Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Agatha Christie's work.
A/N: Hi, Everyone! I updated (dances). This is the last chapter, I warn you. Not all the questions will be answered, however; it adds to the drama : )
Five shopping teenagers, shopping no more.
One disappeared, and then there were four.
Four shopping teenagers, searching for a key.
One slipped and fell, and then there were three.
Three shopping teenagers, with minds now askew,
One was choked on fashion, and then there were two.
Two shopping teenagers, danger only begun,
One had too much water, and then there was one.
One shopping teenager, having little fun,
Played a victim to love, and then there was none.
-BACK TO TOHRU-
She turns around, about to wave Uo over to sit with her, but sees no one. Panicking, Tohru violently stands up and looks around for anything moving.
The only thing that could be mistaken for alive would be the ripples in the water fountain...
And the swish of a black cloth disappearing into a door opposite Tohru...
Tohru freezes in terror, suddenly unable to move or breathe.
"Oh, no, not Uo, too! I can't let this keep happening! I have to find this guy…" she thinks.
As she slowly gains composure, she begins to walk around, slightly dazed in that Tohru way. No sounds can be heard, save Tohru's footsteps and the rippling fountain a little ways behind her. She begins to think over all that has happened because of one shopping trip and how insane anyone would say she is if she told them the story. All of a sudden, a wave of dizziness and instability washes over to her, and she stumbles back to the fountain to sit in a nearby chair. But she doesn't…
Instead, her knees buckle, and she collapses on the cold linoleum floor. You would collapse, too, if all of your friends were killed and the only one left was recently found in an indoor spring.
It is true: Arisa's limp, blue, drowned body is strewn across the edge, her legs dipping into the water. It was too much for poor Tohru, thus, she collapsed. The tears seemed to flow for what felt like hours upon days upon weeks. How could she react any differently? And then, very uncharacteristically of Tohru, she feels frustration. No, it is anger. Not even that; it is rage. And then not rage, but fury and wrath.
She bolts up and begins frantically and unsystematically searching the lower level of the building for anything to answer her questions. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a small, narrow door. It is unmarked, and it does not look like the janitor's closet that she was in before. Tohru glides over swiftly but then hesitates Why would a strange door she hadn't seen before be all too visible suddenly? She collects all of her emotions that would benefit her, and her hand reaches up to the door.
Tohru pushes the door wide open to check the room first. There is no one there, so she walks inside.
Nausea and repulsion hit her in a flood that immediately sweeps over her: pliers, gloves, wire, pictures, and blood everywhere. She is standing in a serial killer's headquarters, the center of children's nightmares, the basis of countless horror movies.
A pair of rusty pliers –maroon because of the blood – lies on the table that stretches along the entire left wall. Next to them is a pair of worker gloves. And next to them, is a cork bulletin board mounted on the wall: there are pictures of girls, naked and wide-eyed with blood covering almost every inch of their skin. Some are missing toes, some are spitting blood, and some even had stitches sewn on their mouths, inferably done without an anesthetic.
She soon recognizes Hana and Uo in two of the pictures; they look just like the others, like deers caught in headlights, rigid with terror and bleeding profoundly.
The sight is too much for Tohru to handle, but she won't have to worry about it for too much longer…
-SKIP TWO DAYS AHEAD-
"Oh, Hari, it's just awful," Shigure tells Hatori. "So, so young... All of them. Five of them gone in three days. I can't believe it..."
"Well, the investigators are coming very soon. Are you going to meet us at the mall?" Hatori says on the other side of the conversation.
"Of course, I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye, Hari."
---MALL---
Shigure pulls into the lot, and parks next to Hatori's car. He sees two men in suits talking to the good doctor, and Shigure walks over to them.
"Cause of death is undetermined so far, but torture was definitely there pre-death. It's awful, sirs; I've been in the business for a long time, but I haven't seen anything like this for a long time," says one of the detectives.
"Do you have someone coming to, uhm... get the bodies," Hatori shudders as he says the word. "For the autopsy?"
The other suited man speaks up to say, "Actually, Sir, we can't find the bodies... Whoever the perp was, he cleaned up good. The only thing he left were the pictures. The horrible, grotesque... pictures..."
-THE END-
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Thank y'all very much for everything : ) Hope you enjoyed it! I bid you 'adieu.'