Rule 42 - Koi

"Do you think this is a good time?" I followed behind Marisol, climbing into her golf cart despite not wanting to leave the park. I was supposed to be with Swayze and Domino, keeping her safe. Instead, Marisol was turning the key and speeding off back toward camp.

"Good as any. You"ve mentioned Elliott three times now. I didn"t want to believe you, but since you won"t shut the fuck up, I want proof. How did he die?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I don"t know. I think he was stabbed in the neck, maybe? I"m not sure how long he"s been there."

"How do you know it was him?"

"Marisol." Pity flooded me as her steel persona started to shake. "He"d been freshly dug up. I knew his face."

She drove us through camp right to the edge of the woods and parked.

"Take me to him," she demanded. I hesitated, staring at the trees behind her.

"What if this is a trap?" I asked.

She crossed her arms."What are you talking about?"

"There"s a killer on the loose and I"m starting trouble. If it"s you, this is the perfect time to kill me."

"And if it"s you, then this is the perfect time to kill me," she pointed out. "What if this was your plan all along? Lure me in with this sick story about the only person I"ve ever loved being dead and buried here, only to have a knife and shovel ready to go somewhere in there?" She paused and then smirked. "I guess the question is, do we trust each other?"

I didn"t trust her one bit, but I also didn"t think she was the killer. Marisol was too hotheaded. While she could have planned it out, their actual deaths would have shown more passion at the scene. I stood, opting to take her into the woods to see Elliott.

"When did you guys break up exactly?" I asked, trying to make some kind of conversation. I"d never been a fan of Marisol, even before Swayze made the dumb decision to sleep with her. I always hated going to their house because she would fawn all over us in a cringy, younger sister way. Every time she"d come down to talk with us, I was always reminded of her sister.

Four years ago

"Thanks, Lolita, these are great." Fabian snatched a cookie off the tray. I saw the Risky's housekeeper more than their actual mom and stepdad. Swayze and I leaned forward on the couch and grabbed a snack too.

"Are we playing?" I asked, waving my controller at the screen. This game had just come out this week and we"d been trying to get through it every day after school.

"Yeah, yeah." Fabian stuffed the cookie into his mouth and started the mission. We played for an hour, making good progress, when we heard the front door open and a girl started shouting. The three of us let out a collective groan.

"Well, that"s our cue." Swayze started to stand, but Fabian punched his shoulder, making him go back down.

"Fuck off, man. Just be quiet and she won"t know we"re in here," he whispered. We paused the game, muted the TV, and waited for his annoying little sister to walk through the house and go upstairs to her room. It was hit or miss with her. Sometimes she"d ignore us completely, other times she was strapped to our hips, begging for attention. It was sad, really, but also super fucking annoying.

"Who all is here? I saw Fabian"s car!" she screeched.

Lolita, don"t do it. Don"t do it.

"Your brother and his friends are in the den."

Fuck.

We groaned and swore as Marisol squealed and sprinted for us.

"Hey, guys!" She grinned when she bounced in.

"Hi," I said, as we all gave curt waves.

"Whatcha doin"?" She sat next to Swayze, as Fabian and I had taken single chairs. Swayze looked uncomfortable as fuck, which made my dark heart a little happy.

"Playing this game. Don"t you have homework or something to do?" Fabian growled. He hated her coming around just as much as we did. Not only was she annoying, but she was embarrassing too.

"Can I play?"

"No."

She frowned but didn"t leave. Instead, she reached for a cookie and relaxed further into Swayze"s side. The rest of the night was spent dodging her cringy flirting. She was only fifteen and still trying to find herself. While she was popular, it was only because of her wealth and not because of her personality. She didn"t date much.

"Are you going to homecoming?" she asked us in the kitchen, while we were taking another snack break. Swayze and I exchanged a look and laughed.

"No, we don"t do that shit anymore. We"re seniors this year."

Her face fell. "Oh, right. Well, what about the game? Do you have dates?"

Swayze and I froze. Where the fuck had Fabian gone off too? He said he"d be right back.

Swayze cleared his throat."Marisol, we don"t really date."

It was true. We barely fucked a pussy twice, let alone pretend to like the girl. We couldn"t do that to Fabian. He"d slaughter us.

"Oh, I thought you dated Leticia Deetz over the summer. She said you did." Her brown eyes swung to me, and I looked at the floor.

"That"s not dating, we just..."

"Sex? You just had sex?" She crossed her arms. "I knew it. Don"t look at me like that. I know what sex is."

"Have you..." Swayze asked, his face concerned. Anyone who was sleeping with Marisol wasn"t doing it for her winning personality. When she wasn"t being cringy, she was a spoiled bitch.

She lifted her hand, showing off a blue ring. "See this? My dad gave it to me when I was twelve. It"s a promise ring. I promised I"d save myself for the right person. Because I"m special."

Fabian came into the room and rolled his eyes at her."It's not really special if?—"

"Didn"t your sister have that same ring?" I blurted.

Their heads swung toward me. I"d remembered seeing that ring before. Domino, the youngest one, the runaway. She"d worn a similar ring.

"We don"t talk about her," Marisol snapped and stormed out of the room.

"What"s up with that, anyway?" Swayze asked Fabian, while the latter busied himself making a sandwich.

"Not much. She"s still gone, my dad"s still dead. Mom"s still nuts. It"s all the same around here." He clearly didn"t want to talk about it. Understandably so. He paused and raised an eyebrow. "Why, do you know anything?"

I forced myself not to look at Swayze. It"d be too obvious. We"d sworn we"d take it to the grave that we"d watched her leave.

"No, just what the news said." I shrugged.

Fabian relaxed. "You know, I always thought she"d get better after Domino left. She was always jealous of her. My mom too. They made her life miserable. But fuck, it feels like Marisol"s just gotten worse."

"It might also be your mom marrying so fast," I offered. "That"s always hard."

My dad had pulled that bullshit. He left my mom and was married within a week of the official divorce. Fabian"s mom"s second marriage wasn"t all that far off. It was barely a year after Mr. Risky"s death that she remarried.

"Yeah, it was probably a mix of both. Although Uncle Carlos does take her on trips and stuff to make her feel special. Being the only girl now and all."

"It"s here." I put my arm out to stop Marisol from going further. The smell of rotting flesh flooded our noses.

"Oh my god." She gagged.

"Well, it"s summer, so the heat probably isn"t helping. Cover your nose," I warned, pulling my shirt over my face. I reached for her, taking her hand. Despite being soft from having an easy job, it felt like sandpaper compared to Domino"s soft hands. "It"s just under that tree."

Slowly, we made our way over. The air around us was hot and stuffy. Animals scurried away and birds cawed loudly over us. Marisol let out a sharp cry as the body came into clearer view. Her body shook as she finally took another step, and then another, and then when we got closer, it was my time to be surprised.

A chill went over my spine.

Someone had put a Jason mask on his face.

"Is this some sort of sick joke?" Marisol snapped.

I bent down, taking the mask off and revealing an even more decayed Elliott Spencer. Marisol cried out again and began to sob loudly, but I was deaf to her outpour of emotion. All I could focus on was the back of the mask. Whoever had placed it there had written something inside.

Good Luck!