The Chemistry in Darkness

Chapter Eight

Friday 13th March 2020

Elly groaned as she re-opened her eyes, then blinked wildly as she took in her surroundings.

Where am I?

Elly soon realized she was lying in the backyard of the Kennedy's house.

And she was naked.

Elly had transformed into wolf formation but it had been different to the previous times she'd turned into a werewolf. She'd been upright on her two back legs, grown taller, her teeth and claws more vicious and her eyes blood red.

But Elly didn't have time to think about what she'd become when she realized what she'd done because of it was horrendous.

Finn had gotten his memories back, threatened to kill Bea and Chloe before he attempted to track Elly down to be a family with her and Aster.

Elly hadn't taken to Finn's threats lightly. She'd lost all control and without the full moon in the sky, Elly had found a way to shift into a werewolf, attacking Finn in the process.

Elly had killed him.

Finn laid dead in the Kennedy's backyard.

Elly wanted to throw up as she stared at his vacant eyes in front of her but she resisted the urge.

What the hell have I done? He threatened to kill Chloe and Bea…I had reason to lose control… I'm a monster…a killer…

Elly slowly rose to her feet. She glanced down at her body, naked, splotches of blood across her arms, legs and chest. Elly glanced away from Finn's body lying on the ground, claw marks at his neck telling Elly how he'd being killed by her. Elly ran her hands over her face, unable to believe what she'd done.

Panicking, Elly wanted to run away from Erinsborough and never return after what she'd done but she was so torn as she'd been desperate to get back to her family to be part of their lives again.

Have I ruined any chance to be with my family and see my friends again?

Am I nothing but a monster whom can't be around humans anymore?

Noticing that there was laundry hanging on the line, Elly quickly recognized some of Bea's clothes and swiped some undies, jeans and a top that didn't suit her at all but would have to do. Elly quickly changed into the clothes, picking up her own ripped apart clothes lying on the ground.

Leaving Finn's body where it was, Elly made a run for it back to the front of the house, hoping Lexa was still waiting for her in case she needed help.

Coming to terms with murdering her ex-boyfriend and sister's current boyfriend wasn't the type of help Elly had ever expected to need Lexa's help with.

Lexa smelt the blood as soon as Elly rushed back outside, let alone seeing the state she was in. Lexa quickly hopped out of the pickup truck, "What happened?"

Elly could barely make out the words, "He was going to kill them…I stopped him…I had to…right?"

"Show me," Lexa directed, realizing immediately Elly was panicking and the last thing they needed was for their kind to be discovered. She had to help Elly cover this up, whatever she'd done.

Elly led Lexa through the house to the backyard, her mind racing over why she'd lost control and killed him and if she could ever make this right. She knew she wasn't ever going to be able to confess to killing Finn. Serving time in prison wasn't an option when her life as a werewolf would be discovered as soon as the night before the full moon began.

Or now that she knew she could shift into werewolf formation without the full moon cycle if she was angry enough, would that mean she could never entertain the thought of having a normal life outside of 3 days every month?

As they reached the backyard, Lexa didn't flinch at seeing Finn's dead body lying on the ground, his blood splattered mostly on his clothes, if not over Elly which Lexa could still see underneath the clothes Elly had changed into.

"I didn't mean to…he wanted to kill them…Bea and…Chloe…he was recording himself on his phone…saying all these things that he wanted to find me…they were in his way…I lost control and I turned… I didn't know I could without the full moon," Elly tried explaining as she gasped for air.

Lexa placed her hand on Elly's back, "We'll deal with this. We'll get you back home to the Pack and make sure no one finds out about you…us…what's happened here?"

"How? People can't find out about me…what we are…what I did. They'll never forgive me," Elly spluttered.

Lexa pointed to some bed sheets hanging on the clothes line, "Grab them."

"I can't steal Suze and Karl's expensive bed sheets…" Elly started saying before shaking her head, "They'll forgive me one day. I can't have them find out what I am or what I did to Finn."

Elly pulled the sheets from the clothes line, handing them to Lexa. With Elly's help, the pair, placed them on the ground and wrapped Finn's body on to the sheets. Using her strength, Lexa dragged the dead body onto her shoulder, "Keep a look out for me…we need to get him into the back of the truck without anyone seeing us. I'll come back here to do what I can to clean up the scene."

Elly glanced around at the area, still fighting the urge to throw up, then saw Finn's phone lying on the ground. Picking it up she looked at Lexa, scared of what she'd done, "Do I leave this…? It's proof that Finn was a bad guy and wanted to kill my sister. She can move on from him without ever thinking that he was worthy of her loving him."

"Is there anything incriminating on it that you were here?" Lexa asked.

"Maybe…" Elly answered, unsure of exactly what had happened after she'd turned into the wolf formation, "Can you edit the video he was taking if there is?"

"I ain't Raven," Lexa pointed out, "Bring it with us, better to be safe than sorry. I know you don't want your family knowing what you did but if they find out about what you are…they'll be in danger."

Elly nodded slowly, after months of dreaming about returning home to her family and friends to reunite with them and introduce her baby daughter to them once she knew it was safe, instead she had created a nightmare for herself, wondering if she could ever move past the guilt of murdering Finn in order to come back to her family.

Elly pocketed Finn's phone, then quietly led Lexa back through the house. As they reached the front door, Elly glanced around nervously for a moment, praying no one would see them. When it appeared the street was as quiet as when they arrived, Lexa and Elly rushed out of the house to the pickup truck quick as a flash.

Lexa dragged Finn's body into the truck's ute, covering it up with some tarp lying there unused, before turning back to Elly, and handing her the keys to the truck, "You stay here, I'll be two minutes. If anyone sees you, you take off, do you hear me? You get the hell out of here, you don't talk to anyone even if it's your family who sees you. Drive to the Waterhole, park as far away from the entrance as possible. I'll meet you there."

Elly didn't hesitate to jump in the drivers' seat of the pickup truck, watching on as Lexa disappeared back into the house. Elly sat there with her head between her hands, feeling utterly sick that she had murdered someone. Even if it was because Finn was threatening to fake a suicide for Bea and murder Chloe so he could get her back.

What have I done? What is Aster going to think of me if she ever finds out? I'm a killer, I'm too dangerous to be around my family and…is that Chloe?

Elly's terror was interrupted as she overheard her best friend.

Elly got out of the truck, looking over at #24, the house Chloe had moved into with Pierce right after they got engaged.

Married…Chloe's married now…to Pierce… Would Pierce have had it in him to kill Finn if he knew Finn wanted to kill Chloe? He wouldn't…he's not a monster like me…

Elly focused her hearing on the house, able to hear the couple even though she was standing outside the street from her Aunt and Uncle's house across the road.

"I'm not in the mood, Pierce," Chloe told her husband.

"I left the office for the day cause I am, get in the mood, Chloe. I'm your husband, I want to be with you," Pierce insisted.

Oh God…he's just a different kind of monster…is he seriously telling Chloe she needs to have sex with him just because he's in the mood to? Why is Chloe even home on a workday when she should be at the hotel…? First question way more important.

"Please, Pierce, can we wait until tonight? I'm supposed to pick up the kids from school soon," Chloe pleaded.

The kids? I hope she means Hendrix and Harlow and I haven't just skipped more than three months of Chloe's life as the idea of Chloe having kids with Pierce makes me sick.

"Hey, let's go," Lexa announced, breaking Elly's concentration to hear Chloe and Pierce's conversation, then as she watched the way Elly continued staring at the house across the road like she was trying to hear something, "Oi, did you hear me? We gotta go. What are you doing out of the truck?"

"I have to see my friend," Elly asserted.

Lexa moved in front of Elly, placing her hand to Elly's chest, "The hell you are. If you haven't been spotted here by anyone, we need to get you far away from this place. They don't know you came back, if they knew, they will link you to this guy's disappearance and perhaps work out you killed him. Then you won't ever be able to come back here and see your family. You will be on the run for the rest of your life, do you hear me?"

Elly growled at Lexa, "Her husband is arguing with her to have sex with him when she doesn't want to and is trying to put him off 'til this evening. I'm not leaving Chloe in that situation."

"Chloe," Lexa repeated gently, before pushing Elly back again, "You can't do this. I know she's your best friend and maybe there was something more between the pair of you but you cannot go to her rescue. You need to trust your friend is not in as bad a situation as you think it is. Her husband isn't going to force her to sleep with him. If he came close, you need to trust Chloe will kick him in the nads. You cannot help her. Not only will you alert people that you've returned on the day Finn went missing but the rage you are feeling…you will kill her husband. You've already lost control a few minutes ago and killed, do you want to do that again?"

Elly struggled with being unable to concentrate on Chloe's voice so she could hear what was going on between her and Pierce and knowing she probably would tear Pierce apart if she thought he really would force Chloe into their bed, "I'm a monster, may as well act like it to protect her."

"That is not protecting Chloe. You think she's gonna thank you if you go in there and kill her husband? Let alone turn into a monster in front of her? She will never forgive you. You might even turn on Chloe and kill her. Do you want to put Chloe more at risk by being around you when you're a werewolf?" Lexa asked.

Elly was even more terrified at the thought of hurting Chloe herself, "I won't hurt Chloe...I couldn't."

"You don't know that. You will not get your life back ever if you do this. Do you want to do that to Aster?" Lexa demanded.

Elly finally looked away from Chloe's house at the mention of her daughter.

"You need to think of Aster right now. Anything you do now affects her, it already has. Do you want to risk losing your baby girl? Cause that's what your risking if you go in that house and people know your back when a missing person occurs at the same time," Lexa threatened, "Is Chloe worth that when she could be perfectly fine and having a normal argument with her husband?"

Yes…maybe…no…I'm a mum, nobody should come before my lil girl, right? I've already potentially destroyed her life if anyone finds out what I've done…I need to put Aster first…I need to trust Chloe will be fine…that Pierce could never be close to the kind of monster like I am.

"Fine," Elly snapped at Lexa, taking her eyes off Chloe's house and storming back to the pickup truck, getting into the passengers' seat.

Lexa checked the back of the ute once more that the body wouldn't be spotted by anyone driving past before joining Elly in the truck, "You will be okay, Elly."

First time Lexa's called me by my first name…

"I just killed a person, I'm not going to be okay," Elly put her face in her hands, "I really am a monster. I'm worse than Finn, he was only threatening to kill, I actually did it."

"No, you lost control. Let's get the body back to the cabin. We'll bury it there and work out how to help you," Lexa decided as she started the truck and gently hit the accelerator.

Elly felt tears welling up in her eyes as she looked back at her home, wondering if she would ever be able to return home to her family and friends or if killing Finn for wanting to kill her sister and ex-girlfriend was enough to destroy that dream…

Next time - Elly makes a decision on her future for the sake of her family and friends... How has Chloe's life being with her best friend missing?