Chapter 9
"Jamie calm down!" Lewis shouted as they walked through the door of the house. "It isn't worth getting worked up over."
"Isn't is?" Jamie said as he followed Lewis into the kitchen. "They think they're better than us!"
"So?!" Lewis exclaimed. "Who cares?" Lewis poured a drink for Jamie who was red in the face. He passed it over and Jamie gulped it down, finishing it only a second after he had started.
"You can't do anything about it now, so just forget it," Lewis said. They fell silent. Jamie was beginning to calm down slowly, and as his breathing got slower and slower he was able to hear what was going on around him, and he noticed something. Rachel's music was still playing. This wouldn't have been unusual if he could hear the beats vibrating his ears, but the music that was playing now had no beat, or at least none as such. It was one of those songs that would bring tears to the eyes of even the toughest of people. Jamie listened to the lyrics for a few minutes.
Well, everybody hurts
Sometimes
Everybody cries
And everybody hurts
Sometimes
Jamie found himself realising how appropriate this song was to Rachel at the moment. But just because it was appropriate didn't mean it wasn't unusual, and the style of music that was playing was a far cry to the anger venting tunes she had been playing when they had left the house. This worried him, and from the expression Lewis had on his face, he was worried as well. They stood up almost simultaneously and raced towards the source of the music. They didn't reach the bedroom. Jamie's eyes were drawn to something wrapped round the banister running up the side of the stairs. A rope. He followed the rope along, and soon wished he hadn't when he noticed what it was attached to. Rachel's face had a blue tint to it, and her neck, which the rope was wrapped round, was at a sickening angle. Jamie didn't need to check her pulse to know that there wouldn't be one. She was dead, that was obvious.
"Jamie," Lewis spoke. "Jamie… You should call your parents." Jamie didn't answer. He continued to stare in the direction of where Rachel was lying. Then he slumped to the floor and tears begun to roll from his eyes.
"It's my sister…" he mumbled. "That's my sister… Rachel? Rachel, wake up."
"She's not going to wake up Jamie."
"She's just sleeping," he mumbled again. "She'll wake up if I call her."
"Jamie, come on," Lewis said softly. "Come and sit in the kitchen."
"No!" Jamie shouted. "I'm staying here. I've got to tell her that we hit that ***** on the head with a can - it'll make her laugh."
"Jamie, come and sit in the kitchen while I call your parents," Lewis prompted, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"OK," Jamie said. "OK, but you've got to tell me when she wakes up."
"I'll tell you," Lewis said. "I promise."