Two and a half hours later, we were being questioned at the nearest police station.

Everything was still a lot to take in.

Things got particularly bad for most of us, when because of the message found at Jessie's feet, we all had to show our tattoos. We all refused; I know it sounds stupid, but we were underage and underage people are allowed to hide their tattoo even at times like that. If you're underage, no one can see your tattoo if you don't want them to. They have no right to.

Felicia didn't really mind and showed her tattoo; she was a lover. Kyle did the same; he was a survivor.

Chris seemed pretty reluctant and Jasmine was pretty aggressive about it.

Jon and I did nothing. We simply refused to show the tattoos.

The worst and weirdest part was that the villain, whoever it was, had not only stabbed her, but had also scratched/cut with the knife the part where Jessie's tattoo was supposed to be, so we couldn't find out what her fate was. We asked Jasmine if she knew anything, but she just shook her head.

She had it worse than all of us.

The next morning, Claire and Ben arrived. Ben, especially, looked pretty shaken up. This was his sister that had just died. He was shocked.

And Jessie was practically family to me; we lived together. Our siblings were engaged to each other. It hit me and Claire hard too.

The others' parents couldn't come pick them up because we were too far away and most of them had no cars and it was hard to afford a taxi for such a long ride. We had put all our savings to come here and what was supposed to be a happy resort, turned out to be a nightmare.

And now someone was dead.

Everything was so out of the blue and with no warning. The villain was probably a psycho, killing an innocent teenager like that.

Either that, or the villain was one of us. But that was impossible; I've told you multiple times that we all grew up together. No one would hurt each other like that, especially not Jessie. She was Jessie, she never hurt anyone. She was always laughing and joking.

What kind of monster would do that?

Sometime the next day, when my sister and her fiancé arrived, a detective came to get Chris. He told him he was the primary suspect.

«What?! That's impossible! My brother was with us the entire time! He was sitting on the couch because he was sunburnt!» Felicia protested.

«Yes, but as he told us in his statement, he asked Jessie out and she declined. It could be a motive.» the detective replied.

«Who murders their childhood friend because they get rejected? Come on! This is nuts!» I argued.

«I would never hurt Jessie, okay? She told me I'm not her type and I got that. I didn't pressure her. Yes, I was disappointed, but I would never kill anyone in general, let alone because they refused to go on a date with me!» Chris justified.

«Of course you weren't her type!» Jasmine yelled at him with tears in her eyes.

«You can't be serious right now! You're accusing Chris? This is Chris we're talking about! He stubbed his toe once and freaked out when he saw the blood! Do you really think he would stab a person and then write stuff with their blood? Besides, he was there the entire time! He has an impenetrable alibi.» Jon reported.

«Wait. How didn't I think about it earlier? There are security cameras almost everywhere in the house. There's a camera in the kitchen, it probably caught the killer.» Kyle said.

«And you tell us now?» Jasmine yelled at him.

«Jax, relax. We're all really confused and shocked right now, stop giving the blame to everyone!» I snapped at her. I called her that sometimes, usually to calm her down.

We followed the detective back to the house to get our stuff and the security camera footage and then returned to the police station.

We were really anxious. One of our best friends had been murdered and we hadn't even noticed. The killer was probably still in or near the house when we found her.

We were all terrified before the police came. At least, we weren't stupid like people in horror moves, who split up. We were practically holding onto each other for dear life.

Whoever Jessie's killer was, they were a monster. Jessie probably didn't even know who it was either. If she had seen someone with a knife standing before her, she would have screamed. We would have heard her.

Someone had snuck up on her.

They called us in to watch the footage, interrupting my train of thought.

It showed Jessie, standing in the kitchen and getting the water. Someone, whose face we couldn't see, approached her from behind and stabbed her. They scratched her tattoo off before we could see it. They were in front of the camera the entire time, making sure we didn't see it. They turned around, but we still couldn't see their face. They were wearing a hood and a full-page mask. They left the room calmly.

We were all crying, again. It's one thing having your childhood friend murdered in the same house you're in without noticing, but it's another watching them die in some security footage.

It was barbaric. What kind of person would do that? And to a ray of sunshine like Jessie? She never hurt anyone.

Whoever it was, I hated them with my everything.

Jasmine broke down in a fit of sobs again. We all had it bad, but she looked like she had it worse than everyone.

«I need some air...» She panted and left the room.

«I'll go see if she's okay...» Jon said and followed her.

All you could hear inside that room was sobs and crying. The detective had left us alone to take our time processing stuff, whatever that meant.

We didn't need to process anything. Jessie was dead and the villain was the one that killed her; there was nothing else to it.

The question is why? Why would someone do that without a warning? Who would take pleasure in that?

Unless the villain knew who I was, which was utterly impossible. Only Cole Daniel (aka the Fatereader that ruined my life) and Jon knew what my fate was. Cole being the villain was impossible, because all Fatereaders went through tests and had to show their tattoos before getting the job.

Some them are born into the Fatereading industry; with either or both parents being Fatereaders themselves and, thus, bringing up their child to be one.

Jon came back to the room a few minutes later.

«Is she okay?» Chris asked.

«Not really. She said she needs some alone time. I'm gonna go get her when we leave.» Jon replied. His eyes were red and he had dark circles under his eyes. It wasn't like him. This was usually my thing.

If only I had known that this would become a more permanent situation from that point after... Maybe I would have avoided some rash and stupid decisions. What followed changed us all. No one was ever the same again.

But enough of that, that's not the point right now.

Soon after everything was cleared up, by which I mean that none of us were a suspect anymore (nothing ever cleared up again), we returned back to the Clonies with Claire and Ben. Everyone went back home. It was really late at night when we arrived.

I went to my room; the one I had been sharing with Jessie for about four years. I opened the door and turned the light on. I stared at the two beds before me, the one next to the other.

The one on the minty-blue side of the room was mine. The one next to it, at the grass-green side of the room, belonged to someone who would never sleep there again.

Someone who would never burst out laughing in the middle of the night again, waking everyone in the house. Someone who would never get up early again to make a surprise breakfast for everyone. Someone who would never prank us again.

Someone who had died alone, in a kitchen, away from home and all alone, because everything happened so fast that she didn't get the chance to scream for help.

I hadn't realised I was crying again until Claire sat next to me.

«Hey, sweetie...» she whispered.

«I can't take this...» I whimpered. «Why Jessie of all people? She was practically a saint!»

«I know. Just be strong. We all lost someone today. It will get better, eventually.»

«It's like mom and dad leaving all over again and I still don't get why... They just packed their bags and took off.»

«Yeah... Don't think about that. Just go to sleep. You can sleep in the couch if you think it will make it easier.» she suggested.

«No, it's fine. I've got this.» I lied and shook my head.

«Okay then. When are we going to talk about your tattoo?» she changed the subject. Claire was an expert at that.

«Not yet. I'll tell you when I'm ready.»

«Whenever you want. No pressure.»

«Yeah...» I sighed. If only she knew, she would have understood how wrong she was.

«I'm going to bed. Wake me up if you need anything.» she said and I nodded. We both knew that wasn't going to happen.

Claire got up and left the room slowly. I tried to help her up, as she was eight months pregnant, but she glared at me and signaled me to stay down. She never wanted to feel dependent on anyone, even over the littlest things. She rarely asked for help.

The next morning I went to the living room after a sleepless night. The TV was on, but no one was in the house. I found a note on the fridge:

We've gone out for this week's shopping, we'll be back soon.

-Claire & Ben :)

I sighed and went to the couch. The news were playing on the TV.

«And now on some wider-scale problems, our neighboring country, Imyrth, is facing more and more problems after Queen Deidre's disappearance. Elementalists have been protesting and have caused several problems to the capital, as they voice their disapprovement of Amon Brandon's dictatorship. Many surrounding countries are known to be interested in attacking, bu--» the broadcaster announced as I turned the stupid box off. Moiral was expecting war. Imyrth was experiencing it. It was dark times for all of us.

I couldn't take all that stress and fear and sorrow. Everything was too much.

I couldn't get Jessie's distant look from when I found her out of my head. I couldn't get the killer's signature out of my head.

Your Villain.

I ran to my room and dug a card out of my drawer. I gave Jessie's bed a sad glance and picked up the phone to call someone.

«Hello?» Cole Daniel asked.

«It's Jinx. We need to talk.»