Chapter 2: Visionary (Song by Unfinished Thought)
Xoe walked down the streets of town. Her blue tattered dress had been mended pitifully by herself. Her blue hair was fluffed back up to its original state before the incident with Josh and Marie three days previously.
She could hear the rumors surround her as she walked into the funeral home. Xoe hid the obnoxious, vainglorious, and carcinogenic smile on her face as she looked as mournful as she could. She could feel the stares at her as she sat down in the first row of seats in the large room.
Charlie, a white hamster, who had been Josh's best friend, sat down beside Xoe. She could feel the suspiciousness in his mind as he glanced over at her.
"Hello, Miss Revie," Charlie greeted with a fake smile.
"Hello, Charlie," Xoe responded and glanced away.
"Have you heard the rumor yet?"
"Which one?"
"The one about Josh and Marie's deaths."
Xoe had heard this one before. "...No."
"They say you were there when they died."
Xoe paused. "...What the hell?"
"Exactly. They saw your name on the wall when they went in. A neighbor that had lived next to Josh said that they heard a lot of screams and stuff. Do you know what happened?"
"I just heard that there was blood everywhere and Marie's head had been spliced in the middle and Josh's stomach had been ripped open."
"...I didn't hear that."
"You didn't?" Xoe pretended to act surprised. "Wow, you must not be listening..."
"No one said anything about that."
"Yes, Marie had been stabbed multiple times and Josh had only been stabbed once."
"How did you know?"
"Just heard it."
Charlie looked down at the ground. "I suppose... That's awful! Such an awful way to die."
Xoe nodded. "Yes, it is."
At that moment, the minister began talking at the front. Xoe saw both of the caskets and just gave off her canniballistic smile.
::It's Not That It Feels Good::
::It's Just That It Feels::
::Better Than The Rest::
After a while, the minister bowed his head.
"May these two lovers rest in peace." The minister looked back up. "I have heard rumors, and they have been going on since the day after their deaths. This rumor may hold truth or lie, but I heard that Miss Xoe Revie was there at the time that they died."
Xoe turned pale. She stood up from her seat and walked up to the minister. Xoe could feel the knife hidden in her belt underneath her dress clink against her hips as she stopped in front of him.
"Excuse me, siree?" Xoe retorted. "Did you just propose that I, Xoe Revie, KILLED my ex and his new girlfriend?"
"Yes, I did."
Xoe's jaw fell open as she glanced around the room. There were whispers all around her agreeing and disagreeing. She clenched her fists and jaw.
"Then why would I be here at the funeral if I gave less than a fuck about them? I mean, if I DID kill them, I would have been out of the state by now..."
There were gasps.
"But I'm still here, right?"
"I don't know what I can tell you, Miss Revie. What do you know about their deaths?"
"I know Josh was stabbed once in the stomach and Marie was stabbed multiple times and then once in the head."
"...This information was not disclosed to anyone else other than the families."
"Wellys, I'm an ex yet a very close friend of Josh's." She was lying, but the minister probably could not tell the difference.
The minister glanced down at the ground. "You may sit down, Miss Revie."
::It's Not That He Loves Her::
::It's Just That Her Love::
::Is Better Than His Best::
"I still wanna know how you found out about what happened without me knowing," Charlie remarked as they stood next to the buffet table set up after the ceremony.
"I called his mom to check up on him because he wouldn't answer the phone, and that's how I found out."
"His mom called me and told me only that he was dead."
"I had asked what happened to him."
"I did, too, but she told me she didn't know. Only that they had been murdered."
"Then I must have called later than you." Xoe shrugged as she glanced down at the ground.
Charlie looked up at Xoe. "You know, Miss Revie, you're very beautiful. I don't know why he broke up with you to go out with that whore he died with."
"He broke up with me because I wouldn't fuck with him."
"Really?"
"Yes." Xoe sighed. "He was a great man most of the time until then."
Charlie looked at Xoe's dress. "What happened to your dress?"
"I was out horse riding in the woods and it got all tattered before I came." Xoe laughed falsely.
Charlie laughed, too.
"I don't have another one really..."
"Would you like me to take you out to buy you one?"
"Take me out?" Xoe laughed.
"Yeah." Charlie laughed again.
"Really, I'm fine with this one." Xoe looked away. "You could take me home, though. I walked here."
Charlie nodded. "How old are you again?"
"Seventeen."
"Woo, I'm twenty-one." Charlie winked. "One year older than dead ol' Josh... Hopin' to live more years, too."
Xoe laughed. "You meanie!"
"Do you live with your parents?"
"I live by myself in my apartment that my grandparents bought me. I had lived with them when I went to school."
"Ah." Charlie got his car keys out of his tuxedo. "Let's go."
Xoe nodded. "Alright." She thought, He doesn't know what he's getting himself into with me if he goes the wrong way like his dead ol' best pal...
::There Will Be No Escape::
"So, did you really like Josh in the first place?" Charlie asked as he turned on the car.
Xoe looked out the passenger's window. "Yes, I did. That's why-... That's why I'm upset that this happened."
"Ah." Charlie began driving. "Where do you live?"
"Down near the high school."
"What grade are you in?"
"I graduated last year. Blame starting school too early."
"Well, at least you got it over with, right?" Charlie laughed. "I got out of school when I was sixteen... Blame homeschooling and getting ahead of everyone else. I went to a graduate college for four years, and this year I'm planning to just chill out."
"Awesome. What do you want to be?"
"A teacher."
"Awesome."
"You?"
"I would like to be a detective that figures out mysteries such as finding out who killed who and hunting down serial killers and..." Xoe paused. Who she wanted to be was the opposite of what she could only be.
"That's sounds fun. You seem to have the right personality for it. If you wanted, you could even be that serial killer you're talking about."
Xoe was in deadlock. "What?"
"You seemed really tense when I talked to you earlier about Josh and Marie's deaths, and you were flaming mad when that minister accused you."
"You know what? Stop the car now, and I'll walk home."
Charlie kept on driving.
"Let me out of this car now."
He kept on.
"LET ME OUT, YOU FUCKER!" Xoe screamed as she smacked him across the face. Charlie came to a complete stop. Xoe was trying to kick open the locked door.
"Wait, stop, Xoe..." Charlie tried to grab onto her, but she wrenched out her knife and held it against his throat. He gulped and raised his paws in the air. "You did kill them, didn't you?"
Xoe reflected the death look in her eyes. "Let me out of the car."
Charlie pressed the unlock button on his door. Xoe stuffed her knife back into her belt as she opened the door and got out.
"Fuck you!" Xoe screamed at Charlie as she slammed the car door. She turned on her heels and started marching down the road. Xoe ignored the fact that he was still stopped in the middle of the road watching her as she walked home.
Xoe came to her apartment home in a building next to the high school. She walked into it and past the kitchen part. Xoe could see the new gleaming set of knives she had bought the day before as she lied down on her bed. Her apartment was mainly in the same room except for the bathroom. Xoe whispered to herself, "Oh God, just kill everyone in my life right now."
::I Wish You Could See::
::The Looks On Your Faces::
::As This Spark Begins To Take Shape::
::There Will Be No Escape::
The days were passing for Xoe, and she did not know who else to make her victim. She almost thought Charlie, yet he had not really done anything to her. If she killed him at the moment, she would not have a reason why, and she would be guilty.
Xoe lied alone on her bed without getting up except for food for days. She was not hungry for what she had, but she ate anyway. Xoe was hungry for Charlie's death, and it seemed so distant if she did not get involved with his life.
"I'm going to crash again," Xoe whispered as she finally got up a week later after the funeral, "but I've gotta give this a try. There won't be an escape for him if I let him get involved with myself..."
::Time And Time I Get Up Again::
::But I Don't Ask Why::
::Soon I Know I'll Crash Again::
::Visionaries Cry::
Xoe found Charlie in his car just down the road. She found it weird how his car was in the same place it had been when she had left him a week later. He was sitting in the driver's seat staring at her.
"Do you need anything, Charlie?" Xoe inquired as she opened his car door.
Charlie looked up at her. "I've just been waiting for you to come back."
"You've been waiting here? For how long?"
"Hmm... A few days."
"Don't you need to get out and walk around or get something to eat?"
"I'd like to, but I'm waiting here until you get back into my car."
"What do you want, you stalker?"
"I want to talk to you. That's all I want."
Xoe clenched her teeth as she walked around to the other side of the car. She opened the passenger's side door and sat down in the car seat. Xoe closed the door and turned toward Charlie.
"Happy now?"
Charlie sighed. "You know, I got too jumpy on you a week ago. I want to apologize for being so...obnoxious."
Xoe glanced down at the floorboard. "Sure, I suppose... I do, too."
"Do you ever reconsider life?"
"Each and every day."
"Why?"
"Who are you to question my ways?"
"I don't know... Sorry."
Xoe glanced up at Charlie. "Sure, you are." She looked out the window.
"If you'll take that knife out of your belt and set it on the floor, I'd feel better."
Xoe sighed as she took her knife out of her belt and set it on the floorboard. "There."
Charlie shrugged as he started the car. He began driving down the road. Charlie drove into the deep woods and stopped the car. Xoe eyed the area suspiciously.
"Where are we?"
Charlie looked up into Xoe's sharp blue eyes.
"Charlie?"
"Tell me, Miss Xoe Revie, did you kill my best friend and his new girlfriend?"
Xoe paused. "Tell me what you believe."
"I believe you did because of how he treated you."
"Bingo. There you go, the reason why I killed him."
"...You just admitted it."
"I know, but you wouldn't dare go tell anyone else." Xoe set her foot on her knife. "Would you, Charlie?"
Charlie shrugged. "I don't know."
"Tell me now. There is no escape from my rapture of killing."
::And Who Are You To Question My Ways?::
::Maybe I Find Comfort::
::In Ending Myself Just A Little Each Day::
::There Will Be No Escape::
Charlie was shrugging it off. "I haven't done anything to you yet. Let's do a deal, Xoe Revie. If I tell anyone you killed my best friend and his girlfriend, you have permission to kill me. If I don't and you still kill me, then you're doing it against the law."
Xoe glared into Charlie's eyes sharply. "Yes, Charlie. Akay. If you tell anyone, BELIEVE ME, I WILL BE AFTER YOUR ASS." She picked up her knife off the ground with her foot. "Now take me out to lunch, will you? You can be nice and buy it for both of us."
Charlie broke away from her glare. "Alright, if you say so, Xoe."
::I've Walked Around This Circle Once Before::
::And Every Time I Make It Round::
::I Seem To Hit The Floor::
::There Will Be No Escape::
Later that night, Xoe came back to her apartment. She knew Charlie would fess up that she had killed his best friend to someone. She knew she must prepare to kill him before he got the chance to tell anyone.
::Now And Then I Get Up Again::
::So I Don't Ask Why::
::Soon I Know I'll Fall Down Again::
::Visionaries Cry::
"Don't worry, Charlie," Xoe whispered as she took off her belt and set it on her kitchen table, "I'll be seeing you, your blood, and your death before long."