"She deserves a proper burial." Cathy whispered, her voice weak and wobbly.

"I'm so sorry Cathy," Kylie repeated for the tenth time.

"You didn't do anything," Cathy acknowledged as she ran a hand through her hair, messing it up even more. "We'll clean up the blood and everything and put Beth..." Cathy stopped mid sentence as her voice got stuck in her throat. She shut her eyes and internally begged herself not to cry before reopening them and continuing on. "...in some fresh clothes and then bury her in somewhere."

"I'll stay behind to help clean up the blood." Alexa said before releasing a huge sigh. The 6am sun poured through Kylie's window as the room felt heavy with dread. The trio of Ryan, Cathy and Alexa had come rushing to Kylie the moment they'd been informed. Where else two houses down, Anther was pacing in his room while cursing the fact that his step-dad had woken up early.

"I'll help wash the body." Kylie sniffed. "Cathy you go home, if your mom or dad finds out you're missing, all of us will be in trouble."

Rubbing her eyes with two fingers, Cathy agreed before turning away and heading down the stairs. Her yellow pyjamas a bright contrast to the dead and gloom filled Adams house.

* * *

A blanket of stars stretched over the town of Kingswood where a group of teens were shouldered with worry and anxiety. The trees in the woods seemed darker tonight, as if the shadows around them knew what was about to happen and they were prepared. Prepared to lure the teens into their doom.

"Cathy, my parents are here." Kylie whispered frantically through her phone while glancing back at her bed. The same bed that gave shade to the dead body of a teenage girl. Kylie physically shuddered. She was never going to be able to sleep properly again.

"Calm down, I'll come over there." Cathy balanced the phone on her right shoulder as she slipped on her sneakers and grabbed her science books off her desk before dumping them into her bag. "I'm coming to your place for a science project. Something space related."

"Where are you going?" A voice asked as Cathy ran down, skipping every other step in the process.

"Science project." Cathy replied as her father stood from his laptop and walked up to her.

"This late?" He asked before turning his brown head around to look at the clock positioned on the kitchen wall, it's big needle pointing to 12 while the shorter one pointed to 7.

"Yeah, Kylie had some other work to deal with earlier."

"Ah okay, but come back before 8:30." Mr.Williams said, a slight frown creasing up the corners of his mouth. "I don't want you staying out too late."

"Roger that," Cathy said, adding a mock salute to make her outer appearance seem at least the slightest bit at ease. She shut the door on her way out and focused on the way her feet trampled the paved road as she hurried to Kylie and Ryan's house.

She stopped in front of the main door and rang the bell, her hands shaking as she did so.

"Oh hey Cathy," a blonde woman said as she opened the door. "Kylie said that you'll be coming."

"Yeah it was late planning," Cathy said as she tried to smile. "I hope you don't mind-"

"Oh no, no, I don't." Mrs. Adams interjected as she opened the door wider for Cathy to enter. "I remember the days I had to do science projects with my friends." She added with a smile.

Cathy smiled back -at least tried to- as she walked past the window near the stairs before going to the second floor, her eyes briefly flitting past the two humanlike shadows outside.

But before Cathy could think too much about it, she was yanked inside a room. "Come in."

Two pairs of green eyes stared back at her before Ryan started talking. "We leave at 7:15 because that's when my mom's show starts, and Kylie told them not to disturb you two so I doubt either one of them will, and my dad normally has a call around this time which lasts for around an hour so you're covered."

"As for Anther and Alexa," Kylie added. "They said that they're doing their "project" together so their parents think they're at Anther's house."

"Alright and you're sure we won't get caught?" Cathy said before sucking in a breath when she saw the body on the floor against the wall. Bethany's skin matched the white dress she was covered in, her lips covered with a pale a blueish tint. It was as if someone had just taken a white brush and just painted all of her.

"Anther says the place is secluded and pretty decent." Ryan said. "I still don't know from where he got the information-"

"Oh about that," Kylie interrupted.  "I think it's because he did scouting for a while-"

Her words were cut short when a pebble fell though the open window and collided with the pencil holder on Kylie's desk before sending it crashing to the floor along with it's contents."

"Ryan, what's going on up there?" Nick Adams called, the sound of his voice making all of them turn stiff.

Kylie hurriedly opened Ryan's room door and stuck her head out. "Nothing Dad!" She yelled back before sticking her head back in and leaning against the door and holding her breath.

"Are you Ryan?" Came back Mr. Adams response. "Or wait..." he paused before screaming. "Ryan are you going through puberty?!"

"Dad!" Ryan yelled this time while his face went red. "Everything's fine!"

"Don't look at me like that!" Ryan snapped when the two girls blinked at him. "We've got a body to wrap."

"Right." Cathy muttered before opening her bag and pulling out an old sheet. "Take these gloves too. Just in case." She added when the twins gave her curious looks.
"Hey I'm just being careful!" Cathy snapped as she spread out the gray cloth. "If Beth is ever found, we can't have our DNA all over her corpse."

Cathy stood up and walked towards the body while Ryan grimaced at the way the brown haired girl was handling everything. He would've honestly preferred if she'd holed up in her room with a bunch of tissue boxes and grieved like a normal teenager would.

I guess normal is too much to ask for when you've got a demon less than a mile away from you.

Ryan thought as he walked up to Cathy and helped lay Bethany's stiff body on the cloth before the three of them wrapped her in it. Covering her from head to toe.

But even as they passed down the cloth wrapped corpse down the window, Cathy still couldn't shake away the feeling Bethany's dead brown eyes gave her. The way her once warm skin was cold as ice, the way her bubbly laugh wouldn't be heard anymore.

"Easy." Anther hissed when the bottom of the body knocked a tree, causing the leaves to rustle and for snow to fall. The blue eyed boy raised his arms higher before speaking, "drop it."

The gray object fell into his arms and he struggled a bit to find his balance before Alexa grabbed his arm to steady him.

"I'll go first," Kylie said before she stepped out of the window, gulping as she held on to the drain pipe and tried to slide down.

*  *  *

"Are we almost there yet?" Alexa asked as she trampled what she just hoped wasn't a dead rodent.

It wouldn't look too good if the sheriff's only daughter was found balancing a dead body on the shoulders, at night, in the woods, with a bunch of other teens."

"Just a bit more," Anther replied as he re-addjusted Bethany's head on his shoulder. It wasn't as if he wasn't scared either, he was practically shaking as he walked further into the dark. What would happen if they were caught? Sure they didn't do anything but their word wouldn't mean anything to the court if they were caught? What about his mom and his little sister? What if Steven left them?

"We're here." Anther said as he stopped walking. He pulled back some stray branches to reveal a tall banyan tree standing in the centre. Kylie scared herself by pointing her torch towards one of the thicker vines hanging off the old tree and mistaking it for a man.

"Alright then, we better get digging." She said as she dropped her bag down and pulled out the shovel that was sticking out of the zipper.

The five high schoolers dug and dug forever. Anther cursing when he ended up cutting himself while pulling out sharp rocks. Where else Cathy started crying half way as her mind started a riot inside her. Literally adding their blood, sweat and tears to their work.

"That should be enough," Alexa said, placing her hand on her hip. She was almost about to close her eyes for a second and breathe when something made her make them even wider.

Sirens.

"Someone would've seen us," Ryan said as all source of colour drained from his face.

"I thought this place was completely covered!" Kylie said as she helped Cathy push the body into the hole and grabbed her bag.

"It is!" Anther protested as he grabbed Cathy's hand made her move when she tried to fill the hole with their dug up sand. "There isn't time Cathy!"

"Run." He said, pushing her forward as he began his own fear filled sprint. His feet touching the ground for second before flying back up as the sound of the sirens increased.

You won't be able to escape.

Ryan felt the wind in him leave instantly as the whisper reached his ears. He blonde boy gasped for breath as his eyes searched for anything and everything. He had no clue from which direction the voice came from, but as the hair on his neck stood upright, he knew they were being watched. Ryan tried to stop running to clear his head but the moment his feet slowed down, his arm was grabbed and pulled hard.

"Ryan come on!" Alexa hissed as she pulled him, if the cops found them, it was going to be over for all of them.

Ryan shut his eyes for a second before breathing in and nodding.

You're going to get caught.

"He's here." Ryan whispered.

Alexa cursed as she ran past Kylie. They're gonna die. They're gonna die or get caught. Either way they're gonna get caught.

Anther was right at the front, Ryan tailing behind him as they ran and ran. They could see the sirens now, the cars had come to a stop and the red lights were flashing brighter than ever. The noise emitted from them making Anther's head pound.

"Follow me," he said as he turned to the left, hoping that he was going in the direction he thought he was.

They past a small clearing before and took a right before Anther's feet skidded to a halt. His chest rose and fell with every breath as he stared at what was in front of him.

Three burning eyes, a skull like face and a smile so horrendous that it would make grown men cry.

"No no no no no no," Cathy repeated. Taking a step back.

Wrong move

A snake like voice said before Malthus moved to steps closer to them. And the creepiest part? The voice came from him yet it didn't. His mouth didn't move even a bit, but it sounded as if he was right next to you, whispering in your ear while your heart raced with dread.

I'm not going to kill you.

I'm going to wait till you do it yourself.

Kylie shuddered before tears started falling through her lashes. Her body shaking with every breath.

Just like Bethany.

Anther opened his mouth to say something back, but before he could do anything. The clouds covered the moon, cloaking them in darkness, as their torches started flickering in their hands.

This lasted a second before the clouds parted and a steady beam of light returned to their torches.

Malthus was gone.

But someone else was approaching.

"Run," Ryan hissed before kicking off, the cops had caught up.

The five teens heard dogs barking not too far from them as their feet felt numb from all the running.

Coming to a stop at the front of the fence. Anther hammered himself against it before immediately stopping when it shook violently and made too much noise.

"Climb." He hurriedly said as he offered his folded palms. She stepped on to it and grabbed the fence before climbing over it. Groaning when she lost her footing and fell to the other side.

"I'm fine," she said as Cathy and Alexa hoisted themselves up. Ryan following.

Anther took a few steps back before running towards the fence jumping. He slipped the first time and ended up sliding down, his sweaty palms not helping.

The dogs were closer now.

Anther prayed a silent prayer and ran once again and this time he went further up while Cathy pushed his feet his from the other side of the fence. Anther climbed over and fell to the other side.

The five of them looked from side to side to try and locate where they were.

"We're on the other side." Alexa said out loud. "If we go right it should take less time." She panted as she wiped off sweat from her forehead. Her rubbery gloves rubbing dirt over the top half of her face.

"We'll go across the corner alleys." Ryan said as he began walking.

*  *  *

"Hurry up," Anther hissed as he balanced Alexa on his shoulders.

"I'm trying," she cut back as she slowly stood up from her sitting position and balanced her tip toes  on Anther's shoulder. Hoisting her upper body in to her room before crawling through the window.

"Thank you." She mouthed from above while Anther headed towards his house, climbing up on the tree he'd spent most of his pre-teen years on top off. He stretched his hands until into grabbed a hook of the tall boy he'd placed near his widow before letting his feet fall from the tree.

Balancing on the hook, Anther exhaled before pulling his arms up and entering the privacy of his room.

*  *  *

"Cathy!"

"Give me a second," Cathy gritted out as she washed the the dirt from her jeans before dumping it into a bucket with the rest of her washed clothes. She sighed before throwing on her bathrobe and opening her bathroom door.
"What?"

"We need to talk." Her mom said, her baby blue eyes wide and her fingers intertwined.

"Okay just let me get dressed," Cathy replied in a monotone voice while she screamed inside her head.

She shut her door behind her and took her own cool time to slip on he pyjamas while praying that she wasn't going be locked up in a cell.

"Okay I'm here." She said as she entered the hall.

Her mom looked up at her before speaking. "They've found Bethany's body."

*  *  *

"In the woods." Sheriff Taylor said as he stared at Alexa's wet hair.

"Do you seriously think I had something to do with this?!" Alexa screamed accusingly at her father.

*  *  *

"So this girl, she's Catherine's friend right?" Mr. Adams asked his two children.

"Yeah we don't know anything about her." Kylie replied.

*  *  *

"Alexa and I were together. You saw her come in." Anther replied calmly as his step-father sighed.

"The witness said she saw three people. Maybe more, and you and you're friends have a history."

*   *  *

"What I don't get is how they found it here." Mr. Williams said. "Dankort is 2 hours away."

"Cathy how are you holding up?" Erica Williams asked as she squeezed her daughter's palm.

"I'm fine."

"Hey don't worry. They'll catch whoever did this." Her mom said with a sad smile, hoping to comfort Cathy.

It did the opposite.

*  *  *

"No of course not!" Alexa's dad defended. "I'm just asking because any information would be helpful. We think it might be the same person that murdered Isabella Lewis and Kyle Bloom." He said as he paced up and down the living room.

"Why were you doing a science project if school is closed?" He suddenly asked.

"Because," Alexa said with an eye roll. "We've got our GCE's in August. And you're the one that keeps nagging me to study when it's only December! Well almost January but whatever."

"Well if there really is a killer, I don't want you going out."

*   *   *

******

A/N

Is this chapter too short? I've got more ideas I can add if u guys want. I was going to make it longer but then I thought that the way if ended was fine so idk.

Lmk if u want it longer and then I'll add about another 1000 words

-Lylie