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As I ran my hand over Ashley’s cold cheek, I could feel the anger within me growing. Her blood was pooled around her, a dark sticky puddle. I almost wouldn’t have recognized her; Except for her hair, her hair couldn’t be mixed with anyone else’s. Damn it! There was never, nor had there ever been a reason that she should have died. If anyone should have paid that price at this point it would have been me. Looking around the dark room they’d left her laid out in I felt disgust. It was clear, my friend had not only been murdered, Ash’d been put through so much more than just that. As I focused on finding her murderers I noted a high pitched hum.



Looking about the dark room I noted that there was a TV and VCR set up in the corner of the room. The VCR was rewinding and the television screen was glowing a static black. I felt a lump growing in my throat. Not only had I arrived too late to save her, I’d arrived too late to confront them. I carefully made my way across the clutter filled floor, a lonely teardrop sliding down my cheek when I spotted Ashley’s purse, poured out carelessly. I heard the VCR click as the tape finished rewinding, and instinctively I pushed the play button.



The television came to life. I winced hearing Ashley’s pained screams in the background as Jades face appeared on the screen. She had on a doctor’s lab coat and white latex gloves up to her elbows. Her hair was done up high, heavy makeup had been applied so as to exaggerate her features her green eyes looked huge, and she smiled maliciously into the camera, waving a hand at me. In the background I heard Rock and Roll, laughing as they had their own ways. But above all of them I could hear my friend.



“ It’s a shame that you’re not here now to watch helpless, my dear friend.” Jade said to the camera. “But this will have to do. We know that you’re following us now. We know that you know that we were the ones that killed your fraternity brothers. That fact just isn’t going to help you though. No one believes you, do they…. Poor thing.” She pouted into the camera, and then she turned her back to it, shouting at Rock and Roll to finish up. She turned back. “I’m really starting to wish that we’d known you were there. That night, when we had so much fun with your brothers. We would have waited up for you if we’d known. But we can’t go back in time, and that does bother me a bit.”



Ashley screamed some more as Rock and Roll backed away from her and the camera focused on her. I could see bruises on her face, and over the rest of her body. For a moment the camera focused on her face, and she started to shout something, my name was all I could make out before Roll slapped her, silencing her.



“Now Alice.” Jade started to talk, her voice over Ashley’s image, almost scolding me. “I want you to forget the whole thing. You’re too stupid to catch up with us. And the authorities are going to assume that this was a prank gone awry. But as far as that night goes, I regret not knowing you were there.” The camera went back to Jade. “Since then I’ve realized how much fun you could be dear.” She licked her lips and batted her eyelashes coyly. “Not just as… well as you’ll see. But… I think you and me; we have more in common than you would guess kid.”



The camera went back to Ashley. “But that’s beside the point. Now, I think I’ll get started; we had so much fun before we even… let you in on this. Your dear friend Ashley can be quite feisty. I even have a few scratches she gave me. I’d show you, but the guys would get distracted. We don’t normally like to tie our prey up, but we didn’t really have much of a choice. She drew blood, so it was unacceptable, as well as unthinkable that we would let her be loose.”



Ashley looked imploringly into the camera, and I could see the tracts her tears had run across her face. She was stretched spread eagle on a metal table, arms and legs bound down, she couldn’t move. Glancing from the screen, over at what remained of my friend I felt sick. She wasn’t part of the fraternity; she’d hated the fact that I’d joined it. Continually she’d told me it was going to ruin me. Yet here she was the one they’d taken from me; Cutting her future short.



My thoughts were brought back to the screen as a blood curdling scream came from it. For a moment I watched transfixed as they cut my friend, blood pouring from the first shallow wounds. Jade started out as though it were a fetish, pausing and licking around the small wounds she inflicted. Ash’s body tensed, and then Jades two goons Rock and Roll joined in again, and I reached over and turned off the screen. I didn’t need to know what else they’d done… I could see that that wasn’t all… just by the way the body was laid out. I ejected the cassette, and put it in my pocket.



I went to where I’d seen Ash’s purse poured out and spotted a pink envelope, addressed to me set on a chair nearby. It had been torn open, and clearly read. As I unfolded it I could see red ink slashes where Jade had left her own little comments. Her handwriting was so elegant and gaudy compared to that of my friend.



Alice- [i]What, no dear or sweetest?[/i]

I know that you feel terrible that the frat has died. But you have to move on. [i]Why didn’t you listen to her?[/i] I miss Joe, Kate, Jesse and the others just as much as you do. [i]I hadn’t known that your friends were so close.[/i] But you need to get a grip on things. They’re not going to find those nuts that killed them. You can’t force a conviction. [i]What she didn’t know. She should never have been seen with you at the station last Friday.[/i] No matter how hard you try. There wasn’t enough evidence. [i] And there won’t…hrmm actually there will be enough tonight… but that’s not of concern. [/i] Why don’t you meet me Friday night at 12. We can go out then and have some fun. [i]What a shame she won’t be alive then.[/i] You know you can count on me. You’ve always been there when I needed you. [i]Boo hoo, not tonight though. [/i]Let me return the favor. See you Friday kid, I’ll meet you at Claira’s Pub at 12 sharp, don’t be late.

God bless,

Ashley

[i]What a shame that I got your mail before you did Monday, kid. Good luck getting someone to come out here. Maybe we’ll come back for you around 9…how’s that sound?

Love you ever so much more than you know.

Jade

p.s. The boys wish that you’d have shown up early enough to play. Roll especially can’t wait to meet you. Rock…well… he has his own ideas about what we can do with you. Daily’s especially interested in filming, so we’ll probably be in touch. He’s particularly enjoyed tracking you. Bye Toots.[/i]



Disgusted, I bent down, scooping up Ashley’s cell phone, in hopes that it would work, but as I tried to turn it on… I found that the battery had been exhausted. My own phone…I reached for it… only to be reminded that I’d left it back in my dorm room. My phone was all the way in Buffalo, and here I was stranded out past Jamestown, in an almost abandoned house with the corpse of one of my good friends. The situation wasn’t really all that reassuring. The hair on the back of my neck was even standing up…9 am… they’d be back then.



I’d had a taxi drop me off, after getting an IM from Ashley’s SN, saying to meet her here. Nothing had seemed suspicious, her car had been out in the drive, and some lights were on throughout the building. I should have known when the address was strange not to go. But then again, it was an on-off situation, no time for questioning. Halfheartedly, I searched the room for something to drape over Ashley. Eventually I had no choice but to pull the curtains down and lay them over her, uttering a small prayer. Having done that I went back outside, having gathered up the contents of Ashley’s purse, and having found the keys to her car.



I looked at my watch noting how close it was to 3 am, and felt some distress. I had about 6 hours to get away from here. I had the video, the letter, and Ashley’s purse as evidence. If nothing else I could get into Ashley’s apartment and shower and change. That is if her car would get me there. I quickly got into the small silver student model, and put the key into the ignition. The engine argued with me, coughing and spluttering before it turned over, but it started and I shifted into gear. The car didn’t get anywhere though. All the tires were flat. Cursing I slammed my fist into the wheel, and then remembered that she kept a tracfone in the glove compartment for emergencies.



I dove for the compartment, finding that it had been undisturbed. The phone was there, turned off as I knew it would be. I uttered a silent prayer as I pushed the power button, and it blinked to life, blinking a hello across its screen. Quickly I redialed the taxi company, and they said that they’d send me a cab within an hour. I sat down, turning the phone off again, and waited. I knew that my friend had saved me. If only I could have done the same for her. My mind tore at my heart, and my own thoughts tortured me like demons from the realms below.



I wondered as I saw headlights come towards the drive, what Jade would do when she found out I was gone. I also panicked a bit when my mind toyed with the idea that the coming car would be them. Luckily for me though, I noted the taxi company light on top, a small beacon of hope, as it pulled up. I went and got in, my bag a little more filled than it had been, and gave the cabbie the address for Ash’s apartment. Then I settled in for the ride.



I slept on Ashley’s couch that morning. The shades pulled down in every window, the phone laid off the hook. I did though; sign on to the computer using one of my earlier SNs in case someone that really needed me had to find me. I didn’t sleep well though. It was a troubled sleep, filled with memories, not just of Ashley but also of all the others I had failed in the fairly recent past. It seemed like every hour hat slipped past held another failure to reveal. I was getting nowhere fast, and I was losing everyone that I cared about. Jade’s voice invaded my sleep, and her threats sent a copy of her to tempt me as I tossed and turned.



When I woke up it was about noon and I called the police. I was met with laughter at first; after all I had just been there… just a wee bit more than a week ago. And then I’d been trying to convince them that I wasn’t crazy. That I really knew what it was that I was talking about. I knew that there had been 4 people there, just like the police had. Except they hadn’t been receiving letters and notes since then like I had; with pictures enclosed.



It’s a different story then. And they weren’t taking me seriously as I turned each one in and asked them how long it would be before they caught the perpetrators of the crime.I was getting worried though. They didn’t seem to understand. I was going to school in buffalo. And yet Jade was sending me, someone an hour away from where the chapter that had been murdered, the pictures and notes she’d written.



It wasn’t fair. Really it wasn’t.