Chapter 51

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Chapter Fifty-one

It's Not Yet Over

That night, Richard Grayson was left all alone in his house because his parents were on set working on a huge movie production, so he invited his best friends to come over to celebrate the defeat of their nemesis, stalker, and tormentor – E.

The boys gathered in a small cabana in the Grayson' backyard where it is located in front of the swimming pool. LED lights brightened the area.

Travis Becker brought a bottle of champagne. Louis Lockwood brought Pringles, Lays, and cornichons. Ismail Ambani brought out plastic blue cups and mixed the gin with lemon juice.

Although Richard was changing his lifestyle on alcohol drinking, he still gave it a shot. And since their celebration for their football victory was gatecrashed by the host, tonight was the perfect night to celebrate.

"Gimme that cup, Lou," Richard held the champagne bottle to his left hand.

Louis shook his head 'no'. "I told you, I don't drink."

"Why not?" Ismail asked. "We're supposed to be celebrating, remember?"

"Yeah," Louis replied, "I have a bad kidney, remember?"

Ismail leaned back the cottony chair liking how Louis accentuated "remember" in British, "remembuh?" He even mocked it.

"I'll just have lemonade, instead," Louis asked for the pitcher from Travis.

Their cups were ready to be clanked with each other. Feeling the need to, Richard initiated the toast.

"This is for defeating those assholes..." he held his cup filled with champagne up in the air, "And for our survival from those assholes."

"To Jade..." Ismail added as he raised his glass. He still thought of her, though.

"...to Claire," Louis raised his glass. He felt the same way. Claire Summers was his first ever girlfriend – as in official girlfriend. Not just a hook up thingy like what Edward Lawson made him did.

"...to Brent," Travis slowly raised his glass. He let out an upset expression, but smiled in the end.

"...and to everyone," Richard finally said. He also added that the toast was to commemorate those deceased people for they were connected and closed to each of them.

Richard brought out two more packs of Doritos and a case of beer-in-can. He passed it to Travis and Ismail. The Lays and cornichons were consumed fast.

As the night got deeper, their conversation developed and clustered into different areas. Richard, Travis, and Ismail weren't drunk yet. Good thing Louis was there to control them.

"I just talked to Lexie Simmons," Ismail shoved his hand on the pack of Doritos and put a handful in his mouth. "She just returned town."

"Really?" Richard swigged from the can. "When? Where?"

Ismail was still chewing. He drew his hands pointing it backwards implying "a while ago."

"Yesterday?" Richard clarified.

Ismail shook his head "no" and drew his hands again.

"Swallow it first, dude," Travis said.

Ismail took a swig from his beer. He swallowed the bitter liquid really hard and let out a huge ahhh after. "A while ago at Toby's. Man... She's still hot, dude."

Richard smirked. "You're still in to her, aren't you?"

Ismail shot him a look. "Pretty much. But, come on, man. My girlfriend just died."

"Sorry," Richard felt bad.

"It's okay," Ismail said. He then grabbed another handful of Doritos like he had never eaten one.

Then, silenced walked past them for a second.

"Well, Quentin was out from jail," Louis switched the topic. "I just talked to him a while ago as well."

"How was he out?" Richard asked.

Louis took a sip from his lemon juice. "Because of us! We made him innocent."

"Good for him," Travis said as he nibbled some chips.

"Well, I never really thought that they're E," Richard protested as he leaned back and stretched his legs. "I mean, I thought Willie was the one 'cause he's devious."

"Well, I did think that it was Furon," Ismail munched another chip.

"Duh?" Travis said abruptly. "Furon's E. He smashed you with something hard."

"I'm not finished," Ismail said. "Remember the time when we were sent to detention?"

Travis nodded.

"While we were heading to detention," Ismail continued, "E sent me a text. I thought it was Furon 'cause he was staring at me, so I showed him the text. But he denied it which somehow convinced me since he wasn't holding his cell at that time. Now, it's obvious that Jude sent it."

"They're fucking impressive," Richard said.

"And fucking aggressive," Ismail added.

"Edward's killers are now resting in peace with him," Louis quipped.

After hearing the name "Edward", Travis got uncomfortable. His expression changed. He remembered what Officer Shay had told him that morning about Edward's killers.

Richard and Ismail noticed Travis. Louis as well.

Perplexed by Travis's demeanor, Ismail asked him. "Dude, what's up?"

"This morning, I talked with Adam about..." Travis got tensed in saying Edward's name.

"About what?" Louis curiously asked.

Travis looked at his friends in the eye. Then, he let out a sigh. "About Edward."

Travis told them about the information that Officer Adam Shay had told him about Edward having a different killer; about the evidence not matching with the weapons used; and the fact that they reopened the case again.

Louis and Ismail exchanged looks. Who else would have killed Edward?

"That's impossible?" Richard spat.

"How would you know?" Travis restated what Officer Shay told him when he replied "That's impossible". "That's what Adam told me: 'how would you know?'"

Richard stiffened. He arranged his thoughts about Jude's revelation. He remembered Jude telling him that he did not kill Edward. Jude also never mentioned if Furon did or did not kill Edward. So that night, he assumed Furon killed him. But after hearing Travis's information, it cleared up some thoughts.

"Richard?" Louis called his attention. "You okay? Do you know something that we don't?"

Richard looked at Louis in shocked and he nodded. He began telling them about the Revelation Night with Jude O'Brien about admitting that someone else killed Edward. "...I did not tell you this 'cause I thought that Furon was the one who killed him."

Suddenly, Ismail's Sidekick started ringing. He looked at his friends. His friends looked at him as well. The same look when they get a simultaneous text from E.

Ismail quickly grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. It was SteveMcLaggen on screen calling him. "It's Steve."

His friends sighed in relief.

"Hello?" Ismail answered wondering why. He could hear loud noises from the other end: a commotion as if something was in trouble. "Steve? Hello? Where are you?"

"Ismail!" Steve said from the other end. His voice quivered in nervousness. "Are you with Richard?"

Ismail glanced at Richard. "Yeah? What's going on there?" Then, the call started breaking up. "Dude? You're breaking up."

"What's going on?" Richard asked.

Louis felt chills running in his arms. Travis was nervously staring at Ismail.

"Come quick at Brittany's!" Steve said then the call suddenly hung up.

"Steve?" Ismail cried. Then, he gazed at his friends. "He told me to go Brittany's."

"What?" Richard jumped. "Why?"

Ismail confounded shook his head clueless.

"Let's go." Richard ran inside and grabbed his car keys. He felt goose bumps in his entire body. His friends followed him leaving all the snacks and drinks unattended.

Louis grabbed his jacket. Travis made a last drink from his cup. Ismail raced his way to the door. Not again.

Worried, they all hopped in Richard's SUV.

Richard started the engine and drove his way to his girlfriend's residence. As he was driving on the streets, sirens wailed from a distance. Then, police vehicles and an ambulance were rushing towards them. It seemed to head at the Schoenfields.

"I think they're heading to Brittany's," Travis leaned forward. He was sitting in the back seat with Louis.

Richard watched the vehicles blocking his pathway.

"What did Steve tell you?" Richard asked Ismail. His tone was highly panicking.

"I–I could barely hear him," Ismail sputtered, "There were lots of noises."

Richard stepped on the engine and followed where the police vehicles were heading. The police vehicles pulled over at the Schoenfields.


The area was in commotion.

Richard jumped out from the SUV as well as his friends. They raced to the corner and stopped to their tracks. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Dozens of townspeople stood around the driveway, watching and wondering.

Richard saw Brittany's parents on the front lawn crying while being interviewed by reporters.

"Ismail!" called from a voice from behind.

They turned around and saw Steve McLaggen approaching them from across the street.

"What happened?" Ismail asked.

Steve looked worried and dumbfounded. He looked at Richard who was also worried and dumbfounded.

"I think your girlfriend is dead," Steve inferred.

"What?" Richard cried.

Then, the Schoenfield's front door flung open. People watched the four coroners carefully wheeled a gurney down the front porch staircase. The deceased was zipped in a body bag.

The crowd buzzed. Flashes of camera lights ensued. News reporters ran to the scene to do their jobs. Police officers barricaded their way.

A bewildered Richard stared at the body as it was wheeled to the coroner's van. Preoccupied at that moment, he ran through the police tapes to confirm if it really was Brittany. "Brittany!" But he was blocked by some police officers.

Officer Adam Shay was there too.

"Brittany!" Richard was distraught.

"I'm sorry, son," Officer Adam Shay reached his condolences.

"I need to see her," Richard begged but some cops were blocking him. He wanted to see if it really was Brittany. And if it really was her, he wanted to see her for the last time.

Rage sparked in him. He was able to get through the police. As he reached the stretcher, he unzipped half of it and to his horror, his mouth dropped as he saw the blonde hair of his girlfriend covered in crimson. Then, the coroner zipped the body bag and carried it inside the van.

Richard burst out to tears. "No!" He dropped on his knees to the ground. His friends went to his aid. Ismail and Louis knelt next to Richard.

Louis comforted Richard. "We're so sorry."

Travis approached them after talking with Officer Adam Shay about Brittany's demise. He hesitantly informed them. "Officer Adam said that... she was stabbed brutally on her abdomen."

Indeed, it made Richard cry even more.

Travis wrapped his arms around Richard's shoulder. Meanwhile, Ismail wandered his eyes around to see if there was anything or anyone suspicious.

Richard cried a lot. He even felt his body throbbing while crying. He never cried a lot like that before. Is that how massive crying felt like? Wait, that wasn't his body throbbing. It was his iPhone throbbing from his body.

Richard's iPhone was buzzing in tandem with Louis's, Travis's and Ismail's. Their phones buzzed, tinkled, chimed, and beeped all at once. And then again.

Richard stopped whimpering. He rubbed his eyes. He knew what was coming.

They all exchanged looks thinking of the same thing. All their phones read One New Message on their screen.

They all hit Read at the same time. Silence walked in front of them and they were all stunned. They didn't care if people passing by were looking at them.

"Fuck," Ismail hissed.

"Holy shit!" Travis murmured.

"Not again," Louis mumbled.

Richard just angrily glanced at his phone.

The boys simultaneously read the same message a loud:

Dear handsome lying jerks,

Why didn't you just tell the truth? –From your best bud, E.

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