Cut and Seek

Aybel swiped a finger across the blood pool in the bathtub. Pinching his fingers together, he tried to gauge its consistency.

I'm not sure how long Aria's body has been in the bathroom, but it's definitely been a while...

The blood must have been quite fresh when she first bled in here, but now it's all dried up and thick like tar.

And yet... it's strange how the blood on the knives are still fresh while the blood in the bathtub is already old and sticky. Almost like there are two different types of blood present here...

It's hard to say what this could mean. Maybe the fresh blood belongs to someone other than Aria...

An intruder, perhaps? 

Or it's possible the blood in the bathtub...

Slowly, Aybel rolled up the sleeve of his shirt.

Is just not human blood.

He plunged his arm into the pool of dark red liquid almost instantly plucking out the mutilated corpse of a cat...

"Isn't that right, Eris...?"

Aybel observed the silent corpse... I know Aria killed my beloved stray, and yet somehow... I can't bring myself to care. 

But I have no idea where she could have found enough animal blood to fill up a tub though. Not to speak of the mannequin hand.

Tossing the cat back into the tub, he held on to the piece of paper for a moment before tossing it in as well.

Aybel watched as it sank below the surface of the blood, its words gradually becoming obscured until it finally disappeared completely.

Aria seems to be enjoying this sick little game of hers. But if I don't find her soon she might lose too much blood and die...

Seriously, this time...

Now, just where could she be? Hands in pockets, Aybel surveyed the bathroom in detail.

The first thing he noticed - The floor and walls were almost completely clean.

Meaning there's no trail to follow.

Except for the bloody knives stuck in the wall and the bathtub filled with blood, the entire room was practically spotless.

Well, here we go back to square one then. Unless...

The bathroom door was slightly ajar. Carefully, Aybel examined the knob. Scattered across the surface of the wood were brightly colored red stains.

I see... Instead of leaving a steady trail of blood, she left small drops of it... This means she's somewhere else in the apartment right now.

It truly is like playing a game of hide and seek. Albeit with someone who is constantly changing their hiding place.

But it also means, she's using some sort of cloth to prevent herself from bleeding out.

Aybel stared at the bloodied door knob once more. Even I would be hard pressed to track her down using only this as a clue...

His lips twitched. What a devious puzzle... I'm impressed, Aria.

Searching the bathroom for more bloodstains, Aybel found tiny drops on the sink, the mirror, and on the towels hanging on the rack.

There were also a few random drops on the floor.

...I find this very unpleasant. She's trying to confuse me...

The most curious part though is the small bloodstain on the ceiling. As if she simply threw the blood at it... But I know better than to think that...

There are only two ways Aria could have left the bathroom, and that's through the door...

Looking up at the other possible escape route, he noticed the small bloodstain on its roof.

...Or up the ventilation shaft.

A fake-out... She's not one to leave obvious clues for me to follow. But she would suspect I would think that, wouldn't she...?

It's settled then.

To get to the air shaft, Aybel climbed up on the sink.

There was a circular grill covering the opening. It looked securely fixed in place, but he managed to pry it off with a little effort.

It was a tight fit, but with his small frame, Aybel was able to squeeze through comfortably.

After a few minutes of crawling through the duct, he saw a dim light in the distance.

Slowly, he removed the vent cover placing it off to the side as he quietly stepped out into a room.

Moving around the room, Aybel inspected it thoroughly.

The bare bulb...

He flickered it on and off a few times.

The childish drawing framed to the wall...

He gazed at the earth in palm artwork.

The vintage leather chair...

He checked for signs that Aria might have sat in it.

And the pile of books...

Aybel read through the titles on the spines.

It's all exactly as I remember it... Father's study.

While looking at the books, he noticed the recurring works of an author. I see... So that's where she got it from. It seems father was a big fan.

Finally, he took a close look at the desk, checking to see if there were any stains on the surface.

None...

From top to bottom, he quickly removed the drawers and examined the contents one at a time.

The first item of note he came across was a collection of antique maps with continents and islands shown in unique ways. Which he guessed dated back to the 1800s considering his family's history of cartography.

They were stacked away in one of the drawers, along with a broken compass, its needle twitching and spinning unpredictably.

In another drawer at the bottom, he found a bloodied bandage.

It's fresh, and... pretty disgusting.

Looking at the bandage, something suddenly caught his attention - A well crafted panel made from a layer of wood that blended in with the rest of the desk.

Weird... How didn't I notice this before?

Cautiously sliding the panel out of the way, it revealed a hidden drawer. To be fair, this is almost impossible to find unless you know what you're looking for.

Pulling open the drawer, Aybel peered inside. His eyes widened in mild surprise at what he saw.

KRRRRASH-KA-THUNK!

Immediately, Aybel rushed to the direction of the loud noise - the hallway. Looking down, he saw a broken vase on the floor. He crouched down to pick up a blood soaked shard.

Smashed to pieces... Aria deliberately broke the vase to lure me... 

Or I can imagine her clumsily slipping on her own blood and knocking it over... She's 'cute' like that, at times... 

Either way, it was an accident that just happened to get my attention.

There were two new fresh trails of blood that crossed each other like an "X" on the floor next to the broken vase.

The first trail came from Aria's room and headed towards his parents bedroom. The other trail of blood going from the bathroom to Aybel's own room.

Glancing around for other signs of Aria, he discovered there was nothing else for him to find.

Looking closely at the trail of blood leading to his parents room he noticed something: Isn't the blood a little bit too bright red? And too, what's the word... liquid looking? Point being, it doesn't look like real blood...

He brought the splatter on his finger up to his nose... Ketchup... Really? That's what Aria was trying to do? After all that, she just goes back into her room?

Aybel exhaled deeply. That sounds very much like her to be honest... always full of surprises. She's probably going to stay in there until she's certain that I've left... 

Following the ketchup trail to Aria's room, he couldn't help but admire her plan.

Clever girl... She slipped up, in every literal sense, and left a sloppy ketchup trail. She knew that I might follow the trail that I saw, so in a hurry, Aria tried to send me off in the wrong direction by leaving a trail of real blood.

However, since the ketchup trail leads away from Aria's room... It's quite obvious to guess where she is.

Still, for an on the fly plan, that was pretty smart. Aria is really good at coming up with this kind of twisted logic, isn't she?

She might be even smarter than I gave her credit for. Even though I have her all figured out, it's clear I still have a lot more to learn about her...

Cautiously, Aybel opened the door and peeked inside.

The room was almost completely dark, with just a faint glow coming from the moonlight outside reflecting off of the walls.

Despite it being hard to see, he quickly took stock of the surroundings:

A decorated mini fridge toppled on it's side, it's extension cord snaking across the middle of the room...

Clothes strewn across the floor...

An empty ketchup bottle sat on the dresser, cap off...

Drawers yanked open and their contents flung out haphazardly...

An alarm clock, broken and permanently stuck on: 15:07...

Sheets, tangled and torn, pillows tossed aside...

An oval-shaped tiara mirror, its glass shattered into a thousand pieces...

Bookshelf neatly organized in alphabetized order...

Dark red smears marking the otherwise porcelain floor tiles...

And then... his gaze drifted to the figure at the center of it all.

Aria's bloodied body.

Still wearing her school uniform, her face and body were covered with bruises and cuts.

She looked incredibly pale and sick, almost on the brink of death, but... there was still some life in her.

Hands behind her back as if she were hiding something, she stared at her brother with bright blue eyes, a smile spreading across her face.

"Aren't you gonna say hi to your sister, brother?"

Aybel slowly stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

[A/N: Hi everyone, 👋

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Another character image is out on showcase, this time it's Aria's! Be sure to check it out!

As always, thank you for giving this novel the time of day! ;) ]