A Story Told Thrice

Sophie

I loved Holly like a sister. I had expected some surprise at my arrival, being the introvert that I was, but the look that dawned her face when she had opened the door was one more residing in horror than delight.

That confused me. Yes, the invitation to join the group on a weekend getaway to her family’s cabin had been tardy, having only received it the day before but was it a terrifying concept that I would accept?There had been some air of mystery when Holly hadn’t been the one to personally invite me but I had just assumed that she had asked someone else to do it. 

Oh god.

Did she not ask for me to be invited? Was that the reason behind her reaction? Before I could confirm my suspensions her smile changed friendlier but her eyes still retained a slither of nervousness and she ushered me into the entry way. Music was softly coming from the next room, where I assumed the gathering was being held. Kane emerged from said room and gave me a huge grin of surprise, apparently not knowing about me being invited either. This was starting to make me extremely awkward, quickly deciding that accepting the invite was a mistake. Before I could wallow deeper in my embarrassment he pulled me in a quick embrace. His body heat made my face flush even worse. This welcome was soon interrupted by an overly bubbly Lucy who had exited the kitchen to our right and bounded up to me to steal me away from Kane’s hold into her own. Lucy pulled away just far enough to give me a giddy smile, stars practically shining in her doe eyes. 

“What has you so happy?” I asked in mild amusement, her excitement briefly smothering my anxiety.  

“You finally get to meet Shaun” she revealed, a love struck look donning her face. Ah, mysterious boyfriend Shaun. We had heard all about him for months and it seemed that she was finally ready for us to meet him. I wished I had the same confidence in introducing my lover to the group. The nerves stopped me every time. My smile dropped slightly. Holly had invited mysterious Shaun but not me? Why?

I found myself being dragged by Lucy into the lounge the other two following. Zach was on one couch and was talking to who I assumed was Shaun who was sitting on the other couch, his back towards us. I watched Lucy run over to Shaun and embrace him. His face was momentary blocked from view as she lent up to give him a heated kiss. I flushed in embarrassment at the public display. 

Then my heart stopped and plummeted to the bottom of my stomach as I watched him happily return Lucy’s kiss. 

It can’t be. 

My stomach churned and bile burnt the back of my throat.

Holly briefly making eye contact with me before looking away in what seemed to be guilt.

She knew?

“How?” I uttered in betrayal, who it was aimed at I didn’t know. She didn’t respond and the couple pulled apart, standing up to acknowledge the rest of the room, arms loosely around each other.I couldn’t help but feel nauseous at the happiness that radiated Lucy’s face.

“Sophie, I would like to introduce you to-”

“- Shaun” I uttered, the dread slowly manifesting into a simmering answer as I finally locked eyes with him as he recognized my presence. 

“Sophie” he breathed, shock evident as his arms slipped away from Lucy, 

“Do you know each other?” she questioned, confused.

“No” 

“Yes”

We said at the same time. I looked at him in disbelief; he was still going to deny it?

How fucking dare he. 

He tried to convey something to me through his pleading eyes and subtle gesture but I wasn’t about to make this easy for him. 

“You’ve been dating for a few months?” I asked Lucy for clarification. 

“Yes, five I think?” she answered slowly.

I returned my attention to the man that was on the receiving end of my anger. “At least we know who got cheated on with whom, would hate it get it confused” I spat out spitefully. Lucy gasped, realization dawning upon her. She took a step away from Shaun, her own eyes welling up in tears.

Having seen and heard enough I brushed past Holly and Kane to slip out into the night. I heard both call out to me in worry but I chose to ignore them. I needed some fresh air. Ignoring the cliché horror tropes I blindly walked into the surrounding woods. All I wanted to do was distance myself from the situation and the people involved in it. I eventually found a suitable spot on a fallen tree to collapse, sobs raking my body as all my suppressed emotions spilled out. I didn’t know which betrayal hurt me more: Shaun for betraying my love or Holly for betraying my trust. 

Time slipped by without my notice. The tears soon stopped leaving my body exhausted and my head pounding. The sadness and anger still lingered but I mostly just wanted to leave and forget what had unfolded. A hand was suddenly placed on my shoulder causing me to jump in fear and whip around to find Kane standing over me with a look of concern. 

“Come on, I’ll take you home” I numbly nodded allowing him to pull me back to my feet and lead me back to the dreaded cabin. We walked in silence, Kane’s grip on my hand never lessoning. It was comforting. 

A female scream pierced through the night. We both jumped in freight. It had come from the cabin. Without a word we both sprinted towards the source. Following the sobs into the back portion of the house where the bedrooms were located we found Zach violently retching in a corner with a bedroom door wide open next to him. Cautiously we entered to find a quivering and sobbing Holly and a still Shaun on one side of the room. On the other side was the cause of the distress. Lucy was lying in the bed on her back, eyes blankly staring up at the ceiling. It wasn’t her stillness that caused my stomach to churn once again. It was the sight of the curtain tie-back that was wrapped around her neck like a python, chaffing at the skin and cutting at her air way. It had apparently done its job, her chest wasn’t moving. It was like someone had suddenly punched me in the stomach. 

I barely registered Kane dragging me out the room, Holly doing the same to a recovering Zach. Shaun followed closely behind. A heavy silence fell upon us, each processing the situation in their own way.

“Did you do it?” Shaun suddenly asked me. 

Apparently his coping method was being an ass. 

I looked at him in shock. He thought that I would kill my friend over him? Out of spite?

“If I were to kill anyone over this it would be you, you bastard” I seethed, tears of frustration and anger spilling out. “I loved Lucy and I wouldn’t let your dick get in the way of that”

“No one has seen since you left for the woods, you still could have done it” he retorted. 

“She was with me the whole time so cool it” Kane snapped back. 

I briefly looked at Kane. Why was he lying? Did he believe that I hadn’t done it?

“I think you did it” Holly softly stated from the couch. We all looked over at the trembling girl.

“What the hell did you say?” Shaun snarled. 

“You were the last person to see her alive. I think you killed her”

Holly

The guilt tore at me as I watched both Sophie and Lucy uncover Shaun’s lie. I had intended to both to find out, but not like this and not now. 

I watched as Sophie ran for refuge in the woods, the look of betrayal on her face ate at me. I was worried, not only for her safety but also for her emotional wellbeing. I was a little less worried when Kane mumbled that he would keep an eye on her before following her into the darkness. Lucy spat profanities at Shaun before taking shelter in one of the bedrooms, Shaun soon running after her. I watched in distaste as I heard him murmur apologizes through the closed door. For whatever reason, I heard Lucy open the door to let him slip in and I no longer could hear the conversation. 

I looked over at the stunned Zach who hadn’t moved from his spot. He didn’t look too good.

“You fucked up

” he whispered, returning my gaze. 

“I know” I whimpered, accepting his open embrace of comfort on the couch. We remained like that for a while, Zach’s shallow breathes and fast beating heart doing little to calm me but his presence was welcomed. He then excused himself to the bathroom and I watched him enter same hallway that Lucy’s room resided and he ducked into the bathroom to the right of it.

I was left alone to wallow in self-hatred, fully aware that I was the one who was responsible for causing my two closest friends such distress. 

I had had a plan. Sophie wasn’t meant to come tonight.

I hadn’t mentioned the group getaway to her and I had lied to the rest of the group saying that she was coming and they didn’t need to confirm with her because they knew how she hated being overwhelmed with stuff like that. 

No one knew that Sophie’s Shaun was Lucy’s Shaun but me.

So who had really invited Sophie?  

A heavy set of footsteps came down the hall and I looked up only to be disappointed to find Shaun instead of Zach. I held no sympathy for the pain that lay behind his tired eyes. 

He ungracefully fell to the couch he had been occupying before. 

“Is this why you invited me? To humiliate me?”

“You humiliated yourself the moment you chose to lie to Sophie and love another person”

“How was I supposed to know that they were friends?” he stressed.

This guy was disgusting.

“It doesn’t matter if you knew they were friends or not you still shouldn’t have cheated”

“You don’t understand! Me and Sophie aren’t doing so good”

“That no excuse. It takes more balls to break up with a person than to cheat on them…and if that’s atomically correct then I can imagine why you and Sophie ‘weren’t doing so good’” I mocked venomously. “I’m going to check on Lucy” I spat as I made my way to the bedroom. 

The room was quiet as I entered. The lights were off but I could just make out Lucy’s form lying on the bed. 

“Luce?” I whispered, getting closer to the bed. There was no response. Was she sleeping?

I let over to make sure. Her eyes were gazing up at me. “You okay?” I asked but still no response. Her eyes never blinked. There was something strange wrapped around her neck. My heart started to race in fear. I hurriedly turned on the bedside lamp. A scream ripped itself out of my lungs as I scurried away from the girl’s body. She had been gazing up at the ceiling in fear as the curtain tie-back had been rung around her neck. 

I heard someone enter the room before letting out a horrified gasp and left as soon as they had entered, the sound of them retching soon followed. Shaun then entered and gazed dumbly at his lover’s remains. I felt my blood boil as I looked at him with fat tears streaming down my face. 

He did this. He killed her. 

Before I could spit anything out Sophie and Kane sprinted into the room. They soon discovered Lucy’s body. Sophie look like she was battling to breathe and once Kane noticed this he dragged her out the room. Following his lead I retrieved Zach, rubbing his back soothingly as we followed the pair into the lounge, Shaun following after. 

Zach seemed to pale even further once I sat him down on a couch, his gaze fixed on Kane and Sophie before quickly darting away. 

Poor guy.

Shaun missed no beat in accusing his other disgruntled lover of doing the murder. 

From bottom of my heart I knew that she didn’t do it. She loved Lucy too much. It was apparent with the fire that she spat back at him that he wasn’t worth losing Lucy over. 

 “No one has seen since you left for the woods, you still could have done it” 

 “She was with me the whole time so cool it” Kane snapped back. 

My resolve finally broke.

 “I think you did it” I softly stated from the couch. All eyes were on me.

“What the hell did you say?” Shaun snarled. 

“You were the last person to see her alive. I think you killed her”

Zach

I watched in guilt as Holly witnessed her plan unravel by the seams as the night drew on. I felt bad for her, she was just doing what she had felt was right. 

Something had felt off about her promises of inviting Sophie to the gathering.

I had every right to be suspicious it turned out but I wish that that wasn’t the case. Watching all my friends be torn apart by the revealed secret made my stomach whirl uncomfortably. Like Sophie I wasn’t a big fan of social events but I tried to make exceptions for those I cared about. By the time everyone had run off and I was left alone with Holly my anxiety was through the roof. It was getting a little hard to breathe. But Holly looked a mess. 

“You fucked up” I whispered. 

I tried to push down all my anxiety as she whimpered a response and collapsed in my arms and I held her. I knew that I probably wasn’t doing well at calming her but she just needed someone by her side at the moment. I was able to suppress the panic for a while longer before it just overwhelmed me. Having no other choice I excused myself from her company and rushed to the bathroom, only briefly glancing at Lucy’s room in worry, knowing that she was with Shaun at the moment. 

She’ll be fine…

Opting to leave the light off I took perch on the toilet seat, pulling my legs to my chest.

Everything is going to be fine…

It became a mantra as I sat there alone in the darkness. 

I felt bad for leaving Holly for so long but I couldn’t bring myself to pretend that I was somewhat okay. I faintly heard a door open and close followed by a set of heavy footsteps down the hallway.

I continued to sit there, taking to gazing out of the small window that sat slightly above my head. The darkness outside was peaceful as the tree swayed slightly. A sudden figure emerged from the tree line. I watched as they crouched across the yard to the house. My breath started to quicken as they stopped under a window. 

Lucy’s window.

I watched helplessly as they slinked through the open window, the curtains swaying slightly. My breaths came out in pants as I started to panic. Someone unidentifiable was in Lucy’s room and I was the only one who knew about it. I had to do something. I raced to stand up but my legs were numb and I came crashing to the ground. The room started to spin dizzily and I was forced to remain down. The dizzy spell went on for eternity and my stomach lunged with guilt. Lucy could be danger. Again I tried to get up. I faintly heard someone come down the hall and open Lucy’s door. Relief filled me. Someone else would know about Lucy being in trouble. 

Then there was a scream. Grunting I wobbled towards the door, flinging it open. I stumbled into Lucy’s room. I only needed a brief look at Lucy to know that I had been too late. I was unable to stop my stomach from emptying and I stumbled out of the room again only to throw up in the hallway. 

I focused on my breathing as my body shook. 

I let her die.

The fact was a taunt. I blanked out from my surroundings for a moment. I was brought back by Holly’s soft hand rubbing my back and coaxing me back to the lounge with everyone else. 

Somehow I managed to make it to the couch. I tried to remember anything about the person that I had seen sneak into Lucy’s room. They had been male from their size but they hadn’t been overly large. It had been dark out so I couldn’t make out any features. Did we know the person who had killed Lucy?

Both Shaun and Kane could fit the description. 

Did Shaun exit the room then renter through the window?

Did Kane come in from the woods?

I could understand Shaun’s motive, but what would Kane have to gain?

I looked up at the man in question and realization struck me. Kane was gingerly holding onto Sophie’s hand as if he never wanted to let her go. Kane met my gaze and a shiver ran down my spine as his calm eyes turned cold, as if I had voiced my suspensions out loud. I had to look away before I did. 

Shaun was accusing Sophie of the murder and Kane was being her alibi. 

 “I think you did it” Holly said from her position next to me. 

“What the hell did you say?” Shaun snarled. I couldn’t take it. They were blaming the wrong person. 

“You were the last person to see her alive. I think you killed her”

I don’t believe that.