Author's Note: The parts in italics are either thoughts or memories
Roxy dropped to the floor, her hands clamping down on Ronnie's arms, trying to staunch the flow of blood that steadily trickled down them. "Oh god, Ronnie! Oh god – what've you done? What have you done? Ronnie, Ronnie please," she wept, her tears almost drowning her words.
Roxy's voice sounded so far away, as though part of someone else's world. Ronnie tried to turn her head, but every part of her felt so heavy, she couldn't move. Something was holding onto her, pressing down on her, adding to the weight of her limbs. She didn't want to move anymore.
The sisters lay on Ronnie's bed, Ronnie curled up at the foot and Roxy lying rigidly against the pillows at the top. It had been almost an hour since they had spoken. All that could be heard was the steady sound of each other's breathing.
The air was tense, laden with so many unanswered questions, things that needed to be said, needed to be spoken aloud before they could be buried.
Roxy closed her eyes, a lone tear slipping down her cheek. She sniffed before hastily wiping it away.
"Don't cry," Ronnie's voice filtered through the heavy atmosphere.
"I should be saying that to you."
"Why?"
Roxy sat up, her eyes glancing over Ronnie's form momentarily. Were they going to do this? Were they going to pretend that nothing had happened? That they'd just come upstairs to trade lipgloss and gossip and not the buried secrets of over twenty years ago? Were they really going to do that?
"You know why, Ron."
"I'm fine," she said, instantly.
"No, you're not."
"I am," Ronnie insisted.
"Then why can't you look at him? Why the red paint? Why is he still tormenting you even though he's dead?" An emotion that Roxy couldn't recognise flashed through her in that moment. Her father was dead, he was dead and he would never be held accountable for what he had done to Ronnie. He would never realise the consequences of his actions. He would never pay for them.
'He paid with his life though. . . No, he didn't. He didn't.'
The sound of sirens pierced through the silence, jolting Ronnie out of her catatonic state. Her breaths came in gasps as her body lurched towards the window. She frowned, unable to comprehend what was going on.
'Why is Bradley on the roof?'