In Memory of Reed Fray

Five

Tori Garcia had ranted for almost an hour and yes, it was an achievement on her part. She had never been this angry. Okay, maybe once. That was when Skylar Fray had humiliated her. And right now, she was just as angry and the same guy was causing it. Maybe this guy was made to just piss her off.

“So it was a bad idea,” Sky muttered, “And you made sure I knew it was a bad idea by crashing your car on my bike. Now, can you please just shut up?”

Tori slammed her hands on the window sill. In all honesty, Sky had no idea why he even bothered to listen to her rant but when he was about to shut his window tight, he knew all hell would break lose, and he didn’t really want a knife to pass through his window. Tori narrowed her eyes at him.

“Look, Skylar, if you want to figure out who killed your brother, you have to play nice to Viola,” she said, glaring at him, “And grabbing her and locking the two of you in the janitor’s closet isn’t playing nice!”

“What, you want me to do that to you too?” he asked in irritation, she had repeated that line over and over again as if rubbing in his face how stupid he was. But when he noticed a faint blush creeping on her tan skin, he smirked, “Do you?”

“Shut up,” she mumbled.

He chuckled, amused, “Now, what do you think would be a better idea? Inviting her to dinner?”

She scoffed, “At least it’s a much better idea than yours!”

Before Sky could retort, her phone started ringing and both of them turned to the direction of the noise, “Who’s calling?”

“It’s Viola.”

“Answer it!”

“Hey Viola!” Tori said, enthusiasm coating her voice, “Of course I knew it was you. Caller ID, girly,” she was quiet for a moment and then glanced at Sky, “Oh, you know, I was just doing homework.”

Sky sniggered, “Scheming, more likely.”

“Shut up,” Tori mouthed, “Oh no, I don’t have someone over most especially a guy. Staying over? Viola, of course I don’t mind! Alright I’ll pick you up. See you in fifteen, girl.”

Sky looked at her, “Well?”

“She’ll be staying over.”

He pumped his fist in the air, “Good then we can ask her questions.”

Tori narrowed her eyes at him, “Which part of earning her trust don’t you understand? Look, I have to pick her up.”

“How can you do that when you don’t have a car?” he asked with a smirk. Tori stopped and groaned. Her car had been taken to the shop since in her anger at Skylar for what he did to Viola, she had crashed it on his bike when she arrived home, “I’ll be your chauffeur.”

Her eyes narrowed into slits, “How do I know you’re gonna behave?”

“Our goal is to earn her trust right?” he asked, the smirk seemingly permanent on his face, “Now head downstairs and get in my car, capiche?”

Viola packed her things in her bag. She didn’t really want to crash in with the Garcias but she was kind of freaked out to stay here alone, “Don’t worry sweetheart, we’ll be back before you know it.”

She looked up at her foster mother, Barbara Rose, who she had grown to know as her godmother, “Before I could even bat an eyelash?”

The older woman chuckled and touched her cheek. Viola looked so much like her mother. Same blue eyes, same shade of brown hair. If you ask her, she looked nothing like Paul though he used to say otherwise. Barbara felt the familiar pity for Viola. Poor child didn’t deserve to be robbed of a mother at the age of 12 and she didn’t deserve to lose her only family too.

She walked over to her and kissed her forehead, “Yes sweetheart, before then.”

At that exact moment, she heard her husband Pete give a holler and both Viola and her rush downstairs to meet Viola’s friend, Tori. It’s nice to know that the girl finally let herself have friends. She used to be so scared of being attached to anyone, for fear of losing them. Barbara thought that with Reed Fray’s death, she would succumb to another depression.

“Hi kids!” Pete greeted when he opened the door but he flinched and stepped back, expression confused and scared.

Barbara took a peak at what scared her husband and was surprised to see a familiar dark haired boy with startling grey eyes, “Skylar Fray?”

“Good evening, Mrs. Rose. It’s nice to see you again. Is Nate around?” Skylar asked with a smile.

Pete looked at Barbara confused, “Skylar used to help Nate with his pool business. And Nate’s in college, Skylar. He usually comes home during Thanksgiving. But I hope you received the card he sent on Reed’s funeral?”

Skylar nodded solemnly but before he could say anything, Viola beat him to it, “What are you doing here?”

“Ahm, I kind of needed a ride to pick you up,” Tori said timidly. The young Filipina looked uncomfortable beside Skylar.

Viola groaned and rubbed her temples. The last thing she needed was a ride from Skylar Fray. After their second encounter, she had grown weary around him, waiting for him to strike. She knew he wanted something from her, information about Reed’s death most likely, but she didn’t have that. Like him, she was confused too.

“Quit fiddling with the radio!” Tori hissed. They were already in Skylar’s car and five minutes in the ride, no one dared to speak. That is, until Skylar started fiddling with the radio.

“Hey it’s my car!” Skylar whined, slapping her hand away from the radio, “And I hate driving in silence.”

“We didn’t have background music while driving to her place!”

“That’s because you were yapping so much!” Skylar retorted.

Viola watched them in the backseat and sighed. They weren’t even halfway to Tori’s place. She had to endure fifteen minutes of their bickering. If the situation was different, if Viola didn’t have a troubled past, if Reed wasn’t murdered, it would’ve been one of those normal teenager moments; two of her best friends bickering when they could just be together and her and boyfriend watching in amusement. But of course, in Viola’s world, that wasn’t it. Skylar and Tori weren’t her best friends and her could be boyfriend was murdered.

“Lunch in the library? That’s pretty cliché,” Reed Fray stated, pulling up a seat and smiling at her.

Viola closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, “What are you doing here?”

“Eating lunch with you,” he answered and then pulled out a sandwich from a brown bag and opened it.

“What part of staying away from me don’t you understand, Reed?”

He sighed, placed his sandwich down and rubbed his hands together and regarded Viola evenly, “What is wrong with you, Viola? I don’t understand why you keep closing yourself off to people. Not everyone is gonna hurt you. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

She turned to look away from him, “I’m not running away from people because they hurt me.”

“Then what are you so afraid of?”

She regretted the moment she turned to look at him. When their eyes connected, she could see it. The concern, the worry, flashing in there like he really cared. The last time she saw that, the last man she knew who cared for her had a knife driven to his heart. Then she blacked out and the next time she woke up, she was being accused of killing her own father.

She gasped, the memories starting to overwhelm her at an alarming rate. The letters the killer kept sending, the warnings. He had given her a head start but she didn’t take it seriously, she thought it was all a joke until he broke in their house and killer her Dad.

“You look just like her,” the killer had whispered before he pushed her down hard and her head hit the floor, causing her to bleed, “Or maybe you are her. My sweet Elena.”

“Viola?” Reed’s voice snapped her back to reality. He moved closer to her, “Are you okay? Hey what’s wrong?”

Viola gripped the table as tears fell freely from her eyes. She could hear the court trial, they didn’t even let her attend her own father’s funeral, it was unfair. They accused her of something she didn’t even do. And when she was pleaded not guilty, it was too late. She had succumb into depression.

“Viola!”

Her eyes snapped towards him and he stared at her confused. He wrapped her arms around her and she started thrashing. Even when the librarian came to the scene, she couldn’t even do anything. Viola was being attacked by something that lived within her, the memory that hurt so badly, that ended up breaking her.

“Hey Viola, shh,” Reed whispered, when she stopped thrashing and just sobbed in his arms, “It’s okay. You’re okay now. It’s fine.”

“I didn’t kill him,” she moaned.

“I know,” he whispered, “You didn’t kill anyone. They have it all wrong.”

“Please believe me,” she whispered, blue eyes looking up and meeting his grey ones.

He smiled and kissed her forehead, “I believe you.”

“Vi, wake up!”

Viola’s eyes fluttered open and she was met by the curious stare of Tori. The Filipina looked at her cautiously, “Are you okay?”

Viola nodded meekly, “Yea. Are we here?”

“Yes, sleeping beauty, for about five minutes,” Skylar said, looking at her with narrowed eyes. For a moment, she was startled by him but then she realized that he wasn’t Reed.

“Sorry,” she mumbled and got out of his car, taking her bag with her and heading up to Tori’s house.

“My parents are already asleep but they know you’re sleeping over,” Tori stated as they climbed her stairs, Skylar following them. Tori stopped and looked at him, “And why are you still here?”

“I didn’t get a thank you,” he said, a cocky smile finding its way on his lips.

Tori rolled her eyes, “Thank you. Now leave.”

Viola heard Skylar mumble something like ‘ungrateful b***h who thrashed my bike’ but when she turned to Tori who just shrugged and giggled, “I’m sure you don’t mind sharing a bed? We don’t really have a guest room and it seems rude to let you sleep on the floor or couch.”

As both of them prepared to bed, Tori seemed unsure whether to ask Viola why she was close to crying earlier when she fell asleep in the car. Skylar and her were freaked out, he wanted to slap her awake but she stopped him. They couldn’t get much information from an awake Viola, maybe an asleep one could. But all they got were snippets.

“Viola?” she finally asked when they were both situated in bed and basking in the dark, “Earlier when you were asleep, you were close to crying. And you kept saying that you didn’t kill him,” Tori whispered quietly, “Is something wrong, Viola?”

If she could just answer the question with full on honesty, she would’ve told her the truth, “Just bad dreams, Tori. Don’t sweat about it.”

It was quiet for a moment but Viola felt Tori turn and she could feel her eyes on her, “You know I’m your friend right?”

“Sure,” Viola lied. It’s not that she didn’t want Tori as a friend. In another life, in normal circumstances, Tori would’ve made an awesome best friend. But in Viola’s? It would be like she’s signing her own death. Because with the note and all, Viola was one hundred percent sure that everyone lied to her. The killer wasn’t dead. And he might have killed Reed.