The Iron Facade

Chapter Seven

   When Esther woke up, Philip was in the bathroom. She rustled Ty's hair. When she had woken up last night he was already in bed. She honestly didn't really care why. She peeled the covers back and got out of bed. Walking out onto the balcony, she sat down on one of the chairs. The air was fresh and crisp. Refreshing.

   Esther let out a sigh of relief. Everything was happening so fast. Adam was gone. She felt like she was going insane. If anything else happened she might just lose it. Something felt off that morning though. An eerie feeling hung in the air. Esther stood up and leaned over the balcony, taking in the view.

   Philip finished getting dressed and walked out of the bathroom. Ty was still asleep. Philip went through the other door to the adjoining room. Lauren walked up to him.

   "Have you seen Kathy?" She asked. "She wasn't here when any of us woke up." Most everyone in the room looked on edge. Eleanor looked terrified.

   "If anything happened to her I think I'll break." She mumbled. Philip nodded.

   "I'm sure she's fine. We all know how hard she took Adam's death. She probably just went for a walk or something." He tried to assure them. Ty walked in and rubbed his eyes.

   "What's happening?" He asked groggily.

   "We're trying to find out where Kathy is." John explained. "Seen her recently?" Ty shook his head.

   "Nope. Sorry." He plopped down onto the couch. A scream then echoed from the other room. A scream filled with terror and horror. Philip's eyes shot toward the adjoined room.

   "Esther!" He yelled. He bolted as fast as he could to the other room. Esther was on the ground. She was frantically scrambling away from the balcony door. Philip pulled her up and away. "What's wrong, Est? What's wrong?!" She stared at him with wide, frantic eyes. Eyes filled with terror.

   "I just went out to get some air! It was nice until I noticed something on the ground." She said. Then she laughed hysterically. "Her body must have just went splat on the ground. All of her bones cracking at once. Popping and breaking. Now she's down there. Laying in a pool of her blood like a bath." Lauren stared at her in horror and then ran to the balcony where she let out a deathly scream.

   "No!!" She screamed. "Kathy no!" Then she spun around and marched toward Esther who was standing now but clinging to Philip. "What did you do?" She asked harshly. Then her voice rose to a yell. "What did you do?!" Eleanor had collapsed to her knees, sobbing. Megan was struggling with the phone, calling the police. John was trying to calm Tyler down before he went into a panic attack. Matt had his arms wrapped around Eleanor tightly, trying to comfort her.

   "I didn't do anything." Esther whimpered.

   "Well you were the first one to see her body and she would never kill herself, so what would you say happened?" Lauren accused. Esther stared at her, trying not to crumple to the ground. Philip, the only thing keeping her up.