‘I can’t believe that he's dead, I-I saw him, we were with him like an hour ago, how-how could Chris? They were friends, Deon he-he’

‘Shh’ Rosalie wrapped her arms around her crying friend as the blonde fell against her chest. After a few moments, Sadie pulled away, wiping at her eyes where dark streaks of eyeliner fell against the pale skin.

‘I just want to be alone, ok?’ Sadie said, her big blue eyes not meeting Rosalie’s.

‘Go upstairs, Just call out if you need me alright?’

Sadie nodded and slowly walked away from her friend and up the dark staircase.

Rosalie looked down and realised that her hand was shaking. She rubbed her hands together in a effort to stop the shaking, and took a seat on the sofa.  

Rosalie couldn’t help but think about how much of this was her fault. She remembered that awful day, how she had spoken to him, how she had angered him. She wondered whether things would have been different had she overlooked Christopher’s cheating ways or if she had let him into her house that day. Would her parents be alive? Would Deon be alive?

Rosalie wondered about Christopher, why was he hurting her friends? It was her he wanted, wasn’t it? She was the one who broke his heart and stomped on it, her friends did nothing. Then she remembered those words of Christopher’s, ‘If I can’t have you, then nobody can’, and it made sense. He couldn’t have her, but her friends had her, they got to spend time with her when Christopher couldn’t.

Guilt consumed Rosalie as she blinked back hot tears which were threatening to spill down her cheeks.

This is my fault, all of this is my fault.

Her head fell into her hands as she tried to compose herself, only to fail miserably. She wished that she had never met Christopher and that she had never broken up with him. It was her discovering his cheating ways and her breaking up with him that set him on this path, and now her family was dead and her friends were like sitting ducks in the middle of the forest, waiting to get picked off one by one.

Couldn’t I have done something to stop this? How couldn’t I have known this was coming?

Rosalie jumped slightly as the cabin door opened. She raised her head to see Parker and Benjamin walking in.

‘Rose?’ Benjamin approached her gently, noticing her tear filled eyes.

Rosalie couldn’t handle the worried looks the two were sending her, she was already being consumed by her guilt, she was going to be the reason for their deaths and yet they both cared about her.

The tears came without permission, falling gently down the soft skin of her cheeks. Benjamin was at her side in an instant, a comforting arm around her waist as he drew her closer to him on the sofa. He whispered sweet words into her ears, but they did little to sooth her, her body shaking slightly as guilt ridden tears filled her eyes.

Parker watched as Benjamin comforted Rosalie, his arm around her as he spoke quietly, trying to calm her down. Even Parker could tell that Rosalie was feeling guilty, but he knew that she had nothing to feel guilty about. Rosalie deserved to know the truth, but Parker couldn’t help but be relieved that in that moment Rosalie trusted Benjamin and himself. They would need to stay strong together if they were going to make it out of this alive.

Parker walked upstairs, going straight to his room and jumping in the shower. The warm water washed away the blood which covered his body, but it didn’t wash away the guilt and fear that was deep within his bones. As he watched the blood fall from his body, and mixing with the water, flashes of Deon’s body came to his mind.

Deon is dead, this was Deon’s blood.

He pushed the thoughts away and focused on scrubbing his skin free of any remnants of blood, of any visual reminder of the horrors he had seen that night.

After dressing, Parker made his way downstairs to find Rosalie and Benjamin in the same positions they had been in before.

Parker sat on the adjacent sofa quietly and watched them. Each heart-wrenching sob that came out of Rosalie’s mouth furthered his guilt and his mind took him back to that day when it all changed.

*Just Over One Year Ago* 

‘He’s at her house’ Benjamin’s voice was full of anger and bordered on loathing as he spoke to Parker.

Parker was in the school library, sitting at a small table in the back, where the librarians wouldn’t bother him too much when he used his phone.

‘Right now? How do you know?’ He spoke quietly into the phone, aware that most of the people around him were studying.

‘I am outside her house, I came to see how she was after the whole break up’ Benjamin told him, ‘but he’s at her doorway’ He said that like it was a federal crime.

‘What are they doing?’ Parker asked as one of the girls from a neighbouring table gave him a dirty look for being on his phone. Parker rolled his eyes at the girl and quietened his voice, ‘Just talking in her doorway?’

‘I think so, I can’t really see what’s going on’ Benjamin said before sighing, ‘Why can’t he just get the message that she doesn’t want to be with her and get out of the picture already?’

‘I don’t know, he’s probably angry, I mean, he didn’t actually cheat on her. He’s confused’

‘Yeah I guess so’

‘What about when he tells her that he never cheated?’ Parker wondered out loud.

 ‘She will just disregard it as him trying to save his own ass. She obviously doesn’t trust him, I mean, all it took was me saying that I saw him and she believed me instantly’

‘That’s more to do with you being good friends with both of them more than distrust for Chris’

‘Yeah maybe, anyway, we defiantly have to go through with step two of the plan. Just in case’

Parker sighed, ‘They are already broken up, do we really have to go through with part two?’

‘He’s at her house Parker! What if she’s forgiving him right now?’ Benjamin said angrily, ‘We need to make sure that she doesn’t trust him but also that he doesn’t trust her and this is the only way we can do that’    

‘Ben, think about this, what if Rose finds out? We’ve already done enough damage’

‘Parker, please, this isn’t just for me or us, it’s for Rose. Chris is violent towards us and you have to see that there’s a chance that he will become violent towards her too’

Parker didn’t like the idea of what Benjamin was asking him to do, but he knew that it had to be done. Christopher was violent, and Parker wasn’t going to stand by and watch his friends get hurt, especially Rosalie. ‘Fine, send me the photos now’

‘Deon has them’

‘Why does Deon have them?’ Parker huffed out, he didn’t want more people involved in this.

‘He was the one who took them, isn’t he in the library this afternoon?’

‘Yeah, I’ll find him. Tail Chris or something, text me when he’s almost home, it needs to be done before he gets there’

‘Shit! Shit!’ Benjamin suddenly shouted.

‘What? Did he see you?’ Parker asked quickly, his voice raising in concern.

‘No, Sadies here, I thought she saw me when she pulled up but I don’t think she saw me. Thank God.’

‘Ok, just remember to call me when he’s almost at his house, alright? And don’t get seen!’

‘Yeah ok’

Parker hung up and scanned the tables around him, spotting Deon sitting at a table, his eyes on an open book.

‘Deon!’ he yelled out as quietly as he could.

The boy’s eyes lifted, so Parker waved him over.

Deon came to sit down next to Parker, ‘What’s up Parker?’

‘Do you still have those photos from Sadie’s party like a year and a half ago?’

Deon nodded hesitantly, ‘yeah they are on my phone, why?’

‘Can I borrow your phone?’

Deon got it out of his pocket but didn’t hand it to Parker. ‘Why do you need them Parker?’

Parker huffed, ‘Ben and I are breaking up Rose and Christopher’

‘Thank god, somebody had to. That girl is blinded by her love for that boy. He’s dangerous’

‘That’s exactly what we think, so we are going to send him some of those photos’

Deon quirked an eyebrow, ‘And change the date stamp?’

‘Yep’ Parker popped the ‘p’.

‘Here you go’ Deon handed the phone over to Parker who immediately.

A few minutes later Parker got up to go to the printer. Three photos printed out. Each with the date stamp of a few weeks ago.

Looking at the photos Parker felt an uneasy feeling creeping into his stomach and he wondered whether he was doing the right thing.

The photo on top of the three captured a moment which Parker remembered from the party. Rosalie had gotten drunk, and not tipsy drunk, but Cinderella drunk, you know, loosing shoes and hallucinating inanimate objects changing into other inanimate objects.

In the photo she was on Marks lap, a guy from their school, her hands were wrapped around his head as the kissed. Her body was draped over his. Marks hands were……wondering. It was not one of Rosalie’s proudest moments, and she had made Parker vow to destroy any photos on his phone of the event, but Deon hadn’t made the same promise.

‘Think he’ll believe it?’ Deon asked from behind him.

‘If we are lucky’    

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

The envelope was in Parkers hand as he sat in his car, and the weight of the lie he was about to tell was weighing on his conscience.

He turned the envelope over in his hand a few times, reading the note he had in his hand over and over again.

‘Thought you deserved to know, she isn’t as faithful as you think.’

He hoped that if he did this, that Christopher and Rosalie would be over forever. That was best. Rosalie was a great girl and deserved to be with someone better than Christopher.

Parker’s phone buzzed, making him jump.

                ‘He’s on his way home – Ben’

Taking a deep breath, Parker slid the note into the envelope and got out of his car.

He left the note on his doorstep.

He walked back to his car and drove home.

He thought that it was done now, that he had done the right thing.

It wasn’t until he got a phone call from Benjamin that night, telling him what those photos had really lead to, that Parker realised the real consequences of his actions.

One phrase rolled over and over in his mind, ‘The Road To Hell Was Paved With Good Intentions’

He had never really understood that phrase until he was standing in the hell he had created, faced with an orphaned friend and a guilty conscience.  

*Present Day*

‘-arker? You alright?’

Benjamin’s worried words were what brought him out of his own head, looking around to see both Rosalie and Benjamin looking at him expectantly.

‘Y-Yeah, I’m fine’

Benjamin nodded, and Parker watched as Rosalie got up and walked over to him. She sat down next to him, clasping his hand between her own.

‘I’m so sorry Parker’ she admitted, her voice hardly above a whisper.

‘What?’ Parker wondered why she was apologising.

Tears filled Rosalie’s eyes, ‘This is all my fault. D-Deon, your best friend, is dead and it’s all my fault. I’m so sorry Parker’

‘Rose, you didn’t-’

‘If I hadn’t have broken up with him, then none of this would have happened, my parents, Deon-’

‘Shh’ Parker squeezed her hand, ‘None of this is your fault, I swear’

‘It is’ she shook her head sadly.

‘No Rose’ Parker looked into her sad eyes, ‘Believe me, it’s not your fault’

Parker didn’t miss the warning look which Benjamin sent him from the other sofa.

Rosalie nodded, squeezing his hand. ‘I want to go home Parker’

‘I know Rose, and I will make sure that you get home to Mack, ok?’

She nodded, pressing a kiss to his cheek, ‘I’m going to go check on Sadie’ she pulled away, wiping at her eyes.

‘I’ll be up soon’ Benjamin called after her, but she didn’t respond.

As soon as she was out of earshot Parker was in Benjamin’s face.

‘She is beating herself up for our mistakes! We have to tell her!’

‘Parker, we can’t tell her!’ He said strongly, his voice hushed to prevent Rosalie from hearing.

‘We have to!’

 <><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Sadie was in her room, wishing she could sleep. The lights were dimmed but she hadn’t been able to get any rest at all. Every time she closed her eyes, even for a moment, all she saw was blood.

The red liquid pooled in her mind and all she could see was Deon’s body covered with the stuff, was the memory of Parker coming through the cabin door drenched in blood. Deon’s blood.

Silent tears ran down her face as she lay between the soft sheets.

She remembered the way that Deon had kissed her, full of passion and adoration.

She remembered his intense hatred (really a fear – not that he would ever admit that) of cats, which had always made her laugh, providing endless material for jokes.

She remembered Deon’s leather jacket. It was always in his car. The jacket was old and worn, but whenever they went out Deon would always offer it to her, placing the warm object around her shoulders, which never failed to warm her up and put a smile on her face.

The thought that the jacket probably still smelled like him came to her mind, and she missed him so much that the thought of having something of his, anything, comforted her greatly.

She pushed the sheets away from her and got out of the bed, opening the door.

As she opened the door she saw Rosalie, who appeared to be moments away from knocking on it, Rosalie’s hand in the air awkwardly before she lowered it.

‘Hey Sadie’ Rosalie’s face looked tired in the low light, her eyes red and puffy. 

‘Hi, I-uh, I am just going to go downstairs and get Deon’s jacket’

‘Oh ok’ Rosalie nodded hesitantly, but didn’t ask any questions, ‘I’ll be in my room if you want to talk’

Sadie nodded, and watched her friend enter another door. She was glad that Rosalie didn’t remember that his jacket was in the car, if she had, Sadie didn’t think that Rosalie would have let her go get it.

Walking down the stairs, she could hear a hushed argument, and when she finally arrived in the living room, she could clearly see Benjamin and Parker were going at each other’s throats, arguing just low enough that she couldn’t make out the words.

She didn’t want to alert them to her presence, for fear of them stopping her.

Sadie silently picked up the keys to Deon’s car, pushing them into the pocket of her shorts before walking back towards the door.

The boys were so engrossed in their argument that they completely missed that Sadie was in the room, let alone her exiting through the cabin door.

The deck was dark when she closed the door behind her and she scanned the area with her eyes before taking hesitant steps down the stairs, towards the ground below.

She felt fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins and she willed her heart to slow down, it’s beats loud in her ears.

She wondered if this was how Deon felt before he was attacked, the thought made her cringe. She told herself to breath, to ignore the darkness.

I just have to get to the car and back, you can do this.

Sadie focussed on the sounds of her feet against the ground and the soft sound her breathing in an effort to try to ignore the darkness and sounds that seemed to be surrounding her. She finally reached the car, even though it was not that far from the cabin, but it still felt like a feat none the less.

She shoved her hand into the pocked of her shorts, fishing around for the key.

She grasped it, but she dropped them from her clumsy fingers.

She sighed, bending down to pick them up.

That was the moment the cold metal of a knife was pressed up against her neck.

She froze in her movements before slowly standing back up again, the knife following her neck as she did.

A body was pressed up against her back and the cold knife trailed lightly around her neck as warm breath fell against her neck. Sadie’s breath hitched in her throat and it seemed like her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

‘C-Christopher’ she stuttered out, her whole body focused on the knife which was painfully pressed against her neck.

The words he whispered in her ear were so cold and hard that she felt more fear coursing through her veins with each chilling word.

 ‘Hello Sadie’