As they pulled up to Kirby's house the very next day, Sidney sighed and leant back in her seat. She hadn't realised it before, but her grip on the steering wheel must have been vice-like, as when she finally pried her fingers from the leather, they ached and throbbed profusely.
She took the opportunity of not being focused on the road to take a look at Kirby.
"Are you okay?"
Kirby looked as if she was deep in thought, but whatever she was thinking of was clearly unpleasant to remember. However, Sidney's question pulled her back to present as she glanced over at her and nodded.
"Yeah, it's just weird being back here…after everything." Kirby trailed off; her gaze once again pulled back to the house. To Sidney, that was a perfectly rational thing, especially seeing as the last time Kirby had been in there she had been left for dead.
"Do you remember it?" Sidney asked, surprised by her own question. She knew better than most to ask questions like that because she had those questions pointed at her every single day. Camera flashes beaming and microphones thrust so quickly into her face that they rendered her dizzy…and almost helpless sometimes. This was different though, this wasn't some interview that would be twisted way out of proportion with some seedy journalist looking to make a cheap buck. This was her wanting to know what Kirby was thinking and feeling.
Kirby was silent for another moment or two and Sidney had almost presumed that she was ignoring the question and she didn't want to answer it.
"Some of it. I remember some of it." Kirby had revealed very little about what had happened once Sidney had searched for Jill, and it was very clear to Sidney that it was incredibly difficult to divulge even the smallest comment.
"Hey…it's okay. I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry." Sidney comforted her, reaching over and squeezing her hand. "We don't have to talk about it and we can stay in here as long as you want to," she added.
Kirby nodded, pulling herself together and taking a steady breath. "Let's go."
As promised, the house had been cleaned to within an inch of its life. Sidney didn't really see any difference in the place from when she had entered the house that final night, yet she knew Kirby would probably see a lot of things missing; a lot of slight differences that she would have once taken for granted.
"Do you want me to help you pack?" Sidney offered, watching Kirby as she walked around the front room like a phantom. She continued to observe as Kirby's gaze went to the white fluffy rug. It was in pristine condition and Sidney couldn't quite see anything wrong with it.
"There was a coffee table here. A glass one." She spoke absently, her brow furrowing as she recalled the layout of her home in her mind. Sidney knew it wasn't a great thing to do given the circumstances. To take a mental inventory would only lead to questions of what happened in order for that particular item or furniture to be destroyed so badly beyond repair.
"Let's go get your stuff, Kirby." Sidney directed. It was a cold command, nor was it something that Kirby would have to obey if she didn't want to. Yet the girl seemed eager to get out of there, nodding her head and leading Sidney up the steps.
As they climbed each step, Sidney found herself recalling nondescript moments from that night. After being mercilessly chased up the stairs by who she now knew was Charlie, she and Jill had fled to Kirby's room. That was confirmed when Kirby opened the door and it hit Sidney like a bullet at blank range.
Can you jump?" Jill asked, a terrified expression on her face as she flung open the balcony door. Immediately, Sidney had checked to see if it was doable, but even if they did make it without managing to knock themselves unconscious, there would probably be a broken ankle at the very least that would considerably lower their chances of survival.
"No, it's two stories." Sidney exclaimed, each moment they were trapped in there brought a new level of fear to the surface. "Where's your cell?" She asked her, thinking on her feet as Jill fumbled confusedly to find her phone and hand it over.
"What're you-"
"Under the bed."
Without really thinking about it, a quiet scoff left Sidney's mouth as she shook her head. How could she have been so stupid?
"What is it?" Kirby asked. Whilst Sidney had been walking around the room, she had opened her closet and proceeded to start packing clothes, making sure a sensible funeral outfit was also planned for Kate's service the very next day.
"I tried to trick them into believing that Jill had managed to escape and go and find help. I was out there on that balcony looking like an absolute idiot. Jill probably told him exactly what I was doing and I didn't have a clue." Sidney silently admonished herself. There were so many points where she could have worked this out. "I had her phone in my hand. A quick tap on caller history and I would've known." She told her, though it was half-hearted because aside from being psychic, there was no way Sidney would have had the time or notion to even consider looking through Jill's phone.
"Ah yes, I'm sure Charlie would've paused for you whilst you hacked into Jill's phone and checked her messages." Kirby replied sarcastically, folding a pair of jeans up and shoving them into a holdall.
"Fair point." Sidney actually smiled then. Walking over to a set of shelves, she found herself searching for things that would tell her something about Kirby. Sure enough, the extension of DVD's stacked up along the largest shelf told her a lot.
"You like horror movies?" Kirby asked her, glancing up she had seen Sidney's focus upon her DVD stack.
The question made Sidney chuckle. She didn't know whether Kirby had purposely avoided the world-famous line 'Do you like scary movies?' but she did appreciate it.
"When your whole life outdoes the horror genre, Kirby, there's nothing new to really sink your teeth into." Sidney commented, taking a look at the shelf underneath. There were a few little trinkets, a pair of stud earrings with the back of one missing, and a cute hanging ornament that had small clothes pegs holding photographs up. One of Kirby and Jill, then one of Kirby, Jill and Olivia. Finally, Sidney's eyes came to rest on a photo that stood alone in a frame. Kirby was in the centre of the photo, her blonde hair longer and wavier and a big smile on her face. At either side of her stood a man and a woman, beaming from ear to ear.
"Who are you with here?" Originally, Sidney had been asking questions to try and take Kirby's focus away from the fact that her friends had been brutally murdered in this very house only a few weeks previous. Now, however, she was the one who had her interests piqued.
Kirby walked over to see what she was looking at because Sidney's figure had blocked her view from afar, and a ghost of a smile rose on her lips as she looked at the photo too. "This was when we went to Chiang Mai in Thailand around four years ago now." She told Sidney. "That's me, my mom and my dad."
"Oh?" Sidney asked, unable to keep the surprise from her tone. Without seeing the photo, there would have been nothing out of the ordinary for Kirby's parents to take her on holiday to an exotic place. They clearly did well for themselves judging from the neighbourhood and the house itself…but the people at either side of her were clearly of an Asian heritage. There was no trace of that in Kirby whatsoever as far as the eye could see.
Kirby couldn't help but laugh a little at Sidney's obvious surprise, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
"They're obviously not my biological parents… but they adopted me from birth so they're the only parents I've ever known." Kirby confirmed Sidney's suspicions.
"Sorry…" Sidney trailed off sheepishly. "I didn't mean to sound so shocked. It was just you never mentioned you were adopted, not that it's any of my business." She added quickly.
"It's cool, honestly. I forgot to wear my 'I'm adopted' t-shirt when I was rushed into hospital at death's door." Kirby was teasing her now, even Sidney could tell that from a mile away.
"Yeah yeah, okay. I get your point." Sidney chuckled, putting the photo back down where it belonged. "You done?"
"Uh huh, I think so. I'm just going to pop down to the laundry room to grab my black dress for tomorrow."
Sidney nodded and perched on the bed, still thinking about the latest news on Kirby as she heard the rummaging that she presumed came from Kirby searching through clothes. She really was full of surprises. She felt the utmost respect for Kirby's parents at that point. To adopt someone else's child and raise them as your own was an incredible feat that Sidney couldn't even think about without feeling nauseous. At some point, during the first few months about her and Billy's relationship, Sidney had considered having a family one day with him. Silly, really. What a few months would do.
Tapping her foot on the floor, Sidney listened for the distant thump of clothes hitting the floor, but it hadn't crossed her ears for quite some time.
"Kirby?" Sidney called, standing herself up and heading out into the hallway.
Silence.
"Kirby?" She called again, beginning her descent downstairs. Sidney followed the trail of quiet sounds that she heard. The rustle of clothing, a sniff… and as she got closer, she could hear Kirby's shallow breathing.
It became all too apparent why.
As soon as Sidney saw Kirby standing in front of the panelled windows, she realised that it was where they had first seen Charlie tied up on the back porch. It was the last time Sidney had seen Kirby at all.
"I got the question wrong. About the slasher craze. I said it was Psycho, but it was wrong."
It still didn't make a whole lot of sense to Sidney, but what she said next did.
"You asked me to keep him talking so you could get Jill. You told me you'd be right back. You didn't come back." Her sentences were short, restricted and restrained, like there were tears threatening to bubble over, yet she wasn't stopping them.
Sidney couldn't defend herself because…how could she? How could she possibly try and defend her actions of going to go find the other killer, leaving Kirby at the hands of Charlie in the process. It wasn't even like she could say she didn't know the killer was going to go for her because they had been on the phone when Sidney was standing right beside her.
"You said you'd be right back." Kirby repeated blankly, allowing a couple of tears to come through the floodgates as she stared outside at the back porch, hands clenched by her sides as the sinking feeling of hurt and betrayal warmed her bones.
Taking another couple of steps forward until she was in reach, Sidney didn't hesitate on resting her hands on Kirby's shoulders, forcing her to turn around and face her so that her eyes were no longer on that back porch. Once she had the blonde turned around, Sidney wrapped her in a tight embrace and just held her. Although Kirby's body was stiff and rigid for the first few moments, she eventually grew slack and broke down, burying her face into Sidney's shoulder as unsuppressed sobs were finally allowed to reach their peak. Sidney held the trembling girl for what felt like both a few seconds and an eternity at the same time, refusing to let go as Kirby wept.
"Kirby, I am so sorry that I left you. I swear to God, if I could do that night over one more time, I would have never left you alone." She whispered, closing her eyes and trying to keep strong for the both of them.
After a few more tearful moments, Kirby slowly pulled back and wiped her eyes, tucking her hair behind her ear as a slightly embarrassed and watery smile appeared on her lips.
"Sorry. I don't really know where that came from."
"It's okay. I don't want you to be sorry. I'm here if you ever need to talk."
In a weak show of triumph, Kirby held up the black dress in her hand. "I found the dress. I think I'm good to go." She told her.
With a few outfits, her hair straighteners, laptop, makeup bag and toiletries, Kirby and Sidney both headed out back to the car. It had been an emotionally exhausting few hours, but somehow Sidney felt that any leftover tension and bitterness that Kirby might have been holding back from her had now surfaced, and was hopefully clear.
