Halfway Gone

As soon as Kim stepped through the door after Nick, she immediately spotted a thin figure, dressed in a royal blue dress, with dark, curly long hair. The figure had her back facing the door as she gazed up at the old, rusted books on the shelves.

“Ivy,” Kim said as she closed the door behind her.

“I knew you’d follow me,” the figure turned around, with a gun in her hands and pointed it to the blonde’s heart. “After all, I needed you, hence that is reason why I came tonight. I did promise you that I’m going to have to get rid of you. And now,” Ivy pointed to gun at Nick, “that now includes Nick too. I’m not surprised that you told him what happened anyway.”

“Ivy! Please, don’t!” Kim begged, as she stared at the gun in Ivy’s hands. “Don’t shoot Nick for what I’ve done.”

Ivy shook her head. “I can’t do that,” she sighed. “Nick already knows too much.”

“How can you do this to us though, Ivy?” Kim asked out of the blue as she frowned. “I thought I could trust you. I thought of you like a best friend. You were there for me when I needed someone and you even helped me get over Rosie’s death.”

“It was all part of the plan,” Ivy explained as she continued to point the gun at the pair. “I’d been planning this for a while. I didn’t care if you benefited from this – getting over Rosie’s death or whatever. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that you were going to believe every word that came out of my mouth. So in order for that to happen, I had to gain your trust.”

For the blonde, it felt like something had hit her hard, in the heart. “So the anonymous phone call that was made to the Fowler’s household… how did you know about that?” her voice was shaky.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Nick said. “You made that anonymous phone call to the Fowlers. You’re the one who made those threatening phone calls to Kim, aren’t you?”

“It’s amazing what today’s technology can do for you, isn’t it?” Ivy smirked.

“And those notes with the death threats – you sent them!” Kim said. “But that note that was signed off by ‘C’...”

“My middle name is Corlissa,” Ivy answered. “Well looks like you two have both worked it out,” she praised as she slowly began to circle the room. Kim and Nick copied her actions, from across the room. “Well, now you two know the truth, it looks like I have no choice but to get rid of you.” She stopped, pointing the gun to Kim who’d also stopped. “You two are going to end up just like Rosie. I’ll shoot you in the head a few times – maybe one to the heart just to be sure. Then I’ll inject your body with whatever drugs I have in my bag. I’ll grab that fire hydrant by the door there and smash both your skulls in so part of your cranium will break off.” She cocked the gun and aimed. “Now you know who killed you.”

Kim froze on the spot. She literally could not move – she was going to die! Ivy was going to pull that trigger any second and all Kim was doing, was letting her. Kim scrunched her face, thinking of a way out of this. She needed a distraction!

“Why, Ivy?” Kim frowned. “Why murder Rosie? She never did anything to you.”

“Not all best friends tell each other everything,” Ivy explained. “Maybe that’s why you don’t know what happened. But I’ll tell you what happened when it all changed for me. Rosie’s father sued mine until my father and I were bankrupt. My father and I lost everything when Rosie’s father sued him over some business matter. My father had no choice but to give only company away to his rival, Rosie’s father. And now, that asshole owns three hundred of those jewelry stores around the world. That could be my father right now, doing that. But after what happened, my father took another path, and became a lawyer instead.”

“Your father couldn’t have opened that many stores to save his own life,” Nick spat.

“Watch your mouth, Nick,” Ivy warned, as she approached him and pushed the barrel of the gun against his head. “You’re lucky you’re not dead yet, and I can blow your head off, with just a pull of the trigger.”

“So that’s it?” Kim scoffed. Ivy was crazy, for sure! People usually don’t kill people over a business matters, right? “You killed Rosie because your family went into bankruptcy. What I don’t get, is why kill Rosie and not Mr Fowler?”

“Oh, no, I just didn’t kill Rosie over money,” Ivy corrected as she shook her head. “No, Rosie had someone that I didn’t have.” She stopped and faced Nick. “She had… you. Rosie had everything in the world I wanted – a nice house, a father and mother, a nice car, a good boyfriend and a great best friend. I had nothing. She was living the good life, but you know what they say about good things. They must all come to an end. So, I took that on board. I managed to lure her into an alley that night. When she came, I whacked her on the head with the blow poke, and threatened her with a gun and strangled her. I didn’t shoot her, but I hit her with the blow poke again, and again. She was still alive, but only by just. By then I knew she was going to die for sure, so I injected drugs into her system. I left the scene. I’m surprised she didn’t lie there waiting for death.” Ivy shook her head, turned the gun and aimed it at Kim. “You two know too much now. I think I’m going to enjoy this – killing you both.”

“Ivy, please,” Kim begged as tears began to form in her eyes.

Ivy raised the gun higher and pushed the barrel against Kim’s head. “This might hurt a little,” she smiled sinisterly.

“Rosie’s alive!” Kim shouted. It wasn’t true, but she hoped it was enough to distract Ivy.

Much to her luck, it did. Ivy looked at Kim, completely confused, and Kim seized the chance, and knocked the gun out of Ivy’s hand. The weapon fell onto the floor beneath them, and Kim lunged for it. She could feel Ivy behind her, trying to pull her back, but Kim managed to fight her off before reaching the gun. Once she had it in her hands and pointed it towards Ivy and Nick.

“Go back into that room,” Kim ordered as she continued to point the gun towards the pair.

“Kim, what are you do-”

“Shut it, Nick,” the blonde hissed. “Do as I say – both of you! Now!"

Before they knew it, the three of them were into the main room where the ball was being held, and everyone in the room was staring at them in panic and shock.

“Alright, Ivy,” Kim said as she loaded the gun and aimed at her. “You deserve this.”