Rosalie and Sadie were watching the movie together, a large bowl of popcorn being shared between them. At some point within the first few minutes of the film Benjamin had gone upstairs, sighting something about reading a book, but the girls had been too engrossed in the movie to really care.

Picking up a handful of popcorn Rosalie laughed, causing her friend to look at her curiously.

‘If you think someone driving down an abandoned road is funny, then you need some serious help’ Sadie commented, referring to the movie they were watching.

‘No, I wasn’t laughing at the movie, I was laughing about something else’

‘And what would that be?’ Sadie queried, pausing the movie. The blonde looked at her friend expectantly.

Rosalie smiled, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth before speaking, ‘Just wondering which reason Dion will chose to break up with you’

Sadie gasped, hitting her friends arm playfully, ‘Well, we aren’t even dating for one’

‘Details, Details’ Rosalie giggled, ‘Do you think it will be because you like cats? You know how he feels about cats’

‘Rose! He won’t break up with me!’ Sadie pouted and her friend smiled, placing a hand on her friend’s leg.

‘I am joking, even I know that. I bet that he just made up reasons to break up with those girls because he was waiting for you to come around and realise how much he liked you’

‘Do you really think so?’ Sadie asked shyly and Rosalie nodded.

‘I know so’

Sadies smile grew less timid as she picked up a handful of popcorn, throwing in Rosalie’s face. Rosalie laughed, throwing a few pieces at her friends head playfully, one sticking to her hair. Sadie giggled, tangling her fingers into her blonde locks to try and get rid of the popcorn.

‘It’s nice hanging out together, it feels like we haven’t really spoken in ages’

‘I see you all the time’ Rosalie smiled, but she understood where Sadie was coming from.

‘I know, but you are always with Mack and Benjamin, and so it’s hard to have some best friend time’

‘I know’ Rosalie smiled sadly.

Sadie pressed play, the screen in front of them coming to life. Rosalie smiled as Sadie leant her head against her friends shoulder.

Rosalie had missed spending time with Sadie. Her best friend used to practically live in the spare room when her parents were alive, but now they lived with her Aunt and Rosalie’s life had become hectic, the two girls had drifted apart slightly.

Rosalie focused her attention on the movie, but she gasped when she saw something move outside of the window to her right.

Turning her head, she saw a flash of black move along the deck, right past the window and disappearing into the darkness. It was only an instant but she swore that it looked like a person. Rosalie gasped and continued to stare at the window, but the figure was gone and the window just showed darkness with some moonlight shining over the deck.

‘Sadie!’ she nudged her friend.

‘What?’ Sadie paused the movie and sat up, looking at her friend.

‘I-Uh’ Rosalie was going to tell Sadie what she saw, but she figured that her friend wouldn’t believe her. Why would there be something outside? Rosalie blamed her mind being paranoid from the events of the day, and shook her head, ‘It’s nothing, don’t worry’

Sadie picked up the remote, but didn’t click anything, instead turning to Rosalie.

‘Where are Parker and Deon? They have been gone for ages’

Rosalie was worried too but knew that Sadie needed her to be positive, ‘I’m sure they are fine, playing with a bear or climbing trees or some shit’

Sadie laughed, pressing play on the movie.

Rosalie tried to focus on the screen, but couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched nor could she shake the worry for Deon and Parker that had been building in her gut from the second they had left the cabin.

Noses came from behind her, and Rosalie’s head whipped around to see Benjamin walking down the stairs. She let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding onto and turned her head back to the screen.

‘What’s that?’ Benjamin’s voice drifted through the room and Sadie paused the movie.

‘If I have to keep pausing this move I will scream’ Sadie huffed.

‘What are you talking about?’ Rosalie ignored her friend’s impatience and looked towards her boyfriend, who was in the kitchen.

‘That’ he said, pointing towards the window where Rosalie had sworn she saw that dark figure only moments ago.

Turning her gaze to the glass she saw what looked like a mark on the window. The lights had been dimmed while they watched the movie, so Rosalie stood up and walked over to the light switch, turning the lights on.

Taking the few steps towards the window, Rosalie could see clearly that what had been on the window was a handprint.

The fact that it was a handprint wasn’t what sent shivers running up Rosalie’s spine or caused her breath to catch in her throat, it was the fact that the handprint was made in blood.

In the centre of the glass was the red handprint, the edges were blurry with dripping blood, but it was obvious what had made the print.   

‘Is that a h-handprint?’ Sadie asked, walking up to stand next to Rosalie.

‘Is that blood?’ Benjamin queried, stopping next to Sadie.

Rosalie nodded, words deserting her.

‘Deon and Parker are morons, I can’t believe they think we would fall for something like this’ Sadie laughed, the sound high pitched and did little to sooth Rosalie’s racing mind.

Who would do that? What would Parker and Deon even have to gain by scaring us? Whose blood is that? Rosalie panicked, fear rising and her heart beat quickening.

‘You don’t actually think that there’s someone out there do you?’ Benjamin asked with amusement in his tone as he placed a hand on the small of Rosalie’s back.

‘And what, you think Parker and Deon would do this? Why would they?’ Rosalie stepped out of his grasp.

‘Rose’ Sadie drew her friend’s attention, ‘It’s just Parker and Deon trying to scare us, we are the only ones out here’

‘Sadie’s right, I’m sure that they are out on that porch right now, hiding and expecting us to freak out’ Benjamin told them, walking over towards the door.

‘Ben!’ Rosalie grasped his arm, ‘Don’t go out there’

Benjamin gave her a condescending look, ‘You worry too much Rose’

Rosalie was taken aback by the look he had given her. Benjamin was never one to disregard her opinions and feelings, yet that afternoon he had overlooked all of her worries.

‘Ben, you don’t know what’s out there’ Rosalie warned him, but he only leant forward placing a kiss on her cheek.

‘I will be fine’ he said, but that only fuelled Rosalie’s negative feelings towards him in that moment. She let go of his arm, and was immediately being held onto by Sadie, who had intertwined her arm with Rosalie’s, linking their hands. Sadies confidence from before must have been wavering, Rosalie decided, looking at the scared look on her friends features.

The girls both watched from a safe distance as Benjamin took those final steps towards the door, his hand ghosting over the knob for a few seconds.

The cabin was silent, the only sounds made were shaky breaths and the sound of Benjamin’s canvas shoes against the floor.

As he opened the door it squeaked loudly, causing Rosalie to jump, which in turn caused Sadie to do the same thing. Rosalie smiled slightly at her silliness and told herself to calm down. 

Darkness was all that could be seen from their side of the door, the thick black of darkness spilled into the entryway as all three of them strained to see what was out there. Rosalie couldn’t see anything, which relieved her somewhat, but worried her all the more.

If Parker and Deon aren’t out there, then where are they?

Rosalie bit back a warning as Benjamin stepped out of the doorway and into the darkness of the deck. Benjamin turned and walked. Rosalie could just make out his silhouette as he walked past the window with the handprint and back to the entryway again.  

‘I don’t see them’ Benjamin shrugged. Rosalie shared a worried look with Sadie as Benjamin went to step back inside, stopping at the last second.

‘Do you hear that?’ he asked and Rosalie focused on what she could hear, coming up with nothing suspicious.

‘What are you talking about?’ Sadie asked, her soft voice hardly above a whisper.

Rosalie was about to say that she didn’t hear anything when he defiantly heard the sound of someone running up the porch steps and watched as Benjamin was crash tackled into the doorway, landing on the floor, another person on top of him.

Sadie screamed loudly in Rosalie’s ear.

Rosalie stifled a scream as it happened, and she finally let out a breath as she realised that it was Parker who had tackled Benjamin.

‘What the fuck was that Parker!?’ Benjamin yelled, pushing the boy off of him and standing up.

‘Is that b-blood?’ Sadie was looking at Benjamin and Rosalie followed her gaze to see stripes of blood all over his shirt.

Rosalie untangled herself from Sadie and ran the few steps towards Benjamin, ‘Where are you hurt?’

Benjamin looked confused as he said ‘I'm alright, it’s not mine’

At that moment all eyes turned to Parker who was standing, albeit hunched over, breathing heavily, blood covering his shorts and limbs.

‘P-Parker, you’re bleeding!’ Rosalie took a step towards him.

‘It’s not my blood’ He panted out, he then opened his mouth again but Sadie was in his face before he could keep speaking.

‘Where’s Deon!?’ She demanded to know, ‘Where is he?’

Rosalie knew that Sadie was trying to sound threatening, but all she heard in her friend’s voice was worry and heartbreak.

Parker shook his head, threading a blood soaked hand through his hair nervously as he did so.

‘Parker? What happened out there?’ Rosalie stepped forward, she tried to place a hand on Parkers arm but he flinched at the contact, causing Rosalie to drop her hand awkwardly to the side.

Parker, who had been looking down at his feet, lifted his gaze to stare at Rosalie, looking at her through dark green eyes surrounded by long lashes, ‘Deon, w-we were at the lake, and then s-suddenly he was gone and the next thing I knew he was on the ground, d-dead’ Parker said, his voice broke at the end, and a tear fell down his cheek.

‘Dead? Was it a bear or a wolf or something?’ Benjamin asked, his voice was hard but Rosalie recognised the tinge of fear that edged his tone. 

Rosalie watched as Sadie walked over to the couch, disregarding the rest of the conversation in favour of putting her head in her hands. Rosalie was about to take a step towards her friend, ready to comfort her, but she needed to hear what happened.

‘It was’ Parker started, but then his voice dropped to just above a whisper, ‘Christopher’

Just hearing the name sent shivers up Rosalie’s spine and she gasped audibly, her body flinching away from the word itself in pure instinct.

‘CHRISTOPHER!?’ Benjamin roared, anger flowing through his voice, ‘what do you mean Christopher did it?’

‘That’s impossible’ Rosalie stated, shaking her head fiercely, ‘He is locked up, there’s no way that it’s him’

‘I found a note on D-Deon’s body’ Parker said quietly.

‘What did it say?’ Both Rosalie and Benjamin asked at the same time.

‘Something about violence recoiling and the schemer falling into a pit?’ Parker shrugged, ‘I had it but I must have dropped it while I was running’

‘Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into the pit which he digs for another’ Rosalie said quietly, causing both guys to look at her.

‘Rose? You know what that means?’ Benjamin asked gently.

‘It’s a quote by Arthur Conan Doyle, it’s talking about Karma, Christopher used to love that quote, he told me once that his father was going to pay for being such a bad father to him, but I think he must be talking about Karma for us now, right?’

Parker and Benjamin shared a quick look as Rosalie said the word Karma. 

‘Karma?’ Sadie suddenly spoke up, bringing her face out of her hands to reveal her puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks, ‘What did Deon ever do to Chris?’

‘I don’t know, if he’s after anyone it would be me, right?’ Rosalie asked, turning towards the two guys who both wore guilty expressions. Rosalie was confused why they looked so guilty. Fear and worry she would have understood, but guilt?

‘What do you guys know?’ Rosalie demanded.

‘Christopher is crazy, we shouldn’t try to figure out why he did anything’ Parker said.

‘We have to get out of here, okay? It’s dangerous and if Christopher really is here then we have to get Rosalie as far away from him as possible’ Benjamin said, picking up his car keys from the table behind him.

‘We can’t just leave Deon out there for animals to find! We have to get him!’ Sadie exclaimed, standing, ‘Are you even sure that he is dead? He might be out there dying and we are just sitting here!’

‘Sadie!’ Rosalie grabbed Sadies arm as she tried to run towards the door, ‘You can’t go out there’

‘I have to find him!’ Sadie told her friend with determination, ripping her arm away from Rosalie’s loose grip.

‘Sadie you can’t!’ Parker grabbed her by her waist and held her tightly, blood getting on her purple singlet as his arms tightened around her.

‘Let me go!’ She screamed, trying to fight her way out of his grip.

‘Sadie’ Benjamin stood in front of her, speaking softly in an attempt to calm the petite girl, ‘Deon’s gone. He’s dead Sadie’

At the words Sadie went limp in Parkers arms, her hands falling to her sides as she turned in Parkers hold to rest her head against his chest. Rosalie watched as her best friend cried into Parkers chest as the man held her close, tears falling out of his own eyes.

‘Take her to the car’ Benjamin said quietly, patting Parker on the shoulder. The two of them walked slowly out of the room and onto the deck.

Rosalie stood still, looking at her feet.

‘Rose?’ Benjamin’s gentle voice brought her eyes up to meet his.

‘C-Christopher’s here Ben, w-what do we do? He k-killed my parents, if he can he will hurt me and you and Mack, he killed Deon, I can’t-’ Benjamin wrapped his strong arms around his girlfriend, holding her tight against his chest for a few moments before pulling away and looking into her eyes.

‘I promise you, I won’t let that monster anywhere near you, we are going to leave now and go find help, ok?’

Rosalie nodded, wiping stray tears from her pale cheeks.

They walked out of the cabin, Benjamin closing the door behind them, but they hadn’t even made it to the porch steps when Parker called out to them, ‘We have a problem’

‘What now?’ Benjamin asked.

They went and stood beside Parker and Sadie, where in the moonlight, Parker showed them that their tires were slashed, the same with Deon’s car.

‘What do we do now?’ Parker asked, the question directed at Benjamin.

‘There’s a house, we passed it on the way here, and it’s not that far I think we can walk to it’ Benjamin told them and Rosalie remembered that house. It was about a ten minute drive from where they were now, the old house was fading in its light colour and the rickety steps leading up to the porch were broken and old, but she remembered seeing a car in the driveway. Someone must have been living there, and it was the best shot they had.

‘In the dark? With C-Christopher out here?’ Sadie panicked, her eyes searching the darkness around them for anything suspicious.

‘Sadie’s right, we are just asking to get lost or hurt’ Rosalie said, slipping her hand into Benjamin’s, hoping that he would have an idea. Rosalie knew that to attempt to navigate this forest at night, with the multiple streams and steep slopes would be a death trap, but then again, anywhere close to Christopher was a death trap in Rosalie’s mind. Christopher knew where the cabin was, he must have been the one to make the handprint, and the thought of being watched by Christopher made her want to empty her stomach contents, the violation, anger and fear swimming around her gut.  

‘No, we will have to stay here for the night and when the sun comes up we will go’ Benjamin concluded.

‘Ok’ Rosalie nodded, the last place she wanted to be was in that cabin where Christopher would be able to find her so easily, but it was her best shot at getting everyone out of here.

‘Rose, can you take Sadie inside?’ Parker asked Rosalie who nodded, taking Sadies hand and leading her up to the steps of the cabin.

Guilt and fear were consuming Parker as he watched his two friends go back into the cabin. Benjamin made a move to walk back towards it as well but Parker’s hand shot out, grabbing his arm and forcing the man to face him.

‘What?’ Benjamin asked, the question was towards Parker but his eyes didn’t leave Rosalie until she was safely inside the cabin.

When Benjamin’s eyes were on him, Parker let go of his arm.

‘The note, it said “I know what you did”, Christopher knows’ Parker spoke quietly but the look that Benjamin shot him told Parker that he really didn’t want anyone else hearing about what they were talking about. 

‘Of course he knows what we did’ Benjamin said quietly, ‘We know that he knows I told Rosalie he was cheating when he wasn’t, that was never a secret, we just figured that Rosalie would disregard if he claimed that I lied, what’s the problem?’

‘The note was on Deon’s body Ben! If that was about you then he would have put it somewhere that you would find it. He must know about the other stuff as well, we have to tell Rose and Sadie the truth! The whole truth!’

‘No’ Benjamin growled out, the primal noise making Parker feel vulnerable and small, ‘Rose cannot know what we did’

‘But what we did, it was-’

‘No Parker, Deon’s dead, they are in enough pain. Just let it go’

‘But-But we caused all of this, it’s all our fault’ Parker stuttered out. Since that day the guilt about what happened had ate him up and it wasn’t until recently that he started forgiving himself for the mistakes he made. He was just a kid who thought that he was doing right by his friends, but instead his actions, along with the actions of his friends, had caused more death and destruction than he thought possible. Now, Deon was dead and Parker felt responsible.

Benjamin placed a hand on Parkers shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, ‘We didn’t pull the trigger Parker’

‘No, we didn’t, but we sure as hell handed him a loaded gun’