Getting through the door, Erica knew that if she was going to get Dawson to confess and catch it on record, that she would have to see him before Monday.

Sneaking upstairs to her bedroom and avoiding her mom, she decided to give him a call to arrange for them to do something together tomorrow. She knew that it was wrong to lead someone on, but at the same time it was the only way to trick him into confessing.

Placing her handbag down onto the dresser, she sifted through it until she found her mobile phone and then pulled it out. Then, reaching into her pocket she pulled out the slip of paper with the number on it that he had given her earlier when they were messing around in the mall.

Copying it from paper to screen, she quickly pressed the call button. It rang for a moment before the other end of the line was picked up.

"Miss me already?" Dawson questioned.

"A lot actually, and I don't wanna wait until Monday to be able to see you again." She said feigning a soft and sad tone.

She heard his rough chuckle down the phone, which made her shudder. It was just lucky that he could not physically see her, otherwise he would detect that something was wrong. That was one thing that she was going to have to work on hiding.

"Are you free tomorrow?" She asked to cut his laughter short.

"Uhh... yeah. I don't really do the whole family Sunday thing." He informed her.

"Okay, well how would you like to spend the day together tomorrow... we can go for a nice walk, and you can show me more of this amazing place." She suggested.

"Sounds great." He agreed.

"Okay... if you give me your address, I will come over tomorrow in the afternoon and we...." She was about to say that they could leave from outside his place, but Dawson was quick to interject.

"No way!... I mean.... I'll come to you. I don't want you walking here alone." He protested.

"Alright. That works. See you tomorrow then." She stated.

"Bye." He said, before hanging up the phone.

For once in her life, she felt successful at something. It would take some work, but she had faith that this was going to go exactly how she wanted it to.

Although there was something about that last protest from Dawson that made her feel strange. Before she had even gotten to finish her sentence he jumped in sounding so panicked. Maybe he was just nervous about her walking alone, but that was a little bit of an overreaction.

What was it about that boy that felt so wrong?

********
Throwing the phone down onto the couch, Dawson turned around and ran his bloodied fingers through his hair - staring at the horrific sight before him.

Sprawled on the floor was yet another girl from school. Vivian McGregor. She laid there at a crooked angle, with her head caved in and a deep wound in her abdomen that was still bleeding out onto the shaggy, piece of crap rug.

It was as though he was dealing with Monica's body all over again.

His mind flashed back to that night. That glorious night when he had stopped Ryder or anyone else from ever being able to have his Monica again.

Though things were different this time around. He had little to no interest in Vivian what so ever, and the only reason he had brought her back here was because on his way home this evening, she had caught him talking on the phone with his ally about the indescribable experience he'd had the night he'd ended Monica's life. To hold something so valuable in your hands and have the ability to snatch it away any time he liked felt empowering.

After he had caught her, he didn't know what to do with her. If he let her go then there was absolutely no doubt that she would squeal to her friends and Ryder would be proven innocent. So rather than risking it, he had snuck up on her and hit her over the head with a rock. He made a quick check to make sure that she was definitely unconscious before kidnapping her and taking her back to his apartment.

He had planned on bribing her to keep her mouth shut, but things didn't exactly go to plan when she woke up and started screaming. The neighbours would have started to get suspicious if he didn't shut her up somehow, so he had sealed her mouth shut with superglue, using duct tape to hold her lips together while it dried. Though then she tried to grab her phone out and call the police, so he snatched her phone out of her hand and smashed it which caused her to try to attack him. He had picked up a knife for self defense but ended up having to use it - several times.

All the problems just kept piling up. He would have to find a place to bury the girl where no one would find her. Although he knew that her absence would raise questions, but hopefully by then Ryder would have already been sentenced.

Rolling up the rug, with Vivian's body inside of it, he dragged it out of the apartment and slung it into the back of his late brother's pick up truck. He shouldn't be driving without a license, but if he waited that long then her body would be decayed. Starting up the engine, he pulled out of the parking lot and began driving around in search of a place to dump the body.

He only hoped that Erica would never find out about all of this. He didn't wanna have to end her life too.

******

"Honey... can you come here for a moment?" Erica heard her mom call from downstairs.

"Coming mom!" She called back and made her way down the stairs briskly.

In the kitchen, her mother was preparing dinner, or at least trying to. But it appeared that she was missing an ingredient of some sorts.

"What is it?" She asked, causing her mother to turn around from the kitchen side to face her.

"I was in the middle of making a nice spaghetti bolegnese and just realised that we are out of mince. I know that you're probably tired from being out for so long but could you run down to the gas station and pick me some up?" Her mother requested desperately.

Since she would not be able to be there for dinner with her mother tomorrow, she figured that she owed it to the woman to have a nice dinner with her tonight.

"Of course." She agreed optimistically.

"Thank you sweetie. You are a life saver!" Diane squawked in relief, kissing her daughter on the forehead.

"It's okay." She told her as she was handed a dollar bill.

Tucking the money into her pocket, she headed out of the door. It was a scorching hot day and the air showed no signs of cooling down for a long while. With summer break starting in only two days, she couldn't help but imagine what kind of adventures her first summer in California would take her on.

Although she had never been to the gas station before like her mother had, she'd walked past it a million times since moving into the area.

The blazing heat was slowing her down quite a bit, but after stopping a few times to catch her breath, she reached the gas station. Taking in the sight as she entered the small shop, she could have passed out in shock when she caught sight of Dawson in the fridge area.

It wasn't until she got closer that alarm bells started going off in her head. It was extremely hard not to notice the bright red blood that was stained on his hands.

Hurrying to pick up the pork mince that she had been sent to get, she made her way out of the aisle and to the check out to pay for the item before Dawson saw her.

Once she had paid and the item was bagged, she thanked the man behind the till and rushed out of the shop and broke into an almost run down the street.

What had she just seen?

Dawson had blood on his hands. At least it looked like it was blood.

Was it his own blood?

If not, then who's blood could it possibly be.

All these questions were swarming in her head and heart heart was pounding in her chest once again. In that moment, as she hurried home, she wished more than anything that Ryder was with her. He was the only one with the ability to calm her down. Not even her own mother could help her out of this one.

What was Dawson doing at a gas station with blood on his hands?

It felt like she was dreaming, but she knew that this was no dream. She was very much awake, and if she let on to Dawson that she saw him then she could end up losing her life.