They all had blood on them. Both physically and figuratively.

The stench of iron hung heavy in the air, even now as the clock ticked on half an hour later.

There'd been so much blood. It'd covered the carmine-coloured carpet almost completely, except you could barely see the blood because of its very colour. Completely hidden, almost symbolic some may say; Kylie and Elijah had hidden their affair from Jess behind a veil of lies and now the death remained concealed in that same lair of lust.

All three had been in such close proximity to one another at that moment so the inevitable blood splatter had covered all three, making sure that none would leave that room without the victims' remains still on them. Even the walls of the room couldn't escape the remnants of the victims skull.

Libby had been first. Her hands trembling violently as she, with her eyes tightly closed, pushed open the door to expose the scene in front of her. An animalistic sob sounding from somewhere deep in her chest as she raced over to Kylie, holding the girls' numb and unresponsive body in her arms.

Pattie's reaction had been different. Her eyes were gleaming with hot tears but she didn't attempt to move towards Jess other than to remove the gun from her unresisting hand and then proceeded to make a phone call to her husband. Her hand clasped over the left side of her chest as she wept inarticulate words into the phone.

Valerie had remained outside, not bearing to walk into the crime scene. She'd lost one child, the fear of losing another was too great. She'd immediately rushed to call an ambulance and when it had quickly arrived, Pattie had opted to stay behind at the house. She'd meet them at the hospital, she said. She had something to do before the police officers made their way to the crime scene, she said.

No one raised any questions.

"No, wait! Where are you going? The hospital is the other way, turn the car around!" She yelled, attempting to grab the steering wheel.

"You're in shock. We all are. The best thing we can do is go home, right now."

"You promised we'd follow after the ambulance. You promised me! You both promised me! I should've gone with them in that ambulance, I knew I should've gone with them." Kylie cried, her tears adding to the decorative pattern already on her blood-stained clothes.

"Listen to me, Kylie," Valerie spoke from the back of the car, she and Libby had privately agreed to tell Kylie that they'd be going to the hospital, in an attempt to coerce her into the car and instead, take her home first. "If we take you to the hospital right now, there will be police there. You'll have to give a statement. This is buying you time to think over what happened, where that gun came from...Kylie, I can't risk losing another child, I really can't." Valerie yelled, her voice audibly shaking.

"Is that honestly what you care about?" Kylie all but laughed before turning towards Libby who had yet to speak, "Libby, please take me to the hospital, I'm begging you please I need to know if--" She cut off, unable to complete her sentence.

Libby drew a deep breath in, and turned to face Valerie, "I'm sorry Val, it's the right thing to do." She then made a U-turn to turn the car around and drove stealthily to the hospital.

Once they'd arrived, Kylie immediately hopped out of the car, ignoring the calls of both the women behind her. She jogged down the hospital wards, feeling the stares of those around her piercing into her skin. She knew she probably appeared to be a cannibal for she had more than just a few streaks of blood painted on her face.

A reception desk came into view, and she bolted towards it before she heard the oh-so-familiar voice from behind her.

"How do you even have the audacity to show your face around here after everything you've done? You've ruined everything!" Pattie screeched, she'd have attacked the girl if it wasn't for Cody almost restraining his mother.

"Where's Jess? Is she doing okay?" Kylie bravely scooted towards them, her grey orbs darting back and forth between the two. She'd hoped that Pattie would still be at the house and that'd she'd be able to sneak it.

"She'll never be okay again. You more than made sure of that." Pattie spat.

"Mum, please just leave it. Just go back into the ward and be with them both, I'll deal with Kylie, okay?" Cody shoved his mother towards the door despite the begrudging glance she thrown his way before disappearing out of sight, "Kylie, you should go. Honestly, you being here isn't going to do any good."

Kylie nodded tearfully, "I'll go but...Elijah? He's going to be okay, isn't he?" A pained expression etched across her face.

"It's only been ten minutes they're doing their best. I'll call you...whatever happens, I'll make sure you know. But, for now, please just leave." Cody offered her a kind smile despite his words before turning his back to the crying girl.

Cody had never had a bad word to say about Kylie, she'd been his first crush and she'd been nothing but kind to him. He'd known she'd never liked him so even he had wondered why she'd let him into her bed so readily. But he'd relished in the comfort of being away from his perfect family that were gradually breaking at the seams.

Unfortunately, he'd quickly learnt that it was self-loathing that had driven Kylie's actions and he was ashamed to say, that despite recognising that he'd still never bothered to delve deeper and help her. Perhaps, she'd just needed someone to say they understood her, without just seeing a pretty face attached to this attractive body. Perhaps, she'd needed more than just skin-deep attractions.

As Cody tentatively entered the ward and walked past Elijah's bed, a long flat piercing sound penetrated his ears. Constant and unchanging.

Elijah's heart monitor had flat lined.

He looked on as doctors upon doctors and nurses piled up inside the room, attempting to revive the body. But he'd known it was futile when a consultant came out, with nothing but pity colouring his face.

He felt a tear escape his eye. He'd never been close to the boy but death was death. It moved even the coldest of hearts.

He turned into the waiting room, his back pressed against the wall, as though he physically needed support to hold himself up. He saw his sister, still dressed in her wedding dress, a lifeless, drained look behind her usual gleaming excited leaf-green coloured eyes, and he didn't even need to open his mouth for her to know the news he was burdened with.

She dashed into his arms, squeezing his torso tightly as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

"Oh Jessica, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Pattie stood at the doorway, "the police are here...I've already spoken to them. They said they want to speak to you too now, okay? You can wait until your dad is here if you want, but they want to speak to you as soon as possible."

"I've just found out my fiancé is dead, can't this wait?"

"I'm sorry but it's absolutely integral for us to get all the facts as soon as possible, it just speeds everything up for us and for you. We'll also be getting a full statement from Kylie Campana later on today and then we'll be revisiting the crime scene so it's important that we do this now, if that's okay."

"Yeah, fine." Jess reluctantly said, visibly stiffening as she followed her mother, Cody and the policewoman into a tiny spare room offered by the hospital, in order for them to take the statement.

"Well, as I'm sure you already know, today was supposed to be my wedding day." Jess gazed up as she spoke, the time was seven o'clock. She was supposed to have been married by now, getting ready for her and Elijah's honeymoon to Bora Bora but instead, here she was. She was ready to burst into tears at the mere thought before composing herself again, "and, when I was getting ready, I remembered my best friend, Kylie left me a voicemail...so I listened to it and she told me—" She sucked a breath inaudibly and licked her lips, her throat and lips feeling drier than the Sahara, "—she told me that she and Elijah had been having an affair, for months. And...erm, I went back to my house to confront him about it and she was there. They were together." The policewoman nodded, scribbling a few notes on in her notebook as Jess spoke.

Jess glanced up and could see her mother nodding at her, telling her everything was going to be alright. Daddy would be here soon, he'd fix everything, her mother had said to her only moments before.

"And, I was so angry. The gun...it was already there, Elijah was holding it. Kylie said it was hers, but I don't know why she had it. I don't know what she was planning on doing with it. Anyway, I took the gun from Elijah and I pointed it at Kylie...because I hated what they did, the lies that they told me. They both betrayed me and I wanted to punish them both. So I pointed the gun at her and she told me to shoot her but I...I couldn't. And then, Elijah he...took the gun from me. And..."

"In your own time, Miss Myers."

"And...he shot himself. He shot himself in the head."

The policewoman blinked once and then twice, evidently stunned, "You're saying that Mr Murad shot himself in the head? Mr Murad committed suicide, is that correct?"

"Yes. Elijah committed suicide." Jess sobbed.

"Okay, thank you for speaking to me to Miss Myers. Someone will likely come around to speak to you again, and you may have to come into the station and give a more formal statement and have your fingerprints taken at some point too. It's just routine procedure, to rule out any foul play. But, that will be all for now. And Miss Myers, I truly am sorry for your loss." She spoke quietly before exiting the room.

Jess gulped, using her fingertips to wipe the tears inhabiting the space beneath her eyes before offering both Pattie and Cody a tight smile.

"Well done, Jess. That must've been very difficult but you did well." Pattie lent forward to hug her daughter as she spoke.

"Yeah, thanks." Jess pulled herself away from her mothers' grasp, turning her back to the older woman, "I want to see Elijah. One last time." She muttered to Cody.

"I already asked the doctor, they said no visitors until the cause of death is confirmed. But once it's been ruled out, we can visit him at the chapel of rest."

Jess nodded silently, "Let's go home then. I'd like to stay with you tonight Cody if that's okay."

"Oh, come on Jessica. There's no need for this, you can come back to mine, okay? We can talk...I know what I said was wrong but—"

"Just give it a rest, please. You're just as bad as they are. Worse, even." Jess murmured, as she followed after Cody.

"I'm still your mother. Everything I've done has been to protect you, even today, I've done nothing but protect you." She latched onto her daughters' arm as she desperately pleaded.

"Mum, maybe this is for the best. For a while at least." Cody said softly, hauling Jess after him.

Once they finally arrived at Cody's quaint flat, Jess rushed to shower. She scrubbed at her skin for what felt like hours, the water scolding against her skin, leaving it an angry red colour. Even though she was squeaky clean, she still appeared to be covered in blood due to the excessive scrubbing and she struggled to shake the thought. She avoided looking at herself in the mirror and instead dashed downstairs, hurriedly putting the TV on, desperate for a distraction.

She heard Cody enter the room and perch himself on the side of the coach.

"It feels like a dream, you know," Jess whispered, she didn't want to cry again but she could already feel the salty taste in her mouth.

"What, today?"

"Not just today, the last eight years. I feel like I'm going to wake up any minute and just be fifteen again. At least, everything would be easier then." She half-laughed. "There's so much I want to ask him. I wish I could rewind and do things differently. Do today, differently."

"Don't we all? You can't think like that though, you'd go mad. Everything happens for a reason." Cody said softly.

"Elijah died for a reason? No...he had so much life to live. Despite everything he'd done, he didn't deserve to die."

"Do you wanna...do you wanna talk about what actually happened?"

Jess turned away, before shaking her head to indicate a no, "You know, I hated them in that room, hated them so much. For ruining everything for me. For ruining the future for me and Elijah. But...maybe it was...maybe I was the one who ruined everything."

"How do you mean?" Cody questioned, inching down on the couch so he was now sitting beside his sister, the pleasant warmth beside Jess, offering her new comfort.

"They told me...that they'd slept together before me and Elijah were even a thing. All those years ago, they liked each other, were attracted to each other. And maybe, it was me who ruined that for them."

"Come on, Jess. That's crazy talk, they should've said something sooner if that was the case."

"But Elijah never say anything, and that said even more than if he had have actually said something." She murmured, grabbing a tissue and dabbing it against her eyes.

"I'm not with you Jess..." Cody said confused.

Jess sighed, as she pressed her fingers to her temples, "One year after me and Elijah started dating, I told him, I loved him. He never said anything back, he was silent. I told Mum after, that it broke my heart to have said that to him and for him to not have answered. And days later, I heard her shouting at him, telling him that he was basically nothing and to have someone like me love him should be an honour for someone as low as him and that he could kiss his new cushy life goodbye if he upset me again. The next day, he told me he loved me. I was so happy that he'd said it that...I didn't even question what I heard, I just forgot about it." She wept into her tissue, "but...it was an ongoing thing, it wasn't just that once."

"Oh, Jess. We were just kids...mum should've known better, not us."

"I need to get out of here," Jess mumbled.

"Yeah, I think I need some fresh air too, shall we go into the garden?"

"No...I need to get out of here, out of this place. Away from mum. I just...I don't think I can ever really forgive them, forgive myself if I stay here."

"That's a rash decision to make."

Jess bit at her hangnail, "I hate them. Elijah, Kylie but... I hate her even more. But I also hate myself for Elijah dying and I think I'll go insane if I have to see that house, or even one reminder of him if I stay here."

Jess and Cody spent the remainder of the night talking, but once Cody showed signs of sleepiness, Jess slyly pulled out her phone and dialled Elijah's number, listening to his voice on his voicemail over and over again until sleep finally took over.

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Authors' Note: So, I'd just like to say I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint anybody on here but I've quickly learnt that you can't make everyone happy on here.

First things first, R.I.P Elijah. He wasn't always the easier character to write or even sympathise with but I grew to love him.

Secondly, I've had some serious problems with Wattpad these past few days, with it just deleting part of this chapter for some reason. So if this does have any errors, I do apologise. Pls, do let me know if there are any mistakes.

Anyway, how do we feel about Elijah's death?

And what do we think of Jess's statement? Will there be any final twists as to what happened?

And do we think Jess or Kylie will ever be able to get over what happened? And what do we think the future holds in store for our characters? (Yep, we will have a future sneak-peak in the epilogue yay). There's only one chapter left before the epilogue btw.

Thank you so much for the support and votes, and please do vote, it honestly helps and forces me to write out chapters quicker lol :P x