Killings Of Midnight |✔️|

Chapter 20 (Edited)

      Ryder and Libby sat in the kitchen while Maria made their dinner. Ryder had seen his mum and she had informed him that Damaria would stay a little late for work related purposes.

"Are you two hungry for some spaghetti?" Maria smiled. She twirled around the island and handed Libby and Ryder the two plates filled with a mountain of spaghetti each. She was a dancer in her own world whenever she entered the brightly lit kitchen.

"Thanks Maria." Libby took the plate from her and walked to the living room where she sat on the couch and started to eat.

"Yeah, thanks." Ryder wasn't in the mood to eat, but Maria spent so much time on the food that he felt bad turning it down. He grabbed his plate and walked to the living room, where Libby was already seated and watching the news channel.

"On recent news, police have now given the murder a name; Midnight. For his striking way of leaving the exact time of their deaths. Police say that there are still no known connections between the victims but are still looking. With a murderer on the loose, authority officials advise that at the moment the safest place to be is at home-" Ryder turned the tv off when he noticed Libby shaking slightly. His mind was frozen for a second. What was he supposed to do? Slowly he stood up and carefully walked towards her.

"Libby?" When Ryder was close enough he heard her sniffling. She was crying. He had no idea what to do. Putting a hand on her shoulder and the other arm around her, he hugged her. She resisted at first.

"Leave me alone Ryder." She sniffed.

"Or else what?" He argued, softly.

"I don't know. Or else I'll...I'll..." Her sentence trailed off and her shoulders slumped.

Ryder sighed. "What's wrong?" Slowly he started to rub her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"I knew one of the victims." She whispered, barely audible.

Ryder stayed silent urging Libby to continue.

"He was my dad's friend."

Ryder became quiet as Libby sobbed into his chest. He wasn't annoyed or upset, he just felt guilty for some unknown reason. He'd never seen her cry and right now all her barriers were down. She was trusting him, he didn't know if he liked that or not.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked. Libby shook her head and continued to cry. Ryder ran a light hand through her brown hair, wavy hair.

He sat back and Libby was still crying into his chest, she slowly started muttering random things. Her breathing uneven and her snot covering his chest. "Maybe that's why mum and dad are splitting up. Maybe dad took his friend's murder too seriously...what if...if he was depressed... And mum just couldn't deal with... With his depression..." Libby continued to sob.

Ryder froze, Damaria had told him that Libby's parents were on a business trip. He had no idea that they were dealing with a divorce. Libby was still crying as she fell asleep, but Ryder was wide awake. He wanted to ask Damaria about the truth, but he knew it would have to wait until tomorrow. It was late and he was tired. Too tired to walk to his room. He adjusted himself that Libby was now lying on the couch and he was lying on the opposite couch. But as he headed for the opposite couch, he caught sight of Libby's wrists. Blue and purple marks in the shape of long fingers were around her wrist. He stared at them unable to understand what had happened. He looked to Libby but she was still asleep. Then he noticed a mark on her forehead, he moved some of the hair to find a bruise.

     Had her parents abused her? Did someone do it on purpose? Did she do it to herself? What if she was in danger and she didn't even know?