying, her entire body aching. The caretaker came up to them after a few hours of Robyn sobbing. 'I'm sorry. It should've been me. I was instructing you all but prioritising myself. It's all my fault.'
'It isn't.' Robyn looked up, her vision blurred with tears. 'I'm not the only one who's lost somebody today. Don't blame yourself for any of this, please.'
The caretaker wordlessly went back to moping in his corner. Julius' art work was hung up around the gym to brighten up the darkness sweeping over the seven remaining people. Five people who'd been lost along the way, three of which she loved. Three of which she would mourn and miss forever.
Suddenly, a grumpy looking KJ walked over to where she was sat and handed her a phone. 'The signal has come back up. Call whoever you need to.' Robyn took the phone gratefully and pulled out her own. The service wasn't working on that one, only KJ's. 'Kathy, Xia and March built something over there to make it work. We've all called our parents. You should too. Especially your dad.' KJ dropped his gaze and went back to talking to March.
Robyn copied out her dad's number and pressed call. It rang three times before her father picked up. 'Hello, who is this?' he sounded drained of energy.
'It's me, Robyn.' The conversation went on and on, but every time Robyn tried to mention where she was or what had happened her voice stopped working, as if an invisible force was preventing her from saying what she wanted.
'So, Robyn, where's Sam then?'
'They're-' her voice cut off and the phone screen went black. Robyn handed the phone to KJ. 'It's de...' she wanted to say dead but after the events of the past day it didn't seem like the right word to use. 'It's out of charge.'
'But it was on full charge when I gave it to you?' KJ looked accusingly at all four girls stood near him. 'The machine-' He waved his hand at a small windmill contraption. 'Is stupid.'
'It runs the battery down but it still gives service,' Kathy explained.
'It worked better than expected, to be fair,' March said, siding with both KJ and her friends.
'At least 5 of us got a call.' As Xia spoke, KJ nodded.
'I didn't want one anyway.' Five heads turned to where Julius was stood. 'I've got nobody left.'
'Me neither.' The caretaker stood by his side.
KJ groaned and stamped on the metal contraption that was meant to be useful. Robyn heard a slight whir as the machine powered down, then silence. KJ shook his phone around, hopelessly trying to get it to work. No matter what he did, the service didn't come back on.
Seven people sat in the gym, the excitement of being trapped slowly wearing off. The caretaker and KJ missing a friend, Julius mourning his sister, Kathy, March and Xia not knowing the people who'd died very well but fearing for their lives, Robyn holding desperately on to the memories of Sam, Benji and Joey. They would not be forgotten as long as she lived.
Then again, would she even survive this? Could she begin to hope that the same evil thing that'd killed Sam would not kill her? Additionally, if she survived, how would she explain the bodies and the way they hadn't escaped. All Robyn really knew was that she was tired. It was only a few hours since she had slept, the time 3 in the afternoon, but it was dark outside and time wasn't working in the school anyway. A year could've passed since the phone call, two years before that.
Unless she escaped, there was no way of knowing what was going on in the outside world. She wondered if Al and Dan had got married, because who knew how long it could've been. She thought about how worried both sets of parents would be, even if it had been just one day. She couldn't imagine what they were going through right now. Would Al have told Elli about the call yet or not? Would he mention the fact that Robyn hadn't mentioned Sam once, and had gone silent when he had?
And Julius' parents too, would they worry about their insane child being left for an entire night in the same place their daughter had died exactly four years and a day ago? Would they mourn his death, or would they just not care?
She thought about what family the caretaker might have. After all, he was only just an adult, still learning about the world. Did he still talk to his parents? Did they still talk to him? It then occurred to her once again that she still didn't know his name. And the fact that not even Grace had asked him worried her more. Maybe he wasn't lying about having no-one.
Would Kieran's father truly care? If he lost his son, it would damage his reputation, sure, but would it affect his life? KJ would've been taking over, the mayor of Dultones in ten years time, and Robyn didn't struggle to see him in that position, even after he'd been broken and challenged he still stayed strong. Robyn wasn't the only one who'd lost both a best friend and a lover. Benji and Grace's death will have scarred him for ever.
March didn't seem too affected yet. She had held her head up, the way she acted in difficult situations reminding Robyn of an ancient warrior queen or a goddess. This whole situation had tested and strengthened her bonds with both KJ and Kathy, but for better or for worse?
Kathy hadn't really known any of the dead. She had hated Grace and Benji, that was for sure, but other than that she never spoke to or of either of them frequently. Yet the thought of people dying had clearly hurt her. Robyn had once tried to read some of the books she reads, yet hated them. Kathy had read books about this situation all of her life, so she understood better than any of them how it works. Usually Robyn wouldn't base anything off books and films, but now she understood that they weren't too far from her new reality anyway.
Lastly, there was Xia. Fierce, strong, brave, kind and surprisingly intelligent. Robyn hadn't really known her before the whole event had happened, nobody had. But she had slowly come out of her shell over the past few hours, flirting with Kathy and becoming what could've been called friends with March.
Then Robyn's mind drifted to the families of the dead. The image of Joey's parents flashed once again, but she shut it away. She didn't even want to think about that right now, so she thought about him instead. His deep brown eyes and his hair, his tanned skin and the way he had smiled at her. His sense of humour that never failed to make her laugh, even in the darkest of times.
It hurt to even try to think of Benji. Benji and Robyn had noticed each little thing, all the good things in one and other and Robyn would never forget some of the conversations they had had, the little trinkets he gave her still next to her bed, the flowers still pressed into the notebook. Their notebook. His number was saved into her phone as something completely anonymous, and it was unblocked but she'd never messaged. Robyn wished she'd have the chance to apologise for not loving him enough, but she never would.
Her own father and his boyfriend would be worried sick now. Robyn hoped they were both okay, but she knew that hoping wasn't enough to save Sam now. It was to late for them, too late to save them even though Robyn knew she probably could've if she'd dived through the door and pushed Sam down. It should've been her.
Grace's dad wouldn't even notice she was gone. It was no secret that he was Dultones' drunk. No secret that it was him who had undoubtedly killed Grace's mother, even though the police refused to believe it because he was rich. That was how the town worked. He was mad was Grace's father, constantly reporting ghost sightings around his house. He knew ghosts didn't exist, surely.
Robyn had never even met Anna's parents, but they were kind and talented musicians just like she had been when she was still alive. Anna hadn't deserved to die, that was for sure. She had been silently clever, and she really had been under Benji's spell. She had too much to live for, so why her?
If it truly was a murderer, not just random accidental deaths, which had almost been completely ruled out after Benji and Sam, then why these people, why Sam, they'd done nothing wrong, and why Benji if he hadn't hurt Anna? She could see why somebody would want to kill Grace and maybe Benji, to be fair, but Anna? Anna, Sam and even Joey? Burns don't just disappear like that. Not in real life.
Robyn was beginning to question everything she'd seen recently, including the message written in blood and when she saw Grace pouring the boiling water over Joey's head. When Joey had been propped up on the drama room chair smiling, Robyn hardly had any memory of moving the body. What if she'd imagined it all?
She pushed all the thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn't want to have to deal with that now, not with everything else she had to worry about.
Nobody had spoken out of the seven people for over ten minutes. Robyn looked around the gym, seeing March and KJ leaning on each other's shoulders. Kathy and Xia were looking around, not meeting anyone's gaze. The caretaker was sat with his shoulders hunched. He wasn't showing any emotion, as usual.
Robyn's hand reached out to find Julius', but she was greeted with empty space. She turned her head, not wanting to see what she knew she was going to. Julius was gone. He had left one thing on the bench; his blazer with the Roseweed and Oakway's home for the troubled's symbol facing upwards.
Something about the way the blazer looked like it'd been sewn together several times and the way that Julius had worn it with pride to a place his sister had died even after being discharged sent a shiver down Robyn's spine. Of all the things he could've worn, why would he choose that?
Robyn got up and signaled for Kathy to follow her in the silent language both had become familiar with in the past year. Kathy stood up and both walked down the corridor. It took about a minute for Kathy to catch up with her but when she did, Robyn ignored her for almost another minute, suspiciously looking around classrooms.
'Can't see Julius anywhere, can you?' Robyn continued peering through different windows.
'What do you mean?' Kathy was walking fast trying to keep up with Robyn.
'Well, he used to be in Roseweed and Oakway's home, but he told me he'd been discharged. I don't think he was. I think he escaped and he's dangerous. He's out there, on the loose while people have been dying. I can't believe I didn't notice earlier!' Robyn persisted and kept flinging open different classroom doors.
'Robyn, calm down. What made you think that anyway?' Kathy had finally caught up and had doubled her pace so she didn't get behind again.
'If you'd just been discharged from somewhere, would you really continue to wear the blazer? He kept it with him, not taking it off. Suspicious, no?'
'You have a point. Why didn't I notice that sooner.' Both girls sighed.
'Then there's his art. He went to draw something for three hours, in that time he probably could've set up a trap somewhere in the room for Grace. And his drawings were horrific. They were of him being punished and tortured, but I saw one picture that was different. It was him leaning over a body, and on top, in the same red that the message above Benji had been written, it said Revenge.'
'So he didn't get discharged?'
'No. He escaped and I think he killed someone to do it. Also, did his mother ever mention having another child? Besides Jamie, I mean. There was that family photo, but if we do some research, we might find something. I noticed one computer was up and running when we were in the computing room.'
'If you're so sure Julius is the killer then why are you looking for him so desperately? Surely you should stay away from him.'
'I'm not looking for him.' Robyn shoved open the door to the maths classroom, Mrs Forest's classroom, and rummaged through the drawers. She pulled out a small object after a couple moments of searching. 'I'm looking for this!' Robyn pocketed the USB stick and followed Kathy back to the gym.
'We need to go to the computing room, all of us,' Kathy told everybody. Both girls noted that Julius still was yet to return.
The six of them trooped to the computer room, up the flight of stairs and each person sat at a separate computer. There were six computers, the perfect number, on and logged in as each of their personal accounts. More proof that something was going on here. Every event could've been a coincidence on their own, but not altogether like this.
This time it was Xia's turn to take the lead. 'If we all do the same thing we'll get nowhere. Caretaker, you search for the Roseweed and Oakway's data, March work on who Julius Forest is. KJ, find out who it could be if Julius isn't really Julius, and Kathy, find out everything about Julius. Robyn, you use the USB stick for more information, I will look at records of the people Julius could really be.'
Everyone silently sat at the computers and did what they were told. Robyn inserted the USB stick and opened the folder. There were four main files, one titled work, one titled money, one titled Jamie and another titled Julius. The other files were holiday pictures and photos of restaurants. Robyn opened the Julius folder.
There were folders of photos and places titles things like Julius' first day at school. She looked at the most recent photo, uploaded to the file the night Jamie died. It was a photo of him with his thumbs up outside a cafe that had been outside the school since 2 years ago. He looked way older than twelve, he could've even been fourteen in that picture.
Robyn ignored how he looked as a whole, but focused on the tiny details like the shape of his smile and the way his eyes crinkled up, shining in the light. They were similar to the Julius she knew, but something was different. She could feel it.
Everywhere she looked his face looked the same, every little thing. The curve of his nose and the shape of his eyes had no difference. Robyn's eyes drifted to the top. While the Julius she knew had a shade of auburn hair that looked almost red, the real Julius' hair was closer to orange. The texture and style of the hair looked different too, leading Robyn to one conclusion.
Julius wasn't really Julius.
The caretaker had decoded the password for Roseweed and Oakways' data, scrolling through their admissions. The real Julius Forest had no record on there, no madness or being trapped in there. Julius had once visited for a day after he said he'd seen a ghost-like creature on the stairs. That was a year after Jamie's death, when he was at boarding school where he had been for the 3 years after Jamie's death.
March had managed to find an old record of Julius Forest and where it talked about Kenzie, a killing lunatic. Oddly, there were no records of where he was now.
As Kathy was about to look into the ghost Julius had seen, her computer screen went red. The face of a pale but clear little girl appeared. Then the screen went blank and everything disappeared.
KJ had found two people who were at Roseweed and Oakway's and fitted Julius' description. One of them had been discharged six years ago and was in hospital for unspecified reasons. The other was in there for being a serial killer from aged six. He'd escaped the asylum four times since then, and each time had killed more people. His medical reports said that he had an addiction to killing, and couldn't live without his murderous ways.
Xia had looked further into this boy's records. At only fourteen he had killed over 30 people, not going a year without killing somebody since the age of five, when he killed his twin brother, Tony. His name was Jay Cameron, son of Kyle Cameron and Ines Cameron. Kyle was a wanted man, but had disappeared off the map ten years ago.
He was last reported as being in Russia, hiding with some friends and getting into crimes. Ines had been ill since he had left, looking after what had once been six children and was now zero. Jay was the only one who hadn't been killed by him or their father. She had also disappeared recently, but it'd been reported that Jay had spared her life more than ten times.
So he had a weakness. Not that it'd help. The six had all figured it out now. They were locked in with a cold blooded lying serial killer. Their chances of survival had depleted to almost zero.
Every computer turned off at the same time, a cold chill going through the room. 'Do we find Jay or not?' Xia's voice wavered slightly, but she was keeping calm. If she broke down she knew everyone else would follow.
Robyn was terrified, of course she was, but she remembered the moments she had shared with him, the stories he had told and the way he had comforted her. Maybe she was the only one who believed that there was still a chance for Jay, that he could still be saved, but she wouldn't let go of hope. 'We can't leave him alone with a killer on the loose.'
'Are you insane?' KJ was on the edge of breaking down completely. 'He is the killer.'
'But he was with me when Benji, Anna, Sam and Grace all were killed. He hasn't killed anyone.'
'What about Joey?' March's voice was also shaking.
'Grace killed him. I saw it.'
Nobody replied. Nobody moved. Robyn silently moved out of the circle and headed down the stairs. She surveyed both the corridors before walking off. Kathy was behind her. 'Robyn! Where are you going?'
'Nobody's listening,' Robyn kept walking. 'Jay can't have killed Benji, Joey, Sam, Grace or Anna. He was with me and I've seen stuff that proves he's innocent beyond doubt. I'm going to find him. If he isn't the real killer he could help us find him.'
'But think of the thirty eight people who know he is a killer. Think of the people who saw him leaning over them as they bled out on the floor. You can't put this sort of trust in people like him.'
'I have to.' Robyn kept walking. 'He's all we have.'
Robyn was so busy talking to Kathy and being caught up in her head she barely even noticed Kathy's little squeal and her sneaking away as Robyn walked straight into Jay.
'You know, don't you?' Jay's eyes were pointed firmly at the floor, avoiding Robyn. His expression was cold but otherwise unreadable.
'Yeah.' Robyn was quiet. 'I know. We all do.'
'What have the others said.'
'I think they want to kill you. I came before they could.'
'Robyn, I've changed.'
'The reports said you killed three guards when you escaped. That's not changing.'
'That was necessary. It was survival.'
'Survival or not, it was still murder.'
'Look at it from my perspective.'
'Jay, murder is murder.'
'Is it though?'
'Stop!'
'No!'
'You murdered four of your brothers and your two sisters.'
'My dad killed 5 of them, actually.'
'What do you mean?'
'All the murders "I" did were my dad apart from five. The three people I killed were to escape, plus Kenzie killed two of them not me. Another time there was a fight, I couldn't live if I didn't kill him. I did kill my twin, but not on purpose, please. Then I killed one of my dad's friends after he tried to drown me. It was self defense.'
'What about the other person. The fifth one.'
'Kenzie and me teamed up against this one boy that was visiting for a day. He looked exactly like me and Kenzie thought it'd be funny if we killed him as a joke. It was stupid of me to agree, but if I didn't then she'd kill me. He died and I pushed it to the back of my mind until I had and idea. I pretended to be him, spun a web of lies that I live in now. It's been two months and I have an account, a job, a life that I'd be proud of if it was really me. I've built a person from his death.'
'Murder is murder, not a joke. You're sick. You killed Julius?'
'It wasn't my fault. It was me or him.'
'And you chose you.' Robyn sighed. 'I'd say it was selfish but I'd do the exact same thing in your situation.'
'Really?' Jay's eyes rose up from the ground. 'So I'm forgiven?'
'Nowhere near.'
The pair stood saying nothing for a few minutes, neither being able to find the words. Until KJ, March, Xia and the caretaker came running down the corridor. Each one of them looked from Jay to Robyn. Xia stepped towards them.
'Murderer!' Xia yelled.
Before Robyn could stop him, Jay spun around and ran as fast as he could away from them. Robyn reached out to stop him but he was already gone.
An hour later he hadn't returned, so Robyn let everyone else go look for him. While they were looking, she went to where she knew he'd be; the art room. She pushed open the door and found him lying on the desk
Robyn tiptoed up to him, looking over his shoulder at what he had drawn. The paper had a line splitting it down the middle, on one side an acrylic painting of Julius, the other a watercolour of Jay. At one side there was a splatter of deep red, blood red covering Julius' eyes. Then Robyn noticed that Jay's eyes were wide open, the pool of blood and the splattering coming from his mouth.
She looked behind her and didn't see anyone, but she saw a floating gun drift out of the room. Then she looked at Jay's body. The bullet had gone in one side and had no exit wound. Next to his head there was a note.
Dear Robyn,
I'm sorry about all of this. I know you will find out about my past and who I am eventually, and then you will push me away and not forgive me until we both die in here. I haven't known you long, but I know you won't forgive my past. If I'm dead when you find this, I just want to let you know that my time with you has been the best of my life, however brief.
If I'm dead then please don't forget me. I hope that you feel the same about me as I feel about you. I'm going to miss you in the next life.
Jay x
Robyn dropped the letter and fell to her knees. Now she had truly lost everything.