"Hello brother" Derek said. Ben didn't have to look at him, he could hear the grin on his face.
Ben said nothing, edging closer to them.
Meg's face was as pale as a ghost, her eyes wide with terror.
"Don't come any closer" Derek said calmly, "you don't want me doing anything rash now, do you?"
Ben stopped immediately, he knew by now that any threat from Derek shouldn't be taken lightly.
"It's gonna be ok Meg" Ben said to her, keeping his eyes fixed on her from across the room.
Her voice quivered "I'm sorry, I thought…" she began.
"It's ok, it's ok", Ben replied, doing all her could to reassure her.
"It's ok" Derek mimicked, laughing. "Tell me Benny, how are you going to get yourself out of this one?"
"Anything's possible" he replied, staring pointedly at Derek. He hadn't changed since Ben saw him last at the edge of the cliff.
In fact, Derek was dressed exactly like Ben. Every piece of clothing was the same. His hair too was styled the same. Even the length of his fingernails were an exact replica.
"Ah yes, my resurrection!" Derek said jovially.
Meg spoke again, stronger this time "how did you...we saw you fall off that cliff".
"I bounced" Derek said flatly before turning his head to Meg's, resting his chin tauntingly on her shoulder.
Meg winced.
While Derek was distracted, Ben took the opportunity and lunged towards him, making a grab for the gun. But Derek was too quick, pulling Meg out of the way and towards the door while Ben barreled into the opposite corner.
"Tut tut Benny boy" Derek sneered, increasing the pressure of the barrel of the gun on Meg's temple.
Ben regained his composure and the two of them began circling the room as if they were in a cowboy shootout, with Meg being dragged along.
"CASEY MICHAEL HELP!" Meg screamed desperately.
"Oh do shut up" Derek laughed "they won't be coming to your rescue".
"What have you done to them?" Meg asked, panic stricken.
"Nothing...yet, but I had to make sure they were out of the way", he smirked.
Ben suddenly realised that the rest of the party being split up into different rooms was no accident.
"It was you all along wasn't it" he said, furious that he'd let this happen. "The party, the food…". Light bulbs started to go off in Ben's head, but before he could piece everything together, Derek interjected.
"You really are stupid, aren't you? Would you like me to spell it out for you brother?"
Derek stopped circling finally, standing with his right side facing the doorway. That way, Ben thought, Derek could shoot anyone that might approach the door. Ben stopped too, directly opposite them. In the darkness of the room, it was hard to make out Meg's expression, but he kept his focus on her anyway.
"Mr. K. Rede" Derek continued, tapping his gun to Meg's head, "get it? K. R. E. D. E. Otherwise known as D. E. R. E. K."
Meg gasped and Derek was delighted by the reaction. "See I really thought you wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for that, but I overestimated your intelligence. I mean Meg, sure, she'd be fooled by a cat in a wig, but you Ben, you're supposed to be the smart brother".
Ben stood still, his jaw locked in anger. How could he have been so naive? "So tell me" Ben said, playing for time. "How did you do it?". He knew Derek wouldn't be able to resist telling them how he'd managed to trick him, and if it gave Ben time to think of a plan, he was willing to indulge him.
"It's simple really" Derek started as if he were giving a motivational speech. "Once I'd recovered from that nasty fall, I started monitoring you again. Where you went, what you did, who you worked with. One night, while you and Meg were cosied up at home, I went to your office. I knew your assistant worked late on a Tuesday, so I went in and had a little look through her emails while she dealt with the fire alarm I set off". He smiled at the memory, pleased with himself.
Meg attempted to wriggle out of his grip, but Derek held on tighter, barely acknowledging her.
"It didn't take me long to find an email from you Ben, asking your colleagues for recommendations for a weekend getaway".
"Jesus" Ben whispered. Derek had orchestrated this whole thing. It had been weeks in the planning.
Derek continued. "All I had to do was deliver a few leaflets for Nighthorn House to your co-workers and one of them would suggest it to you eventually. I didn't even have to send one to you directly, word of mouth is a powerful thing isn't it?"
"So you got my email booking and that was it…" Ben said, finally looking at his twin.
"Once I knew you were coming, I could put everything in place to play you all like puppets" Derek said proudly.
"And what about the old man? The fisherman. I suppose he was in on this too" Ben said, still trying to work out how to get Meg away from him.
"Collateral damage. I told him to make sure any visitors to the island go back to the house or he'd have me to answer to."
Ben remembered the fear on the fisherman's face. It seemed obvious now that the old man had thought he was Derek.
"And now here we are" Derek smiled through the darkness.
"Just let her go". Ben could think of no way to get Meg out of this, other than through words. The rest of the group were trapped in their rooms. No one else was going to come and help them.
"I don't think so" Derek said in a sing-song voice.
"Look" Ben said extending a hand. "I'll give you all the money you want, you can have every penny, just don't bring Meg into this"
Derek pretended to think it over, "you see the issue is Benny, the money is just an added bonus"
"To what?" Ben asked, trying to remain calm.
"To watching your face as your love dies in front of your eyes"
Ben took a step forward but Derek pulled Meg tighter, "ah ah ah", he said shaking his head. "You see I never got to see the look on your face when you let Maria die, but this time I can watch every last second".
Ben clamped down on his jaw at the mention of Maria.
"You'll never get away with this!" Meg yelled.
"That's where you're wrong Meg. I managed to get you all here, I can certainly kill you both without those dimwit friends of yours suspecting anything", Derek explained.
"No one will ever believe you're Ben" Meg said, trying and failing to pull from his grasp.
"Oh please, I fooled you didn't I? And Maria, poor, innocent Maria", he said, looking directly into Ben's eyes to taunt him.
"Leave her out of this" Ben snarled.
"Don't tell me your still not over it!" Derek laughed. "Well don't worry, brother, once I'm done with Meg, I'll be dropping your body in the middle of the ocean, and you'll be reunited with your beloved Maria at last - that is after another little surprise I have in store for you".
Ben didn't even want to think about what that could be.
Meg's eyes began to well up, it was as if she was facing the reality that this might really be it. Her acceptance of the situation snapped Ben back into the moment.
"How exactly do you intend on explaining Meg's disappearance, Derek?" he asked.
"Oh Meg's not going to disappear" Derek replied as if Ben were stupid, "I'm going to leave her body right here. Once I've disposed of you, I'll get our old fisherman friend and make it look like he was the one who killed Meg. Of course I'll have to kill him in self defence".
"You'd set up and kill that innocent man for this?" Ben said, sickened.
"Like I said, he's collateral damage".
The three of them stood for a few seconds, taking in the situation. Derek was ready to shoot Meg at any second. On the other side of the room, Ben had run out of options for saving her.
"Let's not delay this any longer, any last words Meg?" Derek said, adjusting his arm upwards to pull the trigger.
"Please, please don't do this!" she begged, sobbing.
"Derek, please, I'll do anything, it's me you want to kill not her!" Ben pleased.
Derek had his eyes fixed on Ben, he wasn't going to miss the opportunity to watch his reaction as Meg died, "say goodbye Benny".
Meg and Ben stared at each other. He was ready to fight Derek with everything he had, but she simply whispered."I love you…"
Right at that moment, his fiance saying her goodbyes, Ben was ready to lunge at Derek, his heels lifting from the ground. This was his last chance.
Before he had a chance to move, Derek's head had snapped suddenly to the right, looking at something in the doorway.
"How did you get out?" Derek asked angrily, his eyes darting up and down. "Don't you dare…"
A loud crack permeated the silence. Ben saw a flash of metal impacting with Derek's head and his body crumpling to the ground.
Meg lurched towards Ben and he grabbed her, pulling her away from Derek.
"Are you ok, are you ok?" he asked her, clinging to her for dear life. Her head was buried in his chest.
"Ben" she said, shaking, "oh my God, I really thought this was it". She looked up at him, tears running down her face.
He pulled her head to his, pushing his face into her hair. "You're safe now", he said.
Finally he allowed himself to look at Derek. His body was on the ground, eerily still as a pool of blood began spreading from his head.
Ben felt the presence of someone else in the room. With his mind still on holding Meg, his eyes wandered across the blood splattered floor and to the doorway to see which one of the group had come to their rescue.
With his head still resting on Meg's, all he saw first was a pair of bare feet.
He scanned upwards slowly, taking in the hem of what looked like a white cotton dress at the knees.
Next, a metal rod was shaking in the person's hand. The fire poker, Ben thought absently.
It was at the waist that Ben registered that this wasn't anyone he expected. Not Gabi, or Sarah, or Vanessa. Because at the waist was where he saw the ragged ends of long brown hair.
It had only been a few seconds, but holding Meg at last, taking in this person in the doorway, it felt like he'd been standing there for hours.
Ben's eyes moved upwards, the silhouette of their jaw revealing an oval face framed by the cascading hair.
His heart began to beat a little faster. He was aware it was dark. He was aware he wasn't thinking straight. He was tired and overwhelmed. But the outline of that face...it couldn't be.
Finally, both of their glances working in sync, their eyes met.
Even in this darkness, he could see that. His blue eyes locked into her deep brown.
Ben's heart stopped and he lifted his head bolt upright. "Maria?".