How to hide a body

Honey-painted

"Are you sure about this?" Tyler's eyes flitted around the porch they were crammed into.

"One hundred percent sure. Everything's going to be ok," Quinn knocked on the glass and they waited as loud footsteps came from inside the house.

The door swung open to reveal a young guy around their age, he had ebony hair that curled slightly at the ends with one small braid at the right of his head. His skin was a beautiful sable colour and his eyes were a marble of dark and light browns. He was currently in what seemed like his pyjamas but as he opened the door, he lifted a burgundy hoodie over his head.

"It's good to see you again Quinn," he wrapped her into a tight hug as Tyler watched with a light smile on her face.

His eyes widened when he spotted Tyler over Quinn's shoulder, "you must be Tyler. Um, nice to meet you," he rushed out and stuck his hand out, Quinn snickered as it shook in the air. Tyler firmly shook his hand and squeezed it lightly when he started looking embarrassed.

"This is Jai Odedra," Quinn commented over her shoulder as she wandered into the hallway of Jai's house.

"Nice to meet you," Tyler scanned him from head to toe again, "You didn't go to our school, did you?"

"Definitely not," Jai quickly closed the door behind Tyler as she stepped in and offered to take her bag, fiddling with his keys instead when she shook her head and thanked him, "I met Quinn when she came to my home Kolkata."

"Wasn't she only there for two days?" Tyler glanced at the paintings around the hallway of different mountains and lakes.

"Yes, I met her because she slept with my sister," he stated casually.

Tyler halted in her step and facepalmed, "Of course she did," she rolled her eyes as she heard a crash from the kitchen and Quinn swearing, "what's Kolkata like?"

"It's a crowded city but the food is some of the best, compared to here it's very cheap and it's, home. I moved here with my friends to find a job and I ran into Quinn again. She helped me find a place to stay."

"She never told me," they both gazed at the kitchen where Quinn was still creating a handful of noise but was probably only climbing the cabinets to try and reach a snack.

Jai's gaze turned to her right hand, "Do you want to clean it? I have some medical supplies upstairs, one of my friends is a medical student."

"Sure." Tyler rubbed her right arm as she walked towards the stairs, "Where is the-"

"Up and to your left, first door they're in the cabinet in a box."

"Right. Thank you," she opened the door to the bathroom and breathed out when she locked the door behind her. Carefully, she unwrapped the bloodied bandage off of her hand and gulped as it stuck slightly to her skin because of the amount of blood that had soaked into it. She attempted to stretch it out but winced as a jolt of pain shot through her. She dumped the bandages in the sink and reached to open the cabinet. She took the tape out of the box and wrapped her middle finger and index finger in white tape which was soon covered in red fingerprints. She wrapped the rest of her hand in a clean bandage and grabbed her leggings out of her bag.

She wriggled out of her jeans and kicked them off with one leg to the other side of the bathroom by accident, then pulled her leggings up with one hand but ended up on the floor trying to get them up. After lying on the floor and just gazing up at the ceiling for a few minutes, she crawled back towards her bag and reached over to her jeans, then stuffed them into her bag. Using the sink to grab on with one hand, she pulled herself up onto her feet and grabbed the bandages from the sink. With the palm of her right hand, she pushed the tap on and watched as the bloodstains were drained away by the water. She unlocked the door thudded down the stairs and into the room that had its door ajar and shadows moving around inside.

"There's been another stabbing in Central London last night. The victim has been identified as an ex-criminal who will not be named at this moment but it could be linked to five recent stabbings across London and its surrounding areas..."

Quinn sighed as turned the tv off, "that was quick."

"Too quick," Tyler leaned against the frame of the door and admired the pictures across the walls of the honey-painted room; Quinn was in one at the back of the room above the coal sofa with Jai and her sister, Asuka. They were standing in front of a fountain: Asuka's hair was dripping wet and her patterned top was now over her shoulders instead of being buttoned-up, Jai's face was scrunched up as Quinn pitched his side, and Quinn stood in the middle. They were all smiling like someone had told the funniest joke of their life and the sun shined on them like no other day. Tyler smiled softly to herself before she frowned, "I have an idea. It may not be a good one but all these ideas have been buying us time and god knows we need it."

Quinn turned away from the tv and towards Tyler instead, deep lines etched into her forehead, "Tyler, we can't keep on running from something that's going to catch up with us anyway."

"When we were in that apartment and we had the decision to either try or give up we chose to try. We made the choice to start the chase," Tyler shook her head repeatedly, "Quinn, if you want to stop running now, I'd gladly stop for you. But just know, whatever happens, you'll get out."

Quinn bit her lip as she shook her head in disbelief, "And you, why won't you fight for yourself for once?"

"My life's already decided. You can blame my parents for that."

Quinn tapped her foot against the floorboards as she scratched her brow with her thumb, "you want to speak to them, don't you?"

"If anyone knows the game of murder, it's the people who brought me into it."