Unhealthy Attraction

Chapter 7: Murderous Outburst

A/N: Welcome to another chapter! I guarantee that this chapter will make everyone rethink their list of suspects. In fact, me and Mage, who is doing great, are still arguing over who the murderer actually is. There are just so many people that have motivation to do it. We even can say that whoever dies could still have killed the people before and that there may be more than one murderer. I should probably shut-up and quit thinking out loud and start writing.

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Popuri went to bed that night knowing that there was a good chance that another body would be showing up in the morning. If her suspicions about Rick were correct, Kai would no longer be enjoying the days of summer. Instead, Kai would be enjoying the inside of a casket, six feet underground. Popuri shuddered at the thought of how Rick would kill Kai. Her sleep was troubled with images too gruesome to be described.

The sound of footsteps creaking towards the door told her that Rick was leaving for the fight. Sure enough, the clock at her head told her that it was half past eleven, giving her brother plenty of time to collect a weapon on his way to the beach. Popuri fell back asleep, wishing for two things: Kai's safety, and in the event that Rick kills Kai, Rick's capture. She didn't want to attend another funeral.

The next morning, Popuri awoke naturally, not from a knock on the door from Mayor Thomas. She quickly got dressed and ran downstairs, where a hearty breakfast was waiting her. "Where's Rick at?" Popuri asked, as she began her breakfast.

"I don't think he has waked up yet." Lillia replied looking at the empty seat where Rick always filled. "Odd… Rick never sleeps in. Maybe he's just tired from the fight, that's all." Popuri told herself as she picked at her food, suddenly losing her appetite. She just couldn't eat until she found out the outcome of the fight. "I'm going to wake up Rick." She announced, rising up out of her seat.

"No, that's quite alright. Let him sleep in. He works harder than either of us, so he deserves the extra rest. Finish your breakfast before you wake him up." Lillia smiled, willing Popuri back into her seat. Popuri merely picked at her food for a few minutes, slowly stuffing an odd bite into her mouth. It was quite some time before she finished off the now cold food before her.

Popuri got out of her seat, placing the dirty dishes in the sink before hurrying up the stairs. "Rick! Wake up!" She called out as she opened the door to his room. Rick wasn't inside. The bed was neatly made as if no one had slept in it for a day. Suddenly, Popuri was filled with a sense of dread. What if Kai had been the murderer? Rick would have been walking into a death trap.

It all made perfect sense. Today was the twenty-fourth of Spring. Kai usually didn't show up until the twenty-ninth at the earliest. It just happened that he was here so early and people had been showing up dead. Kai easily could have been living in his shack for weeks and no one would have known. Only two people go to the beach during spring and one of the never stepped off the dock. Zach would have been too busy to notice Kai's presence, so it was possible.

"Mom, I'm going to go see Kai." Popuri called out as she climbed down the stairs. Lillia looked at her daughter, confusion across her face. First she had wanted to see Rick and now Kai. And why hadn't Rick come down for breakfast yet? Lillia was about to ask her daughter these questions, but it was too late. Popuri had already vanished out the front door.

Before leaving her farm, Popuri stopped by the chicken coop. She quickly fed the chickens before picking up the hammer, which was still stained with blood. "Damn Kai, killed Pon!" Her mind screamed as she left the chicken coop. She had figured out Kai's motivation for every killing and was sure that he was the murderer.

First off, he killed Pon so that Popuri would be very emotional and he would magically appear to comfort her. But, his plan was ruined when Jack showed up. Kai saw that there was something between Popuri and Jack, so he needed to do something to frighten Popuri away from Jack. So he killed Elli, and attempted to make it look like Jack did it.

Next, came Karen. Her death served two purposes, one to put more pressure on Jack. Two, to anger Rick and entice him away from his protective duties over Popuri. Now, with Rick out of the way, Kai had cleared the path to Popuri's heart. If only she hadn't been so suspicious, it might have worked.

Popuri didn't care for the frightened looks she received from the other villagers as she stormed into town. She had one goal and that was to confront Kai as to what happened to Rick. The hammer was held behind her, as to hide it from Kai's view, but the other villagers saw it. The blood stains on the tool become weapon were so obvious that a few people were already rushing to find Officer Harris.

The sand crumbled under her feet as she stepped onto the beach. The gentle crash of the ocean's waves covered her footsteps as she approached the tiny shack that Kai called home. Kai was standing outside, his bandana removed from the top of his head, letting his golden brown hair loose. The bandana had been retied to form an eye patch, which held a bag of ice in place over his right eye.

Kai saw Popuri approaching and made to hide his misshaped face from her. It was no use, as the light of day clearly illuminated the bruised features of Kai. "Rick must have really beat you up last night. But, where is he now?" Popuri inquired, feeling her grip on the hammer tighten.

"What are you talking about? Rick never showed his scumbag face here last night!" Kai claimed.

"Then who gave you those wounds?" Popuri demanded, angered that Kai had the nerve to talk about her brother like that, especially after receiving such a harsh beating. It was almost as if Kai knew that he was safe from any sort of retaliation that might be coming from Rick. Just the thought of Kai's arrogance was angering Popuri.

Kai shrugged his shoulders, resulting in a wince from him. "I don't know." He admitted. "Somebody jumped me."

"Liar." Popuri accused, knowing that this would draw out the truth from Kai. She let go of the hammer with one hand to point a finger at Kai. The hammer remained in her right hand. A whistle blast from the Village Square told Popuri that Harris was on his way.

"Popuri, your brother is too much of a coward to fight me. If he came here, I would have beaten him in a second. He's no worse than your father…" These were the last words out of Kai's mouth as Popuri swung out with the hammer, connecting squarely with the side of Kai's head. The whistle blasts had come to a stop as Kai slumped to the ground.

Popuri stared at the still twitching body of Kai, realization of what she had just done dawning on her. The hammer slipped out of her hands as she began to tremble with a primal fear. She rushed to Kai's side, placing forgiving, murderous hands on the body. "I'm sorry, Kai. I didn't mean to do it!" Popuri began to sob, placing her head against Kai's chest.

Someone grabbed hold of her arms, violently twisting them behind her back. In the same instant, the person thrust her to the sand, her face buried into the beach. "Popuri, you are under arrest for the murder of Kai. An investigation will be run to find out if you killed Elli and Karen." A pair of handcuffs were violently placed around her wrists as Harris continued. "You have the right to remain silent…"

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As Mineral Town didn't have a jail, Popuri was placed under house arrest until the proper authorities arrived. That could be weeks, seasons even, since Mineral Town was such an isolated place. Officer Harris stood outside the front door of the Poultry Farm just to make sure that Popuri didn't escape. He alternated shifts with a stream of volunteers who were happy to see the murderer caught. Nobody believed Popuri's explanation as to Kai's guilt. Everyone preferred to believe what they saw with their own eyes. Popuri killed Kai and had probably killed before.

Rick's body was discovered later in the day. Pastor Carter found the body occupying the future grave of Karen, who was to be buried that day. The Pastor recruited the assistance of the villagers to dig two new graves for the murdered males. Luckily, the murders were over, and there would be no need to expand the graveyard deeper into the forest.

The case against Popuri wasn't near to as strong as the case Popuri had against Kai. Popuri had killed Elli out of jealousness, as well as Karen. Then, she dispatched of Rick because he was so overprotective. She had no motive to kill Kai, but there were enough witnesses to the crime that the motive was unnecessary.

Lillia offered as much support as possible to her condemned daughter, but it was of little use. Popuri had retreated into her own private world, refusing to say a word to a single soul other than herself. She kept mumbling about how she hadn't meant to kill Kai, that it wasn't her fault. She was only avenging her brother.

With every passing day, Popuri slipped further and further away from the realm of reality. For safety purposes, Popuri was locked in her own room, but the disturbing conversations echoed throughout the house. Other than the three daily deliveries of meals, Popuri had no contact with the outside world. There was no better cure for a serial killer than to drive them insane. That's sure to work.

Life in the village was slowly returning to normal. Spring came to an end and Summer started off with the annual Opening Day festival. It wasn't quite the same without the presence of Kai. Jack emerged victorious, but the victory celebration just didn't feel right. Mineral Town was missing the energetic youths that made each and every festival something special to look forward to.

Since the murders, some of the villagers were beginning to rethink as to who was at fault. There were still so many suspects with motivation to commit at least one of the killings. People were returning to their suspicious outlook at everyone else around them. By taking the steps forward to returning to normal, Mineral Town had fallen back into the normal mistrust that it was used to.

Everybody had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen and it was going to happen soon. Even with Popuri locked away in her room, people didn't feel safe with her around. The authorities had better arrive soon, or who knew how many deaths they would be investigating into. There were already four youths dead, threatening the future of Mineral Town as the chances of another generation began to slip away.

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A/N: I know that it's a short chapter, but I was getting a little too close to the next section of the fic. Wow, so Popuri killed Kai and Rick's dead too. Now who do you think did it?