I turn to look at my childhood best friend/detective with a grin almost inhuman-like. He stared at me in disbelief as if what he was seeing couldn't be true: he wiped his hand over his eyes to make sure what he was seeing wasn't because of his exhaustion. His face and clothes are covered in dirt with bloody chunks of human remains, like a pig that has played in the mud. Well, if that mud had a mix of shredded intestines and blood. "Altas" I speak, walking in slow steps. I see the way his body flinches with the way his name slips out my mouth as if he's repulsed just by my voice. My steps are hard against the wooden floor the silence is loud all that can be heard are the owls, the howling wind, and the swaying trees. it doesn't take me long to close the distance between him and I, when I reach him, his eyes are filled with fear. I can't help but laugh, "no need to be scared, after all, I have no desire to harm you," I say placing my hand on his arm.
I feel him stiffen, his eyes darting to look at me. "y-you killed them" he staggered out as if he was saying a fact rather than a question. I smiled, wiping away the dirt and blood off his face with my hand, to be honest, it just looked like I was rubbing it in. "I don't know what you mean," I say, focusing on him as I continue my efforts to clean his face. "you know what I mean," his voice breaks. "Elias, you killed them. you killed Tiff, Reggie, Tony, and Olivia. ALL OF THEM" he said his voice shaking with anger. "so what". his eyes widen, staring at me like a stranger. "you said you would help me,". I stare at him. "you asked me to help you find who the killer was. Right? Did I not show you who the killer was?" I say my voice turning cold. "why? Why couldn't you just turn yourself in, you didn't have to kill them just to show me" he said pulling my hand off his face. "you act as if you didn't know who it was from the beginning but I'm pretty sure you noticed the X's on the victim's bodies to be mine. it was always our little game. I would mark the location with red paint and you would find the treasure,". "you're wrong,". He said his eyes avoiding my eyes, I grabbed his jaw forcing his face up. "look at me" I said, his eyes shifted back to me. "you knew but you didn't want to believe it. Tiffy was trying to tell you from the moment we got into the car to come to this cabin." I say smiling. his mouth is open to rebut but I speak over him. "you knew, don't deny. I want to know why you didn't say anything" I say letting go of his face. his face turned with disgust and hatred, I stepped back involuntarily, and I felt a chill up my spine, he never looked at me like that. "fuck you, why must you make everything so difficult. you murdered them how can I fix everything how can I make sure nothing happens to you if you do things like this." Altas roared, his eyes wide and body shaking. he grabbed my wrist pulling me towards the exit of the cabin. "get the fuck in the car Elias". I heard him but I couldn't move my body felt like it was splash with cold water. "huh" is all I could say as I was being pushed into the car we came here with. "what are you doing?" I asked turning my head. "I'm getting you out of here, I won't be able to leave with the car cause of the cameras on the road. so I'll leave you as close to the road as I can." Altia says as he hands me an oversized jacket to cover my blood-stained clothes. "Here take this bag, it has fresh clothes, and use your card to pay for a room at a hotel just make sure your far from this place. I did not inform my Boss that you would be coming so I don't have to worry about that" I stop the car and look at him, "when im done here I want you to meet me at my apartment" he says. I open the door before I step out in turn to him. "what about you being the only one alive and uninjured?" I asked looking at him with worry. my eyes widen as I watched him take a knife out and wipe his fingerprints off it and hand it to me, he turned his back to me. "stab me, somewhere I wouldn't be able to reach" he said calmly as if it was no big deal.Â