Pay the Price

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 2 (Fish and Alcohol)

Trina held a warm cup of coffee in her trembling hands, sipping it slowly and praying it would calm her frayed nerves. She had a red blanket wrapped around her body for warmth and was staring ahead at the wall in front of her. Her mind kept flashing back to the horror of discovering her father's body and fighting off one of the attackers.

It had been a week, and she still couldn't bring herself to step foot in the house. Sikowitz was allowing her to stay at his place for the time being, which was a great source of comfort to her. She was barely able to sleep and was constantly looking over her shoulder, afraid someone would be coming after her.

Her mother had not turned up yet, Tori was nowhere to be found; and to her dismay, none of Tori's friends were answering their phones. She'd given the police her statement, Jason and Mr. Sikowitz both confirmed she was over at their place most of the day. Still, it didn't seem like the police had found anything yet.

Officer Malone was her main contact as he'd taken charge of the investigation. He considered it something personal as David had been a best friend of his for many years. He was the godfather of the sisters as well, so Trina was happy to hear him demand to be the lead investigator.

Jason walked up to her and she raised her head to him, her breathing shuttered from her lips and she watched as he sat beside her. "Have you been able to get any rest yet?" He curled his eyebrows in towards the center of his forehead and reached over, placing a hand on her left knee.

She lowered her coffee and moved her head to his shoulder. A whimper escaped her and fresh tears mingled with the red streaks going down her cheeks. She hadn't yet talked to him about the crime scene. She was feeling stronger now, but it was still difficult. "I-I should have been there Jason." Jason breathed in and shut his eyes.

"Not gonna lie, I'm glad you weren't there."

"I could have protected them. Dad-" She started to shake, sobbing as her father's body continued to haunt her. "Dad might not be dead." Jason squeezed her knee gently, his eyes were misty and his voice was heavy.

"We don't know that for sure, Trina. We don't know what happened, I-I hate to think that you could've been overpowered." She looked away with a scoff, her heart sank into the nauseous pits of her stomach and a lump grew in her throat.

"But what if I could have stopped them? What if I could have bought my dad some time to reach his weapon?" Jason remained silent, allowing her to ramble. She needed that, it was important for the moment. "It wasn't a robbery, Jason. Nothing was missing." He furrowed his brow and nodded before raising his own coffee mug to his lips.

Trina bowed her head, staring down at the coffee swirling inside her cup. "I…I walked in, the door was unlocked. Daddy never leaves the door unlocked after ten. Never." Jason nodded, his expression growing serious as he listened to her. She rolled her thumb over the top of the mug handle. "Everything was turned over, the couch was even ripped up."

"The door was just open?"

"Closed." There had been nothing that would've made her think the people broke into the home. "I called out to them, no one answered. Mom wasn't there, Tori wasn't there." She clenched her eyes shut and began to shake more, dropping her left hand to the couch. Jason cupped his hand over hers, slowly rubbing it with his thumb. The sweeping motion was soothing and drew her gaze towards it.

She took a deep breath, her heart ached with every beat. She bit down on her lip as she played out the scene in her head. "I saw my dad's study open. He…He usually left the door closed." Jason took a deep breath, nodding his head slowly. "I didn't know what I was going to walk into."

A sob cracked from her lips and she dropped her chin. Jason slowly took her coffee from her and set the mug on the coffee table with his. She looked up as he carefully wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "It's okay Trina, I'm here for you." Her hands slid up his back and cupped his shoulders. She hiccupped once and buried her head into the nook between his chin and chest.

Turning her head, she studied her phone. "I have to try them again." She reached for the phone, her fingers trembling above it as another shiver ran down her spine.

"You've been trying them all week," said another voice. She looked to see her best friend standing nearby. Lindsay was tall and well toned, she had light brown hair tied in a loose ponytail. Her arms were folded over her chest and her expression was forlorn. "Tori's friends aren't answering, simple as that."

"But I have to try. Maybe they were there."

Lindsay's expression turned grim and she shook her head slowly. "If they were there, I don't know if I want to imagine what would've happened to them." The thought made her hair stand on end. "I know you don't like them all that much, but-"

"I wouldn't wish anything horrible on any of them. Ever. Still, why won't they answer? Why won't mom answer?"

"Heard anything from Officer Malone?"

She shook her head. "Gary says he hasn't found a trace of Mom, and if he's heard anything about Tori's friends, he's not saying." Gary was likely letting her rest and not wanting to share a lot of the details with her, but he knew her better than that. She always took an interest, and this was her family. "I don't want to sit here not knowing."

"What can you do?"

"I-I can find out what happened." Lindsay raised an eyebrow and Jason glanced at her phone with a knowing look in his eyes. Her dad had cameras installed in the house, so whatever happened was likely caught on camera.

She had access to those cameras. The reason being was the protective streak that she had, she begged her dad to let her have the access code and he eventually gave it to her.

"Trina," Jason started with a warning breath. She swallowed the air in her throat and sighed.

"No, I have to. I have to see. I have to know." She grabbed her phone, hesitating for a moment, staring at the screen. Lindsay sat down on the other side of her, her lips pressing tight against each other.

"Are you sure?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and she swiped her thumb across the screen. She entered her unlock password and sniffled as it lit up. "I have to. I have to know."

"God," Jason said with a breath. He squeezed her hand and Trina looked at him, watching as he slowly nodded at her. "I'm here, okay. No matter what, I'm here." She mustered a sad smile and looked over to Lindsay.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lindsay remarked, "Not sure I want to see what might be on those cameras; but I'm not going to let you watch that mess alone." Lindsay grabbed the television remote and turned on the tv, then changed the input to connect with smart devices. "Put it up on the telly?"

Trina started to cough and opened the camera app. She entered her father's access code and then clicked the 'send to' button to load it up on the television. Unsure of what was about to pop up on that screen, she clutched Jason's and Lindsay's hands.

On the screen, everything looked like an average and typical day. It was surreal seeing Tori and her friends before the grisly moment she discovered.

Her breath caught in her throat when she watched the argument that she and Tori had. Tori's friends were sitting around the living room, watching the two sisters. Trina remembered the rage she felt and the dejection that hurt her when Tori called her an obsessive freak and said she never wanted to see her again.

It was the result of the revelation that Trina would be moving and Jade was the one that made a comment about hoping it meant Trina would be gone and stay away. That set her off, and she began ranting about the group, accusing them of manipulating her sister and turning her into the way she was.

When Tori said what she had, Trina knew it was out of anger and she didn't mean it. After all, she knew Tori didn't want her to move off to Texas; but Trina didn't remember the response she gave. She didn't remember telling Tori she would plan to stay away and wouldn't care if she never saw her or their parents ever again.

Tears flooded Trina's raw cheeks and her heart crumbled when she watched her trembling sister stumble and make her way towards her friends. David was standing in the background, next to the piano, his arms were crossed and he was shaking his head.

The friends began to talk about Trina, each saying how horrible of a person she was and that Tori might be better off when she was gone. The comments were difficult to hear and each one broke her more, yet there was a different feeling along with that.

Grief. She mourned for them as well, not knowing the tragedy that would soon unfold for them.

After a while, the group would begin playing poker like they would do any night they were there. Trina smiled when she saw them laughing and talking, their voices filled the room.

Behind her she heard a grunt and turned to see Mr. Sikowitz watching with a misty look in his eyes. She bowed her head and took a deep breath. "You don't have to watch if you don't want to," she said, "I just need to do this."

"No," he whispered, "I need to see what happened too. I want to know what happened to my students."

She let the video continue, ignoring the tightness spreading across her chest. What came next happened so fast that she was almost startled out of her seat.

The front door opened around eight thirty-three. Tori looked up from the cards in her hand while her friends turned to look at the door. A large number of men and women dressed in dark outfits and masks entered the house. Tori stood up and screamed for their dad as the men charged the group.

Trina cupped her hands over her mouth, screaming as she watched her dad open his study door. The man who first opened the front door and entered had a gun, and he was already upon the man. "No!" Trina screamed as she watched her father turn and run for his desk.

Three gunshots echoed in the air and she fell into Jason, letting him clutch her close to his chest. She screamed into him and bit down on his shirt, muffling her anguished sob.

Her father never stood a chance, it was as though the men were ready for him.

Lindsay began rubbing her back and Jason cradled her head. "Should we turn it off?" She gasped loudly and pulled herself away, whimpering as she shook her head.

"No." Her response came out weak and strained. She looked at the screen and felt a rush of hot emotion coursing through her. The man that gunned down her father was staring at his body, standing as a group of nearly ten men descended upon Tori and her friends.

Tori was frozen, mortified by what she'd seen. When someone grabbed at her, she ran for the stairwell, screaming at the top of her lungs. A woman and a man chased after her, grabbing her at the top of the stairs. She grabbed at the rails, snapping parts of it and started kicking.

Trina watched in horror as Tori grabbed the piano keys, ripping them apart in a frenzy.

Beck and Andre tried to rush one of the attackers. One of the people shot Andre's left shoulder, sending him tumbling to the ground and clutching his wound. Beck landed a punch on one of the people, but a female attacker nearby struck him with a bat, knocking him to the ground.

Jade screamed in horror and ran to his side, clutching him. When she looked up, with fear etched on her face and tears in her eyes, she found herself face to face with the muzzle of a gun. The woman ordered her to stay still otherwise she would have a bullet placed between her eyes.

What ensued next was a struggle in which Robbie was trying to fend off attackers with the dining table chairs. Cat was clutching the couch, her nails ripping the fabric as a female attacker tried to pull her off.

Tori managed to get away and was using her phone to dial a number. Checking the timestamp, Trina looked at her phone and felt her heart sink when she saw the time of one of Tori's missed calls was done at that moment.

She raised her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, groaning as her grief turned to rage.

Oddly, Holly had placed a call around that time as well. Trina scanned the camera screen to look for her mother. It would be a few minutes before her mother would appear, running out of the bedroom while the attackers were beginning to tie the group up with ropes.

The attackers missed her and Holly bolted from the house, screaming at the top of her lungs. One of the people ran after her.

"Why were they calling me?" Trina wondered aloud. She couldn't understand why they would place calls to her and not the police, unless they had tried to contact the police.

Had they been trying to warn her? She hadn't listened to her voicemails, she was afraid of what she would hear; but now she knew. She'd hear the terrified screams of those that were present, she'd hear the threats and the fighting.

She clenched a fist in front of her chest and ground her teeth together, narrowing her eyes when she saw one of the men studying a family photo on the fireplace. The rest of the groups forced Tori and her friends up and guided them out of the home.

One stayed back to tell the other man to come with them, but he pointed out that there was another member of the family not present. Trina's stomach turned and the air around her grew so heavy and tense that she could hardly breathe.

She felt Jason's hand tighten around hers and Lindsay folded a hand over her shoulder.

The man proceeded to sit on the family couch and watch television, keeping an eye glued to the door. Realizing that this man was waiting for her, waiting among that mess, twisted the proverbial knife in her gut and filled her with a sense of hate.

He did nothing to give away his identity, keeping his mask and gloves on the entire time.

Around the time that she pulled into the drive, the headlights caught his attention and he ran to hide in the master bedroom. Trina felt Jason's body tense as he inhaled. Trina could hardly pull her eyes away as she watched herself on the screen.

Her nostrils flared out and her entire body trembled as the scene played out exactly as she remembered it.

She was also angry at Gary, hurt because he knew about the cameras and likely saw this but didn't tell her what happened to Tori's friends. Sure, he may have been trying to let her recover, be at ease, but that wasn't the way she was.

He had to know she'd look.

She turned off the television and only her heavy breathing filled the air. Sikowitz was clutching the couch cushions tightly, his face wrought with horror. Jason and Lindsay were still and quiet.

Trina was aware she wasn't yet a police officer, but her dad taught her everything he knew. She knew the rules, she knew there were limitations on what Gary could discuss with her.

Still, she wanted to be in the loop somehow, she wanted to know the police were making process. He told her he would share what he could, keep her informed; but she hated not knowing.

Sikowitz broke the silence first. "Those sick fucks." His voice trembled, but seemed to echo as though coming from an amplifier. "I'd like to string them up. I hope the police find those bastards and give them hell. I'd certainly like to!"

Trina stared blankly at the screen, slowly shaking her head as the scene played out over and over in her head. She remembered the last guy, remembered the sound of his voice. She remembered his height, his weight, and even the smell of fish and alcohol on his breath.

It was a stench she would never forget. "They better find them," she muttered darkly, "I'd like to find that last guy myself. Gary will find them, I'm sure he will."

She first thought it had been an attack by someone her father might have put away, but given how quickly he was dispatched and how Tori's friends were targeted too, she wasn't sure about that theory any longer.

"He smelled like fish and vodka, he even looked drunk." Given how quickly she dispatched of that man, she was certain he was somewhat impaired. The realization did occur that had the other members stayed with him, she would likely have been overpowered. Even still, she didn't care, perhaps not as much as Jason or Lindsay might.

It did scare her, but she felt more rage than anything else. She knew one thing was certain. "If I ever see Mr. Fish and Vodka, I might tear him to shreds."

Difficult to watch what unfolded for sure, Gary may have been trying to protect her emotions during this first week, but he probably should have known she would look at the cameras. It's good that Jason, Lindsay, and Mr. Sikowitz are there for her during this difficult time. Let's see what will happen, but until then, what are your thoughts on all this? Do you have any theories yet?