Page 71 of Wicked Deceit
From: [email protected]
Kaycee,
It’s been so long. Everywhere I look is dark and scary. Isn’t death supposed to be peaceful and nice? Isn’t heaven supposed to have lights and angels? I wish I had been there with you. But I’m not. And I know you’ve been looking into things you shouldn’t have...things that’ll get you killed. I have one last piece of evidence for you to see. It’s the answers to your burning questions.
CLICKthe link and find out.
Love you,
Magnolia xoxoxo
P.S. I’ll see you soon!
Tears spill over the brim of my eyes, run down my cheeks and fall on my computer desk. This isn’t possible. Not at all. And I know it. There’s no way she’s sending me emails from the grave. No. Way. In. Hell. This has to be a play to get at me or another form of bullying.
I should get Chase and show him—make him see what I’m seeing so I know I'm not going crazy. But my finger has other ideas, clicking the link provided. I need to see what they sent me for myself first.
The sound of waves rushes through the speakers, drowning out any other sounds. The camera pans, showing a shoreline I don't recognize, and creeps alongside a sizable white vessel—a yacht. My heart drops into my ass when muffled music blasts from the ship.
A darkened skyline sits over the large yacht. Stars dot the sky, twinkling down on the party, raging as shadowed figures dance and grind on the large deck up top, tangling with laser lights beaming on them. They laugh and drunkenly sing with muffled words.
Some figures stumble in the shadows, never revealing their faces. Only one face is visible through the darkness on the deck below. A spotlight seems to shine down on her dopey-looking face. She smiles at the woman beside her, staring at her like she hung the stars in the sky, caressing her cheek. Her fingers rest in the girl’s long brown hair, and she leans in, sharing a torrid kiss that would make nuns blush and quiver.
“Hell yes, here it goes!” A familiar male voice whispers from behind the camera. I sit rigidly in my chair when it registers whose voice continues to speak. I’m helplessly stuck staring as the camera jostles, zooming in on the kissing pair. Trent, the cameraman, mumbles a few words behind the lens, but I don’t know what he says. I lean in, wishing I could make out his words, hoping it would give me more clues about what will happen.
Like a train wreck exploding in front of me, I can’t take my eyes off her. A slow, sad smile spreads across my lips, tears burning tracks down my face. There she is, Magnolia in the flesh. Forever immortalized in video form, loving life and kissing the woman she pledged to spend her life with. They envisioned college together and coming out together. Their future was brighter than the damn stars sparkling above them and illuminating them in their essence. For as long as I live, I’ll replay this moment repeatedly to remember what she had while she was away. She may have succumbed to an awful fate. But this right here? It’s special.
Magnolia's curly auburn hair blows in the wild wind. The beautiful party dress wraps around her body like a glove, displaying the curves she always hid beneath her t-shirts and jeans. The most beautiful and serene smile spreads across her face as she stares into Ainsley’s crystal blue eyes, emanating her love for her. Their lips collide again in a heated kiss with wandering hands, grabbing for anything they can get ahold of. They claw at one another, groping and pressing their bodies together with such passion that I squirm in my seat. The love they shared was something truly out of a fairytale and made for them. If only they had gotten their happily ever after in a palace made for them.
“I’ll meet you downstairs?” Ainsley’s muffled voice asks her, staring intensely into Magnolia’s eyes.
Magnolia nods with that dopey, love-sick grin, taking in Ainsley. “Of course. I’ll meet you down there in a minute. Thank you, babe, for keeping me safe tonight, for having me here. This has been the best night in a long time,” Magnolia says with sincerity, meaning every word she spoke.
“Anything for you,” Ainsley replies in a soft voice, running the tips of her fingers down Magnolia’s jaw. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. After this is all over, we'll be free.”
“Freedom,” Magnolia smiles, leaning in for one more sweet kiss before parting ways.
“I love you, Maggie,” Ainsley whispers again. “To the moon and back.”
“Forever and ever, to infinity. I love you, too,” Magnolia whispers.
Ainsley walks away, peering over her shoulder one last time. Her eyelashes flutter, and she blows Magnolia one last kiss before disappearing into the yacht's cabin with a coy smile. Leaving Magnolia alone on the darkened deck where she stands, she looks over the water, grinning in contemplation. There she was, happy for once in her life. Not like she hadn’t been before, but she had finally found that one person who completed her. I run my hand over my aching heart, thinking about all the pieces in my life. They leave me with the same butterflies in my stomach, kisses that complete me, and a meaning to walk this earth. She had that with Ainsley, too. She was her missing piece, the one person who didn’t judge her for who she was.
Movement catches my eye on the screen, like a shadow moving through the darkness, sneaking up behind my best friend—a gleam beams off the sharp edge of something in the shadow’s hand.
“No,” I croak in desperation, reaching for the screen, hoping I can reach right through and grab Magnolia before her life ends. But I’m only met with the distorted image when my fist connects with the monitor, sending shockwaves of color over Magnolia’s tortured face.
Magnolia’s beautiful face contorts in pain. Deep anguish and betrayal pour out of her face through a silent scream from her open mouth, quickly covered by a black-gloved hand. Blood rushes as the person repeatedly stabs in different areas of Maggie’s body, using her like a pin cushion. The offender uses every ounce of effort, grunting when the knife slices through her flesh like butter. Whoever they are, they stay behind her, stuck in the shadows, grunting their rage into Magnolia’s body. I cry out when the unique knife in their hand reflects the laser lights from high above, dangling in the air before stabbing once again in Magnolia’s chest. She gasps, begging with her eyes for anyone to notice she’s being murdered in front of hundreds of people. But no one cares. No one sees what’s happening right under their noses. They simply dance and sway, drinking the night away without a care in the world. But why would they care? They tortured her for months on end without remorse. Simply doing what they were told through text message. So, why would they look down from the upper deck and call out someone’s being murdered when they could turn a blind eye and dance.
“God, no,” I shriek again, covering my mouth with my hand. Desperate sobs leak through my fingers, and the screen turns fuzzy from the tears blurring my eyes and falling down my cheeks.
Her attacker reaches her arm around, slicing through her wrists with a manic giggle bubbling from their throat. My heart turns to ice when my distorted mind goes back to the memories of the car crash. That horrible fucking laugh. It’s the same one that danced around my aching body, singing of my death.
The attacker's face lights up with glee as she finally comes into the light, and the camera focuses on her laughing form—blonde hair, blue eyes, and jumping with joy at her carnage with golf claps. Blood soaks through her black clothes, splatters line her face, and she smiles, licking her lips in pure ecstasy at what she had done. No remorse lines her smile when she looks directly into the camera and giggles again, giving a thumbs up.
Magnolia’s stricken face says it all as she’s pushed over the railing, splashing into the water, barely registering over the sound of the party raging behind her. Screams of laughter, dancing, and drinking continue around the evil standing on the deck below, laughing maniacally at the carnage she caused. I peel my eyes away, heaving frantic breaths. The camera never pans back to Magnolia’s body falling into the restless sea. It simply fades to black with the sound of the waves eating a body and crashing onto the shore. Through quivery lips and shaking fingers, I exit the video, vowing to burn it, and never look at it again. Whoever sent this did so to taunt me. Or—
“It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?” A cool metal sits against my neck, nicking at my skin. It burns as the edges slice, parting my flesh like butter. Warm blood trickles down towards my clavicle, pooling in the crease.
