Jemma: The chapter after this one will be the last; void of maybe an epilogue. We're not sure yet. Man, this chapter is one of my favorites so far. Muawhahahaha.
The feelings of animosity, fear, nervousness and tension, above all, were so present in the large hotel lobby that Mariah could practically taste it.
Emily's eyes locked onto the ice blue pools that were Jemma's. They almost seemed to have no emotion. It was scary to see.
"..Jemma..... The cardkeys..?" Emily muttered. Her voice was choked with fright, and any person concentrating hard enough could probably see her visibly shaking arms. The nothingness of the situation, the surprise and the betrayal stirred in the red-head's stomach.
Mariah was a long time ago, frozen. Not even the wringing of the winds and the battery of the snow seemed enough to faze her.
Jemma.
It couldn't be Jemma.
..And, strangely, even though inside Mariah's heart denial for Jemma being the killer continued to scream, the White Tiger began to take slow, increasing-in-velocity steps back toward Emily until her hand rested firmly on Emily's shoulder. Now Mariah too could feel her friend shaking. Or was it just herself..?
"It took you long enough."
The words were plain; they were sharp.
"....."
"To figure it out, I mean." Jemma snorted. "And if you, Emily, hadn't banged into me you'd probably still be clueless."
Never, in their lives, had they heard Jemma speak with such a care-free, brisk tone; did those words even match..? It seemed such a weird combination.. But then again, the girl they knew for years and Loved as one of their own just didn't fit into the serial killing puzzle, either.
Jemma rolled her eyes and sighed at their silence, holding the hem of her sweater and pulling the black fabric off over her head.
The whiteness of her tank top was blotched, spotted and stained with blood.
Their eyes went wide; their stomachs trembled and their knees shook. Jemma shook her head and tossed her sweater to the floor, sorting out the tangles that embellished her head. Then she reached behind her. Her right hand lifted the back of her tank top; tucked into the lining of her jeans, Jemma pulled the bloody knife from it's hiding place.
"Seriously... How dense can you get?" Jemma asked them; her fingers twirled around the handle of the knife, fingering the already-warm metal that was heated from the skin of her back. "The clues.. The shit you could've used to figure out it was me... It was everywhere. None of you saw it."
"How could you do this!?" Emily jumped in surprise at Mariah's loud cry and cast a quick glance at her friend. She was too scared to completely take her attention from Jemma. The knife-wielding girl turned her head slightly to see Mariah better with the one eye uncovered from her black bangs and smirked.
"If you would've let me finish, I was going to explain that." Jemma said with a smirk. Her tone was slick, icy, and crazy. "It started when our dear ex-boyfriend dumped me;...
"..What?" Jemma croaked, sitting on the bed of her acting set trailer.
"I said, "I'm sorry but I don't think we should be together anymore.'" Kai said coldly, looking out the window of the small trailer.
"But.. But why!?" Jemma squealed, standing up quickly. "I haven't done anything Kai!"
"Yes you have! You're so.. You're so jealous.. No one else sees it, but, I do Jemma. It's a wonder the other girls are even your friends. But then again, you're a master of wrapping people around your finger, aren't you?" The Russian beyblader spat at her.
"I am not Kai!" Jemma said again, trying to defend her digity, and keep the man she so dearly Loved.
"Yes. You are." He spoke with a tone so cold it rivaled Boris'. "I've fucking had it, with you talking shit about everyone around you. You're the reason I can't even look at the others.." Kai trailed off, and the corner of his lip almost quivered with anger.
"How am I the goddamn reason?!"
"Because when I look at them now all I see are flaws!" Kai's hiss was even crueler this time, aimed directly at insulting her. "If I'd known what I was getting myself into, I would not have ever fallen in Love with you or the others. I would've stayed the fuck out of it like any sensible guy should've.." He trailed off again, his voice a low growl. "..You and your fucking rumors... Your lies..."
"They're not lies!" Jemma screamed, taking a step closer to Kai and grabbing his shoulders. But the BladeBreaker just growled again and pushed her snow white hands from him.
"Don't touch me. It's not me you should apologize to. It's Mariah, Mariam, Salima, Emily and Hilary." Kai spat again.
Jemma's arms dropped to her sides; the feelings, devoid of sadness, left her eyes. She watched as Kai stalked out of her trailer, slammed the door behind him so quickly that the chill of the winter air outside stroked her, then headed for Mariam's trailer.
"He said he didn't like the way I talked about you.. The way I tried to drag you down so I could have him for myself.." Jemma snarled, "How Salima told me she'd never have sex with him; he wasn't deserving of that. How Mariam didn't really like him at all, I mean 'she was just with him because the rest of us were'. And you two... I mean, fame is a feeble thing.. Since you were losing popularity, I told Kai that he was just a quick means of raising it back up again." Jemma said coldly.
Mariah and Emily were frozen where they stood, struggling to find the words to describe what Jemma had told them.
She was the one. The one who lost them the one they Loved, and caused them so much pain. Who took their friends away...
"Kai couldn't take it. I guess he's not so much of a knight in shining armor when he lets stupid rumors like that sink in," She scoffed."He could've just left me (which would've made me even angrier,) and stayed with the five of you, but, he didn't. What I was saying to him about you guys, sadly kinda made sense to him. All I had to do was provide an answer to the mystery flaw of every girl he Loved." Jemma's smirk was dark and sinister.
But by no means, was she finished explaining yet.
"A week later, I think it was... I heard Judy talking about the storm on Valentine's Day." Jemma smirked again;
Jemma's hands were in her pockets, where her Mp3 player that she'd brought with she and Mariam back to the BBA building that day rested. Her thumb slid carefully down over the volume button as she passed the BBA staff room. Mindless, stupid conversations..
....
'A storm for Valentine's? How sad...'
....
Jemma paused, and let Mariam walk on ahead. A smirk grew on her pale face.
"Then all I had to do was get me a location. Mariam provided one for me."
"Hm? Run away where?" Emily was about to answer when Mariam answered for her.
"Anywhere. What would you guys say about a little getaway, you know, just us girls? Just the 6 of us? I was thinking... That maybe we could all put our cheques together and rent a hotel."
"YOU KILLED HER!" This time it was Emily's turn to scream. Jemma just sighed; a hint of regret and sadness to her tone of voice.
"She was probably the hardest to get rid of... Despite me being a killer I'm still a human. We spent a lot of time together and having to do away with her will always be a hard thing to remember." Mariah's jaw dropped.
...Human? No way in hell was the girl who stood before them human! Not by a long-shot!
"..You might have a beating heart in your chest and light in your eyes... But you'll never be human to me." Mariah said, her voice a low, sad rumble.
"That's fine." Jemma said, "You'll be dead soon so you won't get a chance to care."
Mariah and Emily grit their teeth; they had lost too much already to forfeit their lives to this fiend they thought was their friend.
"..You're heartless..." Emily murmured, her eyes on the metallic metal clutched in Jemma's pale hand. "...You killed Hilary.. And Salima.... Mariam.... Over... Over a boy..?" Emily stuttered. Her azure eyes were so bright and brimming with tears that Jemma thought the blueness would drain away.
"You knew."
"Knew what!?" Mariah spat. She was through; through being the sorried little girl who could only cry and scream for mommy. She wouldn't let Jemma win this war.
"THAT KAI MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME!" The sudden burst of anger, twisted into a sick knot with jealousy and regret caused Mariah and Emily to step backwards in fright. Jemma narrowed her eyes at it. "..You knew that I would've killed for him."
"YOU'RE SICK!" Emily screamed, tears that were held inside her eyes now cascading down her cheeks.
"Looks like I will be killing for him. Again." Jemma's voice had attained it's regularity for that evening; cold and cruel. The two girls before her began to slowly move backwards toward the hallway that Mariah had been headed for earlier.
She gasped slightly, as her hip collided with the receptionists' counter. As her hand rested on it to steady herself, Mariah's fingers slid over something cool and silver as well.
She wrapped her hand around it tightly; holding on for dear life.
Two seconds later and Emily bolted down the hallway, dragging Mariah so fast the pink-haired girl could hardly see what she was passing.
Jemma stood and watched them go with a smirk. Turning her head of raven hair, she looked over the floor plans of the hotel that she had studied so much earlier.
"We've gotta split up!" Mariah panted, drawing to a stop with Emily once the girls were sure they were out of ears' range and far enough away throughout the humongous hotel that Jemma would have to struggle to catch up with them.
"What!? Are you crazy!?" Emily breathed, "You're just asking for it then!" Mariah gave her a serious look; intensified by the tears in her golden orbs.
"One of us needs to find another exit... Jemma has the doors locked... Besides.. If she catches the both of us, we're doomed..." Mariah muttered, turning her gaze that had softened considerably away from Emily and back at the ruby carpet.
"But Mariah... She..!" Emily choked on her own words, grabbing Mariah's arm. "She'll kill me..!"
"No, she won't Emily. No one will!" Mariah took her scared friend's hands and held them tightly. "I won't let her!"
Emily just cried, unable to keep eye contact with Mariah since the red-head continuously looked over her shoulder for the sight of their cold-blooded killer.
"Now.. Emily, go left." With that, Mariah let go of Emily's hands, and ran down the right-turning corridor.
Emily stood alone for a few moments; then, grit her teeth, wiped her tears and ran down the left.
Back in the lobby.... Jemma walked into the hallway with every intention of finishing her spree.
Mariah took deep, seething, heavy breaths as she pushed and throttled every window and every door she passed going down the hallway. It seemed hopeless.
But she had hope. Like she'd thought earlier; Jemma was not going to win this war. It wouldn't end like this. It couldn't end like this....
Mariah grit her pointy teeth at another failed attempt at a barricaded door and rounded the left staircase, heading up a floor.
She was going to get out of here alive; whether she had to kill to do it or not.
Emily ran with lagging steps, casting a glance in every dark corner, every nook and every cranny for the sight of her. The sight of the girl she thought she knew so well, to be so gentle and easy-going.
The girl she knew to be her undoing.
Her heart was doing figure-eights as Emily turned another corner, and then another, looking feverishly for any door or exit. She tried the balcony where they had found Hilary's body; it was now locked. Not that she could see out of it anyway...
Jemma opened the panel box in the kitchen; she gave the wires a quick cut with her knife.
Mariah gasped and froze solid in her run as the lights flickered; then went out.
No. Not happening.
Was it the storm, or was it Jemma...? Mariah didn't want to guess. She didn't want to know. She just wanted to get out alive and go home.
As she tried the balcony on the opposite side of the hotel -locked obviously- her heart was beginning to ache. ..This.. This didn't happen to good friends and people.
Not in reality!
At least... She never thought it would happen to her.
Mariah looked around at the black nothingness hopelessly, before planting her hands on the walls softly and beginning a careful jog towards the other end of the hotel.
Jemma stood at the foot of the stairs, staring upward. Her smirk was so devious... As she heard the footsteps, her smirk grew even more mischievous, and she stalked up them quickly.
One of them at least, was not even two corners away from her.
The end was near.
