⫸——⫷

A couple minutes later, after a short walk down the road, you were knocking on Julie's bright yellow front door.

You hoped that Julie was not at work. Your anxiety had calmed since leaving Wally's, but your mind was still flitting through every bit of information you had gained. It was a lot to take in.

Eventually, and much to your relief, Julie's front door swung open to reveal Julie in the flesh. She grinned at you, her face, clothes, hair and hands covered in pink glitter. "Hey, Charlie! Come on in!"

You stepped inside Julie's house, slipping your shoes off. "What are you up to in here?" you asked her, giving her glitter-covered self a curious look as she shut the door behind you.

"Oh, Sally and I are doing some crafts in the living room. We were thinking of a new board game idea, but then things got a little out of hand." Julie giggled. "Come on, join us!" She started to walk into the living room, which was just to your left. You could see Sally sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, craft supplies everywhere.

Quickly, you snatched Julie's wrist in your hand. Shocked, she turned back around to face you. "Julie," you said, "can I actually talk to you for a moment? Alone?"

Julie must have registered the seriousness in your tone and expression, because her smile had completely faded. "Oh, sure. Hey, Sally? Charlie's here, but we're going to talk upstairs for a moment. We'll be back down in a bit."

"Okay!" Sally chirped. Sally stood up and turned to smile at you. She still had those pointy sun rays around her head; seeing her with them a second time made you think that perhaps they were not part of a mask. "Hi, Charlie," she said.

"Hi, Sally," you replied with a smile.

With that, you and Julie walked upstairs. She led you into her bedroom, closing the door behind you. Her bedroom was a very cheerful sight: light pink walls, stuffed with posters, paintings and pictures, surrounded a huge bed that was full of colorful blankets and stuffed animals. There was a vanity in the corner covered in makeup and miscellaneous clutter. Julie took a seat on her bed, apparently not minding that she was probably shedding glitter over her covers. "Come sit," she offered, patting the mattress space next to her.

You sat down beside Julie with a sigh.

"So," she continued, "What did you want to talk about?"

A new wave of anxiety washed over you. "Well, first of all, I want all of this to stay between us," you said, turning your knees and body towards Julie so you could focus on her. "You have to promise me."

"Okay. I promise."

"Well..." You looked around the room briefly. "Jeez, I don't even know how to say this. I... found out what Wally is hiding. I think it's what you were warning me about before."

Julie put a hand over her mouth, covering her lips. "Oh."

"Yeah. Um, and just to make sure that it is the same thing you were warning me about..." You winced. "Was it, by chance, about something... really illegal?"

Julie nodded.

"And violent?"

She nodded again.

"And... life-threatening?"

"Murder!" She blurted quietly, as if she was excited to finally say it out loud, but did not want Sally to hear her from downstairs. "He's a murderer!"

"Yes! Oh my god!"

Julie fanned her face with her hands. "Wow. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who knows... Now I don't have to keep this a secret from you!" she said with a giggle. She sighed with relief, then suddenly gasped, looking shocked again. Julie reached forward and squeezed your arm, her eyes boring into yours. "Did you see something? Did they do something to you?"

'They'? Who were they? You were only talking about Wally. "No, no. Wally actually... confessed."

Julie blinked. "He did?"

"Yeah. It was kind of a weird conversation, actually. I'm still digesting all of it."

"Wh... There's no way." Julie frowned, withdrawing her hand from your arm. "What did you say to make him confess?"

"I just... asked him if he was a murderer."

"And he just said admitted to it?"

"Yeah, basically."

Julie thought about this for a moment, looking around her room. She looked at her hands, then picked some glitter out from under her finger nails. "That's strange," she finally said. "My experience with him was quite different."

"How so?" you asked.

"Well..." Julie sneered slightly, then looked at you again. "Did he tell you any... details?"

"No. I mean, some. But not enough. It seemed like he didn't want to talk much in front of Home."

"That's because Home is in on it," Julie said. "I really shouldn't be telling you anything you don't already know, but..."

You leaned forward. "I already know the most important part. What's a little background information going to do?" you asked.

She made a face, then nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Well, when I found out, it wasn't because Wally confessed. It was because... I saw it."

Your heart hammered in your chest. This was it, the information you so desperately desired. Julie was about to answer all of your questions. Why did he kill? Was he a heartless freak, or was he in the same position that you had been in?

"I had been coming over to give him some flowers that I picked from the woods. It really was a beautiful bouquet," Julie continued. "I had a busy day, so I ended up going to his house pretty late at night. Wally wasn't answering the door, so Home opened it for me. I just walked inside. He didn't seem to be anywhere around. That was, until another door opened itself in the back of the house."

You waited for her to continue, thrilled and enraptured by her story. But she let the silence draw out, picking at her fingernails again.

"I... I really can't tell you this, Charlie. I'm sorry."

You frowned. "Oh," you said. "Well... what if I find out on my own? Because that's exactly what I plan to do."

"No, you... shouldn't." Julie huffed. "Listen, I'll tell you this much. Home and Wally have some weird dynamic going on where Wally basically has to... kill people. For Home. If you ever find out — or if he ever decides to tell you, I guess — then you'll know why. But it's weird." She paused again. "I warned you about Wally mostly because of Home. Home will try to... trap you, if you ever find yourself in a vulnerable position. Home isn't as... level-headed... as Wally is."

You stared at Julie.

Did this mean that Home opening the door to Wally's office several days ago was a trap of sorts? Did Home want you to be curious so that you would get tangled in whatever weird murderous thing they had going on?

Did Home want Wally to... kill you? Had Home wanted Wally to kill Julie? Your heart skipped a beat at the thought.

"So... when you went to Wally's house that night and saw whatever you saw, Home tried to trap you?" you asked.

Julie shrugged a shoulder.

"Did either of them want to kill you?" you continued.

"Wally didn't," she said. "If he did, I would be dead."

You nodded. She was right. Wally could literally kill someone by batting his eyelashes.

So, what did any of this mean? Wally was certainly curious about you, but perhaps that was just because of his personal interest. Perhaps he did not want to kill you, just like he did not want to kill Julie. But again, did Home want to kill you? Was Home using both Wally's fascination with you and your curiosity as tools to get you into a trap, as Julie phrased it? Or did Wally want to kill you, unlike how he felt about Julie?

You did not think Wally wanted to kill you. He seemed far too overjoyed by your presence. But maybe the flirting and whatnot was all a facade.

And, of course, your curiosity still begged the question: what was the dynamic between Wally and Home that required the death of living people?

Perhaps you were going to need to tell your curiosity to shut the hell up from here on out. If your curiosity was actually going to get you killed, perhaps the information you had on Wally right now was enough. You really did not want to ruin the new life you had, and you certainly did not want to die.

On another note, how were you going to continue to see Wally in a friendly light, knowing all that he confessed to you and all that Julie just told you? It seemed like there was never a moment where he did not want to see you, talk to you, and stare at you. Somehow, you managed to get through the rest of today with him without breaking down in panic, but you did not know if you could act as cool and collected upon seeing Wally again.

"Well," you said. "Thanks for talking with me, Julie. I was just at Wally's, so he literally confessed to me only moments ago. I really had to get that off my chest."

Julie smiled. "Yeah, of course. We might have only known each other for a week, but I'll always have your back."

You smiled at her, your heart swelling with happiness. You were glad that Julie did not know your secret, because if she did, she probably would not treat you as good of a friend as she was treating you now.

After that, the two of you shared a hug, which covered the front of your shirt in glitter. Julie asked if you wanted to stay and hang out with her and Sally for a while, and you accepted the offer.

For a couple hours, you did arts and crafts with Sally and Julie. Sally was a lot of fun to hang out with; both her and Julie had very loud personalities, so you did not need to do much to enjoy their company. Eventually, your stomach began to rumble, so you headed home to make yourself dinner and wind down for the night. You said goodbye to both of them, giving each of them more hugs. Then you left.

Your walk home was quiet. No birds were chirping, and there was no breeze to make the cool air any colder. Today had felt like a very long day — mostly because of everything with Wally. You were probably going to be thinking about him all night, because who would not be kept awake upon discovering that their neighbor is a murderer?

⫸——⫷