...Alice arrived at her front door, drenched from head to toe with rain water. Most of her make up had gone, her mascara was now slightly smudged and her hair flat against her skin. She lifted the ceramic pot outside the front door to find the spare key for her medium sized modern styled house and wiped some of her hair from her eyes, her cold hands fumbling with the key to unlock the door.

She was welcomed with a quiet bark from her dog, Polly, who was a small King Clavier Spaniel in brown and white. "Sssh," she hissed gently, waving her dog away to try and diffuse the commotion her dog was about to make as she tried to be quiet and close the door without being heard, since sound traveled easily in this open house.

Quickly, she hurried to the laundry room in the basement and stripped off her clothes, accidentally dropping both her phone and Veronica's onto the wooden floor. "Shit," she hissed again, feeling slightly frantic as her body shivered from how cold she was. She left them there for a moment, the black screen of Veronica's phone taunting her slightly. It had rung a few times as she had been walking home, the low vibrating hum seemed to have echoed around her, threatening to give away her location.

The washing machine hummed carefully lazily as it began its cycle of spinning the dirt from Alice's clothing. She'd hoped that the blood would come out too, not that there was much of it but it was known that a blood is almost impossible to get out if left too long. Even on the skin.

Polly followed closely behind Alice as she picked up the phones, hurried away from the basement and tip toed through the house to reach her attic bedroom on the top floor. As she turned right at the top of the stairs, the light flicked on and Alice jumped out of her skin and swung around to see her younger sister, Charlotte, looking at her sleepily.

'What-are-you-doing?' Charlotte signed to her, mouthing the words as well. "I-thought-you-were-at-a-party." She added as Alice grimaced, knowing Charlotte had probably felt the vibrations of her walking up the stairs to quickly.

"I-drank-too-much," Alice signed back, whispering the words as well. "And-threw-up-on-my-dress." She continued as she walked towards Charlotte and turned her around by her shoulders and walked her back into her baby blue colour schemed bedroom and back to bed.

"That's-gross," Charlotte signed as she walked, chuckling after as Alice smiled, yet her eyes still were a little wide with the adrenaline as her mind replayed what had really happened.

"Don't-tell-mom-" Alice signed whilst looking straight into her sisters eyes once she had gotten the bright blue eyed little eight year old back into her bed. "Or-i-won't-let-you-wear-my-red-lipstick-anymore," she added with a smirk and Charlotte pretended to gasp in shock

"Fine." Charlotte smirked and lay back down. "Good-night-Alice." She signed and smiled warmly and sleepily as Alice lent down to kiss her forehead and pat her shoulder gently.

"Good night," she said out loud and left Charlotte's room, flicking off the light and shutting the door quietly behind her. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes for a moment as she felt a sting of guilt. Maybe she should have told someone... maybe she should have done the normal thing and called the police, or even screamed or cried like anyone else would have. But even then, she could feel the little twinkle of excitement as she realised what she had done and what she now knew about Magnus Johnson...

It was Monday morning, and no doubt the talk of the Summerland's High would be Veronica Green's Christmas party. The storm had passed over the weekend, and now Summerland had been covered in blue skies and cold, crisp mornings covered in frost.

Alice Murphy climbed into the passenger seat of her mothers light blue Volkswagen Beetle, the radio quietly playing as the clock just passed quarter past eight. It didn't take long to get to the school, but the whole drive there Alice sat in silence whilst her younger sister sat in the back, eating the breakfast her mother packed for her to have on the way there. "Everything alright?" Her mother asked with her light French accent whilst glancing at Alice, who was staring out the window aimlessly.

"I'm fine," she replied, blinking slowly then letting out a slow breath.

There was only ten more days until the end of the semester, and already Alice could feel the pressures of preparing for senior year and possible collages she'd need to apply to. Throughout most of the morning Alice blended in and did nothing out of the ordinary even though it felt like people where beginning to stare at her. "So where did you go at the party? You just vanished," Olive said as they sat down at their usual table by the large wall of windows in the cafeteria.

Alice felt her heart jump but she continued to take a bite of her sandwich calmly. "I got sick," she replied quietly. "I just went home,"

"Oh, we thought you were with Charlie or something. You know Trey's friend?" Candice said, causing Alice to look up. "What? You guys were like cuddling for a while,"

"I don't remember that," Alice replied, glancing down at her sandwich and grimacing a little as her mind flashed the image of her looking into the lifeless eyes of Veronica Green. "I think I drank way too much than I expected," she lied smoothly, looking up at her friends. "I don't even remember getting home,"

"Whoa," Candice sighed, "maybe someone drove you," she suggested as she glanced up beside Alice and looked at someone who Alice just noticed in her peripherals. Her heart jumped again as she looked into the bright hazel eyes of Magnus Johnson, his whole presence radiating confidence like he was a God walking amongst men. She let out a quiet shaky breath and felt her cheeks go pink before he had even said anything.

"Ladies," Magnus greeted, looking at Candice and Olive first then down at Alice who he was standing next to. Alice looked up at him and gave him a small but warm smile, causing his right eyebrow to raise just a little. His expression was unreadable but strangely pleasant to look at. She drank in his appearance in a few seconds, admiring the way his sandy brown hair was pushed back out of his face and effortlessly neat...

"Candice," Magnus continued, then smiled suddenly. "I was wondering if you could tell me where your brother is," he said, his voice smooth like silk and Alice continued to look at the profile of his face. Tanned skin, some smaller moles, across his cheek. She noticed a scar under his cheekbone and began to wonder how he got it. She also noticed how it felt as if suddenly Trey was in trouble, since either side of Magnus stood two of his friends, dressed in all black with basically vacant expressions.

"Uhm, he said he had something to do this morning." Candice said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was staring into Magnus's eyes, feeling as if it would be rude to look away. That was the kind of affect he had on people.

"Oh," he replied and glanced back at Alice again, who was looking at his bright blood red bomber jacket and thinking about how it seemed only he could pull that shade off. "Thanks," he added, his eyes still on Alice as she looked up at him and seemed to startle herself. "If he talks to you, could you tell him I'm looking for him." He continued, looking back at Candice.

"Sure- yeah okay," Candice replied and began to play with her fork and spin it around her fingers. Magnus smiled again and stepped back from the table,

"Alice," he murmured, holding eye contact with her for a few seconds before he smirked and turned away, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black slim fitting jeans.

"Oh. My. God." Candice rushed, looking desperately yet excitedly at Alice who she was sat opposite of. "He actually spoke to us,"

"He's never done that before?" Alice asked as she ran a hand through her hair and let out a quiet sigh. Her heart was racing and she couldn't help the glance over her shoulder to see where Magnus had gone, but she didn't see his bright red jacket amongst the sea of students queueing for lunch.

"How does he even know your name," Olive gasped, "oh my god, maybe it was him that took you home from Veronica's party!" She gasped again and grabbed Candice's arm in excitement. "It would totally explain why he just smirked like that,"

"Maybe you threw up in his car," Candice grinned and Alice grimaced. Her mind began to play with her as she replayed Magnus's smirk... it was as if he knew something she didn't. Or maybe they both knew something he wished she didn't. Her mind seemed to distort his smirk into a frown and replay that instead, causing anxiety and nerves to rush through her veins. "Uh... Alice?" Candice asked,

"I'm fine," she whispered, seeing little stars sparkling in her eyes. She stood up slowly, seeing the wide double glass doors that lead outside open. It would only take ten seconds to get out and breathe in some fresh hair. Otherwise... "I just-" she began, but she didn't remember finishing her sentence, all she heard was Candice's loud gasp and Olive calling her name before things went black...

"Mom, I'm fine... I promise." Alice murmured into the phone as she sat on the edge of a bed in the Nurses office. "Please don't do that," she continued as she heard her mother saying she was already leaving the office to come and pick her up.

Candice and Olive hung around in the Nurses's office too, staring at all the detailed posters of the human anatomy with slight disgust and interest. "... no, I'm not pregnant." Alice hissed, covering her face with her hand as she sighed. "Fine. Just... don't tell dad yet, he'll be worried." She continued and waited until her mother was finished talking until she hung up.

"So you're going home?" Olive asked, taking her long brown hair down before she tied it back up again, but in an even messier bun than before.

"Yeah, I think my mom will burst an aneurism if I don't." Alice replied and stood up from the nurses bed and retrieved her green permission slip to go home for the day from the nurse.

"I think it's nice how caring your mom is," Candice smiled as they walked to Alice's locker with her. The bell for 4th period had already gone, leaving the three girls alone in the hallway. "Can't believe you fainted because Magnus spoke to you," she added after a few moments just before all girls burst out laughing. It was amusing because of the truth behind it, she had fainted because he had spoken to her. But it wasn't from what he said, it was from what she expected he knew and wanted to say without giving too much away.

But in reality, Magnus was flirting with the idea of getting closer to Alice for purely superficial reasons. She was pretty, and she looked innocent... on top of that he vividly remembered the line between her bouncy soft looking breasts from the pink sparkly dress she was wearing that night.

Alice's mothers car was already waiting outside the school gates by the time she got there. A look of concern was etched into the brow of Sophie Murphy, her own long blonde hair tied up in a large nest bun. "Hi honey," she cooed in sympathy as she instantly reached forward to feel her daughters forehead whilst she sat in the passenger seat. "Comment te sens-tu?"

"I'm tired," Alice admitted, replying in English. She hadn't slept much over the weekend for an obvious reason but she smiled innocently at her mother, "I think I might be coming down with something after all,"

Alice's mother sighed and gave her another sympathetic smile before she started up the engine. "Soup then bed when we get home," Sophie continued and pulled away from the side walk in her little baby blue beetle.

Back at the house Alice ate hot home made soup then returned to her room to lie down. She lay there for what felt like hours, she heard her dad come home from work with Charlotte and her mother explaining that she wasn't well and to leave her be.

Her mind was racing again, her thoughts going back to finding Veronica's body. She expected the guilt to come back... the guilt from not telling anyone what she knew... but as her eyes landed on Veronica's phone that was sitting silently on her desk she knew it was because there was too much curiosity. Why? She didn't know. She couldn't work out why it interested her so much and why she couldn't do the sane thing and tell someone. But it would be too late now anyway... she'd be an accessory to murder.

When Alice registered what she was doing she was already plugging Veronica's latest iPhone into her charger and waiting for it to turn back on. Her leg bounced with anticipation and she gasped a little with a strange eerie excitement as it turned on. Instantly an influx of messages flowed through and Alice turned off the notifications... she held it there in her hands... feeling the weight of it.

She didn't know what she should be looking for. If she was an investigator, where would she look first if she had this as evidence...

Alice opened the messages and climbed back into bed, tucking herself underneath the covers as if she was getting ready to read a good book. Her subtle excited smile dropped when she realised all the messages had been wiped... apart from the ones that were recent, of course. Feeling a stab of irritation she went to the pictures... nothing out of the ordinary. Some were explicit and of Veronica herself, and out of a weird sense of respect Alice deleted them. She found some photos of Magnus, he looked so normal behind the scenes. She had a lot of him, mainly on his own where they had been hanging out together. She flicked through the pictures slowly... feeling the trickling of jealousy beginning to drip into her bloodstream.

Her heart froze when she found pictures of them kissing...The phone hung limply in her hands and her eyelids fluttered. Her chest stung with icy disappointment and jealousy and she locked the phone, taking in a sharp but deep breath as she tried to reason with herself and calm down.

I'm glad the bitch is dead. Alice's own voice in her head spat and her eyes widened. Instantly she got up and hurried over to her desk and yanked open a draw, throwing the phone in and closing it sharply. Her breath was a little fast and shallow, but she panicked even more when she heard footsteps coming towards her room.

Alice hurried back into bed and flung the duvet back over her legs moments before her mother nudged open her door with her hip and presented more soup and hot tea. "You look like you have a fever," she cooed and put the tray down to feel her daughters forehead again. "Hmm... too warm." She murmured as Alice tried to calm herself down and also felt her own forehead out of concern...

The next day Alice stayed home. She had been lying awake all night, staring at the wall... her mind wouldn't rest and the exhaustion on her face was so blatant the next morning that her mother insisted she stayed home to look after herself... relief was one of the first emotions Alice felt as she was able to close her eyes again and rest for a few more hours. However when she opened her eyes again... the aching feeling in her stomach and chest were back.

She returned to school that following Wednesday and blended back into the routine quickly. Candice and Olive brought her back up to date with the local gossip and they carried on with their normal schedule as though nothing was out of the ordinary. Even Alice was impressed with how easy she found it to hide the storm that was brewing inside her own mind as she listened to her friends argue over their music taste again on the way to Candice's house.

When Friday rolled around Alice walked home from school on her own. It was a bright, crisp and cold winters afternoon at quarter past three. Her thick emerald green scarf was wrapped around her neck tightly as she listened to music, her mind in her own world. She noticed in her peripherals a low black car approaching behind her. Instinctively she looked, her eyes neutrally drinking the expensive looking sports car and almost instantly then realising who it must've belonged to.

She made eye contact with Magnus as he drove past, his eyes glancing down over and back up. It felt like she was watching him in slow motion, seeing him look over her like that made her heart ache again and she looked away quickly, pretending to herself as if she hadn't noticed him drive past. Again she could tell if he had looked at her in disgust or interest. His expression seemed to constantly be unreadable. The engine of his car roared just after he passed her, causing it to shoot smoothly off down the road at a dangerous fast speed since he has obviously pushed his foot down on the accelerator.

Alice couldn't help but glare after the car. Her mood plummeted as she turned into her road and turned her music up. She walked a little faster until she got home and unlocked the front door aggressively. She saw her mother first but said nothing as she waltzed past and towards the stairs, and hurried up to her room without greeting anyone.

Her door shut with a sharp slam and she dumped her bag before walking over to her desk again. She yanked open the draw and pulled Veronica's phone out, suddenly determined to find something or worth on it or she'd throw it away and never think of it again.

It needed to be charged again so she waited a few long minutes and shrugged off her coat, trying not to become too agitated because of the wait. When it finally turned on she snatched it up, knowing not to click on the photos because of what she saw last time. She searched every inch of the data in the phone but nothing came up. No social media messages. No suspicious phone calls to unknown numbers. She tensed her jaw when she saw how many went to Magnus Johnson.

Alice was about to give up as she sat down on the edge of her bed, but then she remembered a place where she hadn't checked. The notes. She opened the app quickly and felt her eyes widen as she saw a note titled "PLEASE OPEN". Her heart began to race as she clicked on note and began to read eagerly... She was expecting paragraphs of confessed secrets but instead at the top it said: "MAGNUS JOHNSON DID IT." and underneath it began to list a bunch of names, dates and locations...

Gregory Lang. 04.04.18. - Summerland forest.

Hannah Wells 05.15.18 - Kettle Valley steam railway.

Ben Rodgers 05.15.18 - kettle valley steam railway.

Jamie Andrews 06.08.18 - Okanagan Lake Provincial Park.

Helen Kitt 07.12.18 - okanagan lake provincial park.

... the list went on with the names of twelve people in total. Basically one name and location each month this year, excluding December. Alice read it again and slowly realisation began to set in... she left the notes app and opened up the internet on Veronica's phone and typed in each of the names into Google. Her eyes drank in the sight of headlines after headlines of police officials asking the public to come forward with any information about the missing individuals by the names of Gregory Lang. Hannah Wells. Ben Rodgers. Jamie Andrews, Helen Kitt...