OMG i can't believe I'm done...wow...see notes at end :)
It took the group longer than Zack thought it would to locate him early that morning. It was approximately 8 AM when the door was slammed open, and everyone ran down.
Cody emerged first, and he looked at Zack holding Splinter, and there was a flash of both relief and shock across his face. Zack knew they all assumed him to be dead by this point.
Sophie came next, gasping and shaking all over at the sight of Splinter. It wasn't particularly graphic, but she could hardly hold the note in her hands before it fell shakily to the ground. Cody caught her before she collapsed. Zack had always wondered if there was a growing something between the Splinter and Sophie, and perhaps now he knew. The look on her face was the look on his when Bailey died.
Godrick came next, hobbling with a long stick that Zack wasn't quite sure on where it was found in the middle of the ocean, and he just muttered 'I told you all' under his breath. Reina, who came next, slapped him across the face, glaring at him with reproach, before gently touching Sophie's shoulders.
The ghosts came last in a group, and Zack desperately wanted to see Splinter among their numbers, but there were only three.
"Where's his ghost?" Kennedy asked, looking around. She looked to Zack, who gave a helpless shrug and slow shake of his head.
"Zack, have you been here all night?" Cody asked over Kennedy's next question, alerting everyone to the fact that he still could not see or hear the ghosts. Bailey winced, and went to stand right in front of him, but he saw nothing.
"Yes." Zack replied, his voice sounding hard and strangled.
"You're wearing almost as much blood as he is." Godrick said, frowning, "I hate to say I was-,"
"If you say you were right one more time, I'll add another black eye to that collection!" Reina cried angrily.
"I hate that I was right though!" Godrick defended himself childishly, reminding everyone of his immature age in comparison.
"Then keep it to yourself." Sophie sniffed sourly, and she crawled to Zack and touched Splinter's hands.
"Whose going to tell Mosby about this one?" Reina asked, lowering her head.
Cody glanced around. "Not Zack." He shook his head, "I…I will." He offered, twiddling his thumbs, "I'll say I wanted to come down where Bailey died and I found him this morning, long dead." He said, with a little shrug, and Zack couldn't express his gratitude. He didn't even think he could walk at this point. There was a held-breath to the room, that only softened once Cody exited with a grim look on his face, and the ghosts were free to exchange information with the living.
"How did you know he was down here? Lucky guess?" Godrick asked, tilting his head.
"He sent me a text." Zack said, throwing his phone to Sophie, who read it out-loud to everyone.
"So did he actually figure it out?" Sophie asked after finishing, looking at Zack.
"Wouldn't know. Already dead, and I haven't seen his ghost. Is it normal for him to wait this long to appear?" He asked frantically, looking at the three ghosts. All three gave the sad confirmation that they appeared almost as soon as they had died.
"Maybe the killer wanted you to see this and sent that message from his phone. Maybe he didn't figure it out." Reina offered.
"She just magically knew what our place was?" Zack asked.
"If she is careful and devoted, she'd know that we come to this place to think and all." Reina shrugged.
I doubt she sent the message. His phone is literally the most freakin impossible thing to hack. It's like military grade stuff! Camden threw his board in to the middle of the group, really the only way to catch people's attention when he had something to say.
"So the killer made him type that?" Reina pressed on.
"He'd rather die. I know deep down he knew who it was." Sophie spoke softly, sucking in a sharp breath.
"Why'd he want you to come here though? Why not his room?" Godrick asked, frowning. Reina explained the situation with the wine bottle.
"I think he didn't think his room was safe." She finished, "And I think he also had a breakthrough with the shirt." She explained his excitement at her tee-shrit and list of girls. Kennedy broke in and explained for Camden that he'd written down how died and all. They searched, and found the bloodstained notes in his pocket. It was sparse, and all tried to piece it together, but between what they could no longer read and Splinter's vague notes, it was impossible. No one knew what sparked the realization, and Splinter was no longer here to explain.
Cody sent a warning stating that Mosby was on his way, and they decided to scram. Zack waited around the corner, sinking to his butt, and waited for something, but he didn't know what. Perhaps it was to find his brother standing over him, and offering him a hand.
"I know Splinter meant a lot to you, I've never seen you so happy with a friend before. I was glad you were branching out from me, a little." Cody gave a soft smile, "Now…perhaps we really understand each other."
"What do you mean?"
"You understand what it was like to loose Bailey now." Cody gulped, "To lose a best friend."
Zack sighed. He couldn't be totally honest with his brother, but he was going to try. "Cody, I don't know if you realize, but Bailey and I…we were good friends. I didn't hate her, and by senior year, we understood each other a little. I was really hurt by her death too." He said.
Cody seemed to jump a little. "Really? I never…noticed…" he frowned, "Then again, I feel like there was a lot I didn't notice…" He shook his head, "I knew it was failing. I just hoped we could overcome it. We both got jealous over stupid things."
"So you and Reina…?" Zack prompted, still unsure if that was legitimate or not.
"I think she's attractive, yes. I helped her, and I realize now it seemed really shady, but I didn't hook up with her. I kissed her…once." He admitted after a long moment. Zack pretended to look at something on his shoe, but sent a quick glance back to make sure Bailey wasn't around.
Thank god. She wasn't.
"But it wasn't enjoyable like I hoped, or a stick-it-to-ya as I thought it could be. I just felt…wrong." He explained.
"Cody." Zack sighed, "You can't dwell on Bailey forever. I know it's not even been that long yet, but just remember…she's dead. If you think Reina's attractive, there's nothing holding you back, and Bailey wouldn't want you to pine forever."
You should take your own advice, Zack! The nagging voice in the back of his head taunted him, and he shut them away. His situation and his brother' situation were two completely different problems.
"I know. But I can't go for Riena, things are broken between us. Even if Bailey is gone, Reina was what put that rock between us that broke her away totally…that made her go down there and be killed. It would feel like a horrible betrayal."
"And really, just let me be." Cody continued, "I thought I was going to marry her. Even when it was bad, I still thought that maybe it would happen so…don't marry me off to anyone just yet." He said, lightly punching his brother in the shoulder. Zack gave a little smile, and sighed.
"Here's my room…" He nodded, and looked down at himself, "I'd better wash up." He said, looking at the caked blood.
"Yeah. Wouldn't want to stand too long here anyway. Someone might see." Cody said, then frowned, "Although, it will all be news soon. But you don't want to make yourself a suspect."
"Me? Killing Splinter?" Zack growled, shaking his head, and sourly slammed the door. He knew Cody was right- it wasn't good for him to be standing in the middle of the hall covered in blood hours before anyone else knows about another murder. And he and Splinter didn't exactly begin as friends…
He threw his clothes in the middle of the floor, and he took a shower. When he returned, he looked at the suitcase where he'd have to begin to pack up his life, but then sat down to play some video games.
But even that was too painful for him, for as soon as he turned on the counsel, Splinter's Gamer tag blinked back at him. Splinter was the type that always forgot to log off, and so often his tag blinked for hours before he realized his error. Now it was just a taunt. Soon someone would go and turn it off, and it would blink out for good.
Angrily he dismantled the game and put it in the box it came in, ready to be packaged away to some college or storage area, wherever he may go next. When he had told his mother he wanted to take a break from school, recently, even though he'd been accepted a couple places, she didn't understand. School was a place where more than a few of his good friends had died, and wherever he went, he felt as though he'd be haunted by the memory and sickness that they would never get this chance.
Finally, that's what he spent the remainder of his day doing; cleaning his room. It was what they were all supposed to be doing anyway, with the ship disembarking tomorrow. His mother would come in and expect everything still strewn across the ground, but he would have it all packed away. The boxes sat at the end of the halls for students to package away memories.
Zack did not let anyone in his room.
Bailey made a couple appearances, but she realized quickly he was in no mood for talking. She would help him pack, and laughed a bit saying that if she had been helping Cody, he would be having a migraine. Everything had to go in a place that he decided, and even if he told her one place, he'd likely go back and replace it later. This elicited a small smile from Zack, but no comment or sneer.
She went out a couple times, to where he didn't care, and sourly wished that everyone would just stay away. Couldn't they see he couldn't take it anymore? It begun with Bailey- that was a hard blow. Then friends begun to die. Now it was Splinter, who on his own his death would have been very depressing, but in combination with all the others, it was devastating.
"Splinter, man, you gotta come back." Zack said, standing in his half-packed room, "You're a good guy, and I swear to God if you're just 'waiting for the right moment' I will kill you again!" He cried at the ceiling, shaking his fist in the air, trying to get Splinter's ghost to make a reaction, but the room was silent and still.
It wasn't just the mystery that they had bonded over. Splinter had been rough in a way that Zack never had been. Bounced around through foster homes, until he got a Scholarship to this place. He was smart, like Cody, but lazy like Zack. His lazy side, for things he found to be dis-useful, was something that they easily related too. Splinter had been teaching him defensive techniques, and Zack had wondered if he'd learned it to survive on the streets.
Splinter had asked, in his deadpanned sort of way, if Zack was an idiot. He had been in a foster home, not a gang or the mafia. But yet he had stories that made him feel like a pirate or vagabond. He wasn't afraid of things like Cody, but he was just as quiet. It was as if someone had taken out all the things that he admired (although he would never admit it) in his brother and the part of himself that Zack loved the most, and put it into a person.
To think that Zack had almost gone four years without knowing this kid was crazy. Maybe if they were friends longer…it wouldn't have happened like this? Maybe if they had already been friends, the newspaper story wouldn't have been so shocking, so painful and bitingly false that had been the whole catalyst. Maybe if they had been friends, Zack would have kept Splinter sober that night that he kissed Kennedy to cheat on Camden, or convinced him to keep it a secret. Maybe if they were still friends, Zack could have talked with him about the wine thing and convinced him this bird wasn't worth it…So many regrets.
His mother had always told him to live life without regrets, yet here he was, almost drowning in them.
In another life, which Cody was into that sort of thing, maybe he and Splinter had been best friends for longer, or even brothers? Maybe it was his final time around the wheel, and that's why he wasn't here. Maybe…he had found peace. That's all Zack really wanted for anyone that was a ghost. He'd rather have Bailey peaceful on the other side than watch her hang around here, as much as he wanted her to stay.
Around dinner, everyone was called down to the auditorium. Zack chose not to go, and he figured that Mosby wouldn't do a head-count. But human nature is curiosity, so he expected everyone else to pack themselves into the ship's lower decks.
It seemed that Sophie had the same idea he had. She knocked on his door. "What?" He demanded angrily.
"We should look for clues now, while everyone is preoccupied." She said, and he could tell she'd been crying for a long while because of the red rings around her eyes, yet she seemed much more put together than he was.
"No." Zack shook his head, "I'm done." He said simply. Kennedy floated through the wall, looking at him incredulously.
"What do you mean 'you're done'?" She demanded, grabbing his shirt. He shoved her away, and half-closed his door.
"What's the point?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders, "Tomorrow we all go our separate ways. She's won. The killer." He sighed, admitting defeat.
"So you're just going to let him die in vain?" Sophie's words were like pins poking into his flesh, carefully pushing down.
"Who are we kidding? We're a group of teenagers. It's been proven that whenever we think we know something, bad things happen."
"Scardy-cat." Kennedy bared her teeth, "You just want to save your own skin, huh?"
"For once in my life, I'm being realistic." Zack said, heaving a breath, "We can't win." He murmured.
"But…but…we have those clues…and…" Sophie sputtered, staring at him with disbelief.
"You go ahead, but let's be real. We're not going to figure it out. Splinter looked at the world in a different way that none of us can. He was perceptive. Godrick is our best guess for a second choice, but we cant' ask him to risk his life again."
"Your brother, Cody! He's smart too!" Sophie defended, and Zack raised an eyebrow.
"But he's not a genius, he's not Sherlock Homes, and he's just a fact memorizer and occasionally good at math. He can't ace this test." Zack begun to close his door, but Sophie shot her hand in between the door and the wall.
"Hold up. Your brother has been pouring over those notes for hours! He hasn't even begun packing yet! He didn't even like Splinter, or really know him, but when someone he loves dies, he's going to do something about it!" Zack gave a little flinch at the harshness of her words, but he shoved her out of his room.
"I told you. I'm done." Zack said, "Now leave me the fuck alone." He slammed the door hard in her face and locked the doors, and slid against the door. He stared at the bare hollows of his room, pockets of carpet that hadn't seen sunlight since his first day, and the gathering emptiness seemed to echo all along the room, and mostly through the empty spaces in his heart for Bailey and Splinter. Two friends that if things had been ever slightly so different, the pair may have been in here with him, laughing at the moldy sandwiches under his bed or asking how long it had been since he'd done laundry, and other things. Cody may even be here too, maybe over Bailey and dating Reina. Or something.
And was it childish to act like this? He realized it totally was. He realized that he was being a jerk, and an ass, and that any self-righteous and good person would go out and comfort friends and continue what they started, but Zack most of the time wasn't a good person.
Cody presumably tried to contact him and talk to him throughout the day. His had purposely shut his phone off, and once someone banged on his door. He wasn't stupid though, and refused to answer it. The person said it was Mosby, but he didn't even trust that. Cody had picked up enough of his slyness in school to have a recording of Mosby, to get access to places easily. That was like a baby's trick.
So his door stayed shut.
Besides, what would Mosby want with him? He hadn't been out of his room all day so there was no way that any havoc created was his fault. Really, Mosby should check his facts.
Bailey came and lay on the other side of the bed, that night, and from the way she shook her head, it was clear that she had been out looking for Splinter, but she didn't find him. Finally, at around midnight, Zack rolled over. Almost everything in his room was torn down, sans a couple things charging or clothes that he didn't know where to put, or the garbage pile by his door that he wouldn't take outside incase Cody cornered him. He sighed, and she blinked at him.
"Do you even need to sleep?" He asked softly. She slowly shook her head, but shrugged.
"It's nice to pretend I'm alive, though. I can, if I force myself, but I don't need to." She replied. Zack's fingers found hers and intertwined.
"Bailey." He said softly, one word, one syllable. She fixed her soft green eyes on him, and tilted her head. He drew in a harsh breath.
"What's going to happen after we leave?" He asked.
"Well, I'll go to my funeral and stick around with my parents, maybe one of them can see and-," She begun but he clenched his fingers around hers, stopping hers.
"I don't mean right after. I mean…the future."
"Since when does Zack Martin think about things like the future?" She teased gently, but there was a hurt expression in her eyes.
"Since I met you." He whispered honestly. There was silence, "I think we should find a way to send you on." He said.
"On?" She asked, and he rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling, but she got the idea.
"Zack…what if I don't want to?" She asked.
"It's moving on, Bailey. It's best for you." He insisted, his voice clogging in his throat.
"Don't say things like that. I know what's best for me." She said, her eyes wide as saucers and tears dribbling down her cheeks.
"Then what's best for you?" He asked.
"To be with people who love me." She used one arm to pull him close, and he swallowed hard. He pressed his forehead against her own, and sighed.
"I'm not the only one who does, though." He whispered.
"What? You want me to mourn around my family or Cody? At least with you, you won't treat me..like..like…" She sputtered sourly.
"No, I'm saying maybe Camden's right about the New York thing. Bailes, if you can't move on, maybe you should go with him." There was a deeper pain spreading in her eyes, and her lip quivered.
"Zack…don't you want me still?" She asked.
"Bailey, you know I would stay with you forever, but Bailey…I'm not your kind anymore." He said, putting his hand on her heart where there was no beat. And he held his hand up to the light spilling out from the porthole, and if he tilted it, it was almost translucent. She followed his gaze, her expression deepening.
"Since when did you get so wise, Zack?" She asked quietly, "The Zack I met before would have selfishly taken me all for himself." She mused, although this time there was no laugh. Zack pressed her fingers to his lips and sighed.
"I love you so much that I can't stand the idea of you trapped with me." He replied, and felt something breaking inside of him.
Bailey rolled over, and sighed. "I know. I just wish…I can't trap you either." She said.
"Me?" He questioned, "Trap me?" He gave her a confused look.
"With me around, you'll never love someone again. Someone who can live and die with you, give you children." She said.
"Bailey, I don't want any of that. I just want what's best for you. I could care less. I don't think I'll ever love someone as I do with you." He said. Bailey gave him a sad look.
"I thought there would be nothing after Cody and I fell, but I was wrong." She said, "You will find someone."
"So…you go with Camden and Kennedy to New York, and visit often." He said with a weight lifted off his chest.
"No…I can't…Zack if I do this a little, I do it all the way." She said, and pulled herself against him, "I can't come back and see you. It will hold both of us down. I can't…until we've both moved on…"
"That could be…years…" He whispered, his brows crinkling. He loved her enough to know that not tying her to himself was best, but was he really selfless enough to push her away completely, even if it was best for both of them? He felt his own endurance break, and she didn't say anything when his shoulders began to shake.
"This sucks." He murmured against her head, and she pressed her nose into his collarbone, teary eyes on the warmth of his skin.
"For once, you're right though." She replied, "I don't know if your twin would have the courage to say that."
"I wish I wasn't right." He shook his head, "I wish I was wrong about everything, Bailey."
Bailey was silent.
The next morning, when Zack woke, there were sounds of cars and traffic, and he knew they had docked. Bailey stretched from the bed, and turned to him.
"I'm going to find my parents. And then the rest of the ghosts and talk with them…" She paused, "We may not see each other until my funeral. You'll be there?" She questioned, turning her head.
"Wouldn't miss it." He promised, and kissed her one last time. She bit her lip.
"Then, I'll go to the other funerals and maybe stay a bit with you…then I'll probably leave for New York." She murmured, and Zack nodded. In just a couple hours, their time had went from eternity to zilch, although both sides were in agreement. He opened his door to find some breakfast and she disappeared into the wall.
Cody was just coming back. "Hey! Mom and dad said they'd be here around three to help us move out." From the faux cheeriness his brother was exulting, Zack could tell he was trying to be sad or remind Zack of Splinter.
"I have some stuff to do." Zack nodded, "But yeah…" he looked at his brother, and Cody shuffled his feet.
"Zack…I'm here for you." He said in one big breath, before his brother could stop him, "You lost both Bailey and Splinter. I didn't know him, but I knew how you guys were close and I can't imagine the type of person that would do this to us. But really, dude, it's okay to be sad."
Zack glared at his brother, but at the same time, it was a bit comforting. Sure he'd shut everyone out yesterday, but hearing someone say that was a relief.
Cody was not done talking, "So…I know that we were going to spend the summer with our girlfriends, but now that we're two bachelors, why don't we spend our summer together?" He asked. Zack tilted his head, "We can take a car and go wherever. You can sneak me into bars, and I can win us money by outsmarting people." He said.
Zack considered it. "Anywhere?" He raised his eyebrow.
"I thought we'd start in California." There was a smirk on Cody's lips, something that was not common there, but God it made Zack laugh. That was…maybe exactly what he needed.
"I'll have to get you used to drinks, baby bro." He said, cracking a smile and ruffling Cody's hair, "I can't have you so drunk that you fall into girls and barf all over them."
"Oh, please." Cody chuckled, then raised a hand for a high five, "For at least one summer, the Martin Twins will rule the world." He said and Zack shook on it.
He was noticeably happier at breakfast, now that there was some meaning and fun. He would teach Cody everything he'd refused to learn, so that when Cody went to college, he may actually get a few girls into his dorms, or not be a social outcast from the first day. People will of course realize in due time that he was not the total package all around, but maybe Zack could give his brother one last gift of wisdom, as he had attempted to do years before.
He went back to his room to pack for a couple hours after that, and was surprisingly finished long before three. He decided to find Sophie and apologize for the way he acted the night before, and hoped she'd understand. Of course, though, he had to pass Maya's room. He didn't find this too be overly worrisome, until Maya waved him inside.
Giving a valiant effort not to be a jackass anymore, he let her pull him in.
"Would you like to help me pack? Then I can help you." She said, boxes still littered everywhere.
"Oh…I'm done actually." He said, and looked at the box she was currently packing. All her trophies for various things. From sports to competitions, first place across the board. He chuckled; Maya had a thing about loosing.
"Really?" She laughed, "I don't believe you." She said, and he handed her a trophy. Something was off.
"You're awfully nice with me after-," He begun but she looked up.
"Oh, well, lover's quarrel." She dismissed it and Zack paused. He looked at her, so calm and blasé. He realized that she was under the impression that they were still dating. Awe…shit…
"Maya." He said firmly, "We broke up."
She set a trophy in the box, and frowned. "Zack, it was a stupid fight." She shrugged, "And we both said stupid things but surely you don't mean them." She assumed.
"Some…yeah, I did." He said, and he began to make his way by the door. It wasn't that he was planning on running…but he wanted to be careful. Those trophies could really hurt if they were thrown by someone.
"I don't…" Maya's brows furrowed, and she looked like he had shot her.
"Maya. I broke up with you, and I meant it." He said, "I'm done."
"Zacky, sweetie…" She said, trying to stand up to touch his arm, "Please…we had a summer planned. The Keys? Canada? Summerfest?" She said, her voice growing an octave higher with each word.
"Not anymore. We never bought anything, just had plans." She looked about to break out in tears, and he gently took her shaking hands, "I just…fell out of love."
"People can fall back in love!" She said, gripping his wrists, "We were meant for each other!"
"The old me, maybe." He agreed, because to the old him, that was all that he ever wanted.
"What changed?" She demanded shrilly.
"This semester, people died. My friends died." He said, not going to open the can of words named 'Bailey', but nevertheless she was his friend, "And I realized that we weren't going to cope. I know it seems like a bunch of unrelated stuff, but Maya…" He ran a hand over his face, "I need to spend time with my family." He said.
"Okay, we'll go with your family and then-,"
"No Maya." He said, "Not you. Me. Alone." Her face changed, and she just looked like he had hit her now, " I need to spend time with Cody. We need to be brothers again, and I need time to process this semester." He said.
"So you're leaving me…for Cody?" She hissed, grabbing her hands from his, "Yesterday it was Splinter, today it's him?"
"Don't say it like that, ew." Zack shivered, "But…yeah…He's my twin. We are blood." He left it at that and backed out, "I'm dead serious Maya. We're over."
He didn't turn to see her reaction. Sophie was not in her room, but he knew where to find her. She was indeed in Splinter's room, sitting on the sink, staring at her own reflection.
"Sophie…" He sighed, and frowned, "It's over today…" He said, and looked around, meaning it much differently than when he'd said it to Maya. Camden was currently absent, and their room was untouched. It was like the pair still lived in this room, but it wasn't like that at all because both were dead. Clothes still hung, toothbrush still on the sink counter, a half-downed can of Mountain Dew next to the desk…all the signs of life, but no one to live in it.
"I'm taking his sweatshirt. Do you think he'll mind?" She asked hollowly, and he spied an overly large sweatshirt on her small body.
"Did he know?" He asked, referring to her affections.
"I…don't know…" She said, and turned to press her face on the mirror, "Not everyone gets a second chance to express his or her emotions." She muttered sourly, but he didn't take the anger seriously.
She pressed her hands against her stomach, bending over. "It hurts." She whispered softly, "I wake up wanting him to be alive and god, he's not. I fall in love swiftly, but he was the first honestly good guy in awhile…I had a thing for the delinquents, Gemma always said. I lost my best friend, I lost the one I love…" She looked at him, and frowned, "But you did too." She realized.
He went and sat on the very end of Splinters bed, and she joined him. They talked together about him, and laughed a bit.
"I think I'm gong to take a year off too." She decided after he told her about his plans.
"And go where?" He asked. She lay back, thinking.
"Somewhere where I'm not constricted. This boat is a floating prison, sort of. Maybe Kansas where it's just flat and empty for miles and miles." She said. He laughed.
"You pick anywhere in the world, and you choose Kansas?" He laughed, "Why not like Hawaii?"
"It's an island." She replied.
"Well, Florida. Then you have the sea around you, but it's filled with places to go." He said.
"Old people live in Florida. And alligators." She said, throwing a sour face, "Where are you going?" She asked.
"Well, Cody and I are going to go all over. I suppose I'll find a place that feels right, and stay there." He said.
She gave a little smile, "Maybe I'll join you. It would be nice to have someone who understands. We can split the cost of an apartment, or something." She said, and she held her breath.
Zack answered instantly, "I would love that, actually. Then my roommate wouldn't find it odd to see me talking to walls if Bailey ever visited." He laughed.
"Bailey told me about your decision. I was with Camden." She said, and gently touched his hand, "I don't know if I could be so strong. She's lucky, Zack." She said. Zack jerked his hand away.
"Yeah…well…" He muttered, "I guess I'll see you at Graduation tonight." He said, "I should go and finish packing up the little things before my parents arrive." He said. She nodded, and stood, "I should say goodbye to this place." He wasn't sure if she meant to boat or the room, but either way, he left her to her farewell.
It was just about three when he was done, and his parents called to say that they were going to be there within the hour. He was hungry again, and either way Cody would be done and get food with him or need his help packing. He knocked on the door, but Woody said he hadn't been back for a bit. But from the looks of it, his room seemed nearly done, but Woody had said he said he might have gone to thank his teachers. Seems like something Cody would do, of course, so Zack sat outside his door and threw a bouncy ball against the wall.
Five minuets, and it was okay. Ten minuets, and Cody must have lost track of time. Woody went to find his parents at about half an hour after three, Zack decided to go and drag his brother from the classroom. His parents would be there soon.
When he was running through the halls, mostly deserted, as the check-out time was one and most children had left early to spend a day with parents before the graduation, he ran into the one person he'd been looking for. Well, not looking for currently, but the one person he'd been looking for long-term.
"Gemma!" He gaped, grabbing her wrist a moment after they collided, "I've literally been looking for you for months! We all have!" He couldn't believe his luck. She tried to wrench her arm away, but he clasped her arm harder.
"Get off!" She hissed, her fingernails clawing at his grip.
"Nuh-uh." She was the one person that maybe could piece this whole thing together. He owed it to Splinter, he realized, that now the opportunity was here, that he should try.
"If you don't take your hand off to me right now, I swear to God-," She growled as he hauled her to a quiet sitting area sheltered in an alcove.
"It wasn't a suicide." He stated bluntly, and looked at her. She went frozen, and then narrowed her eyes.
"Not in the end." She said carefully, her eyes slits and teeth bared.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, almost letting her go, but remembered at the last second she could bolt and he would never figure this out.
"Why should I tell you anything?" She asked hotly.
"Because people have fucking died. I don't know if you heard, but it's not just you and Camden anymore." He said.
"I don't care. I'm not saying a word to you, you pathetic excuse of a human being. Not when you still hang around with her." Yes…she did like him…of course the idea of him being with Bailey was probably upsetting.
"Look, I really love her," he began which just made her look disgusted, "And really, I know I've been an ass, but I just had to be with her. Despite what she is." He said, "And I lied, I know, I wasn't honest, but I am now!"
"What she is?" Gemma repeated, her eyes flaming, "She is a monster and you two deserve each other then!"
"Hey!" Zack jerked Gemma toward him, "Bailey's a ghost not a monster. She hasn't hurt anyone and she didn't chose it!" He defended angrily, his face inches from hers. She jolted back.
"Bailey? Why in the world do you think I'm talking about Bailey?" She asked.
It was Zack's turn to look confused. "Why should I think you're not talking about her…" He asked slowly.
"I'm fucking talking about Maya." She said almost tearing herself from his grip.
"Maya?" he repeated, "But you two are friends, I thought? And anyway, you haven't been around in a while because I'm not hanging around her anymore. We broke up."
Gemma managed to tear herself away, but she didn't run. "You broke up with Maya?" She echoed.
"I feel like there's a lot of misunderstandings between the pair of us." Zack observed, and then nodded, "Yeah. I did a couple days ago, but geeze is she hard to get rid of!"
"Wait, wait!" Gemma waved her hands, "You…broke up…with Maya…and she was okay?" She repeated.
"Well, not really, but hey…she was in love with me. I'm irresistible." She frowned, and he realized it wasn't time for jokes, "No really. I mean, I think she thought I had found someone else- well Bailey, but she's dead anyway so…still, I told her that I was going to spend winter break at Splinter's whose also dead, and she was upset, but then Splinter died and she thought we were still okay, but I decided to spend this summer with Cody and break up with her for good because I really just don't love her anymore." He said in a rush.
"You broke up with her…because you don't' love her?" Gemma seemed really confused.
"Is there another reason I should?" He raised an eyebrow. Gemma seemed to be muttering his answer under her breath, then she snapped her head up, eyes wide.
"Zach…where's Cody?" She asked. He looked at his watch.
"He was supposed to meet me like forty-five minuets ago, which is not like him, I mean you've met him. Anal retentive and never late and all. I was going to find him." Gemma sucked in a hard breath and grabbed Zack's hand.
"We need to find him. Like right now!"
Zack was really not understand things now, "Oh, okay…uh…"
"If your brother had to say goodbye to one place on this ship, where would it be?" She demanded, snapping her fingers in his face.
He thought, and she gave a frustrated moan, "Faster!"
"I'm thinking!" He snapped back, and then gasped, "The big bath room. Bailey and he met there, and she died there." He said.
"Yes. She died there and so did someone else. It's clearly a familiar spot for murder." She said, and Zack's blood went cold.
"Awe shit, Cody you walked right into this…" He moaned, and then sped off racing down the hall. Gemma only caught up with him for her ability to morph through walls, taking the bird's flight path instead of weaving through the corridors.
"I was such an idiot!" Zack cussed himself, "How did I not see this?"
"Splinter did." Gemma said, out of breath, and then motioned for the pair to stay quiet as they went down the stairs. The door was already ajar and there were faint thumping noises. Gemma's face was knit deeply into a frown.
He went down first, into the thin light that was spread out across the immense room, and his footsteps echoed.
"Zack…" A voice said from the darkness, "I didn't expect to find you here." Zack went solid as he heard the murderer's voice.
"He had help." Gemma said, stepping by his side, "You will pay in hell, Maya." She said.
Maya stepped into view, a gun in her hand. "You said today that you were dead serious, and so am I." her expression was wild, feral. Something wasn't right in her eyes. She was unpredictable now, "Well is blood thicker than water, Zack?" She asked, and Gemma threw the lights on across the room. When the lights flickered up, he saw Cody lying by the edge of the pool, a thin trickle of blood dropping and making circles in the water.
"Maya…what the actual fuck?" It was really the only words he could think to say, "Where did you get a gun?" He asked. It looked like his brother hadn't been shot anywhere, and he knew that guns was too easy for her. She'd drown, hung, bludgeoned and more, and to just shoot Cody would be too easy.
"A girl has her secrets." She said in a feminine voice, "Zacky."
"Don't call me that." He wined. Gemma had snuck up behind Maya, and knelt by Cody.
"He's breathing still, Zack!" She cried frantically, and Zack let his guard down. That was a mistake, because at once, she was on top of him, gun against his head.
"Why? That's my brother!" he said, struggling, but she pressed the gun to his temple with more force.
"Zack…" She leaned down and kissed him, and he spat it back at her, "Don't you understand? I did this for us. I did this for you. All of it." She said, and he realized that she honestly thought that killing people was going to keep them together.
"Wh…at?" He asked, trying to recall the killings, but it was hard when there was a gun invading his thoughts.
"You're glad you're cute," She giggled, and nuzzled his nose, "Camden and Kennedy made a fool out of you. Gemma too, and she loved you too much. I can't have others loving you."
"That's why you got to Bailey." He said, and kicked against her, "You son of a bitch. I didn't even kiss her when she was alive!"
"But you wanted too. Zack, temptation is hard, I understand, but now you see that we have to be together. Splinter can't take you and neither can your brother." She whispered in his ear, "I'm all you have left." She murmured. He resisted the urge to barf.
"I will never touch or see you again!" He said resolutely, "That's not how it works. You can't murder people to get me to like you!" he said, "That's crazy."
That word seemed to trigger her. She smacked him against the temple with the gun, and although he was a little dizzy and he felt blood, he did not faint.
"I am not crazy!" She said and her fingernails dug into his skin.
"And Reina? Your friend? Was she supposed to die?" He asked harshly.
"No. She was doing so good as throwing you off my trail. Not that anyone figured it out…" She shrugged.
"You betrayed all your friends." He shook his head.
"I did it because I love you." She insisted, and he shook.
"This isn't love. This is you being a sociopath that I never knew about." He said.
"That's just a label, dear. You know me…" she said.
"Clearly not how I thought…" He said, and stared up at her, "I would rather die than ever kiss you again."
She frowned. "Fine. That can be arranged." She cocked the gun and put it as his head, and he just hoped he would reappear as a ghost to be with Bailey.
The shot went off, but it never hit him. His ears rung and for a second, all he had was his sight. Maya was on the floor, and the gun skid across the floor. She grabbed Gemma's leg and yanked, and the girl hit the floor with a sickening crunch, and lay still.
Maya recovered much quicker, as Zack tried to stumble to Cody's body, but she threw herself on his back, and his head hit the floor with a crack. He was really dizzy now.
"You are mine." She said, flipping him over, and making his head hit back against the floor, "And if you're not mine, you are nobodies. And I know how to kill a ghost, so trust me, you won't be back." She assured, and from the look in her eyes, he believed her. A shiver ran up his body. Was that what happened to Splinter? Oh, god.
His distracted mind and fuzzy thoughts couldn't prepare him or make him attack her back, before her hands were strong against his neck. The air was pressed out of him, and in a moment, he couldn't breath. He kicked and pressed with all his might, but he was already weak and loosing speed, and couldn't fight her off. She really was going to kill him twice, and Cody was going to die too. Both the Martin twins.
He could imagine his parents, probably upstairs right now, looking for their sons. And they would find them bloody and bruised in a room, both dead and gone. He didn't even think of Bailey in those moments. All he wished was that his parents would not have to see their bodies like this.
Another gunshot rang throughout the room, and for a moment, it seemed as if it was merely his imagination, or that it hadn't hit anything. But then Maya's left arm dropped, and blood soaked through her shirt and she screamed.
It was all Zack needed to slip into the pool, far away. Hazily, he looked to his brother, but he had moved. He was over by a door that he thought was a closet, and Cody was slumped against the wood. His head was bleeding still, and one eye was swollen shut. His left arm dangled uselessly in his lap, and his knee was bent at an odd angle. He gave a grin, and two teeth were missing, and his lips were bloody.
"Zack…I can see ghosts…" He whispered hoarsely, and breathed deeply, closing his eyes. Another shot was fired, and Maya's leg begun to bleed. Zack blinked twice to see the figure.
"Splinter!" He cried, thinking that he was just dreaming. Splinter picked dropped the gun into his pocket, and went to the edge of the water, and helped Zack from the pool.
"You didn't think I'd leave without saying goodbye, buddy?" He asked, smiling.
"But we…you…where…" Zack's questions spilled out like a waterfall, and Splinter frowned.
"I figured it out. It was her. But she killed me and stuffed me in that closet, so I couldn't interfere." He said.
"But…you're a ghost…you can walk through walls…" Zack said, frowning, "unless…."
"No, I'm dead. But Gemma's been blackmailed by Maya this entire time, and Maya said if Gemma didn't do whatever she said, Maya would kill Sophie. She put Gemma in front of the door with a gun." He said.
"But you're already dead, dude." He said. Splinter shrugged.
"I don't know what happens when ghosts get shot, and for most of the time I was knocked out cold anyway." He said, "Cody let me out during the fight." He said.
"God! Cody!" Zack pulled himself to his brother, and found him breath shallow, "Dude, stay with me!"
"Sophie was right. There are ghosts…" He said, and he looked about to cry.
"Shit…Bailey and I…" he murmured, "I wanted to tell you…I just…" He said, knowing that this was going to break everything between them. Cody patted his arm, using great effort.
"I'm…okay…with…it…" He ground out, "You…really…love…her." He said.
"But you did too." Zack hung his head guiltily.
"I'm…in…love…with…the…idea…of…her…" Cody said brokenly, and Zack hushed him, then her smirked, "And…the…sexual…tension…between…you two…this…year!"
"We need to get you to the doctors, right now." He said, "We'll have time to talk later."
He looked back at Maya, and sighed. Should he go and get someone to restrain her first, or help his brother. Splinter just picked the gun from his pocket, and raised it to her.
"I'll watch her." He said, "She won't move again, unless she wants to loose her hand this time." He said.
Zack nodded, and quickly checked on Gemma, who seemed to be just knocked out, and her bleeding wasn't much to be concerned about. He had only reached the top of the stairs, when Mosby and his parents came barreling down the hall.
"I heard gunshots!" He said, "Oh, dear."
The twins' mother burst into tears, coming to touch Cody's face. "Mom…I'm…not…dead…" He gave a weak chuckle. Mosby's eyes were wide.
"We found the killer." Zack said, "Or Cody would have been dead." He said.
"Well, who is he?" Mosby asked.
"She…it's my ex-girlfriend, Maya Bennet…" He motioned for Mosby to follow, "It all makes sense now…"
"And that's the end of it." Zack said at the podium, sighing. He looked at his brother, who was on his way to making a full recovery. He still walked with a limp and a crutch, but Reina (after having a near death experience too) was really helping. And he knew that those two were going to get together, anyway. Sophie gave him a smile from the front row, and his heart begun to flutter. He wasn't saying it was something, but Bailey winked at him as she noticed the interaction between the pair. Godrick sat, with a notebook, soaking everything in.
He felt as though everything has lifted off his chest, and Splinter came to stand next to him.
"If you would like, I will go through everything that Splinter figured out to prove that Maya's the killer…as if her confession in the room wasn't enough."
There was quiet murmuring, and the judge nodded. "Please."
Zack pulled out the list of paper, and gave a side glance to his best friend, who was there in case he needed more explanation on anything.
"Well, to begin with, Camden was murdered after he convinced Gemma to print the story about us. He was the one that convinced her to use the picture, and he was the one who took all the credit. Because it upset me, he had to die. He was murdered sloppily, but with Splinter's arrows, so that he would be a suspect. She didn't plan for us to realize that, or that we took care of it."
"Next to die was Gemma. That was partly a suicide. She had already written a note, and had planned to kill herself. Maya had been in the room with her when she was going to do it, but she became scared at the last moment and decided that she didn't want to, but Maya pulled a gun on her and forced her to swallow all the pills. Then she left without saying anything, putting the letter by her head. It seemed just like a suicide to anyone who had passed by. She knew Gemma had to be killed because she made mine and Splinter's life pretty miserable for a bit, but that was only because she had liked Camden, and he had suddenly stopped talking to her. She suspected we paid him off or something."
"After was Bailey. When we had thought it was me who had stupidly thought I'd closed the door, Maya had snuck in behind us, and she knew that we might have liked each other, and she became very territorial. She was gone on the day that she died, off on her birthday, but she had Gemma do the dirty work by hitting Bailey behind the head with a bat and shoving her face-first into the water. She instructed Gemma to write the message on her arm, because as we saw from the trophies, Maya had a thing for being first place. The game, these killings, were always a game to get me the prize, and she was going to win."
"Kennedy admitted that she had really begun this whole thing with kissing both Splinter and Camden, so she had to be killed, and Maya was aware of the bottle of wine. Maya wanted to be a graphic designer, and the label wasn't difficult to reproduce, so she just switched the bottles, but one had poison in it. Reina wasn't supposed to drink it, because Reina usually hates wine and was a good person to distract us from her, but she did."
"Godrick was supposed to die next, because he was getting close to figuring it out, but Gemma was sent to kill him in his sleep, but she couldn't go through with it. She did scare him enough to make him decide to stay away from us, which Maya seemed okay with, because she didn't kill Sophie and didn't go and kill Godrick."
"Splinter actually did figure it out. She watched him carefully, and finished what she started, and killed him too." Zack sucked in a hard breath, and resisted the urge to look at his friend. Splinter put his hand on Zack's shoulder and squeezed, and pointed at the clues.
"First, there was the perfume I smelled in Gemma's room. Cody had been going to give Bailey a perfume bottle a long time ago, but me the cheapo I am, stole it and gave it to Maya as a gift. She wore it occasionally, but not often, which is why I couldn't figure it out. When Godrick had only her name and three others on the list, he had to be kept quiet."
"Maya also borrowed Reina's shirt, and it caught on a piece of furniture in Gemma's room when she was exiting quickly, because she heard Sophie coming back. She had been careful not to wear her own shirts that day, just because she was paranoid."
"The rest, the motives, the wine, the assassin message…we went through that…but it was one last thing that Splinter really had to notice it all come together. Believe me or not, but Splinter told this to me."
The room had mixed reactions on his admission, but the judge motioned for him to continue, "He had heard Maya talking briefly about our fight, and she seemed not really upset over it, so he was going on Facebook to see if our status had changed. He only typed her name into the search bar, and although there are many Maya Bennets out there I'm sure, one stood out to him. It was an article about a little girl from Ohio who had killed their family's dog because it was giving her mother more attention than herself. It wasn't news worthy, except for the fact it had been slaughtered in the park. The little girl was nine, and her name was Maya Bennet. She'd been sent to a therapist, but from all the other reports, it was said that she had been cured of her mental illness, and that she was progressing as a normal girl, and that the Seven Seas High was a good opportunity for her, according to her parents. And she was a normal girl, if we all remember her…until she met me, and that same possession came into the equation."
The jury was silent, and Maya sat glaring at him from behind where she was restrained. He was excused from the stand, and Splinter went to sit at the end of the aisle where the rest of the ghosts, Camden, Kennedy, Bailey, and Gemma, all sat. Zack slipped back into his seat by Sophie, and she put her hand on top of his. It wasn't in a romantic way, but it was in a comforting way.
Four hours later, Maya was declared guilty, and slapped with a prison sentence for life, no parole.
Outside the courthouse, the group of living teens avoided the press and the newspapers that were clamoring to get interviews, as stuff like this was of course a national deal. Zack managed to slip away from the commotion, and met Bailey behind the building. She hugged him, and gave him a little kiss.
It had already been nearly seven months, much longer than either had agreed to continue seeing each other. Zack was going to settle down in Colorado with Sophie as a flat mate for a bit, and go to the local college there. Sophie had gotten a job at a little store, and it was away from the hustle and bustle of questions and people asking things.
"We're gong to New York soon…" She said, playing with her dress.
"Hmm. I thought you would all burst into balls of light and move on when Maya was said to be guilty." Zack admitted honestly, and Bailey punched him.
"Too bad for you, we're here to stay." She said, and Zack gave a happy laugh, an honest to god happy laugh.
"Poor us." He shook his head, "Hey…will you at least…write?"
"From where? On what?" She asked, and he thrust an address into her hands.
"You're smart. You can figure it out," He paused, "Pleeeaaaseee…" He begged.
"We'll see, Z." She said, and pulled him in for one last kiss, "See you soon." She said, and he knew she would write from her words. She walked to the end of the block.
"Already miss you!" He called after her, and she turned around and shook her head. Then, she went through a building, and he couldn't see her anymore.
"Hey." Sophie said, "You got out of there quick. How the heck did you do that?" She asked, panting.
"Skills. Mad skills." He said, and turned himself away, "Gemma will be leaving soon, right. With Ghosts and Co.?" He questioned. Sophie nodded.
"Yeah. She'll have fun in New York. She always wanted to go there, you know, when she was alive."
"And now she gets to party there immortally eighteen?" Zack said, grinning, "Sounds great to me."
"Hey!" Splinter called him from his side, and they embraced in a brotherly hug, "You did it, Zack." He congratulated.
"We would have never figured it out without you." Zack said, "Credit where credit is due, Jonas." Splinter frowned, making a face like a lemon.
"Ew. Don't call me that." He said, "My name is Splinter."
"I like Jonas." Sophie said, a gleam in her eyes, "But Splinter is more mysterious." She admitted.
"Hey, that's me." He pointed out, and then came and hugged her. His long body tightened around her tiny frame, and she only came up to his chest. She whispered something in her ear, and she blushed. He hugged Zack one last time and promised to visit with updates at their snazzy new house (it really wasn't, Zack tried to say, but Splinter refused to listen).
"What did he say?" Zack asked when they were out of sight.
"He told me his sweatshirt looks sexy on me, but I'd better not wear it when I'm trying to be sexy with you." Zack flapped his mouth like a fish.
"But we're not even…but we…"
'It's going to happen' Camden wrote on his board, pushing in front of their faces. His fingers interlocked with Kennedy's and they shared a smile at each other. Reina rolled her eyes, and the pair looked at each other.
"I am never drinking wine again." Reina joked, "You said it's good. Try it once, you said." She quoted Kennedy. Kennedy batted her hand away.
"Oh, please. So it was a little bad. Some wines are better." She said.
"I would really hope so!" Reina said, and Kennedy shrugged.
"That wine that killed me was only the third worst I've ever had." She said, ever Kennedy. Godrick came up and threw his arms around Zack and Sophie.
"Hey you lovebirds."
"We're not…" Sophie began but shook her head, "Never mind."
"Seven Seas just won't be the same anymore." Godrick frowned, "I'll miss you four." Then he looked at Camden and Kennedy, the ghosts that sill remained, "I mean six, erm ten…you know what I mean."
"We should probably get going, everyone else is waiting." Kennedy said, nodding to where the other three were at the bottom of the hill. The pair hugged the remaining friends, and then left.
"It's all over." Cody sighed, and he linked hands with Reina. Reina linked hands with Sophie, and soon the five were holding hands on the top of the hill, as the sun set slowly.
"We survived a crazy murderer…I think we can survive college now, or the real world." Reina laughed, "And they said high school was easy."
"Maybe we should all go into the CIA or become detectives or something." Sophie laughed, and everyone agreed with her, half-joking, except Godrick. He groaned.
"You all will be off having magical adventures, and I'll be stuck still taking tests and classes. I think nearly being murdered and figuring out the mystery should get me A's across the board for the rest of my high school career." He said, smirking.
"It doesn't work like that," Zack sighed, "I would know." He ruffled Godrick's hair.
"I know. I already tried telling some teachers that. They wouldn't listen." He pouted.
"So…." Cody coughed, and pulled out a little sheet that had long been disused, "Tag. You're dead." He poked Godrick, and showed him his sheet. The group all took turns hitting Cody.
"Not even funny." Zack chuckled, even though everyone was letting off a little steam by laughing.
"I'm the only one left. This means I win right?" Cody prompted, smiling with glee.
"Right." Reina said, and pulled him in by the tie to kiss him, "And here's your prize."
And Cody let the paper fall from his hand, and Zack picked it up. He felt a little bad that they had all ruined this game for literally every other year from here on out, but this game was so far past just a game, it was scary.
He thought about how he had been do determined to make Bailey his slave- just to bring him soda and do his homework- for an entire day, way back at the beginning. Maybe he sort of loved her then. Maybe he didn't.
A hand on his arm brought him back to reality. He turned to see Sophie, who was looking at the paper too.
"Things taken too literally." She commented with a little frown, "I doubt anyone else has ever had this problem before." She grumbled.
"What? No mass suicide during capture the flag?" he asked.
"Why the heck would people commit suicide during Capture the Flag?" Reina asked, giving him a roll of her eyes.
"Because stranger things have happened. Just ask Splinter, or Bailey. The fact they're still around defies everything we ever knew." He said, "So…this is what I've deduced from it. School is useless, and real life will blow your mind." He said, "Right?"
"Zack will always find a way to get out of school," Cody rolled his eyes. Zack gave a shrug.
"Well, you know me." Zack gave one of his grins, "Insufferable, lazy, and a small criminal mastermind…ah, if only Maya had been really good at pulling off small scale crimes, like shrimp in the hot-tub or saran wrapping Mosby's office." He mused, "But no! She had to be a murderer."
"This tells us so much about what kind of girls you attract." Godrick said, "Sophie- run while you can."
He felt her arm intertwine with his, and she stuck her tongue out.
"I think I'll take my chances."
So please review if you even remotely liked this, or are still with me, or even if you totally knew it was Maya all along...
Sometimes, I wish that perhaps I had just plowed through this at the time SLOD was at it's peak, then people might still be reading it, but then, so much would be different. I had to grow and mature to write the ending of the story like I did.
In the original plan, Zack was going to walk out of there with Bailey and off into the sunset as a ghost and human relationship. But that's not real, that's too...well, you know.
Also, Cody was going to get with Sophie, and no one else was going to be a ghost. Godrick wasn't even really in the story, and I don't even know how that last confrontation would have worked out. Everything worked out how it was supposed to, I think...right?
So anyway, give me your thoughts and all, and I hope to see a review, after all the hard work I put into this.
Frosty out.