Luca stares out the window as he prays for the last bell to hurry up and ring. He glances at the clock for the fifth time and is delighted to see that it rings in two minutes. He packs his bag and stands up just as the bell rings. He rushes out to find Caspian. Luca feels a slightly shorter body crash into his and hugs him tightly. He lets out a soft laugh as he hugs Caspian back. “Hey, how was class?” he asks, pulling out of the hug, but still gently holding onto Caspian. 

“It was fine. Boring, but fine,” Caspian answers as the two start to walk out of the school and down the sidewalk side by side. Luca steps a little closer, and their hands brush, causing both of them to look away with slight embarrassment. Luca inhales deeply before gently taking hold of Caspian’s hand. The two boys walk together with flushed faces and awkward grins. They split off at a turn on the sidewalk, going separate ways to their respective homes. 

Luca decides to head to the store first to grab stuff for dinner, and he shoots his mom a text before heading in that direction. He gets a terrible feeling in his gut when he walks out of the store with a grocery bag. The air is cold with a winter chill, and the sun sets quicker than it did a couple of months ago. The tight knot of apprehension worsens in Luca as it gets darker, and he still has a way to go to get home. “Screw this, I’ll go through the woods,” he mutters to himself before turning off the sidewalk and walking into the looming forest. 

He walks and walks and walks, his anxiety and paranoia growing. He jumps and flinches at every sound, but he freezes when he sees a familiar girl. Now he feels a different kind of anxiety, mixed with awkwardness, as his mind flashes back to how he had held Caspian’s hand earlier. “Hey…what are you doing out here so late?” he asks awkwardly. She walks closer silently and calmly, and Luca stumbles back when he sees the knife in her hand glinting in the light of the rising moon. “Hey, what’s that for?” he asks nervously. She keeps walking closer. “Listen, if this is about Cas, then—” He’s cut off when she suddenly sprints closer. 

Luca lets out a terrified scream when she buries the knife deep in his sternum. He tries to cry out but chokes on his own blood, tears running down his face. The girl pulls the knife out with the sickening sound of crunching bone and pushes Luca to the ground. She grabs his phone and smashes it against a tree as she walks away. “Cas…” Luca chokes out before his heart slowly stops…

Caspian groans and turns off his alarm before groggily getting up. He goes through the regular motions of getting dressed, brushing his teeth, fixing his hair, and grabbing his bag. “Bye, Ma, I’m heading out!” he shouts, slipping his phone into his bag. 

“Bye, sweetie!” his mom calls out as he shuts the door behind him. He walks to school but can’t find Luca; he tries texting, but nothing goes through. He sees one of his other friends, Malachi.

“Hey! Mal! Have you seen Luca?” he questions, and the boy smirks 

“What? Looking for your boyfriend?” he teases, causing Caspian to flush and deny that they’re dating. Malachi shrugs. “Haven’t seen him, maybe he’s sick? Anyway, we gotta head to class or we’ll be late. Oh, and make sure your phone’s in your bag, apparently the sub we have for Ms. Johnson this week does not mess around.”

The day drags on painfully slowly for Caspian as he can’t find Luca anywhere and hasn’t heard anything about him. He eventually goes home, walking alone. He smiles as he gets to the corner where Luca had held his hand yesterday, and it cheers him up a bit. 

“Ma! I’m home!” he announces as he walks inside and closes the door. He pauses when he hears soft weeping. “Mom?” he calls out, walking into the kitchen where his mom is crying. She stands up and hugs him tightly. “Mom, what’s going on?” He starts to panic a bit.

“I’m so sorry, Caspian…” she cries, “Luca, he’s…” 

Caspain’s heart fills with dread, and he pulls away, holding his mom’s shoulders. “What? What happened to Luca?” 

His mom cries again. “He…he was found in the woods last night. He was stabbed and he…” 

Caspian’s breathing picks up. “He’s okay, right? He’s just at the hospital? Right, Mom?” 

She shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart…He was a wonderful boy…”

“NO! Don’t…don’t say that as if he’s gone! He’s not! He’s…” Caspian trails off as tears begin to flow down his face. He stumbles backward, away from his mom, as he starts to hyperventilate, then turns and sprints up to his room. He rummages through his bag and pulls out his phone, dialing Luca’s number. 

“Hey, this is Luca. I’m busy right now, so—” Caspian hangs up at the voicemail tone.  

“No, no, no…” He calls again.

“Hey, this is Luca. I’m busy—” Caspian’s sobs grow louder as he hangs up again, just to call again. 

“Hey, this is Luca. I’m busy right now, so just leave me a message and I’ll try to get back to you when I can!” This time, Caspian listens to the voicemail all the way until the beep. Then he calls to listen to it again. And again. And again.

Malachi groans when he dies in his video game again. “Dang it! I hate this stupid boss!” he shouts, taking full advantage of the fact that he’s home alone. He plays another round when his dog, Cheese, starts to bark like crazy at the back door. “Cheese, be quiet! It’s probably just a squirrel.” He goes back to his game, but Cheese keeps barking and growling. “Oh my god! You’re ridiculous. C’mon, you won’t see whatever it is from your kennel.” He grabs her collar and gently drags her to the large dog crate on the other side of the room. She quiets down, and Malachi goes back to his game, turning the volume up as high as it can go. 

A couple of minutes later, Cheese starts barking again. “God! Please, Cheese, just be quiet—” He cries out in pain and surprise as a knife buries itself in the joint of his shoulder. He shouts a curse as he is shoved to the ground, his right arm virtually useless at his side. He looks up and recognizes the girl, but he can’t place her name. “What…what the…why…who-” he stumbles over his words and holds his shoulder, which currently has a second heartbeat. 

“Go figure. I get rid of one problem, and another arises the next day.”

When Malachi hears her voice, he realizes who she is and feels a jolt of fear. “Wait-wait! Why are you–HEY STOP!” 

The girl grabs his throat and pushes him onto his back. “PLEASE! STOP!” He screams as she slowly pushes the knife into his stomach. Malachi screams louder, and the girl grins maliciously, then silences him permanently. All the while, Cheese barks like crazy, banging against her crate to try and get out, but no one can hear her over the sound of the boss music.

Caspian lies in bed as his alarm goes off. He hasn’t slept all night, not after hearing about Malachi’s death. Why was this happening to him? Why was he losing everyone he loved? He turns his alarm off and sluggishly gets out of bed. He throws on a new pair of jeans, but doesn’t bother changing his shirt. He walks past the bathroom without fixing his hair or brushing his teeth. His mom hands him his already-packed lunch and kisses him on the forehead before getting in the car. His mom has insisted on driving him everywhere until the killer was caught. 

Caspian gets out of the car and walks up the steps to the school doors without saying bye to his mom. He’s walking to class when he’s aggressively shoulder-checked. He grunts and looks over his shoulder to see Max snickering with his friends.

“What? No one to protect you? Where are your friends, Cas?” Max says the nickname mockingly. The police haven’t released anything about the murders. The only reason Caspian even knows the details is because of how close the three boys were.

“Stop it, Max…” Caspian grumbles before turning into the classroom, ignoring Max’s scoff behind him. Class begins, and Caspian tries his best to ignore Max throwing balled-up pieces of paper at his back. Tries his best to ignore how everyone is whispering about him. Tries to ignore his teacher’s pitying glances. Tries to ignore the memories of Luca and Malachi that seem to have taken permanent residence in the front of his mind. 

“Maybe they finally realized how worthless he actually is…” Max whispers to one of his friends, earning a snicker. 

“Do you ever shut up?” Caspian sneers over his shoulder, earning a couple of gasps. 

Max also looks surprised that Caspian dared to talk back. “What did you just say to me?”

“I told you to shut up. You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Caspian snaps, his glare harsher than ever. Max stands up, angry beyond belief, but the teacher yells at him to sit down before moving Caspian’s seat to the other side of the room.

The final bell rings, and Max scoffs, watching Caspian cowardly duck out of the classroom. “Get back here, Lynch!” he calls out and tries to follow Caspian, only to lose him in the crowd. Max rolls his eyes but lets the loser get away, walking out to the school parking lot. 

At eight o’clock, Max leaves home to go to a party. He sneaks out the back door, careful not to alert his parents. He has the time of his life at the party. He drinks, messes around with his friends, and flirts with random girls. He steps out onto the back porch, lighting a cigarette. He inhales deeply and exhales smoke, looking out at the empty backyard. He glances to the left and sees one of his classmates, though he doesn’t know her name. “You’re rather pretty. What’re you doing out here all alone?” He stalks closer with a smirk. 

The girl turns to him and smiles a little bashfully. “Oh, I just got a little overwhelmed. Came out here for fresh air.” 

Max chuckles. “Sorry about the smoke, then.” He winds an arm around her waist. 

“Oh, it’s okay! Don’t worry about it.”

Max realizes there’s something about her that’s a bit off-putting. Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Still, he tugs her a little closer, but pauses when he feels something sharp press against his stomach. He glances down and sees a knife. “WHAT THE—” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before the girl slams her elbow into his jaw, sending him staggering. He tries to scream, but the girl hits the butt of the knife against his temple, knocking him out.

She struggles as she drags him to the side of the house “Stupid, stupid jocks…Why on earth do you weigh so much?!” she whisper-yells with frustration. She lets go once they’re completely out of sight. “You better be the last problem I have to deal with,” she grumbles, taking her knife back out of her pocket. 

Max Byrd’s body is found two days later.

Caspian lies in bed, staring at his ceiling with a blank face. He hasn’t been to school all week. He’s barely even spoken to his mom. He closes his eyes and swears he can feel the gentle touch of Luca’s hand on his own. The feeling of warmth on his hand is just his imagination, but the tears running down his face are very much real. He’s been spending most of his time looking at old videos of him, Luca, and Malachi, or calling either of the boys’ phones just to hear their voices, but he doesn’t have the energy to get his phone from his backpack downstairs. He turns onto his side and curls into a ball, snuggling deeper in the hoodie Luca had given him to wear a month ago. 

The three of them had been at the state fair, and when it got dark, it was pretty chilly. Luca had given Caspian his hoodie when he’d started shivering. Now it is all that Caspian has left, the only piece of warmth that somewhat resembles Luca’s. He lies there and sobs for what feels like hours when he hears a loud crash from downstairs and shoots up in bed. “Mom?” he calls out.

Caspian’s blood runs cold when he hears his mother’s blood-curdling scream.

He jumps up out of bed and looks around for his phone; his panic increases when he remembers it’s in his school bag downstairs. He locks his door and tries to slow his breathing as he hides in his closet. He stops breathing completely when he hears footsteps going up the stairs and down the hall. The intruder doesn’t stop at a single door to check any rooms, going straight to Caspian’s. They try to open the locked door, and Caspian covers his mouth to muffle a sob. Instead of trying to force the door open, the person goes silent. Caspian silently hopes they just leave. 

His hopes are dashed when he hears a soft clinking as the intruder picks the lock. The door creaks open slowly, and the person stalks into the room, their footsteps incredibly soft and quiet. Caspian hears them walk over to the bed, presumably looking under it. They then walk over to the window and test the latch, finding it locked. “Not that you’d survive that fall anyway,” a female voice muses, and Caspian feels another layer of dread when he recognizes the voice. She walks over to the closet and knocks slowly. “My love?” she asks softly, invitingly. 

When Caspian doesn’t answer, she opens the door herself. Caspian feels the breath rush out of his lungs when he sees Alina standing there, covered in his mother’s blood. He cries softly when he sees the knife in her right hand. “Why are you doing this?” His voice is barely a whisper as he meets her eyes. 

“Why? Because you thought you could leave me for that loser?” She chuckles, “And even after I got rid of him… It was Malachi you went crawling to. Not me,” she mumbles, and the words feel like a stab to Caspian’s heart.

“You killed Luca?” He shakily stands up. “Did you kill Malachi too?!” he shouts.

Alina slaps him right across the face, sending him stumbling back. “And then your mother. And now…it’s your turn.” She rushes at him, but he kicks her in the stomach and tries to run past her, only to scream at the agonizing pain that shoots up his leg when Alina slices his Achilles tendon, sending him crashing to the floor. He tries to stand again, but his leg won’t move properly. 

“Please…please don’t do this…” Caspian cries as Alina crouches over him. 

“You did this to yourself.” She holds him down and presses the tip of her knife to the left side of his chest. He cries louder as she starts to carve the shape of a heart on his chest. He screams when she stabs slowly until she pierces his heart. Caspian feels blood bubble up in his throat, and he coughs it up. He slowly starts to lose consciousness, and Alina only pulls the knife out when he goes quiet and still…

Caspian groans softly as he starts to stir awake. He blinks his eyes open and squints as he looks up at the bright sun. He sits up and looks around. He’s in a field of lively green grass and many different flowers.

“You’re awake.”

Caspian freezes when he hears the soft voice, tears stinging his eyes. He turns around slowly and sees Luca sitting there, weaving grass and flowers into a crown. Beside him sits Malachi, who’s petting a puppy in his lap. Caspian lets his tears flow as he lunges forward and hugs them both tightly.