Kitty
We all came to the conclusion that sending Chelsea in to knock on the door was the best idea, leaving her Xterra down the road while we walked the rest of the way to the house. There were no police here but still we kept our distance, the boys sticking down the street while I snuck up to the side of the wall to listen. I scanned the living room before I ran around to the tree I'd used to get to her window the last time I was here and I scrambled up the branches, looking into her room to find that things had been moved, gone through; they must've been searching for any evidence. I quickly opened the window and listened through the door as I caught Chelsea's voice.
"Hi, uh I'm so sorry to disturb you," she started, "is Nina home?"
"N-Nina?" Her mom stammered. "Nina's...who are you?"
"Oh I'm so sorry, my name is Chelsea Lockhart, I'm a friend of hers from up in Silver Cove. I told her I'd be in town today visiting family and wanted to swing by and say hi to her."
"She did mention someone was coming to town," she admitted, exhaustion filling her words, "I'm sorry Chelsea, Nina's missing. She never came back to the hospital last night and we got a call this morning that...that she was a suspect in a murder case."
"Hospital?" Chelsea inquired, "I-I had no idea..."
"Her brother Chris was involved in a really bad accident, someone tried to kidnap him and threw him from the car. She hasn't left his side since it happened and now...now all of this..."
"I'm so sorry Mrs. Hopkins, um, I— I'll leave you be. I really hope Chris feels better soon and that...Nina comes home, and that it's all just some big misunderstanding."
"I hope so too, I'm sorry you had to come over on the worst day this week," her mother chuckled and my breath heaved in my chest as I choked back tears. Chris was in the hospital?
"If you don't mind me asking, may I visit Chris? I'd like to bring him some flowers, we talked a few times and I'd like to wish him well."
"No, please do! He's going to need as many friends as he's got right now, he's in room number 203, tell them to call me if there's any issue. I appreciate the kindness."
"Spreading kindness is the best thing to do when things are looking a little bleak."
I'd heard enough. I moved to leave the room and climbed back out the window, spotting the boys down the street as I closed it and hopped down. I explained everything to them as quickly as I could and they were both absolutely shell-shocked to learn about this new bombshell. Chelsea joined us a few minutes later, directions written down on a little sticky note.
"He's on the first floor, if we want to go see him we've got to go now. Kitty and I will go in and get passes, see if he's awake and able to answer questions. My bet is he knows what happened but he's not going to give up his sister to anyone but us."
"This is so fucking bad!" I swore as I slammed her car door shut. "You two know who reported this, right?"
"Yeah, the girl who's been bullying her," Thomas explained as he looked back, the city flying by.
"I want you to take me to her house. Tonight. I'm going to make that bitch talk."
"Not if I get to her first," Jeff snarled, his eyes reflecting mine. This was our Nina, our confidant, my baby fucking cousin. There was too much at stake.
We pulled into the visitor lot and the boys stayed out in the car while Chelsea and I stormed into the building, doing our best to keep a calm demeanor while inside I knew we were both itching to make someone bleed. The nurse at the front desk was nice enough as we greeted her, Chelsea taking most of the lead sheerly because she knew if I opened my mouth I'd start making a scene.
"Hi, my name is Chelsea, this is my sister Cassandra, we're here to visit Chris Hopkins. His mom said he was in room 203?"
"Oh, yes! Friends from the high school?"
"Yes, we've been busy and haven't had a chance to come see him yet," Chelsea softly laughed, "with everything going on with his sister too we wanted to make sure he was okay."
"No problem, here's these for you two if you can fill this out for me real quick—"
She passed a paper over and Chelsea quickly scribbled some fake information down before we were given passes and pointed in the right direction. We were warned he might not be completely coherent from the pain medication but I'm sure the moment he saw my face he'd be wide awake. Chelsea was the one to knock and open the door, the nurse greeting us with a pleasant chirp while I got a good look at my little cousin. There was this strange, hollow sensation as I looked over a ventilation device, all the EKG stickers and wires poking out from under his gown and and a bright blue cast around his arm. His face was still swollen, bruised and stitched, but he was awake, recognition sparking as I gave him the warmest smile I could.
"Hey, Chris," I laughed, choking back the sobs that tried to rip through my chest.
"I'll be back in ten, don't pressure him too much to talk, he's still pretty out of it from the pain medication," the nurse explained quietly as she passed by, Chelsea and I nodding before the door closed and he promptly pushed himself up to sit.
"Kitty..." a tear streamed down his cheek while I moved to his side, "you actually made it."
"Not in time apparently, do you know what happened?" I asked quietly; he looked so different now, even underneath all this muck. His face was a little longer and stubble had started to poke through along his jaw, his wild curls even longer than before and I'm sure his mom was just itching to give him a buzz cut.
"All I know is that Nina left last night with a pretty intense look on her face," Chris whispered, "the cops tried to come in this morning but I acted like I was too doped up to hear them."
"Honey, who did this to you?" Chelsea asked as she took his other side.
"Claudia and her friends," he spat, "I know she's the reason Nina snapped. Malcolm and Yoni are the ones they found dead."
"I fucking knew it," I snarled, taking a deep breath to calm myself down as I reached out and ran a hand over his forehead before I gently kissed it, "we're going to find your sister before the cops do, I promise you."
"Please," he begged me, "she went to get payback, I just know it, and something happened. Find Nina and make sure she's okay."
"We will," Chelsea assured him, "don't you worry kiddo. Finding people is our specialty, we found her after all."
"Took you long enough," he chuckled and I offered him a teary smile, "we were so worried about you Kitty. Nina and I cheered every time we saw you on the news. I-Is Jeff here? And Tom?"
"They're in the car since they couldn't come in."
A sudden tapping distracted us and we turned to see find two faces waiting on the other side of the window. Chris laughed as Chelsea got to her feet and slid it open, waving at him through the screen while he waved his good hand back.
"I can't believe you guys came to see me," he laughed with a big, cheesy grin on his face, "I feel so special right now."
"I'd come in and sign your cast if the nurses wouldn't scream at me," Jeff snickered, "you really picked blue over red? Tom over me? Damn, I'm hurt."
"He likes me more 'cause I actually have eyelids," Thomas elbowed him while he cracked a devilish laugh, "we're going to Claudia's tonight to see what she knows. Nina can't have gone far."
Hesitation crossed Chris's face before he settled on a steady, stony gaze. "If you find out she did something bad to my sister," he whispered, "you give her hell for me."
"Don't have to tell us twice," Jeff assured him, "get well soon kid, I'm going to fuck that bitch up for laying her hands on my family."
"We'll meet you at the car." I nodded and waved them off before Chelsea closed the window. "I'm sorry this happened to you. She's a cruel, evil girl. You deserve so much better."
"Hey, if you guys finish the job at least she won't mess with me or Nina anymore," he chuckled darkly, "I wanted to be a pacifist but this has gone on too long. I— I don't even care about me, I just want to make sure she's safe. She always comes to my rescue and this time...this time should never have happened."
"Agreed," I leaned down and hugged him gingerly, pulling back and saying our goodbyes before the nurse came back in. Chelsea and I ripped the visitor stickers off as we walked through the parking lot, our faces filled with unbridled anger. Jeff was right, no one messes with my family and gets away with it.
Nina
I heard...water. It's the first thing I noticed aside from the darkness. Something pulled me back from the brink of whatever had been about to happen and I made my body move, albeit slowly. When I finally managed to open my eyes the bright, fiery ball directly overhead nearly blinded me, making me squint and raise a hand to block it out. Something rushed around my skin that...I couldn't actually feel, but instinctually I knew it was the water. What's going on?
It took a lot of effort but I finally sat up and looked around, finding that I was laying in a stream at the bottom of a hill and my backpack had gotten lodged in the arm of a cactus. I blinked a few times and looked down, spying what was left of my bra through the burn holes in my shirt. My shoes and shorts were in the same condition but...something else had changed. Why was I so pale?
I lurched forward as I tried not to puke, dark hair ringing the edges of my vision while I remembered the events of...last night? Two nights ago? I had no idea how long I'd been out here for. My skin was saved from major burns by the water but I saw minor patches of pink skin here and there, bubbled and tender compared to the rest of my body. When I tried to get to my feet my vision blurred but I stayed upright, lunging through the stream until I made it to where my backpack was. Before doing anything else I stripped out of my burned clothes, finding my jacket and my skirt hidden away. My shoes had survived most of the damage at least and as I ran my fingers through my hair I saw...ash? My hair tie was in tact further up the bank but my hair itself was dark, singed to a crisp. I ran my brush through it out of habit until I flinched, recalling the shock of slamming the rod into the side of Yoni's head.
"Did I...?" I looked down at my hands as they trembled, what was left of my clothing confirming it for myself. I was covered in dark, dried blood. I killed them.
It felt fantastic.
A slow, wry chuckle left my lips as I tied my hair back and remembered what Claudia had done. Bleach and fire, the same two things that Jeff had gone through. No wonder my skin looked like his, not to mention the lack of a nervous system reaction; I slapped my arm as hard as I could and I barely felt it, even as the skin slowly turned pink. This was going to be fun.
I got to my feet and pulled my backpack on, realizing no one could recognize me like this as I climbed back up the hill to see where I was. My body must've washed downstream and away from the crime scene since I couldn't see any house in sight. The longer I walked the worse I felt but eventually I saw buildings in the distance, Tempe's familiar outline welcoming. A shiny object caught my eye and I looked down the bank of the now larger stream, a sliver of pink sticking out of the side of the hill. My hand wrapped around the grip and I ripped it out of the sand, shaking it off while a grin cracked my cheeks.
Time to go find Kitty.