WICKED { #Wattys2016 }

Chapter Six: The Body

After their...discovery, they managed to call 911, and an hour later the girls stood in Cordelia's backyard, surrounded by freaked out cops, frazzled neighbours, and wigged out parents.

From where Cordelia sat, she could see Kendra and Hailey wrapped snuggly in blankets and their parents embraces, while being questioned by the police.

Cordelia's own parents had been called around a half hour ago, and were speeding home.

So Cordelia sat on her porch stairs alone, watching the events unfold.

She watched them retrieve both halves of the body, and if she hadn't already puked her guts out, she probably would've thrown up again.

She shivered at the sight and pulled the blanket closer, watching as her friends were ushered away by their parents.

She didn't even notice her mother's partner, Steve approach.

"Hey there Delia." He greeted tentatively, while twisting his wedding ring.

"Hi Steve." Cordelia greeted, with a smile that turned out as more of a grimace, patting the empty space next to where she sat.

Steve nodded gratefully, rubbing the exhaustion out of his eyes, and sat next to her on the porch step.

Steve and his wife, Anna were the closest thing Cordelia had to an aunt and uncle. She'd known them her entire life, because of Steve's working relationship with her mother. They had babysat her, sent her birthday gifts, and been at every ballet recital and spelling bee.

Watching Steve sit with some difficulty, Cordelia felt a pang of sympathy for the man. He was too old to deal with this kind of crap.

"According to procedure Delia, I'm going to need you to answer a few questions to the best of your abilities okay?" He asked, patting her on the back amicably.

She had known this would happen. But that didn't make her less likely to cry.

She put on what she hoped was a brave face, and nodded, "Sure."

Steve nodded gratefully, and cleared his throat.

"So what time was it when you found the body?"

"Around 1am."

"Why were you girls outside so late?"

"We were looking for the cat."

At that, Steve raised a brow, his interest piqued.

"Why's that?"

"We uh...we heard the cat yowl and went to investigate."

"Which led you to find the body."

She nodded.

"And the body was in what state when you found it?"

Cordelia frowned, and gave him her are you kidding me? look. Steve shrugged like, sorry kiddo.

"Severed in half. Dead." She added the last part, guessing what his folow up question would be.

"Which led you to calling the police." He added, concluding the questioning.

She nodded, shrinking into the fleece blanket.

Steve gave her a smile, "Thanks Delia. That should be enough for the paperwork. Your parents should be here any minute, knowing your mother." He smiled, ruffling her hair affectionately before walking away.

Cordelia let out a deep sigh and stood, about to retreat inside and pass out, when she caught someone's gaze. Across the yard near the police tape, was Cal Sterling. And he wasn't alone.

He was accompanied by another boy. 'Man' Cordelia corrected herself. He looked a few years older than Cal, about 20, 21. The resemblance between Cal and the stranger was blatantly obvious.

It wasn't that they had similar features necessarily, it was the otherworldly, jaw-dropping beauty they shared.

The stranger had tousled hair that was so dark it was almost black, a greek nose, metallic grey eyes, and a smooth olive complexion. Where Cal's features were a bit more boyish, this man's were sharp and defined.

The stranger caught her looking, and she averted her gaze sheepishly, feeling heat in her cheeks despite the bitter cold.

Before retreating for good, Cordelia gave the pair one last lingering look, and memorised how beautiful, how ethereal, how...dangerous they looked surrounded by the flashing police lights, the woods, and the night darkness that hid a murderer.

A/N: Soooo sorry! 1) I know this chapter took awhile to upload and I apologise I was really busy and I felt crappy. 2) I know it's short but that was really all there was to the chapter and adding anything more would've lowered the quality of the chapter I think.

Next chapter will definitely be longer and will hopefully be up soon!

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter even if it was short!

Please vote, comment, and share if you'd like!

~Liz