It was the afternoon of 28th July 1981, in England, Blackpool.
Marlene McKinnon and her friends; Mary Macdonald, Lily Evans and Peter Pettigrew, were at Lily's house doing what all friends do: sharing gossip.
–I heard a rumour which said that Miley Monroe is flogging a dead horse, she’s telling the whole school that Sirius Black kissed some girl, and she doesn’t accept the fact that he’s dating Remus Lupin.– Mary said.
–Yeah, I heard it too, but you know, she always has been the type of girl to tell lies about everyone, so probably nobody believes her.– Lily said, putting optimism in the conversation.
–Well, rumour has it that Jacob McCartney murder his best friend, the famous actress, Astoria Smith. At the moment, nothing has been confirmed, though. So we have to be on alert to know if it’s true.– Peter said.
–No!– Marlene cried, –I really liked how she acted.
–Marls, remember that maybe she’s still alive and it's fake news.– Mary comforted Marlene.
–So, do you want to eat something? I think I have some popcorn somewhere in my kitchen.– Lily said, trying to put the group in high spirits. After she said that, all her friends nodded.
–I’m going to the bathroom, my lipgloss smudged, and I don’t want to live with lipgloss all over my face.– Mary exaggerated.
–Yeah, and I may go to the grocery store to buy drinks, we’re running out of them. Could you let me your keys, Lily?– Peter asked.
–Yeah, sure!
And with that all Marlene’s friends left the room and she was left alone.
She grabbed a book that Lily had in her room called “They both died at the end” and started reading it.
Around fifteen minutes passed and she had a qualm. None of her friends had come back and she was worried, she shouldn't be, because what could have happened? There were only friends in the house, they probably had to do something more and that was why they were delaying. But that thought didn’t help at all, instead she got goosebumps.
She decided to take a walk around the house and see if her friends needed any help.
She figured out that if any of her friends needed help she should go with Lily. So she headed to the kitchen.
If Marlene was expecting to see something out of place, she did not expect to see that.
Lily was covered in blood from head to toe but principally in the zone of her throat, it was as if someone had cut it.
Marlene tried to do something, but she didn’t know what, so she approached Lily and checked if she was alive.
She wasn’t.
Marlene was choked. Her best friend had been murdered and the killer could be in the house. She didn’t know when she started crying and her hands shaking, but she was.
She had a stab at calling someone, she should be doing that, but she was sitting in front of her best friend's dead body, with blood in her hands from when she checked if Lily was alive, shaking and crying and, God, she really could not stand anymore.
From one moment to another, Mary was standing in the doorway. She looked at the body of Lily, at Marlene and then at Marlene’s hands.
But she didn’t think what everyone would think, which would be “She thinks I kill her.” instead she thought “she's the killer, she was the only one, beside me, in the house.”
Mary must have seen something in Marlene’s eyes, because she changed the way she was seeing her. She had looked at her with shade, because she thought that she had just killed Lily, before long she started looking at her in another way. Like if she had finally seen that she was sad, that she didn’t have anything to do with it.
It was a pity that Marlene couldn’t see that in Mary’s eyes.
–Marls… –Mary started, but some steps in the house put both on alert.
Peter entered the kitchen and saw Lily’s dead body on the floor and the two of them; one sitting on the floor with tears on her cheeks and the other one standing in front of her.
– What has just happened? –Peter said, with his voice trembling.
With the silence and the stares that Marlene was giving Mary, Peter must have understood what was going on.
–Which of you killed her? –Peter said, almost shouting.
–I did not! –Both of them answered.
–Marls, could you come with me for a sec? – Peter asked, trying to calm himself.
Marlene thought as fast as she could. Peter wasn’t in the house when it all happened, because it seemed that he had just come back, so she thought that Peter was innocent so she could go with him. And probably if Mary wanted to go running away, she couldn’t because Peter had the keys, so she decided that it was better to go with Peter.
–I’m going, Pete. –Marlene said.
They headed to another room, she later discovered that they were going to the guests room, it was in the second floor of Lily’s house,
“Who’s now dead”
That thought crossed her mind.
–I know you did it –Peter said, sounding convinced of what he was saying.
–You’re talking about Lily? I promise I did not! I'm nearly one hundred percent that Mary did it.
–I don’t think Mary did, also I saw you have blood in your hands.
Marlene looked at her hands and the image of the dead body crossed her mind again.
–I went to the kitchen and saw her dead there. I checked if she was alive and at that moment I touched her throat and I stained my hands with blood! I swear I didn’t do it! –Marlene cried.
–Yeah, sure. –Peter said with sarcasm.
–I DIDN’T DO IT, PLEASE PETE BELIEVE ME. – At that moment, one could tell that Marlene was practically going nuts.
–I know. –Peter said and Marlene frowned. –I did it. –And with that Peter pulled out a dagger from his pocket, and he pointed it towards Marlene. The dagger looked sharp, and it would hurt if Peter hurt her with that.
Marlene started running but Peter grabbed her by the arm and stabbed her with the dagger in the stomach. Cool, now she was bleeding.
She slipped out of Peter’s grasp, but by doing that he stabbed her again but in the shoulder.
–Please stop! –Marlene screamed.
–It ain’t over until the fat lady signs. –He said, with a voice that Marlene couldn’t recognize as his friend. He probably referred to the police alarm, which would never sound because she didn't have her phone with her.
She ran around the bed, leaving Peter with his back towards the door.
As she did that, the door opened and Mary appeared in the doorway, with a frying pan in hand. She walked towards Peter and she slammed it against Peter’s head.
After Peter fainted, Marlene finally realised that Peter was Lily’s killer, and that she blamed Mary without reason.
–Mary... I’m sorry –Marlene apologised, she was really knocking on heaven’s door.
–Shh, shh, you are close to ending up like Peter, or worse, talking without optimism. But I’m going with the first one, at least like that some part of Lily’s still here. –As Mary said the last part her eyes brightened remembering her best friend.
–Just, let me say this. I’m sorry, you were right and I should have never suspected you, and if I survive this, this is a fact that I would never forgive myself. –Police alarms started to sound in the background – I’m glad you called the police, I thought that would never be possible. And a last thing, tell my girlfriend that I will still love her even in death. – Mary nodded and with that Marlene fainted too with the police alarms even closer.
In the end, Astoria Smith was dead, the same as Peter Pettigrew trying to kill all his friends.