~Chapter XII~

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~Hansel~

"THERE WAS A TIME BEFORE OUR LOVE FOR CARNATION dwindled, that we faced an enemy the same as the one now. The first time we'd ever been tested and failed.

It was the beginning of our sixth term at Raven Oak Prep. A year the four of us wanted to discuss our relationship with Carnation away from Ridley. He was unaware at the time. So stuck to his choreographies that he barely had the luxury to spend a moment with us; even more so when his mother returned from a audition in London, for the lead role in the Broadway production of Wicked.

We were all on edge.

That year our parents came to visit us more frequently. Twice more than the previous years since we first enrolled at the academy. Their sudden interest in our lives made us question as to why? We learned quickly they were scouting wives for us."

"Wives?" Madelyn's face paled at this undiscovered truth.

I expected nothing less.

"You know our fathers work in alliance with each other, right?" She gave a nod. "Well, they also made a pact that their first born sons would marry together. Since we were children the idea of our betroths hung over our heads like a noose as we got older. It wasn't until we turned sixteen their intended search became obvious.

Carnation was unaware of it. We tried to keep it that way because we thought we could spare her until the others settled affairs with their parents, and convince them we wanted only one girl to be tied to. Kieran even went ahead as to select her a ring which was passed down from his great, great grandmother. Unfortunately, they didn't agree. And Carnation grew suspicious.

She lashed out.

We were a lot at fault for her behavior. Our arrogance made her unhinged I've come to realize."

I paused to run a anxious hand through my golden locks, pushing into my eyes. Talking about the past was always difficult for me. At times I hardly slept.

"We made sure to be careful around Ridley's sister. She was easily set off. Eventually, Ridley convinced us to tell her the truth of what kept us distant. We didn't spare her. Somehow," I huffed at the memory, recalling the expression on her beautiful face and feeling that familiar ache again at her response, "that didn't matter. Wives were inevitable, but for Cara marriage was not something she saw with us. It was like she didn't care. Like she hoped we would break up years of friendship, comfort, pain, love and just settle for the betroths our parents handpicked.

That's when our relationship started to fall apart.

Not long later, Nana asked me to meet with the daughter of a famous songwriter. She arranged a dinner date the day before the traditional FAMILY TEA celebration during spring. Parents and students were granted a weekend together, but ours never showed up. And never at the school. The only one who came was Morris. Regardless of what you may think about your father, he's a dedicated father.

He came to support the five of us every at all gatherings. Joined our table at every school function, because it was obvious our parents never would. Morris was good to us. From that day forth we spent a lot of time over at his estate. He was a lot like my Nana in that way, and our parents didn't mind so long as the five of us were together and occupied.

He supported us when we confessed about our relationship with his son and Carnation. Kieran's stepmother wasn't so forgiving. Phoenix's father, too. His mother on the other hand came around to the idea that his son was in love with someone as beautiful as Carnation. She accepted it. But unlike the others Nana's approval was the most important to us. She's very intuitive. As thirty three percent Native American her intuitions were never wrong, as she liked to called them. That's why I wasn't a surprised when she disliked all the girls we brought to parties. More importantly she didn't approve of our relationship with Cara."

"Four boys. One girl. Those kind of relationships are hard to accept for people raised upon traditional couplings of a man and woman."

Hansel shook his head. "That wasn't the problem. My grandmother has had five husbands throughout years of her life. Nana never judged others because of their sexual preferences, or the amount of boyfriends or girlfriends one kept. She was very open minded. We knew she'd be the one to persuade our parents when the time came for them to know the truth, so a trip to the cabin in Montana three weeks before Carnation's death was put in place."

Madelyn's head perked. "The cabin in Whitefish?"

I nodded.

Madelyn shrugged, a frown on her pretty lips. "I suspected I wasn't the only one."

"You're the second," I confessed to her. "And the last."

"Doesn't matter." Madelyn walked towards the stage and sat in the one of many red seats. I stole an abandoned one across her. Crossing arms she waved me on. "Continue."

Hands twisted around each other I drew back into the memories.

"It's like I said. Nana and Cara met. Displeasure was immediately placed on either of their faces. A war festering in their gazes as we were invited inside. I easily sensed the tension. Kieran, too. The others were less focused on the dark atmosphere, and more mindful of the food. But it was there."

Madelyn made a face of understanding. Immediately putting together the unsaid truth which was hidden beneath the question why Nana disapproved of our relationship. "The problem was Carnation."

I nodded.

"Another thing about my Nana was her lack of filter. She didn't hesitate to scold Carnation on the bad influence she had on us. A truth we didn't deny, but nevertheless fought to defend her against our fiercest guardian. Feeling cornered Cara left back to After their greeting Carnation began to withdraw further from us. Her need for attention grew. That's when I decided to cut off ties from Nana for good.

We argued in private. When I left her office she was no more on our side than the beginning, so we scheduled a flight back to Washington. The following week was the Valentine's Day fundraiser and I made a call to Nana to apologize. She called back later that night, but that was when everything went to shit.

The exact day Carnation didn't show.

Nowhere to be seen, we knew something was wrong. Our natural instinct was to search for her. We searched all places she liked to go. Her room was the last place we hit. But also the first to give us a lead where she might be."

"You guys found something," she stated.

"Worse." I stapled my hands together like a prayer. "A music box and layers of letters spilled across her bed with compromising photos and blue carnation petals and locks of blue hair hanging out of the envelopes. In others we found poems written in blood. Fucked up shit the bastard wanted to do to her, and things he already did as he snuck into her dorm during the night-"

The last truth made me choke.

I hated retelling her story. Falling back in time to when I realized the first girl I ever loved; who I thought I knew; who shared my firsts with me was actually a fucking stranger. She hid shit from us. Hadn't relied on her boyfriends to keep her safe. To protect her. Laughed and smiled and pretended life was good- but it clearly fucking wasn't.

"Did he rape her?" Madelyn asked, wearily and hesitant as I beat myself up in front of her.

I shook my head. "He never took it that far. The photos never extended past sleeping angles in her underwear or missing panties from her drawer. That's the furthest he'd gotten until we found out all his creepy shit on her bed. She kept it hidden from us even while we tried to find the fucker!"

I couldn't hide the growl at the end of that sentence.

"We were too late by then. He'd lured her into another trap while we were distracted with the fundraiser."

"What happened?"

"We received a message from her phone to meet at Pike Place Market. Night had fallen and Ridley and his father were worried because she hadn't showed. Carnation not present at a party was something to be worried about because she loved those sorts of things. So pretty much everyone started to panic. Phoenix and me the most. Then the text came to our group chat that she was at the waterfront near Pike Place, so we hurried over. Pissed off she made us search like headless chickens, while also enraged about the bloodied messages and cut off pieces of hair she hadn't disclosed."

So stupid of us to trust in her to rely on us. But also stupid of us to not fight harder about her secrets and against the danger that lurked.

"It was near midnight. Kieran drove like hellhounds were on our ass and minutes later we arrived, the moon shining down at us like a crooked smile. When we reached the market a crowd had formed around the outskirts and police sirens spun blue and red in the distance. A heavy weight of concern fell to the bottom of my stomach as we followed the noise, running faster when a scream sliced through the blistering night.

The commotion lead us to Pier 62. Less than ten minutes from the Public Market. There was no sign of officers, but a tangle of pedestrians gathered on the pier...."

Silence caught the air like a fist. Suffocating me as I remembered the adrenaline pumping my veins as we shoved people aside. Desperate to know what caught their attention, meanwhile the dread I felt inside expanded towards my heart. My mind pleading it wasn't her. Our Carnation."

A lone tear spilled from my left. Then, another.

I was drowning in regret. In the gruesome tale of tragedy which shaped my life two and a half years ago and has haunted me ever since.

"Finally, we made it to the front. And she was there. Dressed in her school uniform and as blue as the soaked locks of her hair. Blood pooling from her frail body, several knife wounds decorating her chest and stomach and one clean across her neck.

Dead. No longer breathing.

Whatever the term I can think of to describe it. She was dead. My first love was gone and nothing in this world was going to bring her back."

"I'm sorry," she said after some minutes passed.

"Don't." I raised a serious look. "I hate it when people say shit like that when they have no reason to be sorry for something they had no control over. The fucker who killed her is at fault. He's the only one needing to pay for her death. And we will find him."

"Is that what you've been doing? Why Ridley is so eager to get rid of me? You're looking for her killer as I have searched for my mother."

I wiped at my tears, hastily pulling myself together. "Helps to calm the grief we've yet to let ourselves act on. Ridley fights it every day. That's why he's so hard to get through to without a little violence."

"Do you have a picture of her?" she demanded, suddenly.

"A picture?" I repeated.

Digging into my back pocket, I pulled out my wallet and flipped it open to the last piece of her remaining in time. The photo was taken the summer before our sixth year.

"Here."

Madelyn grabbed the polaroid and studied it. Her eyes widened like saucers as she took in the girl standing between her five, teenage boyfriends like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her breaths grew labored. Fingers slipping from the coated paper I folded and unfolded constantly over the years to placate the sadness that gripped me every year on her anniversary or birthday.

Madelyn shot out of her seat.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I know her," she whispered to herself.

"What?" I said.

That was impossible. Carnation never left the city. Nor did she attend any public schools that weren't of the highest paying education.

"I know her," she said, stronger this time and eyes dancing aimlessly on the ground as if searching for something unknown to the both of us.

"What do you mean you-!?"

Madelyn didn't give me any time to ask. In the next second she ran out of the room, leaving me to gape after her and wonder how the fuck she knew Carnation Sweet?

~

Things are about to get a bit twisted. Finally truths are coming out even though I know some of you have already suspected from the first book.

Do you guys think the same stalker Cranation had is the same guy after Madelyn? Though Monster was the villain in the first book is it possible there might somone else behind the murders? If so who do you think it might be?

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Another chapter coming tomorrow!

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