~Madelyn~

IT WASN'T TRUE. It couldn't be.

Blue couldn't be Carnation Sweet.

Ridley's sister. The Sparrows' first love.

The facts were there. In front of my fucking face like a bright neon sign.

Sitting in the library, alone, I stared at the screen for what felt like hours. Just studying the article and everything I could find about the obituary written two years ago on a murder of the Beautiful Girl in Blue as they called her. The headline was splashed with gruesome tellings of a young female student from Raven Oak Prep, who supposedly committed suicide at Pier 62, a year later after the disappearance of my mother Charlotte Monroe became worldwide news.

A year after I was sent to the psych ward.

The anniversary of my mother's acclaimed death. All Hallow's Eve.

Is that why we are connected? Was her spirit tied to me because she died the same night I lost memories to my mother's disappearance a year prior?

I swore.

"Language, dear."

I smile apologetically at the librarian. "Sorry, miss Weathers."

Diane Weathers quickly dismissed me with a flutter of fingers, and a small laugh under her breath about teenagers.

Looking back at the computer screen, I went over the article again and again:

"A heartbreaking chapter concludes for a fifteen year old student. Carnation Sweet studied at her local prep school Raven Oak since she was eleven. A model classmate and fellow friend to many, staff and students have banded together to commemorate their loss. She leaves behind a father and two brothers who also attend the upper class academy.

Jonathan Sweet- Headmaster of the elite - and father to the young girl has not spoken about recent events which police officers are investigating. Carnation Sweet was found dead in the waters of Elliot Bay on the late midnight toll of February 15. Interviews with witnesses state she was missing hours beforehand, during which many claimed she did not attend the grand fundraiser of her beloved father's academy: Raven Oak Prep. As a member of the student council, preparations for that evening for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Carnation Sweet missed her schedule which was taken notice by family and friends.

Later details are not circumstantial, however intelligence from police paperwork reveal Carnation committed suicide at an early stage in life yet to be told. And now, never will."

Fourteen? A year older than me.

This article was written in 2016. The same year my mother disappeared and was allegedly killed because of me. Now I was certain she was still alive.

Three years I lived with Blue. She came to me mid summer. At a time I was at my darkest and believed all that was being said about me was true. Her presence comforted me and helped rush the days I spent in that awful institution with those abusive guards. People already thought I was mentally unstable, so it was almost normal for me to talk to her when the warden and nurses watched over us patients.

The times aligned.

I sighed. Rubbing unconsciously at the scars beneath my sleeves because they were growing increasingly hard not to itch these past months since I left King County. "So not a coincidence."

"What are you looking at?"

I leapt back from the screen at the sudden cold whisper in my ear.

Blue frowned down at me. "Are you okay?"

Not of late, apparently. Knowing Blue was Carnation put me on edge like nothing else. I mean...what did this entail for us? How was I going to tell the others that the ghost I've know for years might be the girlfriend and sister they all once loved?

Their beloved Carnation.

"You look pale," she continued, gray white eyes staring me down. ​​​Her eyes went to the bright screen behind me. "Have you found something?"

​​I hastily spun to shut off the computer as if that article would somehow make her remember. Why the heck was I hiding this from her?

"No," I lied. Then, slapped myself for doing so. "Maybe."

Blue frowed, confused.

I inhaled deep, delaying the truth. "I think I know who you are."

​"What?" ​Her eyes shadowed with something akin to hope and fear, merging together.​ "You know...how do you...who am I?"

I turned in my seat and tapped the screen on without word. Scrolling through the documents I researched from archives, I finally found what I wanted to show her. The picture I'd seen earlier popped up. I drew back for her to see and waited patiently for everything to click.

Blue peered at the colorful photograph of herself that was posted alongside the article I read. She was in school uniform as opposed to what she wore now with a Raven Oak Prep symbol stitched above the left breast area, same as mine. The photo was broadened in close-up visual, as were her undeniable beauty compared to the decaying paleness and bleeding wounds and fallen light in her beautiful steel orbs I was used to.

She looked at me, then back at her own self. ​"Is that really me?"

​"Yes."

Her fingers reached out, falling like clouds of smoke against the machine.

​"What is my name?"

​"Carnation Sweet," I relayed.

​"Carnation," she whispered to herself. "It's a beautiful name."

​I agreed.

​"What does this thing say about me? How did I die? Who killed me?"

​There comes the hard part. If what that article said is true, than Carnation died by her own hand. Though I don't believe it considering the knife punctures through her dress and across her throat.

No. There was no doubt in my mind she was murdered.

"You have a father that is still alive. And two brothers."

​"Brothers?" ​Her eyes shone with unshed tears. ​"What are their names?"

I hesitated.

"Blue," I started, "this is where things get complicated. Your brothers-"

"There you are!"

Our heads spun to the angered owner.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear at the most unlikely of times.

"Ridley!" I cursed.

"Where the fuck have you been?" he said, approaching with a mad expression. "We've been looking all over for you. Hansel said you ran off after talking about my sister."

Blue's head perked at hearing that. ​"Sister?"

"Why the fuck have you been asking about Cara? You have no fucking right."

"Language," I consulted him.

He narrowed a ashen stare upon me.

Oops. Bad time.

I looked around for help, but no one was there. Where was miss Weathers? Or the other students who were studying around me earlier?

Closing the distance between us, Ridley seized my upper arms. His anger washed over me in a sea of unforgiving waves. I became the sand. Pebbled grains soaked and dominated by the sea, relinquished to fear and excitement every time I stood near one of those boys. Ridley more than the others because his challenging demeanor and vile tongue called to me.

He was a lot like Hannibal in that way. Only more temper mental.

"Tell me. What the fuck do you know about my sister?"

"More than you do," I snapped.

His hand shot upwards, closing around my throat. He kept a breath of strain so as to choke me, but not enough to cut off my air supply. For some odd reason he held back because whatever had ticked him off was sure to push him over the edge if I didn't handle it carefully.

Whoops. Guess the big bad wolf didn't like to hear that.

His eyes filled with rage. "Don't fuck with me, princess. Why the fuck did you ask about my sister, Carnation?!"

Blue gasped beside me, watching on with wide eyes. ​"Ridley..."

​​Her voice trailed off. Surprise was her new best friend and slowing becoming something darker as she looked to me with a hollowness that worried me. The truth didn't have the positive effect on her as I thought it would orriginally. As her apparition withered into nothing but air, like a leaf caught in a high wind, I knew I was in trouble.

"Blue, wait!" I shouted.

I made a move towards her, but was reminded of Ridley's iron grip, which kept me in place. Held immobile to the counter pushing against my ass escape would not ensure if Blue would ever come back. She was a wandering spirit of the dead. Looking for her will not be a piece of cake, but I needed to make sure the discovery of Ridley being her brother didn't disturb her time in the Afterlife.

Maybe that was why I held off learning the truth of who Blue was. If she were to move on, where would that leave me?

I'd be alone.

"Who the fuck is Blue?"

Huh? Oh, I forgot Ridley was still there.

"None of your business." I pulled at his wrist and squirmed. "Would it kill you to ease up on the manhandling? I'm not a chew toy you can toss around whenever you feel like it."

Ridley squeezed a little tighter. "Fuck that! Tell me what you and Hansel were talking about. What the fuck doed it have to do with my sister? Do you know something about her death?"

"Yes." I croaked.

"What?" I shocked him.

"I know she's the reason you hate me. Why you can't stand to be near me. It's because you don't actually hate me. You like me. But admitting that to yourself would be like going down the same path as when your sister was alive. You would be betraying her memory."

He shook his head. "You don't know shit." His hand loosened an inch. "I suppose you think you know everything just because my brothers are weak for you. Han told you about Carnation, but no one knew her like I did."

"Maybe you didn't know her as well as you think." I countered.

Ridley smirked. "Maybe. But at least I loved my sister. I protected her. I didn't kill my kin and not remember it."

I chuckled, low and crazy-like. "Ooh. That's a nasty blow. I really get under that thick skin of yours."

He pushed into me, the brush of his hard length sending tingles up and down my skin. Even when he was mad it seemed to make me responsive to him. Damn treacherous libido.

"I loathe you with every fiber of my being. You're a killer."

I scoffed. "You and I both know that's a fucking lie." I leaned into him. "You want to know what I think? I think you hate your feelings for me are more than hatred. I challenge you. I'm not a docile doll who answers to your every command, nor do I listen. So despite what happend last semester with Atticus, you like that I give you a push to be that real monster. The monster that likes to take control of things and be an asshole-!"

He stole my lips.

~

And this will be hard for most of you who love the interactions between Ridley and Madelyn. There is certainly more to come so I hope you all stay tuned.

Comment. Like. Share.

Next chapters next weekend.