Always?

Chapter 18

Alice had unfortunately lost many rounds of rock, paper, scissors, which they had been playing to see who would be doing the task. And considering she had lost the most, which was every single game she had played, she had the most unpleasant job of babysitting Cai. She had hoped that she would put him in a corner, and she could stay holed up in her room, catching up on some documentaries she had been slacking behind in, but then Oliver had made it very clear that Cai had to stay in her line of sight, so unless she wanted him in her bedroom, the two would need to be out in the living room. Not to mention, Alec being an obnoxious brother, and already yelling that Cai was not allowed in his sister’s bedroom at all.

Of course, Oliver would say that; he wasn’t the one who had to deal with Cai for the rest of the day, on his own. He was with Atlas somewhere; she had heard him complaining about something to do with where it was they had to go an hour ago, but she had learned that whenever Oliver started to complain, she could tune him out. She had texted Max earlier, hoping he would come over and give her some company, but he responded an hour later. He was working as a self-employed artist, and someone had commissioned some work from him, and he was on a deadline, so he had barely left his room, drawing away. But despite the workload, Max seemed to be enjoying himself, so she didn’t want to bother him. Plus, if Alec found out she had dragged Max over, he would have a fit. Helios was at work, and Alec and Matt had left to work the job they had been given by Enma, considering they didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter.

Amber hadn’t left her room since they got back from Atlas’ apartment, early morning, and when Alice had tried to talk to her, Amber had shut her down, asking to be left alone. She had gone into her bedroom and hadn’t come out since. Ani, on the other hand, was already in the lounge room, but she was wearing her headphones and colouring; she had brought out a couple of colouring books and was minding her own business. Her polite way of telling everyone to leave her the f**k alone, and that she, too, wished to be left alone, without having to be physically alone.

It would explain why Alice was sitting on the couch, eating ice cream straight from the tub, glaring at Cai, who was flipping through one of Amber’s books on crystals that he had been fascinated by, and she had let him read through it. If it wasn’t for him, she could have been cosied away in her room, watching her documentaries in the dark.

Alice groaned. She stood up, finally putting the ice cream away. She made herself a hot drink, grabbed some snacks, and decided even if she couldn’t be alone, in peace watching her documentaries, who knew when the next time she would get the whole day to herself, so she would make the most of it by watching them now. Even though it wasn’t as quiet as she usually enjoyed, as she could hear Cai’s tik-toks and Ani’s music, although quiet, she would tune them out and watch her show, and have a good time, as good a time as anyone could have when watching documentaries on familial killings.

She set everything up on the table, closing the blackout curtains. She turned to stare at Ani, who only turned the lamp on beside her but said nothing else. Alice took that as a win, as she grabbed the remote from the coffee table, pulled open the streaming service, before scrolling through her long watch list, before finding one that piqued her interest enough, and she hit play, getting comfortable, pillow on her lap so she could lean forward to get some snacks without it being too much of a hassle. She adjusted the blanket a little, a small smile on her face. This was the dream.

What she hadn’t expected was for Cai’s head to snap up at the mention of the case the documentary was covering, and he watched with interest. Eventually, he turned his phone off, giving the television his full attention.

The two watched in silence for twenty minutes before Cai asked. “Do you think this case has something to do with the one in Georgia, 2002?”

Alice's eyebrows shot up, surprise etched on her face as she turned to stare at Cai, a crisp left hanging in the air. She paused the television, turning to stare at him. “The one with the family suicide/murder? The Hendriksons?”

“Yeah. It seems to be eerily similar, don’t you think? Father murders wife in bed, then the son in the daughter’s bedroom, the daughter in the backyard, before killing himself in his study? They were even killed the same way, throat sliced. Didn’t the narrator also mention that there were hesitation marks on the daughter’s throat, but none on the wife and son? Same as the Hendriksons.”

Alice had never put the two together; how could she not have put the two together? When spelt out like this, it was so obvious they were similar. Eerily so. “Maybe the Matthews took inspiration?”

Cai nodded. “Copycat?”

“When you put it like that, doesn’t it seem to be the most obvious?” she wondered. “The Matthews suicide/murder took place in Atlanta, 2010, exactly ten years later. In the same way, I assume the father was most likely a crime buff, and decided that to honour the Hendrikson, by doing something similar.”

“Or,” Cai said, shrugging. “There’s a really good serial killer out there, who only strikes every ten years.”

Now, though that thought was definitely interesting, the chances of it being true were slim. A whole ten years had passed, a lot happened in people's lives in a decade, they aged for one, and the violence shown at the original crime scene was one of pure horror. Detectives had said they had never seen that much blood in their lives, even seasoned detectives had been left unsettled by the case. And, there had been no family suicide/murder in 2022, so being active every ten years did not seem to be the case. Alice waved her hand, “Too far-fetched, and unrealistic. Plus, there was no family suicide/murder in 2022.”

“Do you know about the Diaz case in New York? In 2015?” Cai asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he adjusted himself on the sofa, turning to give her his full attention.

The documentary had long been abandoned, and instead, Alice was essentially showing off her knowledge within such a niche category, of familial suicide/murders, and crimes committed by close family relatives and for once, she wasn’t treated like the freak. In fact, Cai seemed to know just as much about the topic as she did. The two talked and talked, from the most prolific cases that had been covered nationwide, to even ones happening in small towns oh so long ago. She didn’t realise just how much time had passed until Ani called their attention, having made dinner.

Alice’s mouth dropped open, she hadn’t realised they had practically spent the entire day talking about murder cases and crime in general, and she looked at Cai, who winced a little as he stood up, making his way over to the kitchen to grab some food. So, he wasn’t as bad as she had initially thought him to be, fine. But she still didn’t trust him.

She knew why she was fixated on the crime committed by close family members, but what was his reason? Morbid curiosity? Or was there something more going on? Something that, perhaps, he did not want them finding out?

Whatever it was, she would get to the bottom of it.

~*~