DRIP, DRIP, DRIP. WILL SPLASHED HIS FACE with cold water with a hope that it would clear his mind. It didn't. Running a hand through his brown curls, he looked at the reflection of the boy standing in front of him.
He eyed the image distastefully. There were dark circles under his green eyes, his face was tired and pale. He hated looking at his reflection: he knew he was strong, but it was more like he was convincing himself that he was strong for two years.
Sighing, he went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. Again with the hope that the bitterness would refresh his mind. Carrying the mug of coffee into the hall, he sat on the couch all by himself, eyeing the surroundings. Anything that would distract him.
Crushed papers were scattered around him. When he couldn't sleep, he had come out with his drawing pad and pencils with the hope that drawing would make him feel better. The drawings came out worse than usual and Will did what he always did. Stared at the sketches he drew until he hated them.
Kai's guitar was perched at the corner of the room, the TV screen frozen at the video game Theo and Jade had been playing the previous day. Theo's spectacles were on the coffee table, along with the stack of Rose's books she brought from the public library.
Will sighed as he ran a hand through his hair again, making it stick up more. It had been three days since that haunting experience and the image seemed to be burned at the back of his mind. His mind seemed to be on a loop, playing the same scene over and over again.
Will had seen the person throwing himself off the roof in slow motion. Will's feet had been rooted to the ground. In fear or shock, he didn't know. He had been screaming at himself to run towards the person with the hope that he might live, even though Will knew it was futile. No one would survive a fall from that height.
Kai had somehow managed to snap into action and ran at the fastest pace possible, and Will had tried to catch up with him. Some people had already gathered around the body. Person, Will had amended himself with hope, even though he knew it was futile. People had formed a circle around the person and were murmuring as a siren wailed loud, indicating the police had arrived.
Will had caught a glimpse of the person and his blood ran cold. He couldn't believe it. He told himself that he imagined it, but it was confirmed that his eyes weren't deceiving him when someone hauled him up on a stretcher.
Anthony.
His black hair had been matted with blood, his skin turning pale. Grey eyes were fixed at the sky and someone had reached over to close his eyelids. Will had stumbled back. Anthony might've looked like he was unconscious or sleeping if it weren't for the bruises covering him.
There had always been something about dead people. As if some essential spark had been removed from them, removing what made them human and living.
Will hadn't really known him, not really. Anthony had been sitting at the same table as them during lunch, but he never spoke. He was sad that Anthony was no more, but more than the sadness, he was shocked. What dominated both emotions was guilt.
More guilt added to the guilt which had already been eating him away.
He felt guilty that he couldn't do anything about it, stood watching as a person jumped to his death. Will walked towards the kitchen again, to wash the empty mug. Or to get himself another cup of coffee.
He was pondering over his decision when pain shot up Will's head like fire. Will cried out in pain as he saw a familiar figure emerge out of the darkness. "Oh my god! Will! Shit, I thought it was a thief. I'm so sorry!" Theo spoke, staring at Will with wide, brown, innocent eyes. The only thing which stopped Will from snapping at him was the innocent expression Theo bore.
Theo's face was etched with concern as he raised his hand and touched the spot where he had hit Will. He blew air out in relief when he saw that his hand was dry, no red fluid dripping over.
The pain had reduced to a dull throb when Will asked, "What was that?"
Theo put his hands in front of him in a surrendering gesture, dropping whatever he had hit Will with. "I thought you were a thief! I mean, we didn't really pay attention to locking everything up last night and I thought..." Theo trailed away before speaking up again, "I'm sorry, Will. You know I'm sorry."
Will's eyes softened, "Alright, apology accepted. What did you hit me with, anyway?" Theo's eyes widened at the question, and he hesitated. He finally held up an iron rod.
"Are you kidding me? I could've died, Theo McCallister!"
"That's the point. A thief should be punished for his sins."
"I'm not a thief you idiot!" Will exclaimed. "God, I can't even drink a cup of coffee without a direct threat to my life," he muttered but smiled at Theo nonetheless. "But this is what is bothering me," Will pouted in order to lighten up the mood, "is that you didn't recognize me."
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Everyone were up and eating breakfast. At 4 AM. The sound of Leo's bark echoed through the entire house. At first, Shay had assumed it was because he was hungry, and she tried feeding him, but he didn't eat anything. Will had later realized that Leo was barking because he was upset. And Leo was upset because all of them were upset.
Leo sat gloomily on Jade's knee, occasionally opening his mouth to bark or when someone fed him the food they were eating.
Turns out all of them were thinking about the day Anthony died, their thoughts concentrating on something else this time: the conversation they had with Anthony.
Will had been thinking about that too. While his brain was repeating the clip of him flinging himself off the roof over and over again, the audio clip playing in the background was the conversation they had with him.
All the people randomly dropping dead, they actually weren't committing suicide but are murders disguised as suicides. My girlfriend's cousin was investigating these suicides and after a few days, he committed suicide. My girlfriend started investigating them too, and she is dead now. Right now, I am convinced that these are murders, not suicides, and I am investigating them too.
The pattern had struck again, Will thought. Just as Anthony said, people who come to know about these things seem to drop dead. And as Anthony knew about it too, he died. Someone had killed him.
These aren't suicides but planned murders.
It certainly wasn't a coincidence. Anthony, his girlfriend and her cousin, all three of them died after they got hold of a deadly piece of information. For a second, Will thought if it was a prank. The thought went away as quickly as it came.
Will was horrified at what he thought before. His eyes drooped down and he realized the source of the crazy thought he had: not enough sleep.
He remembered how Anthony looked after he jumped from the building, the morbid image teasing his mind. Will shook his head to get rid of that picture. But he knew one thing: they had to do something about it. They couldn't just let it go. People were dying.
They went out to the beach to clear their minds and Will grabbed his notebook and other drawing instruments, just in case. Sunrises and sunsets are different every day, unique and beautiful. They were even prettier in winter, especially when it was almost the end of winter: just as it was currently.
The sand was softly golden with just the right amount of warmth. The rest of the beach felt like a cosy hug to Will. He sat close to the lapping waves, they felt both warm and cool at the same time. He gazed far off the horizon, the early flaring hues of the sun and ocean were like a divine painting.
Rose had brought ice cream tubs for there from home, and they grabbed their respective favourite flavours. The house they were living in was located right in front of the beach, beside the house was a thick grove of trees that lasted a kilometre or so. They were sitting at the ending of their Isle, and could faintly see their neighbouring Isle: Isle Aquarin located a bit far away from them.
Will was capturing the view of the faint outline of Isle Aquarin, the tallest skyscraper on the edge of the island peeking out from the fog. He tried his best to capture the beautiful scene in front of him: a foggy morning, the sun rising, the faint outline of their neighbouring Isle's tallest skyscraper.
The sound of the waves lapping and the familiar smell put him at peace, a faint smile playing over his lips.
As he drew it, stroke after stroke, he remembered a childhood story his mother had told. The Royal Isles were a group of small islands scattered but located close to each other. They had been owned by a royal family, hence the name 'The Royal Isles.'
They would visit each Island during holidays, this ritual had been passed from many generations. Will as a kid had been under the opinion that this story was their version of the folktales told but came to know it was true indeed when his father took him to the Blackwood Castle. The castle the royal family used to stay in when they visited Isle Blackwood.
The island Will was drawing currently: Isle Aquarin, was the largest and the most important island of The Royal Isles. He stopped mid-shading when Kai spoke up excitedly.
"I have a plan." He shouted suddenly, jumping up and down. Will flinched at his sudden outburst, his hand jerked, and it messed the drawing up. "What?" he asked, sighing.
"I figured it out when I saw Will drawing Aquariaa." All of them looked at Kai blankly and Kai narrowed his eyes, "Hello? The tallest skyscraper of Isle Aquarin? Its name is Aqauriaa."
"Ooh, nice. I didn't know that." Theo said to nobody in particular. Kai continued what he was saying, "The official records of all the Isles are stored in the lowest floor of Aquariaa. The official records include autopsies. You know that it is mandatory to have records of the autopsy and details of everyone who dies."
There was a silence. Will stared at Kai, kind of knowing where the conversation was heading. "Having access to those reports can help us a lot. We could check for any similarities in the patterns or commonalities in the deaths." Kai stopped, disappointed by the lack of response. "What? No eureka? Oh come on, this is a brilliant idea!"
Will processed what Kai just said. Kai wanted to take a step further, wanted to check for similarities, taking after the job Anthony had stopped doing. Investigating the mysterious happenings in Blackwood.
"And how do you think we will get access to those reports?" Jade asked dryly, blinking rapidly to get rid of her sleep.
"And who decided we will investigate the suicides? I mean, I know it's serious but what's the guarantee that we wouldn't die too? According to what Anthony said, everyone who delved deeper into these matters died."
"We can't let it go, Rose. I mean Anthony decided to share his secrets with us before he died. He told them to us, he trusted us. We can't just leave this matter. Besides, someone has to do something about this." Theo said, fixing his spectacles.
"I understand, but do you realize that we are eighteen year old high schoolers, not professional investigators? With no experience? Not to mention against a person or people who are experienced murderers who got away with everything? We need to be a bit realistic here." Rose retorted, leaning back on her hands.
They continued to bicker for an hour, then deciding to look further into the mysterious happenings.
"Okay. So what are we going to do?" Shay asked, yawning.
Kai grinned, "This is where my plan comes." All of them groaned at a time and Jade voiced everyone's thoughts. "I was afraid of that."
"What?" Kai asked, looking surprised. "My plans aren't terrible, you know."
"Theo's plans are terrible. Your plans are insane and mad." Shay interjected and Kai gaped dramatically. "Hey!" Theo said, his voice incredulous. "My plans aren't terrible!" He exclaimed, a pout on his face.
"Yeah, right. And I am not a girl." Jade said, rolling her eyes. "Let's get back to the point, people. Just listen to my plan, you are gonna feel jealous of my wonderful mind." Kai said, snapping his fingers.
They listened to Kai and Will stared at Kai with utter disbelief. "The plan where you sneak into the building and somehow steal the records, that plan?" Will asked with wide eyes and Kai nodded excitedly. "Woah, woah, woah." Shay said, surprised at the plan. "Okay, no. Just no." Jade said, shaking her head at the terrible idea.
"Why not? It's simple! Just going in and coming out. Easy-peasy. Piece of cake." Kai exclaimed, moving his hands around to prove his point.
"Just, just? You are telling it as if it's as easy as stealing cotton candy from little kids." Jade said at the same time when Will looked at Kai saying, "Are you insane?"
Will turned to Theo when he heard him siding with Kai, "Are you out of your mind?" He asked, his voice climbing two octaves higher on the last part of the sentence.
"Hey kids, let's go home and discuss it alright? People don't discuss their robbery plans in public." Theo said, half standing up and brushing his hands over his jeans.
"Slow down, Nancy Drew. We are not doing this. There might another way to get what we want, not this." Shay said and Will nodded vigorously.
"Why? Don't say no to this genius plan!" Kai and Theo whined together.
"Look," Will said, putting his hands out in front of him. "Here's how it goes: you come to us, saying 'Hey! I have an insane, terrible and last but not least, a suicidal plan, would you help me carry it out? And I say, 'Why, no' "
"Rose!" Kai turned to her, after observing the fact that Will, Shay and Jade were against his plan and Theo with him. "What about you? What do you say about my plan?"
Rose's eyelids were drooping when Jade gently shook her awake. "I wasn't listening, but whatever it is: I strongly disagree."
Kai, not really accepting this strong disagreement explained every step and every minute detail of his plan. As he reached the end, Theo waved his hands in mid-air with excitement and told them, "And then we come back with the records! Happily ever after...."
"Oh yeah? You mean we go to jail after getting caught and spend the rest of our lives begging the police for a group cell and then happily ever after. Do you think it is that easy outsmarting the police?"
"Oh, come on. Don't be a downer."
They spent their free time the rest of the day, trying to come up with something better. Theo sat at the corner of the room when another plan he came up with was directly rejected.
The sound of fake sobs filled the room. Theo was trying to induce guilt from them as they so rudely rejected his plan. He bent down, facing the wall and tracing circles on the floor with his finger. He reached over and started playing a dramatic sad song from his phone, the corner of the room he was sitting in was somehow darker than the rest of the house.
Theo finally got up, sulking, when he realized he was hungry.
At the end of the day, all of them had come up with a plan. A perfectly foolproof plan according to Kai. Of course, he would say that when the plan was mostly following the script of his plan, Will thought.
The plan was foolproof if everything went the way they anticipated.
Hopefully, they would, Will thought.
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