"You don't know how long I've been wanting to do this." Danny gloated in Lizzie's face.
Lizzie was crouched down on the floor next to her best friend. Gordo's body was lying face first on the floor. Danny watched as Gordo's lungs slowly stopped rising and falling. He waited a minute and when he was sure that the boy was dead turned his attention back to the woman in front of him.
"Gordo always thought he was better than me." Danny said to Lizzie. "Did he have my looks?"
"No." The killer answered
"Does he have my finesse?"
"Not even close." The killer continued.
"Does he even have my gifted athletic ability?" A gloating Danny Kessler asked as he kicked Gordo's limp, motionless form.
"Not in his wildest dream."
Lizzie still couldn't believe the scene in front of her. Before her eyes stood a man whom she thought was her friend. A man who until recently had dated her best girl friend, who had grown up with her, gone to school with her, and been around most of her life. Now, before her very eyes, stood her friend, a friend that turned out to be a psychotic killer. Unfortunately for Lizzie that was not the worst of her problems. No, Danny Kessler seemed to be smart enough to have a partner, a mystery partner. Something no one had considered, not even her incredibly bright friend who lay dead on the floor.
"You killed Veruca didn't you?" She asked Danny.
"Yes I did. You see, it was supposed to be Miranda that died tonight. I had it all planned out, took me a full week to get everything down to a T." Danny said waving his arms around, the gun flailing in his hand. When Danny saw his partner flinch momentarily he decided to put the gun in his pants pocket.
"Unfortunately for me, Miranda, or her parent's depending on how you look at it, spoiled everything by moving away. I was rather upset by that as you might imagine. Then I thought I could improvise and do it during our dinner date last night. I was going to convince her I loved her no matter where she lived. Get her a little tipsy, and then after she gave it up…."
Danny drew his knife from the sheath behind his back. He then slammed the knife into his parent's coffee table. Lizzie got the symbolism immediately.
"It seems my partner's little stunt in the washroom, coupled with my death threat, spooked you so bad that you thought she should go out that night. So you spoiled my perfectly laid out plan." Danny said as his face became red with anger. He pulled the knife from the table and pointed it at Lizzie showing his extreme displeasure.
"Happy to muck up your plans Kessler." Lizzie spat not backing down to the psychotic freak.
"I'll just bet you were. You never really liked me dating her did you? Where you jealous? Did you want some of me too slut?"
"Why'd you do it?" Lizzie asked him not bothering to answer Dan's question.
"Do what?" Danny asked.
"Why did you kill them?" Lizzie barked in rage.
"Which them, we've been particularly busy?" Danny asked.
"Which one of you killed my brother and his girlfriend?" She asked in a fit of anger.
"We both did. We beat the little shit to a bloody pulp, then killed him when he broke the rules by warning his slutty girlfriend." Danny stated.
"What did Veruca ever do to you Danny?"
"She got in our way." The second killer informed Lizzie. "She thought she'd be the loyal friend and protector now that Miranda was gone. Had she not decided to try and step into Miranda's shoes she might have survived, unfortunately for her she did and it cost her."
The second person had been quiet since Danny kicked Gordo. Now, now he was breaking the silence and gloat.
"We took out Ms. Ungermeyer earlier this evening to clear out the party. We knew it would take some time before the body was spotted. When word got out the police and every kid in town was likely to be there."
"So the two of you just thought of everything." Lizzie mocked.
"Yes… we did." The masked killer said. Only this time his voice was different. Lizzie had seen the person press something on his mask. She was guessing it was a voice changer since the tone had changed. The voice was hauntingly familiar.
Lizzie watched as the masked killer first dropped the cloak that covered his body. She saw blood covering his clothes, clothes that looked all too familiar. When the mystery man removed his mask she just about threw up.
Standing before her was Ronny Jacobs. Ronny was covered in what looked like blood but was very much alive, much to Lizzie's dismay.
"Surprise Lizzie." Ronny joined in. "Didn't see it coming did you?" He asked with a rather disturbed look on his face. Ronny was pointing a bloody knife at Lizzie. Normally she would have backed away but Danny was behind her with his knife drawn.
"H…how… I saw you die?" Lizzie said, tears falling down her face.
"What did you really see Lizzie? You saw a sideways view of the knife stabbing me. Danny there used a shinny prop knife and ran it though between my side and my arm. While you had your back to me when we argued I placed some blood packets under my shirt. They pop real easily and you bought it just like we thought you would. Of course you never did stick around to actually see the last stab, just like I knew you wouldn't. You ran for your life. So when you locked the door Danny gave me the costume and I took my turn trying to kill you." Ronny said with an evil grin on his face.
"How… how could you do this?" Lizzie wondered aloud. She hadn't meant to ask, it just slipped out of her mouth in her current state.
"It was so easy Lizzie." Ronny said.
"Yeah boy…" Danny said in agreement. "Watch a couple movies, take a few notes, it was fun."
"Fun… you killed six people." Lizzie spat.
"Actually nine. Two indirectly but we were the cause of their deaths." Ronny informed the panic-stricken young woman.
"Nine?" Lizzie repeated.
"Let's go in reverse order shall we." Danny said.
"Gordo, Ethan, Kate, Veruca, Ms. Ungermeyer, Melina, Matt, Emmanuelle…."
"And your father!" Ronny said. The way he said father sounded like the word was venomous coming from his mouth.
"You… you killed my father?" Lizzie asked in disbelief.
"Yeah baby… we hired that woman to slip a roofie into his drink. That whore then proceeded to wine him, dine him, screw him and then left. But you see… we slipped a little something into her drink too. Made her delusional. She actually thought that she did the killing even though we where the ones who carved your old man up like a thanksgiving turkey." Danny said.
"You… you killed my dad." Looking at Danny, then to Ronny, "And all this time you've been acting like you loved me… and cared about me. Trying to comfort me in my hour of need. You killed him, my brother and my friends…"
"All part of the show babe. How does it feel to be lied to Lizzie?" Ronny asked. "How does it feel to know that the person you love doesn't truly love you back? He asked.
Lizzie didn't even know how to answer that question.
"You don't think I didn't know that you and Gordo were in love?" An angry Ronny Jacobs inquired. "You didn't think that I didn't know that you and he were planning on hooking up and leaving me in the cold?"
"Fuck you Ronny, I had no such plans!" Lizzie screamed.
"Gordo and I are friends… we were not going to get together!" Lizzie stated.
"Well, I guess we'll never know for sure now… because in a moment, you will be joining your 'best guy-friend' in the great beyond." Ronny informed her.
"Why'd you do it?" Lizzie asked her now ex-boyfriend. "Why'd you kill my dad?"
"Why… WHY???" Ronny screamed. His face was contorted and he looked extremely deranged. Then a moment later he returned to his calm demeanor. "I do believe the young lady would like a motive?"
"I did it for the kicks…" Danny said with a look that implied he obviously wasn't playing with a full deck of cards.
"A very good reason my friend." Ronny said, "And I… I did it because your father slept with my mother. He fucked her, mad her fall him love with him and then left her hanging. My mother broke up our family for your father. Said that she would never love anyone like she did him. When he turned her away she just left. She couldn't look at him or her family ever again. So… I decided I was going to break up your family as well."
Ronny walked to Gordo and untied his restraints. "When the police arrive they're going to find a house full of dead bodies. And do you know who they're going to find here???"
Lizzie said nothing.
"They're gonna find her." Ronny said motioning to where a once lone Danny Kessler stood. Now, Danny Kessler stood accompanied by a bound and gagged Jo McGuire.
"Everyone in town thinks your mom's flipped out. That important meeting she was supposed to be at… she works for my dad." Danny reminded Lizzie. "We asked him to make up some excuse for her to leave town, there was no meeting. We told him that it was a surprise for you and she needed an excuse in case you didn't believe her."
"And what a surprise its been right Lizzie?" Ronny asked her. He then unlocked the front door so they could finish of Ethan incase he wasn't dead.
"We cloned your mom's cell phone and made all the calls from it, left plenty of evidence implicating her in the attacks on you and now all that's left to do is to finish you off."
Ronny informed the two women. "Give me the gun Danny." Ronny ordered once he saw the man moving about in pain.
Danny tossed the gun to his best friend whose hand was outstretched ready to catch it. Lizzie, flying on instinct, tried to intercept it. The small pistol bounced out of her hand and slid into the kitchen. Ronny was on the verge of attacking Lizzie when he felt something hard slam into his back sending him to the floor. Danny looked and saw Kate Sanders standing behind Ronny clutching a board from his fence. Danny slammed Jo McGuire against the wall and the older woman slumped to the floor as Danny charged at Kate. In his rage he never noticed Gordo extend his leg. Danny tripped and flew through the air towards Kate. The taller of the two blonde girls timed it just right and as Danny's airborne form neared her Kate slammed the solid wood door in his face. Danny crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Ronny managed to regain enough of his bearings to pick up his knife, deck Kate and charge at his girlfriend. He was bound and determined that she would die by his hand and howled like a maniac as he neared her. Lizzie was on the floor scrambling for Ethan's gun. It had slid under the counter and she was trying desperately to reach it. She heard Ronny scream in rage just before she managed to grasp the grip of the pistol. Clutching the weapon in her right hand, Lizzie pulled it out, took aim and pulled the trigger causing the weapon to discharge.
Ronny Jacobs flew backwards as the bullet struck him in the left side of his chest. Lizzie could hear him groaning in agony. The psychotic young man managed to find enough strength in his body to pull himself up right. Sitting on his knee's he wiped blood from his eyes and felt around. Picking up his knife he spotted Lizzie. Before he could lunge towards her again Lizzie pulled the trigger a second time and third time. This bullets struck him squarely in the center of his chest and his right lung. Ronny Jacobs, still on his knees fell over backwards. His arms were sprawled out and his eyes staring into the ceiling. Lizzie was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of the foot steps and knocking. She aimed the pistol at the kitchen door only to see Kate's scarf waving in the doorway.
"Don't shoot Lizzie, it's just me."
"And why is that supposed to persuade me from not shooting you?" Lizzie asked sarcastically.
"Hey I did cause the distraction that saved your life." Kate reminded. She slowly walked over to her one time close friend and checked to make sure she was ok. Lizzie, not really thinking after her long ordeal, gave the egotistical blonde a large hug. Kate, blood dripping from where her forehead struck the steering wheel returned the embrace.
"A little help over here please." Gordo finally mumble.
Kate helped Lizzie to her feet and the two went to check on Gordo. He was still lying facedown on the Kessler's hallway floor, but as the two looked no blood was coming from the bullet wound. Kate and Lizzie helped him up and Gordo, his head still hurting from where Danny hit him earlier. Gordo reached into where the bullet had struck and pulled out a small paperback book. The bullet was lodged in the book, much to Gordo, Kate and Lizzie's relief.
"You're lucky you can hold your breath for such a long time Gordo." Kate muttered as she held her friends left arm.
"I'm amazed you even remember that Kate." Gordo replied smiling.
"I vividly remember how long you are capable of going without air." Kate said blushing. Gordo smiled and blushed as well.
"I'm sorry Gordo." Lizzie finally managed to say to her best friend."
"Let's see to your mom Lizzie." Gordo insisted.
The trio began hobbling to Jo McGuire to help release her from her bonds only to see the older woman's eyes flash wide. Turning around, the group saw Danny was on his feet. The young man began screaming and sprinted towards the group. Kate grabbed the pistol from Lizzie, aimed and pulled the trigger. Danny Kessler crashed to the floor. His body twitched for a moment then stopped.
"Nice shot Kate." Gordo stated in amazement.
Kate was shaking as the gun remained pointed at the doorway. "Thanks… firs… first time I ever fired anything at anyone. I'm actually surprised I hit him." She replied not believing that she'd actually managed to hit Kessler on the first shot.
The other three people just looked shocked at her declaration. Gordo took the gun from Kate and placed it in his pocket. Kate then helped him to the porch as Lizzie helped her mother.