The next day was Monday, which meant school. I dragged myself out of bed and managed to dress in a floral blouse and white shorts. I look myself in the mirror, making sure everything is in place. I braided my hair today and I've pinned back the annoying strands, though I can bet you they'll fall in my face within the next hour. There's a desk in my room across from my mirror, and on my chair, there's the stranger's jacket. 

 I pick it up to bring it to him at school. I have a few classes with the guy, but we've never actually talked. "Maybe now's a good time to start," I unsurely sigh to myself. My thoughts are cut short by a phone call from Allister. "Hey, Al. What's up?" 

"Reyna!" she exclaims, relieved to hear my voice as if she thought I was dead. "You're okay."

"Well, not totally," I tell her, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and getting in my car. "I've still got to go to school.

"Reyna, something terrible happened at the party..." Allister's voice trembles and I hear her sniffling in the distance.

"You bet," I agree, trying to lighten the mood. Maybe she called because something else happened and she needs to take her mind off things, which is odd – usually, if someone needs cheering up, they go to Al. But not today. "Underaged drinking, illegal drugs, sixteen-year-olds driving past curfew..."

 "No, this is serious, Rey. Just hurry up and get here, I'll explain everything in person."

"On my way," I assure. I pass through the hallway and glance at the closed guest doors. Sometimes, my mom rents them out, but a few of them are almost always empty. All the doors remain closed, but today, one of them is cracked. My door is in the hallway, from here the last door on the left is the one that is opened. My hand rests on the knob. Do I shut it or walk-in?

 I close my eyes and shake off the echo of bad memories. When I was really little, a man rented this room out. We thought it was odd that he had so little packed with him. The man had a chill about him – a cold stare in his eyes, a clamminess to his skin. We discovered him the next day, a belt tied around his neck and to the bedpost. He had forced himself to die. He ran and fought against the belt until he died. For a little while, a murder investigation was opened. Why would someone struggle so hard to commit suicide? There's drug OD's, a shot to the head, a simple ceiling fan hanging...why take the painful way out? 

But there was no motive for murder and the man had just lost his daughters. Suicide made the most sense.

 I can't stand the feeling I get every time I pass this room. Someone died, their body was cold and frigid. I peek inside, the window leaking sunlight, making the room almost seeming cheery. The bedpost is rubbed down from where the belt was looped around. On the bed, there's a thank you note.

I enjoyed the stay. I plan on coming back soon.

I very calmly slam the door and get the hell out of that room. No one has stayed in this particular room beside the suicide man, and that note wasn't there when he left. I rush down the hallway and through the living room, grabbing a banana on the way out.

 "Reyna, what's wrong?" my mother asks.

"Nothing," I say in a rush. "I'm just going to be late. Bye, I love you!" I call, half out the door.

 "Don't forget, your father will be home early today. I planned a big dinner!"

 I close the door and rush into the car, shoving the note in my pocket. Someone was in my house sometime from yesterday night to today – that's not a giant time gap, which is the scary thing. My parents would never play a joke about something like this. The incident affected us all. The only other person who knows about the suicide is Maren.

My phone buzzes. Speaking of...it's Mare.

"Maren?"

"Reyna, are you almost at school?" she hurriedly asks. "There's some scary stuff going on right now. I'm with Allister and Della and everyone...we need you."

 "Maren, listen to me," I order, backing out of the driveway and speeding down the street. "Remember the suicide in the rental room?" 

"Oh, my God, Rey. Don't talk about that now. Now is the worst time to think about that," she tells me, rushing her words. I can almost sense an oncoming panic attack.

 I run through a stop sign and hit the school road. "So it wasn't you who left the note in that room?"

"What?" she furiously questions. "Rey, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"God," I sigh. "Maren, I'll talk to you at school, I'm almost there."

I hang up and toss my phone on the passenger, momentarily looking down. Once I look up, I realize I'm barreling towards a pedestrian. Slamming on my breaks, I gasp and brace myself for impact. Luckily, I manage to stop mere inches away from him. I park the car and get out. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to. I mean, obviously, I didn't mean to. A lot of stuff is going on and I'm overwhelmed. I...are you okay? I didn't hit you, right?"

The man laughs a deep, smoky laugh; it's the stranger from the party. "No. No, you didn't hit me."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Good." There's a silence, and in the daylight, I see that the man's eyes are blue. "Why are you walking to school?"

 "I have a car," he explains. "But I live close so I don't waste money and drive." "Did you want a ride?" I offer. 

 "Um, I don't know. Are you going to run over someone? Because I don't want to be an accomplice to vehicular homicide.

I roll my eyes and manage to laugh a little. "No, I don't plan on hitting anyone. Also, your jacket is inside."

 "Oh, so now you're holding my jacket hostage? That's just unfair." The stranger flashes a bright smile and gets in the passenger seat. I try to hide the small grin on my face as I enter the red car. "I assume you meant the whole thing about Destiny when you said you had a lot of stuff going on."

 "Destiny?" I question. "Who's that?"

 "The party last night...it was at her house."

"Oh..." Well, now I just feel stupid and rude. "Well, what happened?"

The man looks at me as if he's trying to discern if I'm serious or not. I park the car in the school lot and look at him, expecting an answer. "Wow, you really don't know, do you?"

"If I did, would I be asking you?"

"Alright," the man says, placing a hand on the back of my leather seat. "After I heard the scream, I went up to her room. There's tons of blood everywhere. It's on the ceiling, the walls, the carpet, the bed...it's almost an inhuman amount. But there's nobody insight."

I turn towards him. "Wait. So there's blood and not a body. How do you know whose blood it is?"

The stranger holds up a long finger. "You didn't let me finish. The blood has mixed DNA. Some of it is Destiny's; some of it is from a man named Enzo King, a deputy who is perfectly okay; and some is from a set of twins who died years ago."

I piece together the information he has just told me. "Nobody and three sets of blood. If the blood is truly mixed, that means the murderer, or whatever they are, premeditated this. They got the blood beforehand and decided to just splatter it all over the place." 

 "Question is: why now? Why at the party, or Destiny's house?" the man proposes, a caramel brow perking up. "And, what about the scream?" 

 "Did you see anyone? I know you took off, like, immediately.

Mr Perceptive's expression changes from contemplation to remorse. "Sorry about that...but I didn't see anyone. There's no way anyone could've screamed and gotten away like that." 

I look at my steering wheel as if all my answers are there. "What if no one was there when the scream happened?"

The man laughs. "What?" "Stop, I'm serious!" 

I pipe up, getting excited about being onto something. "What if they came in and splattered the blood everywhere, then planted a tape recorder and timed it to give themselves enough time to run?" 

"Reyna, how would that work?"

I take a moment to think, pushing my strands back that fall in my face already. "Theysplatter the blood, right? Then they have a recording of a scream on their phone and connect it to a Bluetooth speaker in Destiny's room. They play it and vanish."

"How do you know there's a Bluetooth speaker in her room? You weren't in there." 

 I step out of my car and the man follows suit. "Hey, Aero," a girl calls from across the parking lot at the man, flashing him a smile and wave. The man, Aero, grants her a dashing smile before continuing our conversation. In the sunlight, he squints his eyes and a part of his lip lifts in a strain against the sun. It's then that I realize that the girl from across the lot has a good reason to wave to him – he's a head-turner.

"You expect someone with a giant house and tons of luxuries doesn't have a Bluetooth speaker in their room?" 

 Aero considers this before he nods. "Okay, good point. Where would they have escaped?"

 I stop in my tracks, a chill running down my spine despite the blazing sun. "The dock. They went to the dock and swam or something. The lake isn't that big."

"Why the lake?"

"I saw it moving. It could've been the wind, but...it was too much movement for just a breeze," I clarify. "So one question remains: why do all of this?"

 Aero shakes his head and shrugs, running a hand through his thick hair. "Maybe we could figure it out after school."

"After school?" I question. The only people who come to my house are Maren or the whole group of my other friends.

"Yeah," Aero says with a small smile. "Unless you're busy." 

 "No, I'm free. Your house or mine?"

"Yours," is his quick answer. "My house is uhh...it's really hectic." 

 I snort. "Mine's almost too silent." I think about the suicide in the room and the note on the bed. Now, silence isn't the word to describe this. It's a void. 

"Then I guess I better spice it up a bit," Aero teases as we enter the school grounds.

 "Reyna!" Allister cries, running over. I go to tell Aero to come around four o'clock, but he's already vanished into the crowd of bustling students. "Did you hear about Destiny?"

"Reyna!" Maren calls, rushing up to us. "Hey, Allister," she politely greets. Allistersmiles at Maren, her face brighter now that her platinum blonde hair is in a bun. 

"Hey guys," I greet. "I heard about what happened."

 "Who told you?" Maren questions. 

"Uh, it doesn't matter. Hey, Hanzo," I say to the man, who stands behind Allister and Della and Maren. He waves at me.

 "Did you know that Destiny went missing the day before her party?" Della pipes in. She's trying to be edgy, but she's downright scared and bothered. I'm glad I didn't go to the room to see the blood.

"No," I dismally answer. "I didn't. Where's Makai?"

Della shakes her head. "No idea. He isn't answering his texts or phone calls. Some officers took him in for questioning last I remember."

 I furrow my brows and look over at the lockers. Aero is going through his or acting like he is because when I look over, he's already staring. At Adelina's words, his face almost registers something. Forcefully, he slams his locker and goes to his first block, which is also my first block with Maren and Della.

"Strange," I absentmindedly note. "I'm sure he's alright."

 "Better be," Della huffs, collecting her brown hair and pulling it into a ponytail. There are dark bags under her eyes that she tried to conceal with extra foundation. Tough GirlAdelina is more shaken than she lets on.

Surprisingly, it's Maren who cheers her up. "He is," Mare coos, a sorrowful grimace on her face. "I think we would feel it if he wasn't."

 Della looks surprised but grateful for Maren's kind words. "Thank you...really." Maren nods and vanishes off to biology.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," I bid as the "hurry the hell up" bell rings. "Keep trying to get ahold of Makai."

As I go down the hall, I think about the new information. What if Makai's blood is going to be splattered on some other person's walls? The boy who laughs and smiles and makes us feel good at the expense of his own wellbeing is missing, along with Destiny. Could Makai, the boy who is like my brother, the boy who called me "mom" after I5/5plucked twigs out of his hair, be in danger? What was the last thing I said to him? 

I try to clear my head and act like everything is okay. I think back on what I said to Aero the night of the party: I have friends, a family, and good grades.

 I glance over by the window in class, where Aero sits. He looks at me with a knowing expression. I can almost hear his voice in the back of my head.

 Do you really, Reyna?