Mistake

Warning: death, blood, murder, etc.

“TURN THE MUSIC DOWN BRIAN!” Tiffany screamed at the top of her lungs in hopes the music won’t drown her words.

           Loud footsteps followed her words, before her door swung open.

           “Can you be any more annoying than this? It’s a party!”

           “One that mom and dad didn’t agree to, and if the neighbors tell them about the noise we’ll BOTH be dead meat.”

           Brian only shook his head before leaving the room, not even closing the door.

           Tiffany sighed before getting up from her bed and walking to the door. Just as her hand wrapped around the knob however, a high pitched voice yelled out:

           “OMG Tessa! How are you? Haven’t seen you since Jack rejected you in front of the whole school.” She said with a smug grin on her face.

           Oh, how Tiffany wanted to wipe it off.

           “It’s Tiffany, and I’m good Victoria. Have fun at the party!” The girl said as she quickly tried to close the door.

           “Oh, this is your room?” Victoria said before placing herself in the doorway.

           “No, it’s the damn kitchen.”

           After a confused look from Victoria, Tiffany quickly clarified:

“Never mind. Yeah it’s my room.”

She wanted to stop the brunette from moving in any further, but she knew it was pointless when it came to Victoria.

“Were you always this weird, Wilson?” She asked as she walked around her room, inspecting every item.

Tiffany was growing tired of her words.

“Hey, if it’s too weird for you there’s always a party right outside my room.” Tiffany said, motioning for the way out.

“I guess,” Victoria said before turning to Tiffany. “See you later.”

As she walked out the door, she screamed in a high pitched voice:

“JACK, COME HERE LOVE!” Tiffany contained her anger. It’s been weeks since her rejection, but Victoria rubbing it in made her blood boil.

But she would get over. She took a deep breath in before sitting on her bed and browsing through the internet on her laptop. The music was just as loud as before but this time she just put on her headphones and turned the volume up.

After ten minutes, the peacefulness that Tiffany tried to engulf herself in got disturbed by her door slamming open once again.

Her head snapped to the door as she watched two teens make out, not even noticing her.

“GET OUT!” She yelled with a red face, disrupting the two. The couple rolled their eyes at her before exiting the room.

The loud music only aggravated the situation, making her march out of her room, down the flight of stairs and next to the speakers, turning them off.

“EVERYBODY GET OUT!” She yelled, before pushing people towards the front door.

Groans and sighs were heard among the teens, but they all headed towards the front door. An angry Brian made his way through to her.

“What are you doing? You agreed to let it be until 12!” He said with an angry voice, making his sister roll her eyes.

“And you said no one would bother me, and yet here we are. Now help me clean this up so we can go to bed.” Brian’s eyes widened before his expression changed slightly.

“Sis, you know I love you right? And I am so terribly sorry for the inconveniences—“

“You will clean up with me, even if it’s the last thing you do. Understood?” Brian nodded with a defeated look.

The two started with the living room since it was the messiest and the largest room. Everything went smoothly until Tiffany found something.

“Brian, why is there blood on this knife?” She said, holding up a grey knife with a red substance on it.

“You read too much thriller, it’s ketchup,” He said as he wiped some of it with his finger before tasting it. “See? It’s a little stale, but it was on the floor for God knows how long!” He said, giving her a funny look.

“Fine, let’s just finish up.” She said as she grabbed the last few glasses.

“Should we do the kitchen next?” Brian asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Tiffany said as they both headed towards the kitchen.

Her feet stopped in place, however, as she passed the broom closet. Her nose scrunched up as she sniffed the air, but she regretted it dearly.

“I swear Brian, if one of your friends shit in the closet—“

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, we’re teens not animals—“ Brian’s breath got caught in his throat as he opened the closet door.

Tiffany smirked, knowing she was right. She moved next to him but the view wasn’t what she expected. In fact, she would much rather the poop.

The smell hit her first, just like trash but it was also mixed with a sickening sweetness.

Next, she saw it. Her head was twisted in a way that just felt wrong and her face was filled with cuts. Her now grey eyes held a certain horror that no words could describe, and her brunette hair was no longer shining.

“She’s just drunk, r—right?” Brian asked before Tiffany turned him around and hugged him, not letting him look any further.

“I just talked to Victoria a few minutes ago…” Tiffany said out loud making Brian shiver.

The deep and bloody wound on her back caught her attention next. It wasn’t deep enough to be anything like an axe or— No. It couldn’t be…

“She was stabbed with a knife…” Her eyes drifted over to the knife in the kitchen, situated on the counter. The blood was still dripping off of it—

Brian pushed his sister away before vomiting. Tiffany also felt her stomach turn, but she had to be the strong one.

“Let’s call the police—“

“Do you really think we should?” He said, wiping his mouth.

“Why not? There’s a murderer running around.” She said before heading for the kitchen and grabbing herself a knife. “They might still be here.”

“You picked up the murder weapon and got your fingerprints all over it! The police will think you did it!” She scoffed.

“B-but I didn’t!” Her eyes were getting teary. She regretted every decision she made up to that point. How could this happen?

Her little brother stared at the body, his eyes slowly getting teary as well.

“Stop looking at her. She won’t wake up.” Tiffany said with a stern voice.

She didn’t need to see him to know where he was looking… after all, her eyes were drawn to Victoria as well.

“What should we do?” Brian asked with a low voice, but before his sister could answer the lights went off.

Brian yelped and flinched closer to Tiffany, who also flinched.

“Shit.” The girl said as she tried the light switch. “The power is out.”

Brian’s trembling hand found Tiffany’s sweaty one and the interlocked their fingers.

“We need to go to the electric panel, in the garage.” She said, trying to speak as quietly as possible.

“I am not moving. That’s the worst place!” He whisper-yelled.

“Fine, but I’m going, and you know what happens in movies when they split up…” She said taking a few steps away as the moonlight guided her way.

“…W—wait!” Brian said, following his sister whose lips now formed a smirk.

“Let’s end this.” Tiffany said, glancing at the knife in her hands. She was willing to do anything to protect Brian and herself.

Their footsteps were quiet as they made their way out of the kitchen and into the living room. The moon light was no longer following them, therefore the two occasionally tripped on the furniture.

Tiffany was leading them, knife in her right hand and the left holding Brian’s.

The darkness only got worse as they went down a hall that led to the garage door.

Just before they got there, Tiffany stopped.

“Whatever happens in there, if things go wrong get out of the house and call the cops, got it?”

“Why would we even go in? We should just go out—“

“What if he’s got another person in there? What if he’ll leave until the police arrive and kills other people?”

That shut Brian up.

“Let’s go.” She said as her fingers wrapped around the doorknob.

Upon opening it, wailing noises came from the back.

“WHO’S THERE?!” Tiffany asked, hurrying into the room and to the panel.

“…can’t… her” A male voice whispered.

“SPEAK UP MURDER.” Tiffany said as she left Brian behind.

“I KILLED HER— OH GOD—“ The guy said before breaking into sobs.

Tiffany didn’t try and get closer. From her point of view, he could be holding a weapon and she wouldn’t even see it coming.

Suddenly, the lights turned back on.

“George? What happened?” Brian asked as he immediately recognized the guy. “What did you do…?”

“I— I don’t know…” he whispered. Tiffany saw his hands were empty so she relaxed a bit.

“Did you kill Victoria?” Tiffany asked in a stern voice.

He couldn’t get a word out as he started crying again, but he nodded.

Brian then called the cops and explained the situation when they arrived. Tiffany was always paying attention to George, observing his staggering movements.

The police called it a drunken murder, but he could barely move… Plus, why would he turn off the lights?

Their parents also arrived early to comfort their children.

It all felt a little off to Tiffany somehow, until she received a text from an unknown number:

“Well done, ‘detective’. Next time I wouldn’t assume the easiest assumption is the correct one :). Sleep well, if you can.”