[Amaryllis Peszek-Byrne continued from A Girl's Feelings]
Stumbling through the dark forest, flashlight in hand, careful not to stumble on the roots underfoot, Amaryllis followed Lily toward the source of the scream. It took them out of the trees, back toward the bend. Lily was the first one to see her. A person shaped depression in the world.
Amaryllis was the first one to see the other, hobbling down the road.
She dropped her flashlight in the snow and brandished the lacrosse stick, net side pointed down at the ground. Without thinking, she charged the shadowy figure, who made to run but stopped and doubled over abruptly to catch their breath.
This gave Amaryllis what she needed to catch up. She took the aluminum shaft of the lacrosse stick against the brittle night air, aimed for the half-illuminated shadow, and swung, screaming.
Puppet Girl
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- As Janice took some more breaths and felt the pain in her nose and chest area, she could hear the footsteps from behind.
She had to keep on running.
But before she was ready to take another step, a stick had been swung against the back of her head.
"OUCH!," she exclaimed before covering the impact location with her hands, flashlight still in one of them. She turned around to see who the person was who caught up with her. It was Amaryllis, she knew her from track team which explained why she managed to catch up so quickly. Well, Amaryllis also probably didn't get kicked in the ribs, so that helped her too.
"Self-defense. It was self-defense. Piper attacked me."
That was all she had breaths for.
She had to keep on running.
But before she was ready to take another step, a stick had been swung against the back of her head.
"OUCH!," she exclaimed before covering the impact location with her hands, flashlight still in one of them. She turned around to see who the person was who caught up with her. It was Amaryllis, she knew her from track team which explained why she managed to catch up so quickly. Well, Amaryllis also probably didn't get kicked in the ribs, so that helped her too.
"Self-defense. It was self-defense. Piper attacked me."
That was all she had breaths for.
Lillian didn't want to believe what her eyes were seeing.
She wondered if it was a figment of her imagination, a delirium induced by several hours of non-stop searching, travelling up and down that lonely road with Amaryllis looking for their lost companion. They were considering heading back to Dickie's camp when they heard the scream, ignoring their exhaustion and pressing on through sheer adrenaline alone.
It wasn't as if it would've been the first dead body she had ever seen. She remembered coming across some grisly sights whenever she let her curiosity guide her hand, researching serial killers and other macabre subjects on the internet. And then there was her grandmother's funeral, the casket left open for all to see her silent embalmed body.
Liya however had not been subject to a mortician's careful work, her face a ghostly grey and her expression stuck in a twisted grimace. Lily reached out to feel her wrist, testing for her pulse despite knowing full well that there wasn't going to be one, especially with the ghastly neck wound her lost companion was sporting.
Liya was gone.
It took Lillian every ounce of willpower she had to remain calm, to not cry out in anger at the stranger they had come across. It would've been easy to cave in at that moment, to listen to that primal voice that demanded instant gratification. The same voice that made people send enraged death threats on social media, or lead to cuckolded partners to crimes of passion.
But, there was also another voice. The one that reminded her that there was still much she didn't know about the situation, that questioned how long Liya had been left here, that was still pondering if that voice they heard was really Liya's or someone else's? There were just too many unknowns for her to jump to conclusions, no matter how much she wanted to avenge Liya right there and then.
Amaryllis however was not so hesitant, charging ahead screaming like an Amazonian warrior.
"Amaryllis, WAIT!" she cried out, scrambling to her feet and following suit. She watched as Amaryllis ran the stranger down and cracked her across the head with her lacrosse stick, causing them to stumble before gasping pleads of mercy. She vaguely recognised her voice as Janice's, her claims of self-defence not filling Lily with much hope for her innocence, until she mentioned a name that made Lily pause for thought. Piper? What the hell did she have anything to do with...
It was at that point that Lillian tripped, falling flat on her chest.
At first she thought she had fallen over a tree root, shining her light behind her as she rolled onto her back.
But then she saw that it was someone's leg she had tripped over. After which, she guided her light up before it shone upon Piper's face.
Lillian had seen a hundred horror movies, and never screamed once during any of them. She did however let out a startled gasp as she scrambled away from the body, her face as white as a sheet.
She wondered if it was a figment of her imagination, a delirium induced by several hours of non-stop searching, travelling up and down that lonely road with Amaryllis looking for their lost companion. They were considering heading back to Dickie's camp when they heard the scream, ignoring their exhaustion and pressing on through sheer adrenaline alone.
It wasn't as if it would've been the first dead body she had ever seen. She remembered coming across some grisly sights whenever she let her curiosity guide her hand, researching serial killers and other macabre subjects on the internet. And then there was her grandmother's funeral, the casket left open for all to see her silent embalmed body.
Liya however had not been subject to a mortician's careful work, her face a ghostly grey and her expression stuck in a twisted grimace. Lily reached out to feel her wrist, testing for her pulse despite knowing full well that there wasn't going to be one, especially with the ghastly neck wound her lost companion was sporting.
Liya was gone.
It took Lillian every ounce of willpower she had to remain calm, to not cry out in anger at the stranger they had come across. It would've been easy to cave in at that moment, to listen to that primal voice that demanded instant gratification. The same voice that made people send enraged death threats on social media, or lead to cuckolded partners to crimes of passion.
But, there was also another voice. The one that reminded her that there was still much she didn't know about the situation, that questioned how long Liya had been left here, that was still pondering if that voice they heard was really Liya's or someone else's? There were just too many unknowns for her to jump to conclusions, no matter how much she wanted to avenge Liya right there and then.
Amaryllis however was not so hesitant, charging ahead screaming like an Amazonian warrior.
"Amaryllis, WAIT!" she cried out, scrambling to her feet and following suit. She watched as Amaryllis ran the stranger down and cracked her across the head with her lacrosse stick, causing them to stumble before gasping pleads of mercy. She vaguely recognised her voice as Janice's, her claims of self-defence not filling Lily with much hope for her innocence, until she mentioned a name that made Lily pause for thought. Piper? What the hell did she have anything to do with...
It was at that point that Lillian tripped, falling flat on her chest.
At first she thought she had fallen over a tree root, shining her light behind her as she rolled onto her back.
But then she saw that it was someone's leg she had tripped over. After which, she guided her light up before it shone upon Piper's face.
Lillian had seen a hundred horror movies, and never screamed once during any of them. She did however let out a startled gasp as she scrambled away from the body, her face as white as a sheet.
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A bubbling, foaming cauldron of hot bile was Amaryllis' stomach. Shaky were her arms, ragged was her breath, and red was everything she could see. Janice stumbled, and hollered in pain, but she did not go down. Amaryllis was ready to swing again. She felt like the lacrosse stick, as flimsy and weak as it was, was a part of her, that her body was a fulcrum for its swinging, and striking.
Then Janice spoke an unfamiliar name and the spell was broken.
"Piper?" Amaryllis asked. Behind her, Lily gasped. Amaryllis had not heard her call, but this was different. Amaryllis glanced over her shoulder; there was a second body in the snow, one she couldn't entirely recognize from this angle. Quickly she turned her gaze back toward Janice, still reeling from the blow. Amaryllis took a hand off of the stick to wipe away the tears steaming with fury at the corners of her eyes.
The thought briefly crossed Amaryllis' mind to try and fit Janice's head in the net of the lacrosse stick. She spoke instead, holding it aloft, ready to strike at any sudden move.
"Tell me what the fuck went on here, right now," Amaryllis said. "How the fuck do you expect me to believe that you didn't kill Liya?"
Then Janice spoke an unfamiliar name and the spell was broken.
"Piper?" Amaryllis asked. Behind her, Lily gasped. Amaryllis had not heard her call, but this was different. Amaryllis glanced over her shoulder; there was a second body in the snow, one she couldn't entirely recognize from this angle. Quickly she turned her gaze back toward Janice, still reeling from the blow. Amaryllis took a hand off of the stick to wipe away the tears steaming with fury at the corners of her eyes.
The thought briefly crossed Amaryllis' mind to try and fit Janice's head in the net of the lacrosse stick. She spoke instead, holding it aloft, ready to strike at any sudden move.
"Tell me what the fuck went on here, right now," Amaryllis said. "How the fuck do you expect me to believe that you didn't kill Liya?"
Janice killed two people and was accused to have murdered someone she didn‘t even know was dead. That left her speechless for a bit.
„I...Liya?“
Then she made the connection.
„That person over there was Liya?“
Janice put her right hand on her chest and swore:
„I swear to God...“
Looking in the direction of Lillian. She was a satanist, rigt?
„...or in your case, Satan, that I did not kill Liya. Please don‘t hurt me, you‘ve got the wrong person.“
But how could she prove it beyond words? She recalls Piper having been close to the body, Janice herself hasn‘t seen it herself yet.
„You can look at the footsteps. You can take a look at my shoes. I didn‘t come close to the person over there. Piper did, she probably murdered Liya...that murderous bitch.
„Tried to kill me too. I was so scared. You know Piper, right? Arrogant kendo freak, kind of a loner, weird girl. Like, come on, you know her. You‘ve heard about her back at JEMA, maybe not her name. The girl who threatened someone with a sword? That’s her. Honestly, it doesn‘t surprise me a bit she tried to win this death game. Seriously. That girl had lost her mind.“
„I...Liya?“
Then she made the connection.
„That person over there was Liya?“
Janice put her right hand on her chest and swore:
„I swear to God...“
Looking in the direction of Lillian. She was a satanist, rigt?
„...or in your case, Satan, that I did not kill Liya. Please don‘t hurt me, you‘ve got the wrong person.“
But how could she prove it beyond words? She recalls Piper having been close to the body, Janice herself hasn‘t seen it herself yet.
„You can look at the footsteps. You can take a look at my shoes. I didn‘t come close to the person over there. Piper did, she probably murdered Liya...that murderous bitch.
„Tried to kill me too. I was so scared. You know Piper, right? Arrogant kendo freak, kind of a loner, weird girl. Like, come on, you know her. You‘ve heard about her back at JEMA, maybe not her name. The girl who threatened someone with a sword? That’s her. Honestly, it doesn‘t surprise me a bit she tried to win this death game. Seriously. That girl had lost her mind.“
Lily stared into Piper's cold dead eyes, her chest heaving as she struggled to look away from that blood soaked face.
After a moment's hesitancy, she scrambled forward to place her fingers to her throat to confirm what she already knew. Piper was gone too.
What the FUCK happened here?
Lily was still in a state of shock as Janice started rambling, turning back to her as the accused began to plead her case. She briefly raised her brow when Janice made mention of her Satanic leanings, but this was neither the time or place for that particular conversation. More importantly she listened closely to Janice's claims of self-defence, hearing out her assertions that Piper was the one who likely murdered Liya.
She would look back at Piper, laying on her front with a bloodied brow and several stab wounds in her back. Something about Janice's side of the story felt off. She was well aware of Piper's reputation back home, that she had apparently threatened someone with a sword. Just like how she was apparently in league with the devil, as Janice herself openly assumed. She was familiar enough with the toxicity of rumours and hearsay to never take them at face value, especially if that was Janice's main argument for her innocence.
And yet... Lily wasn't entirely convinced there wasn't some truth to what Janice was saying. She seemed genuinely surprised about being accused of killing Liya, not even mentioning her until they brought it up. Did she really have nothing to do with Liya's murder?
Janice didn't deny responsibility for Piper, though with all those stab wounds in Piper's back Lily wasn't 100% convinced it was self-defence. Then again, as she shined her torch up at Janice, her bloodied nose and the fresh muddy prints on her jacket suggested that there was definitely a scrap between the two rather than an opportunistic stab in the back.
Fuck. What the hell kind of mess had they stumbled onto? The last thing she wanted was to make the wrong choice, pass judgement on someone who was actually a victim of circumstance. But neither did she want to let Liya's killer get away either, not that she really had any inkling of what kind of justice she and Amaryllis would perform, other than... Christ, had she really considered THAT, even in passing? She felt an intense pang of shame for even entertaining the thought.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she glanced between Piper, Janice and Liya's distant body. Too many scenarios. Too many variables. Not enough reliable information to work off of.. Once again, indecision and uncertainty gripped her at the worst possible moment.
After a moment's hesitancy, she scrambled forward to place her fingers to her throat to confirm what she already knew. Piper was gone too.
What the FUCK happened here?
Lily was still in a state of shock as Janice started rambling, turning back to her as the accused began to plead her case. She briefly raised her brow when Janice made mention of her Satanic leanings, but this was neither the time or place for that particular conversation. More importantly she listened closely to Janice's claims of self-defence, hearing out her assertions that Piper was the one who likely murdered Liya.
She would look back at Piper, laying on her front with a bloodied brow and several stab wounds in her back. Something about Janice's side of the story felt off. She was well aware of Piper's reputation back home, that she had apparently threatened someone with a sword. Just like how she was apparently in league with the devil, as Janice herself openly assumed. She was familiar enough with the toxicity of rumours and hearsay to never take them at face value, especially if that was Janice's main argument for her innocence.
And yet... Lily wasn't entirely convinced there wasn't some truth to what Janice was saying. She seemed genuinely surprised about being accused of killing Liya, not even mentioning her until they brought it up. Did she really have nothing to do with Liya's murder?
Janice didn't deny responsibility for Piper, though with all those stab wounds in Piper's back Lily wasn't 100% convinced it was self-defence. Then again, as she shined her torch up at Janice, her bloodied nose and the fresh muddy prints on her jacket suggested that there was definitely a scrap between the two rather than an opportunistic stab in the back.
Fuck. What the hell kind of mess had they stumbled onto? The last thing she wanted was to make the wrong choice, pass judgement on someone who was actually a victim of circumstance. But neither did she want to let Liya's killer get away either, not that she really had any inkling of what kind of justice she and Amaryllis would perform, other than... Christ, had she really considered THAT, even in passing? She felt an intense pang of shame for even entertaining the thought.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she glanced between Piper, Janice and Liya's distant body. Too many scenarios. Too many variables. Not enough reliable information to work off of.. Once again, indecision and uncertainty gripped her at the worst possible moment.
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MethodicalSlacker
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Amaryllis listened to Janice's story and waited for the error that would mean Amaryllis could hit her again.
Her hesitation sounded true. Her confusion, as well. And her swearing up and down that Liya was not hers was also, as far as Amaryllis could tell, tainted with honesty. But she did kill Piper. That much could not be denied.
Something about hearing Janice talk calmed her. That thing squirming around under her thumb was still a person, no matter how much its skin felt like a worm. The knowledge that Liya was gone, that her life had gone out, extinguished forever, floated lazily in her mind like a bubble in a lava lamp. It was with a renewed chill in her voice that she finally spoke.
"I remember, I heard about the sword thing. And at the time, I have to admit; I thought it was pretty hot."
Lily was still quiet, meandering in the snow. She was looking between the bodies, dead and alive. Trying to find an answer where there was none. They would not, could not, know. Not until morning. Then it would come with the light of day. To all of them. Gnosis. Death.
"Get the fuck out of here," Amaryllis said, "before I change my mind."
Her hesitation sounded true. Her confusion, as well. And her swearing up and down that Liya was not hers was also, as far as Amaryllis could tell, tainted with honesty. But she did kill Piper. That much could not be denied.
Something about hearing Janice talk calmed her. That thing squirming around under her thumb was still a person, no matter how much its skin felt like a worm. The knowledge that Liya was gone, that her life had gone out, extinguished forever, floated lazily in her mind like a bubble in a lava lamp. It was with a renewed chill in her voice that she finally spoke.
"I remember, I heard about the sword thing. And at the time, I have to admit; I thought it was pretty hot."
Lily was still quiet, meandering in the snow. She was looking between the bodies, dead and alive. Trying to find an answer where there was none. They would not, could not, know. Not until morning. Then it would come with the light of day. To all of them. Gnosis. Death.
"Get the fuck out of here," Amaryllis said, "before I change my mind."
Janice didn't need to hear Amaryllis' demand twice. Janice considered saying something about Liya, maybe condolences.
It also passed her mind to just demand something for having avenged Liya. But it was better to bolt.
So Janice continued running up the road, Amaryllis' scary eyes having given her enough motivation, or rather adrenaline, to run again, despite her chest still hurtin'.
((Janice Cresner continued elsewhere))
It also passed her mind to just demand something for having avenged Liya. But it was better to bolt.
So Janice continued running up the road, Amaryllis' scary eyes having given her enough motivation, or rather adrenaline, to run again, despite her chest still hurtin'.
((Janice Cresner continued elsewhere))
"W-wait, hang o..." Lily gasps as she stumbles to her feet, too little too late. By the time she was up Janice was already gone, and she was still too hesitant about it all to commit to chasing after her.
She regretted letting her go almost instantly, unable to shake the feeling that she might have just let Liya's murderer slip through their fingers. Then again, what else they could have done? It wasn't like they could've kept her bound until morning or something, and even if they did, could she really... Would Amaryllis have done something to her? Would they really have tried to enact justice? Acted as judge, jury and...
The whole situation sickened her to the core, her fists clenching as she punted Piper's bag, letting out a harsh scream of anger before slumping back against a tree. Fuck this game! Fuck this island! Fuck this...
"FUCK!!!"
She clawed at the shaved half of her scalp, her head leaning back against the trunk of that tree as her chest heaved in and out. She let out a long, drawn out groan of frustration, burying her face into her hands as she tried to blot it all out, pretend she was back home working on some cheesy short story or flicking through shitty schlock flicks on her parent's Amazon Prime account.
It took her several minutes to fully calm down, letting out a long mournful sigh as she pulled her hands away from her tear-soaked face. Well. That was that. Janice was gone, Piper was gone, Liya was gone. They would know the truth by morning, learn if Liya's killer was the girl on the ground, or the one they let get away. There wasn't anything else they could really do about it now.
Well, there was one thing they could do, before they turned around and returned back to Dickie's camp.
"C'mon, we need..." she gasps, wiping her eyes. "We... We can't just leave her..."
She motions Amaryllis to follow as she ambled over towards Liya in a daze, the adrenaline that had been keeping her going slowly fading, her eyes drooping as she grabbed a hold of her fallen companion and dragged her off the road. She would pull her back into the woods, far enough that she was out of sight, trying to distance herself from the fact that it was her colleague... Her friend, even, whose frozen body she was tugging along.
They didn't have any real means of burying Liya, so she settled for what she could get her hands on. Snow, loose leaves, gravel. She was silently going through the motions, not talking to or acknowledging Amaryllis much. Her eyes were vacant, face ashen, almost like she was sleepwalking her way through doing her best to make sure they left Liya with some sense of dignity intact.
Once she was covered, Lily would stumble away and sit back against a tree, her chest slowly heaving as she took a moment to catch her breath. That moment soon turned into a minute, then two minutes, then three... It occurred to her that this was probably the first time she'd sat down since waking up in that graveyard, having been running around almost nonstop over the past several hours. Now that she finally had a moment to sit, to relax... She found it very hard to not start drifting, her body giving up on her as she found herself overwhelmed by an intense sense of exhaustion.
"Th... There..." she gasps. "Sssh-she's... We can now..." she whispers, eyes closing. "We can now... Return back to...... Camp...." she murmurs under her breath, her head slumping forward as she begins to nod off.
She regretted letting her go almost instantly, unable to shake the feeling that she might have just let Liya's murderer slip through their fingers. Then again, what else they could have done? It wasn't like they could've kept her bound until morning or something, and even if they did, could she really... Would Amaryllis have done something to her? Would they really have tried to enact justice? Acted as judge, jury and...
The whole situation sickened her to the core, her fists clenching as she punted Piper's bag, letting out a harsh scream of anger before slumping back against a tree. Fuck this game! Fuck this island! Fuck this...
"FUCK!!!"
She clawed at the shaved half of her scalp, her head leaning back against the trunk of that tree as her chest heaved in and out. She let out a long, drawn out groan of frustration, burying her face into her hands as she tried to blot it all out, pretend she was back home working on some cheesy short story or flicking through shitty schlock flicks on her parent's Amazon Prime account.
It took her several minutes to fully calm down, letting out a long mournful sigh as she pulled her hands away from her tear-soaked face. Well. That was that. Janice was gone, Piper was gone, Liya was gone. They would know the truth by morning, learn if Liya's killer was the girl on the ground, or the one they let get away. There wasn't anything else they could really do about it now.
Well, there was one thing they could do, before they turned around and returned back to Dickie's camp.
"C'mon, we need..." she gasps, wiping her eyes. "We... We can't just leave her..."
She motions Amaryllis to follow as she ambled over towards Liya in a daze, the adrenaline that had been keeping her going slowly fading, her eyes drooping as she grabbed a hold of her fallen companion and dragged her off the road. She would pull her back into the woods, far enough that she was out of sight, trying to distance herself from the fact that it was her colleague... Her friend, even, whose frozen body she was tugging along.
They didn't have any real means of burying Liya, so she settled for what she could get her hands on. Snow, loose leaves, gravel. She was silently going through the motions, not talking to or acknowledging Amaryllis much. Her eyes were vacant, face ashen, almost like she was sleepwalking her way through doing her best to make sure they left Liya with some sense of dignity intact.
Once she was covered, Lily would stumble away and sit back against a tree, her chest slowly heaving as she took a moment to catch her breath. That moment soon turned into a minute, then two minutes, then three... It occurred to her that this was probably the first time she'd sat down since waking up in that graveyard, having been running around almost nonstop over the past several hours. Now that she finally had a moment to sit, to relax... She found it very hard to not start drifting, her body giving up on her as she found herself overwhelmed by an intense sense of exhaustion.
"Th... There..." she gasps. "Sssh-she's... We can now..." she whispers, eyes closing. "We can now... Return back to...... Camp...." she murmurs under her breath, her head slumping forward as she begins to nod off.
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MethodicalSlacker
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It was the right thing to do.
There was no way of knowing if Janice was innocent of Liya's death or guilty. If Amaryllis had acted on any vengeful impulse, any wayward feeling of wanting to hurt for her hurt, cause pain for her pain, she could not say it was rooted in reality. To put another body in the snow would be the third repetition of a mistake. None of them should have bought into this. Were they, her classmates, the people she saw and had class and felt care and contempt for in equal, alternating measure, were they really so suspicious of one another, so stupid, so shallow? All this time, Amaryllis had thought it was all in her head—that she had a tendency to magnify what she saw as callous indifference or mere stupidity on the part of her classmates, in the mundane world. Now she could not be sure if she had retreated deeper into herself, that she was living out a delusion, or if her mind had changed the world she lived in, that her suspicions were what made it so awful as it was.
It was the wrong thing to do.
Lily screamed a foul curse at the hollow shell of night. Janice's receding figure joined the chorus of angry ghosts, reborn into another cycle of torment. Amaryllis felt seized by a desire to charge after Janice like Pharaoh after Moses, passing her word in the dark, superseding it with capital punishment. She wanted to thrash Janice to a pulp, dash her against the trees and snow, rend her skin from her body and wear it as a jacket to warm her against this emptying winter.
But she could not be the executioner. Not today.
Amaryllis stood still and faced the woods for the moments after Janice's departure, canting slowly to her left side. Lily's words dispelled her fugue. She turned all the way around and saw again the mess of fallen bodies.
"I know," she said, "we'll move her."
With every step closer to Liya's body the air between them grew thicker until it became a wall. Amaryllis felt as though she were pushing herself through bricks, through cement, through steel, until she had pushed all the way through and there she was. Twisted and broken like a trampled flower, her friend of many years, her comrade in arms. It sickened her. She fought herself to not turn away and throw up. The cold did nothing to mask the smell of blood. Of piss. And shit. In the winter forest, Liya was as a tree without spring.
They buried her by the roots of a shattered pine, blown apart by lightning on some unrecorded night. Amaryllis wept. Her voice was broken. A knife had torn her throat from the inside. Lily was far away, and sitting right beside her. They had nothing with which to dig a grave, so they buried her above ground. A temporary and seasonal thing. Once the snow melted, the leaves and dirt would fall away and reveal her. To the vultures. And underneath it all the rising tone, a droning noise of feedback and static, living fire. Waves yet to crash upon the shore.
Amaryllis grabbed another fistful of snow and let it fall over Liya's body. And another. It was minutes before she realized Lily had stopped, that she'd taken the place of her own grave at the base of her own tree. Sitting up with a start, she scrambled over to Lily and dug through her bag. The search for Lily's emergency blanket through the fullness of the pack reminded Amaryllis that they both had barely touched any of their food and water. Unintuitively, not good. The next few days, at the very least, would be operating at a deficit. One day behind on hydration. One day ahead on starvation. In the darkness, memory left her, and intuition stayed.
She draped the foil blanket over Lily's shoulders. Swaddled her in it like a newborn. Then it was Amaryllis' turn. She found her own blanket and wore it over her like a tarp, or a cloak. She sat next to Lily, pressing against her warmth.
Amaryllis sat motionless with the stare of a sentry. When she blinked, it was beginning to get light outside. Soon after came the words from above. She listened intently as night thawed and day took its place. A changing of phases. Light cut by dormant branches and evergreen fir. More wind. Rising heat.
It was the right thing to do.
Janice didn't kill Liya.
It was the wrong thing to do.
She had already killed two people.
Amaryllis nudged Lily. Prodded her, to wake her up. Didn't check to see if she was already awake.
"Hey," Amaryllis said. She sniffled and a mound of phlegm dropped into her throat. Amaryllis leaned to the side and spit. She missed the snow. It landed on her pants.
"Good morning," she mumbled, in a molasses voice.
There was no way of knowing if Janice was innocent of Liya's death or guilty. If Amaryllis had acted on any vengeful impulse, any wayward feeling of wanting to hurt for her hurt, cause pain for her pain, she could not say it was rooted in reality. To put another body in the snow would be the third repetition of a mistake. None of them should have bought into this. Were they, her classmates, the people she saw and had class and felt care and contempt for in equal, alternating measure, were they really so suspicious of one another, so stupid, so shallow? All this time, Amaryllis had thought it was all in her head—that she had a tendency to magnify what she saw as callous indifference or mere stupidity on the part of her classmates, in the mundane world. Now she could not be sure if she had retreated deeper into herself, that she was living out a delusion, or if her mind had changed the world she lived in, that her suspicions were what made it so awful as it was.
It was the wrong thing to do.
Lily screamed a foul curse at the hollow shell of night. Janice's receding figure joined the chorus of angry ghosts, reborn into another cycle of torment. Amaryllis felt seized by a desire to charge after Janice like Pharaoh after Moses, passing her word in the dark, superseding it with capital punishment. She wanted to thrash Janice to a pulp, dash her against the trees and snow, rend her skin from her body and wear it as a jacket to warm her against this emptying winter.
But she could not be the executioner. Not today.
Amaryllis stood still and faced the woods for the moments after Janice's departure, canting slowly to her left side. Lily's words dispelled her fugue. She turned all the way around and saw again the mess of fallen bodies.
"I know," she said, "we'll move her."
With every step closer to Liya's body the air between them grew thicker until it became a wall. Amaryllis felt as though she were pushing herself through bricks, through cement, through steel, until she had pushed all the way through and there she was. Twisted and broken like a trampled flower, her friend of many years, her comrade in arms. It sickened her. She fought herself to not turn away and throw up. The cold did nothing to mask the smell of blood. Of piss. And shit. In the winter forest, Liya was as a tree without spring.
They buried her by the roots of a shattered pine, blown apart by lightning on some unrecorded night. Amaryllis wept. Her voice was broken. A knife had torn her throat from the inside. Lily was far away, and sitting right beside her. They had nothing with which to dig a grave, so they buried her above ground. A temporary and seasonal thing. Once the snow melted, the leaves and dirt would fall away and reveal her. To the vultures. And underneath it all the rising tone, a droning noise of feedback and static, living fire. Waves yet to crash upon the shore.
Amaryllis grabbed another fistful of snow and let it fall over Liya's body. And another. It was minutes before she realized Lily had stopped, that she'd taken the place of her own grave at the base of her own tree. Sitting up with a start, she scrambled over to Lily and dug through her bag. The search for Lily's emergency blanket through the fullness of the pack reminded Amaryllis that they both had barely touched any of their food and water. Unintuitively, not good. The next few days, at the very least, would be operating at a deficit. One day behind on hydration. One day ahead on starvation. In the darkness, memory left her, and intuition stayed.
She draped the foil blanket over Lily's shoulders. Swaddled her in it like a newborn. Then it was Amaryllis' turn. She found her own blanket and wore it over her like a tarp, or a cloak. She sat next to Lily, pressing against her warmth.
Amaryllis sat motionless with the stare of a sentry. When she blinked, it was beginning to get light outside. Soon after came the words from above. She listened intently as night thawed and day took its place. A changing of phases. Light cut by dormant branches and evergreen fir. More wind. Rising heat.
It was the right thing to do.
Janice didn't kill Liya.
It was the wrong thing to do.
She had already killed two people.
Amaryllis nudged Lily. Prodded her, to wake her up. Didn't check to see if she was already awake.
"Hey," Amaryllis said. She sniffled and a mound of phlegm dropped into her throat. Amaryllis leaned to the side and spit. She missed the snow. It landed on her pants.
"Good morning," she mumbled, in a molasses voice.
Truth be told, Lily had been awake a long while before the announcement aired.
Even as she let exhaustion take her, she stirred briefly when Amaryllis tended to her, making sure she was wrapped in a blanket of foil before providing a warm body to rest beside. Given the circumstances, she offered little complaint, spending most of the night with her cheek smushed against the other girl’s shoulder as the two did their best to make it through to morning.
But it was not a sleep that granted her any reprieve, instead only doubling down on the thoughts that had been troubling her mind of late. Digging up old memories she had long buried away, of evenings spent digging deeper down rabbit holes borne from her own natural curiosity. Holes that led to facts, that in turn led to haunting images, that in turn led to that fateful afternoon when she took her curiosity a step too far. When she had clicked a link sent to her by one of Alex’s discord friends, one that took her to a dodgy website whose name she cared not to remember, playing a clip that burnt itself into her memory like a gaping wound.
primetime.mov
Even now, after everything, she could see it clearly. The grainy footage of a girl in the woods, tied to a tree with her own clothes, her stomach bare on display.
Then of the other girl, with an open medkit by her side, and a scalpel in her hand.
In a way, turning the footage off early had been a mixed blessing. Her imagination was more than happy to fill in the rest.
And with that haunting memory more vivid now than ever before, mixed with Liya's haunting gaze and Piper’s bloodied face, it gave her nightmares all the fuel they needed to ensure her sleep was anything but comforting.
She had finally given up on getting a full night’s rest by the time the announcement was made, listening to the names being listed off in a half-daze, only briefly stirred by the second name on that list.
Lily was still deep in thought when Amaryllis prodded her, leaning her head back against the tree they slept against as she took a deep breath.
“Morning…” she croaked, her throat hoarse. She could really do with a drink, but was too cold to unfold that blanket.
“I was just… Thinking back to when I first met Tana. Well, not the first time strictly speaking, but the first time we ever really spoke. I was exploring Salem and ended up at this museum on essex street all about witchcraft, bit a local tourist trap really.”
Lily let out a small laugh, her lips curling into a smile. “But I noticed Tana there in this little witch outfit. Turns out that was her weekend gig, so we got to talking about this and that. I told her about a bunch of spooky creepypastas I read about online, she told me about old Mexican ghost stories like La Llarona… We kept chatting for so long I think I almost got her into trouble with her boss!”
She laughs some more before letting out a long sigh, lifting a pair of fingers to her lips to take a long drag from an invisible cigarette, exhaling warm steam as she leant back with with her eyes closed.
“Typical, really. Janice was innocent of one crime, but guilty of another we had no idea even happened…”
Even as she let exhaustion take her, she stirred briefly when Amaryllis tended to her, making sure she was wrapped in a blanket of foil before providing a warm body to rest beside. Given the circumstances, she offered little complaint, spending most of the night with her cheek smushed against the other girl’s shoulder as the two did their best to make it through to morning.
But it was not a sleep that granted her any reprieve, instead only doubling down on the thoughts that had been troubling her mind of late. Digging up old memories she had long buried away, of evenings spent digging deeper down rabbit holes borne from her own natural curiosity. Holes that led to facts, that in turn led to haunting images, that in turn led to that fateful afternoon when she took her curiosity a step too far. When she had clicked a link sent to her by one of Alex’s discord friends, one that took her to a dodgy website whose name she cared not to remember, playing a clip that burnt itself into her memory like a gaping wound.
primetime.mov
Even now, after everything, she could see it clearly. The grainy footage of a girl in the woods, tied to a tree with her own clothes, her stomach bare on display.
Then of the other girl, with an open medkit by her side, and a scalpel in her hand.
In a way, turning the footage off early had been a mixed blessing. Her imagination was more than happy to fill in the rest.
And with that haunting memory more vivid now than ever before, mixed with Liya's haunting gaze and Piper’s bloodied face, it gave her nightmares all the fuel they needed to ensure her sleep was anything but comforting.
She had finally given up on getting a full night’s rest by the time the announcement was made, listening to the names being listed off in a half-daze, only briefly stirred by the second name on that list.
Lily was still deep in thought when Amaryllis prodded her, leaning her head back against the tree they slept against as she took a deep breath.
“Morning…” she croaked, her throat hoarse. She could really do with a drink, but was too cold to unfold that blanket.
“I was just… Thinking back to when I first met Tana. Well, not the first time strictly speaking, but the first time we ever really spoke. I was exploring Salem and ended up at this museum on essex street all about witchcraft, bit a local tourist trap really.”
Lily let out a small laugh, her lips curling into a smile. “But I noticed Tana there in this little witch outfit. Turns out that was her weekend gig, so we got to talking about this and that. I told her about a bunch of spooky creepypastas I read about online, she told me about old Mexican ghost stories like La Llarona… We kept chatting for so long I think I almost got her into trouble with her boss!”
She laughs some more before letting out a long sigh, lifting a pair of fingers to her lips to take a long drag from an invisible cigarette, exhaling warm steam as she leant back with with her eyes closed.
“Typical, really. Janice was innocent of one crime, but guilty of another we had no idea even happened…”
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MethodicalSlacker
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"I'm sorry."
Amaryllis coughed and spat another glob of greenish yellow phlegm out into the snow.
"There was no way for us to know," she said. "But if we see Janice again... we know now."
The rest of the names swam in Amaryllis' head. Katelyn—Kitty—was a murderer twice over, like Janice. There was a pattern with both of them too. First, they slit somebody's throat, explicitly. Danya said as much. Then, something more ambiguous. The ambiguity puzzled her. Clearly Danya was ready to speak on grisly details. But when it came to a potential struggle, to fighting back, to a messy situation where, for example, a once-killer might have acted in self defense, he clammed up, and suddenly, very passively, the victim fell to the blade. Did this mean that Janice was telling the truth about Piper? And did this also mean that Kitty might have the same story to tell about Liya, and it might also be true?
Amaryllis tried to raise some anger in herself about Kitty. It did not come.
She remembered Kiera as another musician from school. Not a performer—Amaryllis walked in on her once practicing in the band room, having stolen away in a corner after rehearsals were done for the day, and she clammed up instantly, as if the guitar in her hands was a foreign object. Or maybe it was somebody else, she couldn't put a distinct face to the name. Constance was also familiar, from the political scene. Amaryllis felt uncomfortable and hot under her clothes for remembering Constance as an anarchist before she remembered her as a person. Spike and Bill, more musicians. And she was subscribed to Extreme Steve.
Among the other killers she remembered the hikers. The kinds of people she'd meet out on the trails around the Salem Woods and walk with for a short while before parting ways. Nothing gold can stay.
"We should go," Amaryllis said, "Dickie and Iris are probably still camped out there, waiting for us. They probably want to know what happened. If we saw it happen."
She rose to her feet, bracing herself against the tree. Then something turned in her mind and she spoke aloud a question.
"Did you see their bags? Piper, Liya, were their bags anywhere?"
Amaryllis coughed and spat another glob of greenish yellow phlegm out into the snow.
"There was no way for us to know," she said. "But if we see Janice again... we know now."
The rest of the names swam in Amaryllis' head. Katelyn—Kitty—was a murderer twice over, like Janice. There was a pattern with both of them too. First, they slit somebody's throat, explicitly. Danya said as much. Then, something more ambiguous. The ambiguity puzzled her. Clearly Danya was ready to speak on grisly details. But when it came to a potential struggle, to fighting back, to a messy situation where, for example, a once-killer might have acted in self defense, he clammed up, and suddenly, very passively, the victim fell to the blade. Did this mean that Janice was telling the truth about Piper? And did this also mean that Kitty might have the same story to tell about Liya, and it might also be true?
Amaryllis tried to raise some anger in herself about Kitty. It did not come.
She remembered Kiera as another musician from school. Not a performer—Amaryllis walked in on her once practicing in the band room, having stolen away in a corner after rehearsals were done for the day, and she clammed up instantly, as if the guitar in her hands was a foreign object. Or maybe it was somebody else, she couldn't put a distinct face to the name. Constance was also familiar, from the political scene. Amaryllis felt uncomfortable and hot under her clothes for remembering Constance as an anarchist before she remembered her as a person. Spike and Bill, more musicians. And she was subscribed to Extreme Steve.
Among the other killers she remembered the hikers. The kinds of people she'd meet out on the trails around the Salem Woods and walk with for a short while before parting ways. Nothing gold can stay.
"We should go," Amaryllis said, "Dickie and Iris are probably still camped out there, waiting for us. They probably want to know what happened. If we saw it happen."
She rose to her feet, bracing herself against the tree. Then something turned in her mind and she spoke aloud a question.
"Did you see their bags? Piper, Liya, were their bags anywhere?"
Lily nodded her head. "That we do" she replied quietly, not that she really wanted to think about what would happen if they ever crossed paths with Janice again.
Nor did she want to think about what would happen if they ever bumped into Liya's real killer. Unlike Janice she was actually somewhat familiar with Katelyn, the two having shared creative writing classes back at JEM. They weren’t really friends, but she vividly remembered a time when she came across her doodling in her sketchpad after class, which in turn led to the two talking it out for a while until their next lesson started.
She discovered then that she had a fair bit in common with Kitty, at least on a surface level. They both had a fondness for horror and the macabre, a passion for writing stories that focused on darker themes than what was expected of girls their age, delving into subjects that most would find too disturbing to explore in depth.
That’s where the similarities stopped, though. Whilst Lily’s fascinations were borne from a natural curiosity for the taboo and the unusual, Katelyn’s was borne from a past of trauma and tragedy, the scars on her face just the tip of the iceberg. Even in their brief conversation Lily could just tell that there was something off, that she was a girl haunted by demons worse than the ones she wrote about. Not that she came across as unhinged or anything, just… In pain, and trying so very hard to hide it. Lily had always wanted to get to know her a bit better, to understand her and the things she went through. Maybe in hindsight it was for the best she hadn’t, given the path Kitty had taken.
Still, a part of her couldn’t help but wonder whether her fascination with the macabre had any role in her actions? Had overexposure to the dark and the disturbing twisted her mind, made her more likely to snap when under pressure? Or was she simply a victim of unfortunate circumstance, just like the rest of them? Deep down, she hoped the latter was the case.
The implications of the former didn’t sit well with her, given her own curious delves down twisted rabbit holes.
“I think I brought Liya’s with us, hold on…” she replied, groggily getting up and stretching her aching back with a pained grimace. She would wander over to the makeshift grave they had put together, and sure enough there was Liya’s bag right next to it. She bit her lip as she unzipped it, unable to help feeling guilty about going through her things.
That guilt gave in to hunger however, when she discovered that Katelyn hadn’t touched Liya's rations. Without a second thought she would grab a loaf of bread and tear it in half, handing one to Amaryllis before hungrily tucking into the other. In hindsight she maybe should’ve just handed a whole loaf over, but… She was starving, and with another loaf to share between them along with the rest of Liya’s rations on offer, she didn't shy away from her first proper meal in over 24 hours.
Nor did she want to think about what would happen if they ever bumped into Liya's real killer. Unlike Janice she was actually somewhat familiar with Katelyn, the two having shared creative writing classes back at JEM. They weren’t really friends, but she vividly remembered a time when she came across her doodling in her sketchpad after class, which in turn led to the two talking it out for a while until their next lesson started.
She discovered then that she had a fair bit in common with Kitty, at least on a surface level. They both had a fondness for horror and the macabre, a passion for writing stories that focused on darker themes than what was expected of girls their age, delving into subjects that most would find too disturbing to explore in depth.
That’s where the similarities stopped, though. Whilst Lily’s fascinations were borne from a natural curiosity for the taboo and the unusual, Katelyn’s was borne from a past of trauma and tragedy, the scars on her face just the tip of the iceberg. Even in their brief conversation Lily could just tell that there was something off, that she was a girl haunted by demons worse than the ones she wrote about. Not that she came across as unhinged or anything, just… In pain, and trying so very hard to hide it. Lily had always wanted to get to know her a bit better, to understand her and the things she went through. Maybe in hindsight it was for the best she hadn’t, given the path Kitty had taken.
Still, a part of her couldn’t help but wonder whether her fascination with the macabre had any role in her actions? Had overexposure to the dark and the disturbing twisted her mind, made her more likely to snap when under pressure? Or was she simply a victim of unfortunate circumstance, just like the rest of them? Deep down, she hoped the latter was the case.
The implications of the former didn’t sit well with her, given her own curious delves down twisted rabbit holes.
“I think I brought Liya’s with us, hold on…” she replied, groggily getting up and stretching her aching back with a pained grimace. She would wander over to the makeshift grave they had put together, and sure enough there was Liya’s bag right next to it. She bit her lip as she unzipped it, unable to help feeling guilty about going through her things.
That guilt gave in to hunger however, when she discovered that Katelyn hadn’t touched Liya's rations. Without a second thought she would grab a loaf of bread and tear it in half, handing one to Amaryllis before hungrily tucking into the other. In hindsight she maybe should’ve just handed a whole loaf over, but… She was starving, and with another loaf to share between them along with the rest of Liya’s rations on offer, she didn't shy away from her first proper meal in over 24 hours.
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MethodicalSlacker
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Amaryllis took the loaf and bit a large chunk out of the ripped side, chewing the body slow. Though the previous night she had registered her hunger as a concern, it was only now that it came forth as a feeling. She forced the bite of bread down her throat. She followed over to Liya's bag and picked out a bottle of water to wash it down. The rest of the loaf went in seconds.
"We divide the rest of the rations evenly," Amaryllis said, "that's two more bottles for me, a cracker tin each, and five cliff bars to each of us. you take the map and compass and first aid kit if you can find them. The second loaf, too—we'll break it again when it's time. I'll take the flashlight. You can also have the extra layer of windbreaker if you need it and it's there. Is—you couldn't find the extra duffel with her, her home stuff, could you?"
This wasn't looting. Liya would want them to have her things. Anything to help them survive. Anything to delay them from having to kill. But Amaryllis wasn't against looting, strictly. Being a vulture could help. But not every bag would be so untouched. And some might be trapped. Not Piper's though. If it was still around. She tried to remember last night, tried to piece it together. She remembered an extra bag with Janice and then unremembered it. It could have been there or not; the light was too bad to tell. She stepped beyond the grave and wandered back in the direction of the road.
The bag was in a heap of snow away from the body. Opened, slightly. Amaryllis looked inside and found no rations. It was a coincidence entirely that there was still a map, the compass, and more first aid, just what she had denied herself. Amaryllis took it in her hands and looked around on the white and reddened ground for Piper's weapon. What she saw first was that the snow was beginning to melt, water reflecting, shining back the sunlight. She felt hotter under her coat; the temperature had risen overnight. The zipper had not caught, thank god; she let her neck breathe, the coat open about halfway.
Still, she saw no weapon. Amaryllis trudged back to Lily.
"Let's get going soon," she said, "I want to see if Dick and Iris are still camped out over there."
A thought passed. An addendum was required.
"We can tell them her bag was stolen."
"We divide the rest of the rations evenly," Amaryllis said, "that's two more bottles for me, a cracker tin each, and five cliff bars to each of us. you take the map and compass and first aid kit if you can find them. The second loaf, too—we'll break it again when it's time. I'll take the flashlight. You can also have the extra layer of windbreaker if you need it and it's there. Is—you couldn't find the extra duffel with her, her home stuff, could you?"
This wasn't looting. Liya would want them to have her things. Anything to help them survive. Anything to delay them from having to kill. But Amaryllis wasn't against looting, strictly. Being a vulture could help. But not every bag would be so untouched. And some might be trapped. Not Piper's though. If it was still around. She tried to remember last night, tried to piece it together. She remembered an extra bag with Janice and then unremembered it. It could have been there or not; the light was too bad to tell. She stepped beyond the grave and wandered back in the direction of the road.
The bag was in a heap of snow away from the body. Opened, slightly. Amaryllis looked inside and found no rations. It was a coincidence entirely that there was still a map, the compass, and more first aid, just what she had denied herself. Amaryllis took it in her hands and looked around on the white and reddened ground for Piper's weapon. What she saw first was that the snow was beginning to melt, water reflecting, shining back the sunlight. She felt hotter under her coat; the temperature had risen overnight. The zipper had not caught, thank god; she let her neck breathe, the coat open about halfway.
Still, she saw no weapon. Amaryllis trudged back to Lily.
"Let's get going soon," she said, "I want to see if Dick and Iris are still camped out over there."
A thought passed. An addendum was required.
"We can tell them her bag was stolen."
Lily nodded her head in agreement, offering little complaint.
Despite the pang of shame she felt about dividing Liya's stuff between them, in the end it was a flavour of pragmatism she could live with. Better it ended up with her friends than her enemies, they were fortunate enough as it was that Liya's stuff had been left untouched to begin with. No sign of that billhook though, Katelyn most likely having made off with it.
She didn't want to imagine what a dedicated killer could do with such a vicious weapon.
She didn't want to imagine what she could do with her own, if push came to shove...
It didn't take her long to find Liya's second dufflebag, left abandoned not too far away from the first. She unzipped it to make sure it was the right one, quickly shifting through it's contents, mostly consisting of various shirts and other spare articles of clothing.
She raised her eyebrow as she picked up what appeared to be a small friendship bracelet, colorful and childish, a significant clash to the usual attire of their fallen comrade. Lily couldn't help but wonder what it meant to Liya, if anything. Alas, she had taken that secret to the grave with her.
Pocketing the bracelet for now, Lily zipped the bag up and returned to Amaryllis, stopping on her way over to take one last look at Liya's grave. It wasn't exactly the most flattering of burials, but it was the best they could really hope for with what little they had on hand. She only wished she had a better inkling as to what funeral rituals would've been appropriate for Liya, given her particular background.
She also couldn't help but wonder whatever happened to the bodies in all the previous games. Were the islands ever discovered? Were the remains of all the past victims ever recovered and given a proper funeral? Or were they all still out there, left to the whims of nature until naught but bones remained? After everything she had read about SOTF, she never once thought to look that up until now, when it was too late.
Lily sighed and returned to Amaryllis, fetching the bracelet from her pocket. "I found this in Liya's dufflebag. Don't know if it means anything to you, but figured you ought to have it."
She raised a slight brow regarding that addendum, taking a second to piece together what Amaryllis meant before the intended meaning clicked. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of being dishonest to the others, but... Well, she doubted they were likely to bring it up anyway.
"Okay, we should..." she began, before catching a glimpse of Piper out of the corner of her eyes. After everything that had happened, she'd almost overlooked that Liya wasn't the only one who died last night. And after that announcement she wasn't convinced it was self-defence on Janice's part either. Were they really just going to leave her body like this, after all the effort they went through to make sure Liya's was treated with respect?
"What about Piper?"
Despite the pang of shame she felt about dividing Liya's stuff between them, in the end it was a flavour of pragmatism she could live with. Better it ended up with her friends than her enemies, they were fortunate enough as it was that Liya's stuff had been left untouched to begin with. No sign of that billhook though, Katelyn most likely having made off with it.
She didn't want to imagine what a dedicated killer could do with such a vicious weapon.
She didn't want to imagine what she could do with her own, if push came to shove...
It didn't take her long to find Liya's second dufflebag, left abandoned not too far away from the first. She unzipped it to make sure it was the right one, quickly shifting through it's contents, mostly consisting of various shirts and other spare articles of clothing.
She raised her eyebrow as she picked up what appeared to be a small friendship bracelet, colorful and childish, a significant clash to the usual attire of their fallen comrade. Lily couldn't help but wonder what it meant to Liya, if anything. Alas, she had taken that secret to the grave with her.
Pocketing the bracelet for now, Lily zipped the bag up and returned to Amaryllis, stopping on her way over to take one last look at Liya's grave. It wasn't exactly the most flattering of burials, but it was the best they could really hope for with what little they had on hand. She only wished she had a better inkling as to what funeral rituals would've been appropriate for Liya, given her particular background.
She also couldn't help but wonder whatever happened to the bodies in all the previous games. Were the islands ever discovered? Were the remains of all the past victims ever recovered and given a proper funeral? Or were they all still out there, left to the whims of nature until naught but bones remained? After everything she had read about SOTF, she never once thought to look that up until now, when it was too late.
Lily sighed and returned to Amaryllis, fetching the bracelet from her pocket. "I found this in Liya's dufflebag. Don't know if it means anything to you, but figured you ought to have it."
She raised a slight brow regarding that addendum, taking a second to piece together what Amaryllis meant before the intended meaning clicked. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of being dishonest to the others, but... Well, she doubted they were likely to bring it up anyway.
"Okay, we should..." she began, before catching a glimpse of Piper out of the corner of her eyes. After everything that had happened, she'd almost overlooked that Liya wasn't the only one who died last night. And after that announcement she wasn't convinced it was self-defence on Janice's part either. Were they really just going to leave her body like this, after all the effort they went through to make sure Liya's was treated with respect?
"What about Piper?"