HE PUT A HAND AGAINST HIS FOREHEAD AND SIGHED. Will couldn't believe it. He looked weary as he stared at the supermarket they've reached. It was the dreaded day of grocery shopping. For everyone, it might seem like a pretty easy task, but it wasn't for him when his friends accompanied him.

Sure, he loved all of them a lot, but he prayed they would go away. Bringing them to a supermarket was like bringing a zoo. It would end badly and, it's absolute hell.

Will had specifically set an alarm and woke early to go alone and get it over with. But his best friends were weird. During weekdays when they have school, Will wakes them up. But today, which was a weekend, a holiday, they chose to wake up early in the morning.

Everyone were snoring except Shay, who was tossing fitfully in her sleep when he left them. Instead of driving a car, he walked the distance to the market. He avoided cars at any cost just as Shay avoided hospitals. He refused to drive them, though he was okay with riding them.

Will had felt anxious as he had walked in long strides, feeling as if someone would come armed with an injection and plunge it into his neck because of the secret he now possessed.

If he were to tell anyone about what they discovered, they might not necessarily believe him. And if he showed them the proof by pointing to the autopsies, it meant he had successfully guaranteed himself a free cell in the jail. Jails were rarely used in Blackwood. He remembered the central jail of Blackwood which used to be located in the outskirts, had burned down to ashes. People refused to pass by that land, believing it was somehow cursed.

Crimes rarely occurred in Blackwood, used to. So, crimes were looked upon darkly in The Royal Isles. When Will had discovered the truth two days ago, Will and his friends also discussed the possibility that someone inside the system, someone inside the government was helping whoever was doing this. So telling the truth was off the plate for now.

Will had narrowed his eyes when he saw a familiar car speeding in front of him as he walked briskly, and it came to a halt in front of him. The door had been thrown open and Kai's blond head had poked out of the window, beckoning him.

He sighed now as they ran into the supermarket excitedly, massaging his aching temples.

He shared a horrified look with Rose and ran a hand down his face when he saw Kai pushing a shopping cart with Theo inside it. He freaked out as Kai pushed it real fast, afraid that it might crash. Jade stood in front of the path of the cart, and Will breathed out in relief.

Oh, god. Thank you, Jade.

Again, Will watched in horror as all of them split up and grabbed every sickening thing they could find as they threw it into the cart. He sighed as he grabbed a silver wheeled cart and rolled it down the aisle. Will took a peek at the contents of their carts which were piling up into a heap every second.

He threw a thankful look at Shay who was removing unhealthy and unnecessary food items out of the cart, a tendency of a sports person. Will went to the vegetable aisle instead, where unsurprisingly, his friends weren't visible.

What's the point of eating veggies when we can always order pizza? They would tell him.

Will almost dropped the handful of vegetables he was holding when he looked at the three carts they have filled, the fourth one almost full. Shay was nowhere to be seen, he suspected she saw a cat and went to pet it. Rose was not visible either, and he knew that she went to the bookshop opposite this store.

Jade wasn't here either, Will looked in the direction of the store beside him which sold video games. He was left alone, with Theo and Kai. He felt betrayed. It was hard to control them alone. So Will had no choice but to scare them.

Will rarely got mad and angry. Whenever he did, he would be calm. Theo and Kai described it as 'scary calm' saying they would rather face a Will who would tear the surroundings in anger than speak calmly with them. He decided act as if he were in the 'scary calm' mode to make sure Theo and Kai were under control.

He didn't like doing it, but he had to. All of them had to clean the house too because Jessica was coming back home to retrieve something she forgot. It would be alright if Will's father was the one coming home, he might've helped them in messing it more, but this was Jessica.

Jessica would certainly not be okay if she saw the state of the house. All of them were guaranteed a lecture that would last them a lifetime. He schooled his features and stood in front of Theo and Kai, crossing his hands over his chest.

"And more how many carts do you intend to fill?" Both of them looked up in alarm, eyeing Will cautiously as if he were a ticking bomb that would blast any second. Good job, Will. You've scared them.

Groaning under his breath, he started muttering under his breath for extra effect. "Why is it always me? Why can't someone else be the responsible one?" It did the trick again. Theo and Kai, who usually whined and whined like little kids when Will discarded every item from the carts were unusually quiet now.

Will smiled at them with happiness that his plan worked, but Theo and Kai inched away from Will with scared expressions on their faces. Will snorted with amusement. Well, let them be scared. It's not like it happens every day, he thought.

Kai paled, "I don't want to die in this supermarket!" he wailed out loud. "Oh?" Will said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is there any other supermarket you wanna die in? 'Cause I think I can organize that." He said as he leaned forward towards them, running a hair through his hand and chuckling internally. Theo and Kai scampered away from Will. That was fun, Will thought with amusement. I should do this more often.

Both of them hurried out of the market as Will paid the bill. And when he got out, he saw Theo and Kai whispering urgently to Shay who was petting a cat. Kai's eyes were wide and Theo was running around with his hands above his head muttering, "We're doomed! We're doomed!" Will chuckled.

Shay stood up and looked at Will, narrowing her eyes at him. Will put a finger on his lips as he smiled and Shay laughed. Jade stepped out of a shop with a brand new video game and a gamer tee. One look at Shay and Will and Will could tell that she knew what was going on. Jade was someone who could read people very well.

Will headed to the bookshop with the others and found Rose reading a book seriously. He remembered a day when Rose was refusing to get out of the shop because she was at the thrilling part of the book, and the shopkeeper wanted to close the shop. Even though she bought the book, walking back home meant closing the book, and she refused to do that, and they somehow dragged her back home.

Alarmed by Theo's and Kai's urgent whispers, Rose came out of the bookshop pretty quickly, and they headed back home. Opening the door, Will looks at the mess.

He remembered the first time he ever entered the house, back when everything in his life was amazing and colourful. The house was always neat, clean and spacious. It was very large as two families used to live in it during the holidays. A mess was an understatement.

It looked as if a tornado hit the inside of the house, scattering its gatherings everywhere. Nick and Jessica decided that it would be better for a group of teenagers to live in a large house with a view instead of adjusting to a relatively smaller house. Little did they know the price the house has to pay.

Will sauntered into the house, observing every corner of the house keenly.

Empty soda cans, pizza boxes, burger wrappers, and plastic bags were strewn all over the place. Stacks of video games, shirts were thrown all over the place. There were mysterious stains that Will could swear he never saw before.

He sighed as he looked at the couch. Last night, Kai and Theo forced all of them to watch a movie. All of them snacked a lot, and some of them burst into tears at the sad scenes. The entire place was littered with tissues, popcorns, blankets and pillows.

Everyone had fallen asleep while watching the movie, sleeping on each other. As it had been chilly, Will ducked below Kai's outstretched hand with immense effort and wrapped everyone with blankets, taking a photo with Theo's camera because he found their sleeping faces adorable. When he returned to his place again, Shay fell onto his lap.

Will had fallen asleep patting and ruffling her hair gently, her warmth seeping into his body and his dreams.

But when he woke up, he wondered how he ended up taking everyone's weight. One half of Theo's body was on the floor, and his legs on the couch, more specifically on Kai's shoulder. Kai was pressed against Will's shoulders tightly, Rose against Kai, Jade's head on Rose's lap. Shay was still on his lap then, and he gently shifted her head onto a pillow before going out.

"Damn, cleaning this place is gonna be hard. It's way too messy." Shay said gravely and everyone nodded sadly. "So?" Kai asked.

"So? Excuse me Mr Cool-at-difficult-situations, if it hasn't escaped your notice, our house is a mess and wait till my mom sees this and gives you a lecture which would last you a lifetime."

"Hey, it's not that bad," Kai said as his eyes flickered around the house. Choosing to ignore that, all of them get to work. Will let out a low whistle when he saw Jade cleaning. Jade.

She turned around and glared at Will. He gasped dramatically, internally thinking that Theo was rubbing off him. "What?" he asked, his hands flying to his mouth. "Oh my god, my eyes never thought they would witness this scene, the mighty lazy Jade, who is like a brand ambassador for laziness, is working with us and cleaning? Wow!" Jade gave him one of her scary glares and a poisonous look before turning back to work.

Will decided that he would go upstairs to clean his room, in which the three boys slept. Better clean it up before Shay saw it, he thought as he ran up the stairs. But he was too late.

Shay stood by the door, her face pale. He didn't blame her, it was a wonder how one could mess a room in just a matter of a few days. His room was way too messy. "What the—" Shay started, but Theo gave her a toothy grin as he threw his hand over her shoulder, "Young lady, no swearing allowed here."

"Bloody hell," she said. Kai smiled proudly, "We present to you the room of legendaries!" Kai expected Shay to laugh, but she rolled her eyes. "What?" Kai said again, "It's just a little messy."

"A little? How about we make my mom the judge of messiness and see how she reacts?"

Kai paled at this, "No, no. I'd rather clean it up." Shay turned to face Will now, "Please don't tell me these two influenced you or something. I know messiness isn't in your nature."

"Yeah, but you know that I do have a little bit of laziness in my nature. Plus, even if I clean it up, I have these two to mess it after two seconds of my cleaning."

Kai huffed proudly. Shay whirled around and glared at him, "Clean it. For your own good, do it. You don't want to see my mom angry."

"Alright, your majesty."

Shay glowered at Kai. He laughed, "Oh, good afternoon to you too." Before Shay could say something, her phone started ringing. She narrowed her eyes at all of them one last time before going out and putting her phone to her ear.

"Let's get to work, people!" Theo said as he put his fist in the air excitedly. Will looked at Kai and smirked, "Hey Kai, you just said that this room was just a little messy, right? If it's little, I think you don't need my help." he said, dusting imaginary dirt off his jeans and walking to the door.

"No! Will—" He stopped when he saw Shay coming inside again, frowning.

"What's wrong? Who was it?" The three boys asked simultaneously. "Mom says she can't make it today, her colleague lent what she needed. Could you tell others that mom isn't coming here? I need to clean the couch whatsoever."

Will nodded and jumped down the stairs happily, smirking at Kai and Theo who were reaching out for him dramatically as they wept. He went to Rose and told her that Jessica wasn't coming back home, but she was still insistent on cleaning the house.

Will went to the dining room to find Jade. He was shocked again to find Jade working very hard, making half of the place sparkle. As it was rare to see Jade abandon her laziness and work, so he decided not to tell her anything.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple, biting into it as he inspected a report on the dining table. He could make out the words 'Shailene' on the paper, and he moved closer to the table to have a look at it.

"Jade? Who is Shailene?" Will asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Jade looked at Will for a moment, awestruck. "The girl you've known your entire life." She told casually as she scrubbed the tiles free of mysterious stains.

"What?" Will yelped out, hurt. He didn't know that Shay was short for Shailene. He knew her since his childhood, and he never spotted the name Shailene anywhere till now.

Jade looked at him curiously and smirked, "You never knew it? It's fine, now you know."

Ignoring her comment, Will thought about it as he grabbed his MacBook and examined the autopsies again, looking for any similarities he missed earlier.

His mind wandered away from the conversation he had with Jade and to the suicides. If they were right about it, then the people involved in killing would definitely have a better knowledge about medicines and serum's in injections, or they were working with some medical company.

He gasped as he came across his mother's death certificate. He closed the file immediately, the image of it burned at the back of his eyelids when he closed his eyes. Will forgot about the file Theo had created and opened the file containing all the autopsies.

He had accidentally opened another file when he closed his mother's hastily. The name 'Blake Waters' seemed really familiar. He searched the name in the search engine and typed the name, nodding with realization.

Blake Waters was the vice president of the pharmaceutical company 'Royale Pharma Limited' It is the biggest and the leading pharmaceutical company in The Royal Isles.

Will wasn't aware of the fact that he died. Will looked into an article, even Blake Waters had killed himself. He hung himself on the ceiling fan, discovered by his eight-year-old child. Will's heart broke. The article even had the eulogy delivered by Samuel Taylors, the CEO and the president of Royale Pharma Limited.

Will looked up to tell it to someone when he saw Theo jump down the stairs, frowning at Jade. "Why are you working that hard? Jessica isn't coming back," He said with a puzzled look on his face. It was Jade's turn to look confused.

"Will didn't tell you?" Theo asked as he saw a surprised look flash across Jade's face. Time to slip away, Will thought as he stood up, but he was spotted.

If looks could kill, Will would be dead and six feet under the ground already. "You never knew it? It's fine, now you know." Will said, shrugging and going out of the room before Jade would turn Will into something people sprinkle on popcorn.

He opened several windows about Blake Waters, looking deeper into his death. But several websites repeated the same thing he read in the first one, and he closed the MacBook, exhausted.

His eyes were drooping down, but he refused to fall asleep, which would lead him to be assaulted by his nightmares. Just when he was falling asleep against his will, Will heard loud barking.

This is strange, Will thought as he stood up to go check on Leo. Leo never barked, he thought as everyone ran to the backyard.

Someone was sprawled on the grass with Leo on their side. Legs bent at unnatural angles, his eyes widened when he saw familiar black hair.

The person unconscious was Jade.

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