“Ma’am are you okay?” Carey laughed at the question. She was covered in blood and had a nasty gash at her left temple. Carey abruptly stopped laughing when he saw that Alyssa was dead. I had to stop myself from chuckling at this. I pretended to run in, even managed a (in my opinion) convincing scream when I looked at Alyssa’s body. “Oh, Carey. What happened?!” I cried at him, falling into his arms and letting my crocodile tears soak his shirt.

He was so shocked. Pale. Yet he still tried to comfort me, bless him. “It’s okay,” he soothed. But his words were hollow. I let him hold me for a moment; he was warm and it gave me a chance to smile.

Eventually he killed the moment by saying: “We have to call the police, Hannah.”

“I already have,” I said, looking him in the eyes. Poor Carey was too lost, mourning his precious Alyssa to question my claim. I’d never really liked Alyssa. She was annoying and fake. Yeah yeah you can call me fake too for what I’ve done but that’s different- if someone were to ask me if I‘d killed multiple people, I’d answer truthfully. It felt good to smash Alyssa’s brains out with a framed photo of her and Carey (which she’d cropped me out of).

I suggested we wait outside for the cops, and Carey followed me in a stupor. It was freezing cold, a good excuse to snuggle up next to him. “Oh Carey,” I sobbed, “how could this happen?” I think I deserved an Oscar.

“I think I’m cursed,” he whispered blankly, “almost every relationship I’ve had since college has ended in death.” It was snowing angelically. I held him tighter. I wished I could comfort him- give him closure- about what had happened to all his girlfriends. How I’d saved him from them all.

Aria was so stuck up and rude, it nearly killed me to make it look like an accidental OD instead of an affair gone wrong. Sophia was selfish and hogged him, so I made her write a letter (where she mentioned how she’d never loved him) before hanging her. Eva-Marie wasn’t good enough for him. I thought we could’ve been friends in another lifetime so I just chased her away.

“Maybe it’s fate?” I offered meekly, “Perhaps it’s all leading you to the right person.”

He looked at me with affection and said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Hannah,” I’d thought this was the moment. He was seeing me in a different light. We would kiss and be together forever. But then he continued: “you’re such a great friend.” Those words drove a knife into my heart. So I drove my knife into his.

***

I hear ambulance sirens approaching (I called them to escape suspicion) and Carey’s ragged breathing. I lie down next to him. “I’ve always loved you Carey,” I say before I plunge the knife into my own chest.