I'm silent the entire car ride to school. I hold the door for everyone and Lucy stops yet again.
"Something up?" she asks.
"You—you didn't do it, did you?" I ask.
"Do what? You don't mean—"
"Did you kill him, Lucy? Because I don't know what to do! We were there!"
"Keep your voice down! As far as anyone's concerned, we weren't there, okay?"
"I can't lie, Lucy. I'm horrible at it."
"Look. It's not that hard. Just use this trick: The best liars tell the truth. If someone asks where you were, just say you were out for a walk with me, okay? You ain't lying are you?"
"I—I guess not."
"Come on. We got other things to worry about. Like who that silhouette was that you saw that night. Any ideas?"
"None. Do you think it was them that did that to Matthew?"
"It had to be. No one else was there but us and I didn't do it."
I follow her in and Delilah takes my right hand. It doesn't take long until someone screams something at me: "Judas The Betrayer, more like Judas The Murder!"
"Um—guys?" Squid says, showing us their phone. Their screen shows a picture with a significant amount of likes and shares. The picture is me, squinting at the camera behind Matthew's house. Whoever the silhouette was must've taken a photo of me and spread the image on social media.
"Weren't Matthew and him talking yesterday?" a voice asks in the crowd.
"He probably convinced him to tell him where he lives," Another voice says.
This just keeps getting worse.
"What were you doing out there?" Delilah asks.
I look at Lucy and she gestures with her eyes what to do.
"I was just going on a walk with Lucy," I tell her. I start to feel sick in my stomach.
"That's bad timing," Delilah says, "Unlucky even. Now everyone thinks you killed that little douchebag."
"I'm sorry," I say.
"If you apologize again for things that aren't your fault I'm gonna twist your dick off, Judas. Just sayin'."
At least Delilah's sense of humor will get me through the day.
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Daniel isn't in first period so I'm guessing he's not here today. Neither is Stacy Flannigon. Maybe they're planning the talent show with the school? Though it seems a little early for that.
While working on some papers, I start thinking about who that silhouette could've been. It can't be Lucy, she was in the house at the time I saw them. It could have been anyone else I don't know.
Then it hits me. Daniel was furious with Matthew. It's possible he could've been the silhouette. And after Lucy roughed up Matthew, Daniel finished him off and dragged him out into the cold to die. But is it possible that the silhouette is the same person who stole my phone? If so that means it's either Squid or Delilah.
I look over to Delilah sitting to my right. She moves a piece of blue hair behind her left ear, notices I'm looking at her, smiles, and goes back to her work. There's no way it's her, right?
And Squid just doesn't seem the type. They're friends with everyone, including me now. Why would they have this crusade against me all of a sudden, especially with all I've done for them? Maybe they see it how I saw it, and they resent me for how complicated their life has become because of me. And now they seek to destroy me.
Who knows? Maybe Daniel snuck into my house and stole my phone that night the threat was called.
God, I can't imagine what Detective Nick has to go through when he's working on a case.
Detective Nick. That's it! He can help me figure out what's going on! I still have his card! But I don't have a phone. I need to fix that.
I lean over to Delilah, "Can I borrow you're phone after school?" I ask.
"Sure. Need to make a call?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you, you're the best."
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"Has anyone seen Daniel?" I ask the group. We're all gathered around Delilah's locker.
"I haven't seen him," Squid says.
"Me neither," Lucy says.
"Has anyone been able to get a hold of him?" I ask.
"I don't think he's gonna answer," Lucy says.
Lucy asks Delilah a question and they start conversing with each other. Squid then taps me on the shoulder and asks: "Can we talk?"
"Yeah, what's up?" I ask.
"When we left your house, Daniel was acting weird. He said he was going home, but I know he didn't."
"Okay..."
"And also. I'm not so sure I would trust Delilah."
"What? What do you mean?"
"She seemed like she was in on it. I stuck around and I saw Daniel sneaking into Delilah's house through the back. I don't know what's going on but that's not normal behavior. Has she told you about that?"
"No. She hasn't."
I turn to my left to see Delilah talking with Lucy. Does Delilah know why Daniel is absent today? If so, why has she been keeping this information from me? Maybe I shouldn't make the phone call with her phone.
"Hey, I've been thinking," Squid admits, "Can we talk sometime? Just the two of us. I've got a lot on my mind I think only you can help me decode."
"Of course. Thank you for telling me these things. Maybe after school?"
They hold up their hand, "It's a date!" and I shake it.
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Lucy said she had errands to run and Delilah wanted to be dropped off at her house to work on some of her songs. This gave me and Squid the car.
"Okay, Squid. What did you want to discuss?"
"It's better if we do this at my house. Take me there."
I obey, driving us through the narrow curving roads of Hawkins until we reach our destination about ten minutes later. Squid gets out of the car and I follow them into their house and up to their room but they stop in front of the door and turn to me.
"I'm gonna show you something," they start, "And I'm not crazy, okay?"
"Okay."
They open the door, and besides the bright colors of purple, and pink, that I was expecting, there's a large bulletin board leaning against the wall. On it are hundreds of pictures and pins connected by yarn interwoven together. Sticky notes can be seen on every picture with notes written in black on them. I look closer, to the picture on the top and recognize it. The crimson-eyed, red-haired woman with the title: "Lucy" written in red marker on top of her picture. A sticky note next to it has a question on it asking: "Devil???". I look at every picture and there's one for each of us. There's Delilah, and me, and Daniel. Detective Nick.
"I take notes on people," They say, "And I noticed something. Multiple coincidences are a pattern, right? Well, I think something big is going to happen at Hawkins."
"Squid. I—"
"Look—the reason I'm showing this to you, Judas is because I know you aren't involved. You're just a pawn like me. But Lucy, Delilah, and Daniel. They're something going on with them and I need your help figuring out what."
"Slow down. How do I know that I can trust you?"
"Because I saw who stole your phone, Judas. I was going downstairs when I noticed the door open. And when I looked to see who it was, I saw the Hawks sports jacket with 'Martinez' on the back closing the door with your phone."
"Why would Daniel steal my phone and do the bomb threat?"
"That's what I'm still trying to figure out. And why did he sneak into Delilah's house when you kicked us out."
"Why is Detective Nick on the board?"
"Because I was thinking we'll need his help, but we need evidence first. And we also need to figure out what's going on and why you're being pinned for all of it."
I take a step towards the board.
"Look," Squid starts, "I'm weird. But everyone loves that about me. You're weird too, but everyone seems to hate that about you, and you're a way better person than me. That just feels wrong, you know? So I'm gonna clear your name but I need your help."
I turn to them. They're sitting on their pink bed.
"What do you need?" I ask.
"Let's start with Lucy. Are you aware of her past at all?"
"I can't say that I am, no."
"Well, it's a mystery. It pretty much started as soon as her social media presence began. With her first post here,"
Squid shows me their phone; a picture of Lucy presumably naked with a girl beside her. Lucy has her arm around the girl to her right, the girl herself has long, matted, brown hair and these—beautiful ocean-green eyes. Wait.
"Is that—"
"Delilah? Yep. That's our girl."
"How long ago was that?" I ask.
"Two years ago. Lucy likes doing favors for people, right? Did she ever tell you if she was ever doing a favor for Delilah?"
"Yeah—yeah, she did. She promised Delilah she would make her into a legacy."
"Did she ever promise a favor to you?"
"She did... I wanted Delilah to be with me forever. Did she promise a favor to you?"
They stare at the ground when they say: "She promised that I would become an advocate of peace. A voice many would listen to."
"Do we know if Lucy ever promised a favor to Daniel?"
"I don't know. But he didn't show up to school. Would that have to do with anything?"
"I'm not sure. I have to think."
Then it hits me. Stacy Flannigon didn't go to school today either.
"Daniel has a crush on Stacy," I say.
"So?"
"So if Lucy made favor with Daniel to get Stacy's hand in a relationship? And for Lucy to do make it happen—"
"She had him steal your phone."
"And maybe even take the picture of me behind Matthew's! But that's assuming Lucy is somehow behind all this."
"What were you doing behind Matthew's anyway?"
My heart sinks. I have to come clean. I tell Squid about me and Lucy's plan. The silhouette I saw.
"Never thought you the type, Judes," Squid says.
"Me neither. It was a serious low point."
"But you're out of it, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so."
"Because I need the real Judes here. Not vengeful Judes."
"No I'm here, I'm here. But back to the silhouette, we still don't know for sure it was Daniel."
"And we know it wasn't Lucy. What?"
I must've been looking at Squid in some way.
"You can check my home cameras," Squid says, "I was here all night."
"Then it's either someone we haven't met yet, Daniel, Detective Nick, or Delilah."
"We've already got an argument for Daniel. What about Nick?"
"Nick might suspect something is amiss like us, and he may be investigating us. Though I don't see why he would spread the picture."
"And Delilah?"
I think about Delilah last night. She did have a heavy coat on that was wet, like she had just been outside in the snow.
"It's possible Delilah could've taken the picture too," I say.
"She has somewhat of a motive. 'To become a legacy'."
"That would mean Lucy is also somewhat involved. But does Delilah really care about that? And that's assuming she's in cahoots with Lucy if Lucy's behind this. You heard what she said the day I kicked you guys out."
"With everything that's been happening lately, would it surprise you?"
I take in the board again. So many connections. And so many loose ends.
"What is this leading to?" I ask.
"I don't know, but Lucy—Lucyfer Mourningstar, seems to be the center of it all."
There's a knock at the door. Both of us tense up.
"Who is it?" Squid asks.
"It's me and Lucy! Open up!" Delilah says from behind the door. I make eye contact with Squid and we both look like a deer in headlights.
"What do we do?" I ask in a whisper yelling voice.
"Quick! Help me hide it in the closet!" Squid whispers, grabbing the right end.
"Uh—give us a sec!" I yell back to the door.
"Wait—is that you Judas?" Delilah asks.
"What's going on in there?" Lucy asks.
I open the closet and put my end into it. Squid begins to slide their end through but stops for some reason.
"I'm coming in," Delilah announces.
"It's stuck!" Squid says.
I dash to the door and it inches a little open before I slam my body into it, shutting it.
"Uhm, we're—naked!" I say, Squid looks at me and mouths "What the fuck?" I shrug. That was a stupid thing to say but it just slipped out. I couldn't tell them the truth.
Squid finally fits the board into the closet and I back away from the door. Delilah comes storming in. Lucy saunters in like a cat, her hands rubbing together.
"So, who was fucking who?" Lucy asks.
"We weren't fucking," Squid and I say in unison.
"Then what were you guys doing?" Delilah asks.
I look at Delilah. Then Lucy. And I remember what Lucy told me about liars.
"We were talking about Lucy," I say.
Everyone's staring at me. Waiting for me to clarify. But I wait. As Jesus said, silence can be a response.
"Have you ever been baptized, Lucy?" I ask her, looking into her crimson eyes.
"No," she starts, "No church would ever let me."
"Why?"
"Because they'd find out about my full name. Then about my past."
"Would you want to be baptized?"
"I—I don't know. I've never really thought it was possible. Why are you asking?"
"Well, I've just been thinking since you've been doing favors for everyone, it was time someone did you a favor. Tomorrow is Saturday, and the Church we went to is baptizing people. What if we take you there? This church will accept you, trust me. They accept me."
All of us are watching Lucy, waiting for her response. She's looking at me, her eyes glistening. Then a single tear falls from her left eye and she's quick to clean it with her sleeve.
"Sorry," she sniffles, "I don't know the words—what this feeling—It's weird—but yeah—I'd like that."
"Cool. I think we can all be at my house at ten tomorrow, right guys?" I ask.
"I'll be there," Delilah says.
"Me too," Squid says.
"Alright. What're you guys here for?" I ask.
"We were going to get Squid then come to your place," Delilah starts, "But this works too. We got you something. Lucy?"
Lucy takes her backpack off and pulls out a black phone. She then crosses the room and gives it to me.
"Happy birthday Judas," Lucy says, "We all chipped in for it."
I only told Delilah my birthday once in passing. But I guess she remembered. My eyes find her and she smirks, her dimple showing on her cheek.
"I—I can't accept this," I say, trying to give the phone back, "Really—"
"We need to get a hold of you Judas," Squid says.
"You're a big help," Lucy says, moving back to her corner.
"I miss texting you," Delilah starts, "And calling you. We live in an age of technology Judas. You have to accept that."
Well, now I'd be an asshole to deny this gift. I put the phone in my pocket and thank them all.
"See you guys at ten tomorrow?" I ask.
"Yep."
"Uh-huh."
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