chapter two
a suspect

LYDIA CHAFFMAN HELD HER bag and sat on the fountain with the rest of her friends. The principal had put out a curfew, that all students were to go straight home from school. They were on lunch break. "What did they ask you guys?" Sidney asked.

Tatum shrugged. "Well they asked me if I knew Casey," she told them.

"Everybody knew them," Lydia mumbled under her breath. It was the truth, everybody at least knew their names, could recognize their faces.

Nobody seemed to hear her.

Billy looked at them. "Did they ask if you liked to hunt?" He asked.

Stu nodded. "Yeah they did."

"Why would they ask if you liked to hunt?" Tatum asked.

"Because they're bodies were gutted," Randy explained. Billy was beside Sidney, the two were dating, along with Tatum and Stu.

Randy and Lydia were on the other side of Tatum and Stu. "Thanks Randy," Billy said sarcastically as he sat up.

Tatum rubbed the back of her neck. "They didn't ask me if I liked to hunt."

Stu chuckled. "Cause there's no way a girl could have killed them."

"That is so sexist," Tatum said with an eye roll. "The killer could easily be female. Basic instinct."

Lydia herself, hated every part of this conversation. She hated having to talk about her best friends deaths. It was weird, it was a conversation she couldn't accept having.

Randy shook his head. "That was an ice pick," he pointed out. "Not exactly the same thing."

"Yeah," Stu agreed, with a nod. "Casey and Steve were completely hollowed out. The fact is it takes a man to do so. Something like that."

Lydia looked down, she was fiddling with her hands, but she was listening. "Or a man's mentality." Tatum said.

Sidney looked at them. "How do you gut someone?" She asked quietly.

They're was a moment of silence, and Lydia just hoped no one would say anything. "You take a knife, and you slit them from the groin to the sternum-" Stu started to explain.

Lydia covered her mouth as Billy sat up a bit. "Hey," Billy said. "It's called tacked you fuckrag."

Sidney shook her head, Lydia was staring at the ground in front of her as he leg bounced up and down. "Hey Stu, didn't you used to date Casey?"

Stu scoffed, "Yeah for like two seconds," he said.

"Before she dumped you for Steve!" Randy interrupted.

"I thought you dumped her for me?" Tatum asked.

"I did," he defended. "He's full of shit."

"And are the police aware you dated the victim?"

"Randy, stop," Lydia said, nudging him.

"What are you saying?" Stu asked, Randy glanced at Lydia for a moment. "I killed her?"

Randy shrugged. "It would certain improve you're high school queue."

"Stu was with me last night," Tatum interrupted.

"Yeah I was," he said with a grin.

"Was that before he sliced and diced!" Randy exclaimed, that was it for Lydia. She stood up and grabbed her bags.

"Fuck you all," she said before walking towards the schools entrance. How could they sit there, and talk about it that way?

The only person she hears say anything was Sidney. "Lydia-" was all she heard.

She sighed and wiped her face as she sat down on a bench inside the school, pulling her lunch back out. She really just wanted to cry.

"I heard she did it," some girl mumbled to another girl as she walked past Lydia as they exchanged a laugh.

Lydia looked up and sighed with a small frown. She couldn't believe it. She didn't, she knew she didn't. Why didn't they know that? She rubbed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were just waiting to fall from her eyes. Why did it have to be Casey? Most of all, why did people think it was her? Casey was her best friend, everyone knew that.

She needed to go home, get away from everyone. She fumbled for her bag and heard footsteps approach her, which caused her to look up.

It was Randy.

She was somewhat shocked, since he was the one making some of the comments about Casey and Steve.

He sat down beside her and smiled for a moment, a comforting smile. "I'm sorry Lyds," he said. "I didn't mean to be... insensitive."

She nodded slowly. "It's okay, Randy."

"No it's not," he said, causing her to go quiet. "I... we all should have realized what we were saying. They were your friends."

She nodded again. "Randy- it's okay" she said. She didn't believe that herself, but she didn't wanna talk about it anymore. "It's a crazy thing that happened, people are obviously gonna talk, make up rumors that aren't true..."

The last part was more of a whisper, Randy twisted his face in confusion. "What? What rumors?"

She took a deep breath and looked over at him. "Well uh- some girls think I did it. I hope it's only them."

He was quiet. "For what it's worth, I don't think you did it."

She smiled slightly, it felt like it was her first time smiling since everything happened. "Thank you, Randy."

He nodded as he returned the smile. Their was always this unexplainable tension between them, all their friends saw it, everyone did. Except them. "Of course."

Lydia knew how she felt about Randy, and Randy knew the same, but they both assumed it was unrequited.

She looked over at him and sighed. "I think I'm gonna have the office call my brother," she mumbled. "I just wanna go home."

He nodded. "Okay Lyds," he said. "I'll stop by tonight alright?"

She nodded in return. "I'll see you later." She stood up and made her way to the office. She used the school phone to call her home phone.

"Hello?" He questioned, from the other line.

"Hey, Leon," she said and sighed. "I know you're on lunch but can you please pick me up?"

"Yeah, of course," he said. "What's going on?"

She held back the tears that were burning her eyes. "It's just too much today..." she admitted. "With Casey and everything."

"I'll be there soon." He hung up and Lydia sat down in the office.

-

After a few minutes of waiting, Leon walked into the office and glanced at Lydia. He went to talk to the office lady before he approached her again a few minutes later. "Cmon." He said quietly, Lydia stood up and followed him down the hall.

The other students were in class, the hallways were quiet. She followed him to his car in silence. She didn't want to talk, and he understood that.

She was remained silent for a few minutes before she looked over at him. "Randy's gonna stop by later..." she told him.

He nodded and smiled as he continued to drive. "Randy's a nice kid."

She nodded "Yeah." was all she said.

"They're gonna find out who did it," He reassured her. "I promise you that."

She glanced over at him. "How can you be so sure?"

It didn't seem like he had an answer to that. She just kept looking at him, as he didn't respond.

Finally, he spoke up. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just have a feeling."

She bit her lip. Who could she trust? It could have been anyone she knows that killed Casey and Steven. It could be on of her classmates, or even her friends.

-

A few hours had passed and Lydia just hid up in her room. She didn't feel like talking to her brother. After awhile their was a knock on her door.

"Leon, I don't wanna talk," She said as she glanced at her door. She was sprawled across her bed.

"It isn't Leon," A familiar voice said, who she quickly realized was Randy.

She glanced around before nodding, mostly as a reassurance to herself. "Oh, uh come in." She said. She sat up as Randy opened the door. Something on his face... made her worried. "Did something happen?"

He took a deep breath and sat down beside her. "Lyds," he started to say. "Sid was attacked."

Her eyes widened slightly. "What?" she questioned. "Is she okay?"

He nodded. "She's fine. Tatum says she's just shaken up." He explained. "They arrested someone."

"Who?" The words came almost immediately as Randy said that.

"Billy."

That shocked her. "Billy? As in Billy Loomis?" she asked.

He nodded. "They think he also killed..." his words trailed off, but Lydia knew what he met.

"Casey and Steven..." she mumbled, mostly to herself but that made Randy nod again. "Are you sure?"

He shrugged. "I don't think think they know much, and whatever they do know they aren't telling anyone," he said. "I just know he was arrested for attacking Sid, and it seems like it's the same person that killed Casey and Steven."

"This isn't one of your conspiracy theories, right?" She asked. "It's not something to joke about, Randy."

"It's not," he told her. "Just what I heard."

She nodded. For some reason, it didn't feel right. She didn't believe it was Billy, she couldn't. He was one of her oldest friends, and he was dating Sidney. Why would he attack his own girlfriend? It didn't make sense to her.

But no matter who it was, it wouldn't make sense.

author's note
i finally updated this. i'm hoping to get more writing motivation soon so i can consistently update my stories. xx

word count - 1578