CHAPTER NINETEEN

THEY SAY A NEW DAY brings more opportunities. Whether it is to turn over a new leaf or to conquer what hadn't been achieved yesterday. A new day is a new beginning. A new beginning is a chance to start afresh, to fix what went wrong yesterday and to create a present that'll positively affect tomorrow. That is of course if you're not Lily Tran, where her one action possibly cost her her future, her peaceful slumber, and the innocence within her soul.

Every day is a new day, every day is a new day, every day is a new day, unless, of course, if you're stuck in the past reliving each moment day after day after day. As if it is a punishment against acting out of the plan. For acting in a way that would only hurt oneself in the end. Day after day, the past replays like a broken record. The faces of yesterday live on to see another day not willingly but by the haunted memories of those they affected.

Venus Wilson.

Gone but never forgotten.

Venus Wilson.

Gone but never truly gone.

Venus Wilson.

Gone but still there in each thought, in each dream, in each word.

"We have to find out who killed her, we have to do something about this. I can't let my life become like this not because of her."

"Long live Venus Wilson."

"Kate, please we can do without the sarcasm."

"Everyone meet up at my house on Friday."

"Even when she's gone, the world still revolves around her..."

She should have died — No. Lily's eyes floated back from the abyss of trees surrounding the house. Her fingers twiddled with one another before she felt the presence of another. Although the familiar scent of his cologne did not alarm her. Her shoulders found themselves relaxing as if she could melt into his touch as he reached around her to unlock the door. And then the knot in her stomach tightened which caused her skin to flush a deep red. She couldn't help but turn away.

"Well have the fucking time of your lives because we're all going to jail."

Her voice made her skin crawl as the events of the past week resurfaced in her mind as if it were a movie. Lily felt a weight in her stomach, a weight strong enough for her to hunch over as if she were ready to vomit, however, the door creaked open before she could release her lunch onto the doormat.

"Lily?" His warm hands wrapped around her dainty upper arms forcing her to stand upright. Warm, you're always warm, she thought to herself. Lily wondered if a small smile had found its way to her face by the way his eyes softened at her expression. "Are you okay?"

'Lily? Are you okay?'

Cold hands, sweaty hands.

     Her eyes widened at the memory as if she were embarrassed to have even thought of it in the presence of another, and not just anybody but the boy that had saved her time after time. The boy that had managed to keep her afloat when her doubts and thoughts had anchored her down. The boy who deserved more than what she had to offer. Lily brushed his question aside and took a step into the house immediately engulfed by the heat the house emitted. Despite it being a small house, the lack of humans had made it feel bigger than what it truly was. A one-bedroom with a basement, a kitchen attached to the dining room that doubled as a living room. It resembled what Lily lived in when her parents had first immigrated from Vietnam to Canada.

Everything that had to do with him felt like home, his house, his reassuring words, his smile — Stop.

"When are they coming?" Lily finally asked as she settled into the pull out couch in the living room. Her eyes scanned the wall of pictures that displayed Trevor from infancy to his teen years. The feeling of his warmth was strong on her left side and she didn't have to turn towards him to know that he had taken a seat beside her despite the loveseat across her being empty. She couldn't help but feel her cheeks burn up.

'I miss you, Tyler.'

'Lily what are you doing here? Jesus! You're drenched!'

His voice echoed in her mind and the blood in her veins run cold.

Close. Too close.

Lily looked up to focus on anything but her memory of that night. A memory that had caused her to come face to face with her impulsive actions.

Instead of an ordinary object, her gaze drifts to a pair of deep chocolate eyes. They reflect a small ray of the sun, a contrast from the icy blue eyes she'd stared into murmuring sweet nothings the other night. Stop.

"Lily, you don't seem too well."

His statement comes out as more of a question, a statement that she acknowledges herself. Trevor is her friend, just her friend, so why does it feel as if she's betrayed him.

'I  love you,'

There were a million and one things to do, yet she always found herself picking the worst option.

"Lily?"

"Huh?"

"Lily, do you need something to drink?"

'I've had too much to drink tonight Lily, go home,'

'I want you."

"No!"

Lily jumped off the couch that provided her all the warmth she needed and instead engulfed herself in the same blanket of ice she had wrapped that night. Why, why, why? When one makes a mistake why is it that they only realize afterward, why must humans try to hide their actions. Why must it be brushed under the rug? Why, why why.

"Lily, you seriously—"

"My anklet," she began, "I found it."

Trevor's eyes widened at her statement.

'My anklet, I can't find it!'

'We're going to end up in fucking jail because of her!'

'Trevor, please, I can't, I can't—'

"Where did you find it?" He prodded, wanting as much detail as possible.

He remembered that night all too vividly. He remembered the color of her face flushed to leave a ghostly image behind. The moment they had left that house she'd whispered it ever so lightly to him. Her voice so hushed, as if she were afraid the three would abandon her and dump the blame on her. He couldn't help but want to protect her even if she was just a mere classmate at the time.

Was that the first time she'd called his name?

His eyes never leave her figure as he watched her breathe in and out at an erratic rate. The same way she had always done so, but something about today felt off. As if she were hiding something from him.

"Lily, where did you find it?" He repeated himself when she failed to answer him.

"Tyler's house," she started all while refusing to meet his gaze.

"Oh," Trevor managed out, dropping his gaze from her and to the ground instead.

Right. How could he have forgotten, against the Tyler Meyers he was nothing.

"I-I didn't— We didn't..."

A knock on the door cuts their conversation short.

"It's probably Raj and Kate," Trevor couldn't help but reassure her. Stop.

"Trevor," her voice was soft, just as soft as the hand that grasped his wrist.

'Trevor.'

'Still can't sleep?'

'No–I...would you still be my friend if I did something to hurt you?'

'Lily, what is this about?'

'Nothing, nothing, I'm sorry, I'm drunk.'

Don't pity me. He thought to himself but refused pull her hand from his.

"It was in the heat of the moment, I wasn't thinking straight, he was there, and I, and I..."

"—You don't have to justify yourself to me, I'm not your boyfriend, he is." Trevor's voice was firm, yet his composure wavered momentarily.

    Lily was left alone once again in a room that suddenly felt too cold and too big for her. The knot in her stomach tightened to the point where she leaned over, unable to hold herself up. Kate was the first to arrive in the room, then Raj followed. The two looked at her posture and shot her a look she couldn't decipher—that she did not want to decipher.

"I love you, Venus."

"I'm Lily..."

Of course, even if he was in bed with her, in his most vulnerable state all that is on his mind and in his heart is Venus Wilson.

Just stay dead.

"No." Lily gasped, before sliding up against the wall. When did it get so hard to hold herself up?

When did she start thinking like Kate? When did she become this vile?

"Lily?" Raj's voice was laced with concern, and the hand that was cold against her skin held her up, "You're hot to the touch!"

"Are we here to play doctor or actually talk?" Kate snapped.

Lily ripped her gaze from Raj's hand to Kate. She looked worse if that was even possible. It seemed as though she hadn't showered since the last time she'd seen her given that she was wearing the same clothes, but still, she was grateful for her being the bitch she was.

"She's right." Lily whispered before sliding Raj's hand from her arm. "We need to get our story straight."

    Kate plopped down in the love seat across the two of them, crossing her legs one over the other. She looked at the two with a stare as hard as stone. Lily was the first to break away from her stare, and Raj expelled a deep sigh before the two were ushered to the sofa.

"Now, which one of us killed Venus Wilson?"