AN: As I said at the end of the last chapter, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. I just thought there was a lot of fun stuff in it.
Sorry it has taken me longer to update then I had said it would at the end of the last chapter, but I have been very busy and have not had time to write or edit for a couple of weeks.
I'm doubly sorry that it took so long to edit and post this chapter since I got my first review. Thanks James!
Spoilers below to previous chapters
Character's Still Alive:
The Bride and Groom
Christina Evans (Chrissy) - The Bride
Robert Philips (Bobby) - The Groom
The Friends of the Bride and Groom
Emily Stone - The Maid-of-Honor
Victor Ford (Vic) - The Best Man
Allison Little (Alli) - The Athlete
Bruce Kemp - The Partier
Mary Medina - The Sullen
Theresa Fleming - The Photographer
Raymond Cunningham (Ray) - The Go-Getter
Sara O'Conner - The Snob
Julie Graves - The Outcast
Tom Lane - The Stranger
The Bride's Family
Hurbert Evans - The Father-of-the-Bride
Pamela Evans - The Mother-of-the-Bride
Amy Marshall - The Tyrant
Denise Arnold - The Peacekeeper
Amber Evans - The Tease
Nicole Evans (Nicky) - The Risk Taker
Daniel Marshall - The Mogul
Kyle Arnold - The Good Son-In-Law
Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend
Melissa Marshall (Lissa) - The Flower girl
Joseph Marshall (Joey) - The Ring bearer
The Groom's Family
Allen Philips - The Reverend
Lewis Philips - The Loner
Courtney Philips (Cort) - The Estranged
Others
Janice Owens - The Owner of the Inn
Tina Elliott - The Caterer
Troy Curtis - The Ferry Driver
Dorothy Rose - The Stripper
Chapter 4: Stare
Lissa woke with a bit of a start in the night. She tossed and turned for a while trying to get back to sleep, but just couldn't. Then she thought she heard something in the hall. She didn't get up right away, but then she thought she heard it again. Lissa finally convinced herself that she should go check it out. She thought of herself as a risk taker, like her Aunt Nicky. Plus, maybe it was someone to talk to, since she couldn't sleep.
Lissa got out of the bed her and her brother were sharing very slowly. The "kids'" room only had one double bed, so she and Joey had to share. When she got out of bed, she took a moment to stare at her brother to make sure she hadn't woken him. She could see by the night light that she hadn't. She put on her slippers and walked as quietly as she could to the door to the hallway.
She passed the door to her parent's room on the way. She knew that door would be locked. Rule number one at her house was you always had to knock on Mommy's and Daddy's door before you entered, but they always kept their room locked at night anyways. Lissa knew other kids would sometimes sleep with their parents, but Lissa and Joey never had slept in their parent's room. If she had a bad dream, or couldn't sleep for some other reason, her Mommy would come and lay down with her till she could, and same for her brother. Sometimes, all three of them would sleep in Lissa's bed. But they never slept in Mommy's and Daddy's room.
Lissa reached the door to the hallway, turning the knob slowly and quietly. She peaked out the door, and then stuck her head out, but she didn't see anyone. Lissa decided to investigate further, walking out into the hallway. She closed the door most of the way, but left it open a bit just in case she had to run back into the room in a hurry. She walked slowly towards the stairs. When she reached the stairs, she had to push herself up a little to see over the railing and down to the lower stairs. She didn't see anyone, so she decided to continue down the stairs.
Lissa explored the hallway on the second floor. She was getting more and more excited about being able to explore the hotel when no one was around. Lissa remained quite as she walked, but her pace increased.
Lissa went down to the first floor and went into the empty lounge. She walked over to the doors that led out to the patio and looked out to the pool. She didn't dare go out to the patio. She might get in trouble for wondering the hotel alone at night, but she would definitely get in trouble if she went outside, much less to a pool by herself.
She went back to the front desk area, and then explored the hallway beyond the front desk. There was a set of bathrooms, an office, and some more rooms. She supposed that was where the staff slept.
She made her way back to the front desk and walked into the dinning room. It looked a lot different from when they had had dinner there the night before. The chairs were stacked on the tables, and all of the buffet stuff was gone. As she looked around the room, she did not notice that she was now being watched.
"What are you doing up?"
Lissa turned quickly then froze in her spot as she saw someone else was in the room.
"I didn't mean to scare you, but you shouldn't be up," Tina said, trying to be calming with her words.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Lissa said, hoping she wouldn't get in too much trouble.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You just shouldn't be up without anyone else around. Why don't you go back upstairs and go back to sleep," Tina said, reassuringly.
"OK," Lissa said as she hurriedly left the room, happy not to be in trouble and happy to leave the situation.
Lissa went up the stairs as fast as she could, reached her room, and then froze in her spot. The door was open wider then she had left it. Her heart had slowed a bit since the scare in the dining room, but was now beating as hard as it could. She stood in the hallway shifting between her feet and sucking on her lips. She thought about knocking on the hallway door to her parent's room. She even thought about going downstairs and getting the lady from the dining room. She could not explain in her mind why the door would be open further then she had left it.
She then thought that maybe Joey had gotten up. Maybe he had left the room and was wondering around the hotel. If he was, he was going to be in so much trouble. The thought of her brother getting in trouble was enough to give her the courage to walk to the door and push it open it all the way.
From the doorway, it looked like Joey was still in bed. She walked further into the room, first verifying that it was indeed her brother lying there. He seemed OK. She looked around the room. With the night light and the light from the hallway, the room was illuminated, but the corners were still too dark for Lissa's liking. And, there was the black emptiness of the adjoining bathroom.
Lissa made her way slowly around the small room, getting just close enough to the corners to see nothing was there. She turned the light of the bathroom on and checked that too before closing the door to the hallway.
She went back to the bed and found that Joey had spread out into her spot in her absence.
"Move over, Joey," Lissa said quietly but sternly as she pushed the sleeping boy enough out of her spot to lie back down. After all the excitement, she fell back to sleep far faster then she thought she would.
Tina had gotten up very early to start baking, and aside from the interruption of the little girl being in the dining room, she had gotten a lot done. She hoped she hadn't scared the little girl too bad, and really hoped the kid wasn't the vindictive type who would sick her parents on her the next morning.
This was a unique catering experience, since usually there wasn't this amount of travel involved. This had been the only overnight catering trip she had done. It had the disadvantage of having to transport more equipment, but the advantage was going to be getting to handle all of the cooking. If her catering continued to go well, she hoped she would start getting head cooking shifts at the restaurant she worked at.
She was trying to get a decent head start on the preparation and the rolls and such for the next day. The hotel had decent, if out-dated equipment. At least the oven and stove were gas. She had worried they would be electric. The refrigerator was a bit small, so there would be a limit to how much preparation she could do.
The killer entered the room as Tina was taking some rolls out of the oven. Tina's back was to the killer, and she seemed focused on what she was doing. The killer saw a large knife sitting on a cutting board, but then got a better idea looking just beyond the knife.
The killer picked up an apple and walked behind Tina. She didn't notice until the killer was in striking distance. Tina turned quickly and opened her mouth wide to scream, but barely any sound got out before the killer had slammed the apple into her open mouth. The killer had shoved the apple in so hard that Tina's head snapped back and hit the cabinets hard, dazing her. While Tina was dazed, the killer grabbed her neck and twisted one of her arms behind her back and maneuvered her a few feet over to the oven.
The killer forced Tina to her knees and shoved her head into the over, below the lowest rack. The killer then turned the heat up as high as it would go. The wave of heat hit Tina as soon as her head went in and got worse. In a few seconds, her face was covered with second degree burns and the nylon hair net she was wearing began melting to her hair. With her free hand Tina reach into the oven to find something to push off of. She grabbed the rack above her head and then the side of the oven and tried to push, but got nowhere. Tina's attempts at self-rescue left her hand without most of its skin. Her chest was also burning on the door to the oven.
Tina kept screaming into the apple, tasting its warm juices as the fluid was being unleashed from the heat. She tried to bite down, but her mouth was open too wide to get leverage.
Much of the skin was now gone from her face, and her nose was starting to burn off. Tina had not opened her eye lids, but her eyes were now boiling in their sockets. Tina's hair finally caught fire, burning her scalp. Tina's death took an obscenely long time.
The killer had been able to manage Tina's struggling fairly easily. Tina had never been able to get enough leverage to put up a decent fight. When Tina finally stopped struggling, the killer pulled Tina's head out of the oven, got a wet towel, and put out the remaining fire. The killer took her body out the inn exit that was in the kitchen and left it outside.
The killer came back into the kitchen and looked at what needed to be cleaned up. There was some blood on the cabinets, and some charred skin in the oven. The smell was the worst part. The smell of burnt hair was almost overwhelming, even with the industrial vents turned on high. The killer would have to do something about that, but all-in-all, a pretty clean and horrific kill.
The figure snuck to the door and tried the knob. It was unlocked, so the figure slowly turned it and entered the room. The figure crept up on Chrissy, who was still sound asleep. Seeing this, both figures jumped onto the bed causing Chrissy to awaken startled.
"Good morning, ready to go jogging," Alli said to her startled friend.
Chrissy gave her two laughing friends a nasty look and laid back down.
"You know, you would think that if you didn't want to be woken like this, you would learn to lock your door," Emily said. "Seriously, though, you don't have to come jogging if you want to sleep in."
"No, I need to jog. I still need to lose at least one more pound by tomorrow. I want to make sure I did everything I could to look good in my dress," Chrissy said with her eyes still closed, but sounding awake.
"You're going to look beautiful in your dress," Emily reassured.
"Well come on then," Alli said while shaking Chrissy. Unlike her friend Emily, Alli didn't like to hand out excuses for people to miss physical activity. Chrissy slowly began crawling out of bed, and got dressed in her running clothes while her friends continued to sit on the bed.
When Chrissy was ready, they made their way downstairs, where Nicky was waiting for them. They had told Chrissy's younger sister the previous night that they were going jogging, and Nicky had said she wanted to come. Nicky looked very bright eyed for so early in the morning.
"Hey sis, you been up long?" Chrissy asked Nicky.
"Nope, just got up," Nicky replied.
As the four started for the front entrance, they all noticed the smell.
"What is that," Emily said holding her nose to try to protect it from the bad scent.
"It smells like something is burning. I think its coming from the kitchen, let's go check it out," Alli said and headed for the kitchen.
"You wait hear, Nicky," Chrissy said. Alli noted that the younger girl looked disappointed at being asked to wait behind, but she complied. When Emily, Chrissy, and Alli entered the kitchen, they could smell and see the smoke coming from the oven. Alli quickly opened the oven, grabbed a pot holder, and pulled the sheet of burning rolls from the oven and set them on top of the stove.
"Wow, those didn't turn out so well," Alli said. "Must have been the caterer who put them in, but where is she."
"She said she was going to get an early start this morning. She must have put those in and gone back to bed," Emily said rationally.
"She could have burnt down the entire hotel doing that," Alli said angrily.
"Is it just me, or does it smell like something else burned in here," Emily said.
"I was just going to say that," Chrissy replied.
"I think it's just the rolls," Alli said while she was making sure all of the kitchen equipment, aside from the vent, was turned off. "Come on, let's go running."
They left the kitchen and collected Nicky, who was anxious to find out what mystery they had found in the kitchen, and set off on their run. Chrissy was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. Emily and Alli wore sports bras, but Alli was wearing much tighter shorts then Emily. Alli liked showing off to her friends, or anyone else, her body and the benefits of working out. Her friends may make fun of her a bit for how obsessed she could be with working out, but she knew they respected how hard she worked for fitness.
Alli led the way on the run. When they had come to this island before, she had staked out the good running trail. On that trip, the only two who had decided to go running was her and her then boyfriend. That trip had really been a couples' retreat. Emily and Vic were going out then. Of course Chrissy and Bobby were there. Julie was there with her boyfriend at the time. That trip occurring before Julie's falling out with Mary. Mary had come with her then boyfriend, who hadn't lasted in that role for long.
Bruce had come with some random hookup. Everyone had a big laugh over that, accusing Bruce of meeting the girl in a club night before the trip and then bringing her along. Ray had just started seeing Sara at the time. This had been back before everyone had learned to thoroughly hate that girl. And Robin had come with a nice guy.
It had been a great trip that they all had enjoyed. They had stayed at the inn, but spent much of their time on the beach and hiking on the forest trails. The boys even had a boat, which they had gone fishing with.
That had all happened over a year ago now.
Alli didn't set too strenuous of a pace on the run. She had to go at a much slower pace then she normally would have on a run, but she wanted her friends to be able to keep up. She planned on pushing her friends on the length of the run, not on the speed.
When they got to the halfway point, they stopped to rest and drink some water. They mainly talked about the run and the path, but then the topic of Robin and Mary came up.
"What could Mary really have done that would have made Robin what to miss out on dinner last night," Alli said on the topic.
"Amber said she overheard Mary saying some really horrible things to Robin yesterday at the pool," Nicky said, happy to be able to be involved in the conversation.
"What?" was the combined reaction of Emily, Chrissy, and Alli, which caused Nicky to become unsure about opening her mouth on the topic. But Chrissy convinced her sister to tell them what Amber had told her.
"Well that could hurt Robin bad enough to miss dinner, poor thing," Emily said. "I'll track her down when we get back to the inn. And I'll also talk to Mary."
"OK then, should we get going," Alli said, anxious to get running again. Everyone agreed and they were off again back towards the hotel.
Janice was very unhappy. She had tried to call her family, but had found that the phones were out. This was not an uncommon occurrence. She had radioed into the park service on the mainland that there was a problem with the phones, and the park service said they would pass it onto the phone company, but it usually took days to reestablish service when it went down.
On top of that, Kimberly had really messed her up yesterday by not telling her she had finished cleaning the rooms. She had to discover that Kimberly was done by checking on the rooms. Janice had thought that Kimberly had gone down to the beach, or for a hike, immediately after she had finished cleaning. When Janice had knocked on Kimberly's room this morning she did not answer, so Janice had unlocked her door and gone in to find all of her luggage gone. Janice's big concern was that Kimberly had quit because she had come down hard on her yesterday about how fast Kimberly was cleaning the rooms. That Kimberly had hitched a ride with Troy back to the mainland. If she had, Janice would be stuck doing even more work.
She knew Troy would be back today to drop off the final guest, so she would talk to him and ask if Kimberly had gone with him yesterday.
Bruce and Vic had come downstairs for breakfast just as the girls arrived back from their run. Bruce wanted to stop and talk to Alli for a bit, which Vic was hesitant about because Emily was there. Luckily Emily, Chrissy, and Nicky had headed upstairs almost immediately upon coming into the inn.
After talking to Alli for a bit, Bruce and Vic headed into the dinning room for breakfast. Ray and Sara were there, so they joined them.
"So, Vic, I'm kind of thinking about changing my plans for today," Bruce said hesitantly. "I'm thinking about going on the hike with Alli."
There were pretty much three choices for activities for the day, go hiking through the forest and up the hill on the island, go on a tour of the abandoned town, or head down to the beach. Bruce and Vic had decided on the abandoned town, in part because Vic knew Emily would go on the hike, and in part because they would have a lot of work to do to get the bachelor party set up and the abandoned town tour wouldn't last all day.
"Don't puss out on me, Bruce," Vic said. "You know I need you to help me get everything moved over to the bar."
The bar was a building a ways up the road from the inn, between the inn and the town. It was a part of the inn's property and to a certain extent had been kept up by the inn's former owners. Janice had told them that she had not really done anything with it since she took ownership, but that they were free to use it. The building was in good shape, and it had power and water. So Vic wanted to use it for the party.
"Are you two boys having a lover's tiff," Sara chimed in.
"Excuse us, we're having an adult conversation over here," Vic responded.
"Come on Bruce, come with Ray and me on the hike," Sara said in a mock sympathetic tone. "Vic wouldn't know what to do if he had to spend the day by himself." Sara was giving Vic sad eyes, as if she felt sorry for him. Ray could not have wanted part of this conversation any less.
"No, thanks," Bruce said sarcastically to Sara. "I said I'd be around to help out with the party, so I'll do the tour."
"Settled then," Vic said. "Ray, make sure and come to the bar as soon as you're done with the hike. And Sara, be careful on the hike. I just don't know what I would do if you got hurt out there." Once Vic and Bruce were done with breakfast they left Ray and Sara to go to the patio. They wanted to get in an early morning beer before starting the days activities.
Amy came down to breakfast with Lissa and Joey. She saw Amber and Casey sitting at a table with, to her surprise, Cort. Amber and Casey looked to be a bit uncomfortable sitting with the odd man they did not really know. It also seemed odd because Cort was sitting right next to Amber, instead of in one of the other available seats. Cort had the same pleasant but weird smile he always seemed to have.
Amy could see the look of relief in Amber's eyes when she came to the table and sat her kids down at it. Amy left the final seat next to Cort for herself and headed to the kitchen to get some cereal for her children. She was happy to have gotten a chance to do something for Amber, even if it was just a small gesture. Amy still held out hope that she could mend her relationship with Amber. She just really wanted to know what she had done to cause Amber to turn so cold to her after they had seemed to be getting a good relationship going.
Amy returned with a tray with cereal and other breakfast items. Lissa was talking to Amber, which had seemed to put the table at ease. Amy got her kids going with breakfast before sitting down. Amy sat down with a sigh. It had already been a tough morning. She and Daniel had a big fight before her and the children had come down for breakfast.
When Daniel and she had talked with the children about what they wanted to do today, Amy may as well have not even given all of the choices. As soon as they heard going to the beach as an option, it was settled. Daniel had agreed yesterday that going to the beach was what they would all do. Then, out of nowhere this morning, Daniel had told her that he was going on the hike. And it wasn't like he was saying the entire family should go on the hike, he was saying he was going on the hike and she and the kids should still go to the beach. Amy was beyond pissed, because she knew how much the children would enjoy a day at the beach with their father. It wasn't like he spent that much time with them at home because he was always busy with his work.
"Stop kicking your feet, and slow down on your cereal, honey. We'll have all day at the beach, and it won't be much fun if you give yourself a tummy ache," she said to her youngest, rubbing his head. Both of her children were very excite for the day, and she was going to do whatever she had to do to make sure they had a fun day.
Nicky was going to the beach with them, so at least she would have help with the children. Her parents had offered to come to beach with them, but Amy had insisted they go on the hike. Amy's parents loved nature and going on hikes, so Amy had insisted on them going hiking and having a day to themselves. Amber was going to on the tour, and Denise and Kyle had agreed to keep an eye on her and Casey on that trip.
Amy was able to engage Amber in conversation, and Amber seemed warmer to the conversation with Amy then Amy had expected. Amber was excited about seeing the town and learning about the island's history. Getting a history lesson was right up Amber's alley. Amy asked Cort what he was planning to do for the day and he answered her question with a question.
"What are you doing today?" Cort asked.
"Well, my kids and I are going to the beach." Amy was a bit surprised by Cort's question, because Lissa had said several times that they were going to the beach.
"The beach sounds nice; I think I'll go there. When are you going?" The answer had surprised Amy, and had not exactly pleased her. She didn't know Cort, and doubted he would be too helpful with the children. At least it would be another set of hands to carry stuff.
"I think we should be ready in about an hour. We'll meet you in the lobby," Amy told him.
Chrissy caught Kyle just as she left her room.
"Good morning."
"Oh, good morning Chrissy. Are you heading down to breakfast?" Kyle asked.
"Yes. Are you and Denise coming down?"
"Um, no, just me. Denise is a bit under the weather, so I'm going down to get her some breakfast and bringing it back up here."
"Oh no, I'm sorry she is not feeling well. I'll help you put something together. Are you two still going to the abandoned town today?"
"I'm going to go, but Denise is going to stay here," Kyle said. "She wasn't looking forward to that much walking anyways. Your parents wanted us to make sure Amber behaved on the tour, so I'm still going."
"Well, Bobby and I will be around the hotel for most of the day working on preparing for the wedding. We'll just be at the church meeting with Allen for a little while. You make sure and tell Denise that if she needs anything to find us."
"I will. Thanks Chrissy." They continued into the kitchen.
Emily had insisted that Janice come upstairs with her. Emily had tried knocking on Robin's door and received no answer. Emily was really worried now, and had decided that Robin's room needed to be checked. Janice had been hesitant to open one of her guest's rooms, but Emily was not going to take "no" for an answer.
When they entered the room, it did not look like anyone had stayed there. Robin's luggage was gone and the bed did not look slept on.
"Maybe she went back to the mainland. Maybe she was so upset by that fight you mentioned that she got her bags and hitched a ride back with Troy," Janice said, trying to calm Emily.
"How long would Troy have stayed, because I think the fight happened later in the day?"
"I think he would have been fueling at the dock for a few hours. He'll be back with your final guest later today. I can ask him then."
"Our final guest?" Emily asked.
"Yes, Victor had me set aside a room for one more guest. He said the boat would be bringing her in today." Emily wondered if Vic had a date for the wedding that she didn't know about, and then decided to get back to the topic at hand.
"When will the boat be here?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but my understanding is that Troy will be keeping the boat here tonight, so we won't miss him. I think he'll be at the dock early in the afternoon."
"Maybe I'll skip the hike and wait for Troy."
"You shouldn't do that. I doubt your friend would have taken her bags out into the woods. And the path to the dock is easy to navigate. You not going on the hike will not bring Troy here any faster."
Emily accepted that. She would go on the hike, but she'd figure out a way to leave early to come back to the hotel. She had to know what happened to Robin.
Theresa waited impatiently in the woods behind the hotel, not too far from the hotel's back entrance. Theresa had slipped the note under the door earlier in the morning. The person she was meeting with was late. Theresa hoped they weren't too pissed at her asking for this meeting.
"You got my note?" Theresa asked when the person she was meeting with finally arrived
"Of course I did. I didn't just stubble upon you out here," her conspirator answered.
"Sorry, of course. I just wanted to let you know that I was able to get the package into her suitcase yesterday," Theresa said.
"I assumed you did, or you would have let me know before now."
The "package" was the result of a lot of hard work from Theresa. Her conspirator really hadn't done much. Theresa had been the one to travel across the country. Theresa had been the one who had snuck around. Theresa had been the one to take all the pictures and gathered all the evidence. But she had learned to be scared of her partner. Theresa was too scared of her co-conspirator to challenge their authority.
"So, I was wondering if I could come with you when you meet with her tonight?" Theresa asked hesitantly.
"Of course not. You know the plan."
"Well, OK. Well, I was also wondering when we would split up the money." Theresa was very worried that she would be cut out of the deal now that she had done all the work.
"We'll divide up the money before we leave the island," her co-conspirator said. Seeing that Theresa was still leery, her co-conspirator pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. "Just to put your mind at ease, I'll draw you a map where we'll meet tomorrow, and we can set a time."
Her co-conspirator began writing on the paper, but dropped the pen. Theresa reached down quickly to retrieve the pen. When she stood back upright, the killer slashed the knife across her throat. Theresa stumbled backwards and fell down. The killer jumped on top of her and put their hand over Theresa's mouth.
The knife wound hadn't been too deep. The killer had cut open Theresa's wind pipe and nicked both of the jugulars. It was not necessarily a fatal wound. If Theresa got help immediately, she would live. But that was not going to happen.
The killer was enjoying this kill. This had been the first time the killer was able to stare into the victims pleading eyes. The killer was on top of Theresa, holding her head still with their hand over Theresa's mouth. She had very little choice but to look at her murderer. The killer was also enjoying this because the killer hated Theresa. What kind of person sold out a member of a friend's family for money? Really, Theresa deserved this and the killer was enjoying watching her suffer.
The killer let her bleed for several minutes just watching her. Theresa was crying heavily and struggling as much as she could, but she was getting weaker. The killer knew they couldn't wait for Theresa to bleed out. The killer had a very busy day planned and had to get back to it. The killer flashed the knife in front of Theresa's eyes, signaling to her that this was the end. Theresa's eyes became even more pathetic in one final attempt at convincing the killer not to end her life. The killer was unmoved. The killer began sawing the knife into Theresa's neck, found a weak spot in the spine, and continued until the knife was through the back of Theresa's neck, severing Theresa's head from her body.
The killer drug Theresa's body a little ways further into the woods. The killer wasn't too worried about Theresa's body being found. Even if it was, the fates of all of the people on the island were already sealed.
Lewis came down to breakfast late, and just as he had hoped, no one else was in the dining room. His father had left for the church much earlier in the morning, leaving Lewis to collect breakfast on his own. Lewis had told his father that he would probably go hiking, but Lewis had no intension of leaving the hotel today. He planned on spending the day reading in his room.
Lewis saw the group of people going on the tour of the town gathering in the lobby from where he was sitting in the dining room. He saw Amber and Casey in the group, along with Kyle and a few of Bobby's friends. The inn owner hurriedly led the group out the front of the hotel after they had all gathered.
Lewis saw a few other people wondering around, but didn't talk to anyone. Lewis finished breakfast and cleaned up after himself. He headed back towards the stairs to go back to his room. He saw the two little kids in there swimwear chasing each other around the lounge as he started his way up the stairs. As he got to the landing for the second floor, he nearly ran into the children's mother. She had her hands full of beach toys, towels, clothes, a large umbrella, and other stuff. She lost hold of a few items as she made it to the landing. Lewis reached down and picked up the items and tried to find a way to hand them back to Amy. As he did, Amy spoke to him.
"Thanks. It's Lewis, right? I'm Amy. You're coming to the beach, right?"
Lewis wasn't sure if it was a question or a command. Amy had the ability to ask a question in that way. Many people with far better social skills then Lewis had trouble figuring out how to say "no" to Amy.
"Um, sure," Lewis lied. He had no intension of going to the beach, but he figured that the lie would get him out of this conversation and back to his room quicker.
"Great," Amy beamed at him. "Hurry to your room and put on your swim shorts. We'll wait for you down here."
Lewis was stunned at how fast his plans for the day had been destroyed. He just stood there in shock.
"Go on, hurry up," Amy prodded. Lewis felt compelled to do what she told him to.
As the group made their way up the road, Casey had tried to keep his hand in Amber's back jean's pocket. It had become awkward on the 3 mile hike, so Amber had taken his hand in hers. She had noticed that Casey had become increasingly grabby over the last few weeks, so she was happy to encourage him not to be.
They stop briefly at a few building on the road before reaching the town. Janice talked about the architecture of the decayed buildings, and what else she knew about them. Janice had warned them up front that her parents had been better at giving the tour, but that she had gone with them several times so she would do the best she could. Amber was very interested in all this. She found this island and its history fascinating. She was a bit perturbed when Casey told her to follow him into the woods along the path. The rest of the group didn't notice them steal away, and the group continued up the road.
When they were a little ways into the woods, Casey turned to her and gave her a passionate kiss. Amber returned the kiss for a bit and then made Casey stop.
"Come on, I don't want to get too far behind the group," Amber said to him as Casey continued to try to kiss her.
"Look, I brought a blanket," Casey said, opening his backpack. "And I was hoping we could stay here for a bit," he continued reaching over to Amber and rubbing her side.
"Look, Casey, I'm really interested in the tour, so I don't really want to stop here."
"But we haven't gotten to do anything all weekend. I was really hoping we could stop here and you could make it up to me," Casey said moving his hand lower, slipping his fingertips under the rim of her jeans. His hand coming to a stop on the button of her jeans.
Amber hated this part of teasing guys. She had no intension of going to far with Casey. She put her hand on his, and took it into her hand. "Casey, I know you want to go further, but we're not going to. So let's go catch up with everyone else."
Casey stood there for a second, getting more upset before responding. "I'm sick of this. You turn me on so much, but it never goes anywhere with you. If you won't stay here with me right now and take this further, then I'm not going to the wedding with you."
Amber let go of Casey's hand, which had tightened around hers. "You think that threat works on me. That I'll be embarrassed going to my sister's wedding without you. I brought you on this trip because I thought you would have fun, not because I just had to have a date.
"You cannot get to me with threats. I came to this island a virgin, and I'll be leaving here as one," Amber said angrily as she walked back towards the path. "Go back to the inn, or you'll really be in trouble."
Casey stood there for a moment. That had not gone at all as he had planned. First, he thought Amber would be more receptive to his advance. Second, he really had thought Amber would wilt under his threat. That either way, Amber and he would go all the way with him.
He shoved the blanket back into his bag. He wasn't sure if he was more angry, or sad, or embarrassed. A part of him was also really scared he had not just destroyed their relationship, but also their friendship. He began to head back to the path. When he reached the path, he looked up the road towards the town, but Amber was too far away for him to see her. He thought about going after her and apologizing, but instead he decided to head back to the inn.
Casey walked slowly, as he wasn't in a hurry. For the first time the realization settled in of how awkward the rest of the weekend would be. He walked for about five minutes, past a large rock which protruded from the ground. This is when the assault came out of nowhere from the woods.
The woods to Casey left were quite thick, and the tree that had been suspended could not be seen from the road. The tree swung quickly on the thick ropes that held it in the air. As the branches that remained on the swinging tree hit the other trees, there was enough noise to alert Casey. Casey turned his head to the noise, but did not have enough time to turn his body. The base of the large log hit the side of his hip with great force, sending his body violently into the large rock. The log swung back, exposing the teen's mangled body.
Casey was unconscious for a few seconds, but then became aware again. He hurt so badly in so many places. His pelvis had been completely shattered, and he was bleeding from his hips. Both of his femur bones were broken, leaving his legs to lie at unnatural angles. His right arm was broken in several places and he had broken a number of ribs, which had punctured one of his lungs. There was also a great deal of internal bleeding.
As the killer approached Casey they admired their handy work. The trap had been a pain in the ass to set, but the results were worth it. The killer thought about using the trap again, since it had been so hard to get that large log suspended from those ropes. The log's momentum still left it swinging gently. The killer knew that whether they wanted to use it again or not, they would have to reset the trap to get the tree off the path.
The killer continued to where Casey lay dying. Casey was aware of the other person close by, and was softly begging for help. The killer began dragging the boy into the woods. Casey's injuries would probably kill him in fifteen, maybe thirty minutes. The killer was inclined to let Casey die from his current injuries, while they got the trap reset. The killer hoped Casey would be dead before they were done with the work. Casey obliged.
Deaths:
Tina Elliott - The Caterer
Theresa Fleming - The Photographer
Casey Hicks - The Boyfriend
AN: That's chapter four, and I hope you enjoyed the deadliest chapter so far.
Also, if you liked this chapter or any of the chapters, please review.
I will try to have the next chapter out late next week or next weekend. The next chapter will be chapter 5: Thunk.