When I finally get off the couch, the first rays of sunlight are streaming in through the window, and I'm exhausted. I drag myself to the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee because there's no way I'm going to make it through the day without it. To be fair, I'm not even sure I'm going to make it through the day with it.

The only thing I know for sure is that I'm done. It was stupid of me to think that I could even hope to stop a serial killer. Cathy had chosen the wrong person to warn because no matter how much she screamed, yelled, and shrieked, I could not save them, not a single one. And now Mrs. Hayes was dead or at least as good as dead and it was all my fault. I was supposed to keep an eye on Cory, and I had royally screwed up. I was mad at Mia, but the fact was that she was probably the only reason both Mrs. Hayes and Cory were still alive.

I decided that the least I could do was go to the hospital and see if Cory was allowed to have visitors. I down the cup of coffee, wincing at the bitter taste and go upstairs to shower and change.

Ten minutes later, I lock my front door and walk down the steps to my bike which Mia had apparently dropped off. I pause as I realise that I hadn't left a note informing my parents of my whereabouts. I swing my leg over my bike as I come to the conclusion that it absolutely does not matter, I'll probably be home before them anyway. I try to enjoy the ride to the hospital, particularly as the roads are pretty empty and the weather is bordering on perfect but unfortunately my mind has other plans, namely running through every possible way this whole killing spree could end or if it would ever end.

I pull into the hospital parking lot and get off my bike. I buy a simple card from the gift store and after talking to a nurse, make my way to Cory's room. I'm right outside the door when it opens and Mia runs straight into me, nearly throwing me off balance.

She straightens up as soon as she sees me, "hey".

"Hey"

"You going in to see Cory?"

"This IS his room, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I was just asking".

"Cool, I'm going to go in now".

She nods and moves aside, "I thought you might want to know, there's a fifty percent chance Mrs. Hayes will pull through".

I pause, "thank you" then I walk into the room, leaving her outside.

Cory is sitting up in the bed, eating pudding out of a cup, "can I just say I find it extremely weird that you were defending her like crazy when we thought she was a serial killer and you're fighting with her now when we know for sure that she's not a murderer".

"I'd prefer it if you did not say that actually".

Cory shrugs, "what are you going to do? Give me another concussion?"

"Don't tempt me" I place the card on the table by his bed, "so how are you feeling?"

"Everything hurts but I really thought I would never feel anything again so I'm going to take this as a win".

"What happened exactly?"

"Well, you texted me to come meet up and by the time I figured out it wasn't you, it was too late".

"Did you see their face? The person who tried to kill you?"

"They wore a ski mask the entire time. All I know is that they chased me through the park and then I caught sight of Mia cycling past and it kind of threw me off because I thought Mia was the one chasing me with a fucking kitchen knife and that's when they got the drop on me".

"So, you don't remember anything else?"

"I got a few jabs in before they knocked me out".

"Anything a little more concrete?"

"Not really, when I woke up, there was a paramedic leaning over me, asking me a bunch of questions and then they brought me here".

"We think its Kevin".

"We?"

"Mia thinks so too though she won't admit it".

"Wait, the guy who went to juvie Kevin?"

"The guy who went to juvie because of your testimony, yes that Kevin".

"Are you serious? He's the one killing everyone?"

"I think it's a revenge quest of sorts".

"But wait, Mrs. Hayes, that's him?"

"I know that Mrs. Hayes wasn't supposed to be there, she was lured there and honestly if you think about it, Kevin would be mad at his mother too, right?"

"Well yeah, he was mad at her, but he wouldn't kill her, they were.... close"

I flopped down on the visitor's chair, "I don't know what's happening man".

Cory put down his pudding cup, "do you think he'll try again? Killing me, I mean"

"Probably" I rummage through my bag, "which is why I brought you this".

I hand him the dark coloured black pistol and he shrinks back, "dude what the hell?"

"Relax" I fling it onto the bed, "its not a real gun, just a really realistic looking toy, something I learned existed a while ago".

"How is a fake gun supposed to help me?"

"It's a great scare tactic and I don't trust you with a real one".

"What if he knows it's a fake?"

"Throw it at him and make a run for it".

Cory looks at me quizzically and I throw my hands up in exasperation, "do you have any better ideas?"

He sighs, "I guess not".

*****************************************

I don't know why I'm standing in front of Mrs. Hayes house, but I do know that I don't want to go home. It's a pretty house, small but pretty. Now its empty. She probably used to sit out with Kevin when he was a kid, watching him play with toy cars and she probably sat there long after he was gone, remembering what it was like to watch him play.

Mia must have spent a lot of time here too. they must have played hide and seek and pirates and had cooking competitions and.... I close my eyes, this was not why I was here. I turn to walk away when a particularly strong gust of wind throws the front door wide open. It would have been scary if I hadn't just watched a woman get stabbed in the chest yesterday.

I walk up the steps and catch hold of the door, preparing to pull it closed when there is a crash from inside the house. Against my better judgement, I step inside the house, trying to locate the source of the noise, hoping its just the wind.

The bedroom door is closed but not locked and the sound of shuffling from the other side makes me push it open. The guy I just surprised, turns around, holding a snow globe over his head, "who are you?"

"You're Kevin"

"I know I'm Kevin, who the hell are you?"

I take a step back, "I don't want any trouble okay, I'm sorry for barging in".

"Wait" I freeze, my heart thudding against my rib cage.

He lowers the snow globe, "do you know my mom?"

I decide that the safest thing I can do right now is answer his questions and hope he doesn't kill for purposes other than revenge, "yeah, I know Mrs. Hayes".

His eyes narrow, "do you know where she is?"

For a minute I'm confused before I realise what he wants, "I don't know which hospital she's in I swear"?

Then the strangest thing happens, his face drops, "she's in the hospital? What happened?"

"You stabbed her" I blurt out before considering that this may not be a good idea.

"What are you talking about?" he takes a step towards me, "where is my mother?"

Its not him, my brain is screaming, he didn't kill them.

We're both the same size but honestly that was where our similarities ended. It was obvious that this guy wasn't messing around, and he would probably snap me like a twig if I didn't tell him where his mother was, but I needed to be sure, I owed it to Mrs. Hayes.

"I saw you stab her, I was there, at the school. She walked in like she expected to find you there. She was happy to see you and then you stabbed her".

"That's not possible, I just came into town today morning" he fished around in his pant pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper, "this is my ticket, now tell me where she is".

"Three people have died in the last month and someone was almost killed yesterday, they were murdered and the only thing they have in common is that they testified at your trial".

He scoffs, "so you think I killed them? Who are you anyway?"

"A friend of Cory's, I just moved into town a month ago"

"I didn't kill them alright, I'm not a killer".

I knew it could backfire in the worst way possible, but I needed to try, "You killed Valerie, didn't you?"

The sharp pain at the back of my head when he slams me into the wall made me realise that Kevin was way stronger than he looked, "Listen to me asshole, I did not kill Valerie alright?" his voice goes soft, "I loved her".

I almost feel sorry for him, almost, "so you didn't give her the heroin, knowing she would probably overdose?"

"No, I didn't, she called me that day, said we could do something fun together, we met up, she told me about the drugs, I said no, no way, I'm not a saint but I don't do hard drugs and I definitely wasn't going to let her do them. I took them from her, and I left".

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You don't, I don't care if you believe me or not, but I want you to know that you can tell me where my mother is the easy way, or I can beat it out of you".

I told him, partly because I did not particularly want to add physical pain to the long list of things that were killing me right now and partly because I did believe him. Valerie could have been the girl Mrs. Hayes had said he was secretly dating, and the bus ticket looked legit.

"Hey"

He turned back at the door, "what?"

"You should call Mia; she'll be happy to see you".

He smiles slightly, "Mia, yeah, she was my best friend".

"Is".

"What?"

"She is your best friend" I corrected, "she never stopped protecting you and she never stopped taking care of your mom"

He nodded and then he was gone.

Once I was out of the house, I sent a quick text to check in with Cory and to tell him Kevin wasn't out to kill him. Then I get back on my bike and ride home. When I reach the turn to my house, I take a right instead of a left and continue on because everywhere I go, I'm just reminded of how hopeless I feel, how the serial killer I was supposed to catch is still on the loose, how there's going to be more bloodshed because of me and how the one person I considered a friend I could count on wasn't who I thought she was. Nothing felt right and for the first time in a long time I missed the person I was. Being a lonely, friendless loser was horrible, but I could handle it. Knowing I would never be able to talk to her again, go grocery shopping with her, watch her struggle with Physics problems that I could solve in the blink of an eye and hear her stupid jokes that had no punchline hurt worse than I could have ever imagined.

I stop as I catch sight of Peyton's house. I realise that I really really want to see her so ignoring the voice in my head that says its rude to show up to someone's house uninvited, I knock at her door.

A pretty middle-aged woman opens the door, "Yes?"

"Uh, is Peyton there? I'm Lucas, I just wanted to talk to her".

"Oh, you're Lucas?" she opens the door completely, "please come in".

I follow her in nervously, not quite sure what I'm going to say to Peyton. She comes down the stairs right then and I'm not nervous anymore. She grins at me, "fancy seeing you here".

"I thought maybe we could play some video games like you said, but if it's a bad time then I could come back later".

She takes my hand, "let's go upstairs".

"Door remains open" her mother calls out from the kitchen.

Her room is beautiful and its obvious that she designed it herself. She pulls out a cardboard box from below the bed, "which one?"

I smile, "you choose".

She picks out one and five minutes later, she's absolutely slaughtering me at the game. After losing three games, I finally put the controller down, "Okay I give up".

"Wise choice" she leans back in her beanbag, "I'm so glad you came over but I'm curious, is there any particular reason you're here?"

I sigh, leaning back in my own bean bag, "I just wanted to see you I guess".

She smiles at me, "is it weird that I kind of wanted to see you too?"

"It would be weird if you didn't want to see me, because you know, your mom just let me right in, I honestly thought she would turn me away at the door."

"Well Cory's stopped coming over and I think she's kind of glad that at least one of her daughters is making an effort to socialise".

"Is that what you're doing? Socialising?"

She shifts her beanbag closer to mine, "I think we're past that, don't you?"

"Uh" her hair smells of strawberry and its extremely distracting but I don't mind, "we are?"

She laughs, "I think you're really cute Lucas and I like you".

My heart is beating like 200 times per minute, but I manage to get the words out, "I like you too".

"I'm glad we got that out of the way" she's inches from me now and I realise her eyes are chocolate brown, not the kind of chocolate you use for icing a cupcake but the kind of chocolate that's sweet and you want to savour forever.

She leans towards me, and I almost forget how to breathe. "It's my first time" I blurt out and almost immediately I want to kick myself, way to ruin the mood, Lucas.

She smiles, the same smile that knocked me on my ass the first time I met her, "then let's make sure it's your best huh"

She kisses me and its like all the events of the day fade away to nothing as I let her. She's soft and gentle and smells like a garden of roses and before I know it my hands are around her waist, pulling her closer to me. Her hands thread through my hair and I just want to stay like this with her forever, away from all the death and the pain and the loneliness.

She pulls back and grins, "that was fun".

She leans back in again and winces, hand to her side, "is there something in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Uh I" I put my hand in my pocket and pull out a shiny octagonal pendant, "what is this?"

Peyton chuckles, "why do you have Maya's pendant?"

"I don't know" I say truthfully, "maybe I found it in our class and......" I trail off as the memory hits me. The night of Travis' death, something glittering on the ground, picking it up and putting it in my pocket.

"What's wrong?" Peyton asks.

"Nothing" I say, "I just, I have to go".

"Lucas, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just remembered my parents are going to be locked out and they don't have a key, so I got to get back home".

"Oh okay" she looks disappointed, and I am too but I have more important matters to deal with right now because my girlfriend's sister could be a killer.

I grab my stuff and practically run down the stairs before realising I should probably say goodbye to Mrs. Davis. I can hear the TV in the hall, so I walk in. She's sitting on the couch, watching a video. A younger version of Maya is in the frame, reciting a terrible poem. Peyton then walks into the frame laughing and playing air guitar, I smile because it's actually pretty adorable. Another girl I don't recognise then walks into the frame, but it is not hard to guess that this is Valerie. She's cute and looks a lot like Peyton and Maya. Then she starts reciting her poem and I freeze like I've been sucker punched. The last time I heard that voice it was in my head, and it was telling me to save them.

For that one dude who won't stop bugging me about Cathy, like jeez here you go.