Halfway Gone

It came to Kim’s surprise when the nurses discharged her from the hospital for the day. She’d expected them to tie her to the bed since she’d been out and about the hospital, instead of resting in her bed. But it seemed as though Ivy had a few tricks up her sleeve for the nurses to discharge their patient.

It was only a couple hours later when Kim found herself sitting on a luxurious, cream coloured couch on the inside of Ivy’s house. Her feet were evenly placed on the soft, white carpet as she hunched over a large stack of homework. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed out on at school in only two weeks of being confined in the hospital by the nurses, but she’d realized how much she learned about Rosie’sdeath murder.

At first, Kim was certain it was Chris or Cheyenne who murdered her best friend. Both of them had motive to kill, and they were the only ones whose name started with ‘C’ that probably knew where she lived. But after talking it through with Ivy and Nick yesterday, Kim was finally convinced that Chris was the killer.

“So exactly what have I been missing out on at school?” Kim asked, as she quickly scribbled down her answer in her exercise book. “Just this stuff, right?” She was referring to the stack of homework on her lap.

Ivy looked up from her book, nodded a couple of times before looking back down at her book again and continued to write.

“Hey, you know for yesterday about all that information about Chris and that note….” Kim paused for a moment wondering how to continue. She didn’t want to sound like some cheesy cliché idiot by thanking her with ‘you’re awesome, and you’re the best friend I could possibly ever have’. It wasn’t her to be like that.

“Kim, don’t worry about it,” Ivy smiled. “Your welcome and I’m sure if our positions were swapped, then you’d help me out too.”

Kim smiled. “Of course,” she assured the teenager in front of her.

It came to her surprise when Kim realized how quickly Ivy had gained Kim’s friendship and trust in just a span of a month. It was insane, and it felt like Kim had known Ivy all her life.

“Kim, I’ll be back, I just need to check up on the food,” Ivy informed the blonde as she got up from the couch. “I can smell the fries burning already.”

Kim nodded. “Sure,” she said, and then Ivy left the room.

It wasn’t long until Kim realized she needed to take a trip to the bathroom. But as she got up from her seat, she realized she hadn’t asked Ivy where the bathroom was. The blonde cursed under her breath, suddenly regretting to not ask Ivy for a tour around the large house in the first place.

Kim made her way to the long corridor, and began opening every door she saw, until she found the bathroom. She passed by many bedrooms and spare rooms but not the toilets, and it wasn’t until the second last room that interested her.

As soon as Kim opened the door, she could sense something very weird – something wasn’t right. She could feel her heart beating faster and her hands beginning to get clammy as adrenaline pumped around her body. What she was doing now was an invasion of privacy, but right now, she didn’t care.

Kim walked into the dark room, leaving the door a jar open so a thin line of light could shine through. She figured, if she focused her eyes, she would be able to make out the objects.

The blonde took a step closer towards the rack of tools that were hung up on the wall. She stared at each of them carefully. There was a hammer on the top left, and a drill next to it. At first, everything seemed normal, but one thing that caught her attention was a long wooden stick she’d accidentally stepped on.

Kim reached down and picked up the stick off the ground. It was sticky, and slightly slippery. The blonde wiped her hands on the side of her pants before both of her hands were gripped around the stick again. She carefully examined it, shifting the object in the in the light.

The top of the object was sharp and made of metal. Kim could see it was covered up with a liquid that was already dried up. She stared at it for a moment, before it came to her. Was that… blood?

Suddenly, the lights flickered on. Kim immediately dropped the object at her feet, and jumped at the sight she saw. The object that was now on the floor in front of her was a blow poke, and was covered all over in blood. Her hands and pants were covered in blood, and then, it clicked. The lacerations from Rosie’s head matched the marks of a blow poke!

Kim suddenly felt her heart beating faster. All she wanted to do now was to scream, and run away from Ivy. She was the killer, a murderer – she was the one who murdered Rosie! But she couldn’t, because the person in front of her was Ivy, and she was holding a blow poke in her hands – the exact same one on the floor.

“You… you…” the blonde was lost for words.

“I had no choice, Kim,” Ivy said calmly. “You have to believe me.”

“Why should I now?” Kim spat. “I believed you before, and I feel so stupid for that. You were just using me all this time to look into Rosie’s death so you wouldn’t be pinned for the murder.”

“Listen to me, Kim,” Ivy begged. “I had no choice about Rosie. She became excessive baggage, and now, that’s the same for you. I’m sorry, Kim, I have no choice.”

Ivy slowly approached the blonde, holding the blow poke in her hands threateningly. Kim froze for a second, as her hands began to get clammier than before. Ivy was going to kill her!

Kim reached down to grab the blow poke she’d dropped before and flung it as hard as she could towards the figure approaching her. Luckily for her, the blow poke missed the dark haired teenager, and also distracted her. Immediately, Kim seized the chance, and began to run as fast as she could towards the door.

“I’m not crazy,” Ivy yelled after her. “I’m not! I’m not!”

Kim felt chills run down her spine, but she continued to run as fast as her legs could take her away from the house and into the empty streets, leaving nothing but a trail of bloody footprints behind her.