Haku felt her throat and mouth run dry. Gumi pushed her way past and stepped into the hallway.
"Yes, er, hello Haku. Is Luo around?" She asked.
Haku gaped like a fish out of water. How had Gumi found them?
Gumi rolled her eyes. "Hello! Where's Luo?"
The only thing that came out of Haku's mouth was "how do you know where she lives?"
"I followed you home," Gumi strolled in the kitchen. "Something smells nice. Is that pudding? Can I have some?" Without waiting for an answer she grabbed the container from the microwave and scooped some pudding out and stuck it in her mouth.
"That's for me and Luo," Haku took a step forward.
Gumi glared. "So? Besides, what are you doing here anyway?"
"Because I was invited to spend the weekend here."
Gumi snickered. "Felt sorry for you, did she?"
Haku straightened her back as a rare sliver of defensiveness washed over her. "N-no…"
"Oh,sure," Gumi set the container down on the kitchen bench. "Now, for the last time, where's Luo?"
"She's busy and probably doesn't want to see you." Haku stepped in front of the door, blocking the exit.
Gumi stood toe to toe with her. "Move."
Maybe it was the knowledge that someone in the house was willing to back her up if she stood up for herself, but Haku, feeling daring and oddly brave(it was such a foreign feeling to her, after all), said, "make me."
Gumi inhaled deeply, then lunged.
She caught ahold of Haku's leg and yanked. Haku fell to the floor and tried to crawl away. Gumi was too fast and pounced on her. She sat on her chest and wrapped her fingers around her victim's throat, then squeezed.
Haku clawed at her hands, but to no avail. She thrashed her legs desperately, with little effect. In fact, it seemed to make Gumi squeeze harder, as if she was sending a message: this is what will happen if you dare stand up for yourself. This will be your punishment for not giving us what we want. You fucking bitch, you don't deserve to live.
Dots began to form in her eyes. Her lungs were desperately clinging to the slightest whiff of air, but it wasn't enough. Her green-haired attacker began to press all her weight onto her neck. Her angry, red face, Haku knew, would be the last thing she would ever see. She closed her eyes…
And suddenly air rushed into her gaping mouth. She swallowed it gratefully and realised someone was screaming.
Gumi was on the floor, clutching her head, her hands bloody. Luo was there, holding a chair. Her face was indescribable but Haku could practically feel the anger radiating off her body.
Haku watched as Luo raised the chair above her head, then brought it down on Gumi's. Again and again.
Blood poured from the wounds as Gumi tried to stand up but was struck down by the chair again. Her face, hair and hands were dyed a brilliant red. Yet, she never stopped screaming, an awful high-pitched sound that became more and more distorted after each blow.
Gumi was writhing in a pool of blood, her hands held out to defend herself but her efforts were futile. Luo just kept going until Gumi suddenly became silent after a particularly loud smack!
Haku rubbed at her blurry eyes and stated in shock and horror. The kitchen was a mess. Blood was spattered all up and down the walls, cabinets, there was even some on the ceiling. And then there was Gumi.
Her face was practically unrecognisable underneath the thick coating of red. Her clothes were stained and her trademark steampunk goggles were crushed beyond repair. But the worst part was that she was also fucked beyond repair. The beating she endured was horrific. Even if she did somehow survive that, she would never fully recover.
Luo breathed in then out. She looked over at Haku, then knelt and hugged her. Haku didn't bother trying to stop the tears. She just watched someone die(at the hands of her friend, no less!) after almost dying herself.
"Are you okay?" Luo asked.
Haku could only get out "y-you k-k-killed,"
"Yes, I did." Luo buried her face in her hands. "I don't know what came over me. I came d-downstairs and I saw you and her and I j-just…"
The two girls stayed there on the floor for a long time, just holding each other.
Finally, Luo seemed to (mostly) get past the shock of what she had done. She stood up and said "I'd better get her into the basement. Then we should clean the kitchen." Her voice, though still shaky, was much sharper.
Haku was still too numb, and just stayed on the floor. She didn't question Luo's actions. The longer no one knew about this, the better.
This is what happens when you stand up for yourself, that niggling voice in the back of her mind declared. Luo picked up the body by the legs and started dragging it out of the kitchen. And yet…
Gumi deserved it.
Yes, she really did. There was the time she stole Haku's lunchbox and pissed in it. And the time she stole Haku's gym clothes and tossed them into the mud. And who could forget the time she threw several firecrackers into Haku's locker? Not to mention that the last thing she did in her life was strangle her poor victim?
Yes. Gumi definitely deserved what she got.
This made Haku feel a tiny bit better. But Luo had still committed murder and a judge or jury wouldn't be as understanding. There was no way she wasn't going to get slapped with a criminal record of some kind.
Just then, there was the sound of someone opening the front door. Haku heard Gongyu call out "Girls, I'm ho-" and stopped mid sentence, presumably as she saw the trail of red in the hallway. She stopped in the kitchen doorway and her face dropped.
"What the FUCK!? WHAT?!"
Haku found herself at a loss for words.
Luo emerged from the staircase leading down to the basement. "Gumi was here," she said, "and she was fucking strangling Haku! I-I did what I had to do."
Gongyu took a deep breath. "Where is Gumi?"
Luo pointed down the basement stairs. At the bottom was a mess of red, orange and white.
"Dear God," Gongyu shook her head in shock and disbelief.
"W-what are we going to do now?" Haku asked, on the verge of tears, "Luo's prolly going t-to go to j-jail!"
The thought of her little cousin going to jail seemed to snap Gongyu into action.
"No she's not," Gongyu stepped forward and placed both hands on Haku's shoulders, "we're going to wrap her up with garbage bags. We're going to clean up all this blood-no, we'll get rid of any and all evidence that she was ever here. Then we'll take her out and dump her body somewhere where it hopefully won't be found for a long time. And we're not going to breathe a word of this to anybody. Got it? Luo?"
"Yes," the girls said in unison.
"Right. Let's get to work."
By the time the kitchen floor was spotless and smelling heavily of bleach, by the time the chair used in the attack was hidden away in the basement waiting to be chopped up and burned as firewood, by the time the body was cleaned and swathed in garbage bags and tucked away in the boot of Gongyu's car under an old picnic blanket, by the time the car and its three living occupants sped away in search of a quiet dumping ground, the sky was beginning to darken and Gumi's mother had filed a missing persons report.