Queen of Terror

Chap. 24

The door then banged opened, and though I couldn't really move much, I was relieved to see my friends enter the room with the police right behind them. The first thing they looked at were all the dead bodies of their classmates laying around on the floor with blood splattered everywhere. Some of them clasped their hands against their mouths in complete shock, though what really gave me a surprise now was how Bridgette was so quick to rush over to them. At first, I was afraid she was going to pull a weapon out of nowhere, but my eyes widened when she pulled Alya into a hug instead. I tried to get up from the floor, afraid she was going to hurt her in some unexpected way.

"I'm so glad you guys are here. It's a good thing I got Bridgette pinned down so to make things easier," the murderer hugging my best friend sniffed with fake tears coming out of her eyes. I couldn't believe what she was really doing. "She was in the middle of finishing off one of our classmates when I attacked her without her expecting it, but look how much of a mess I am because I got hurt too! Please don't listen to whatever she says. Before I'd attacked her, I overheard her talking about how she was going to pretend to be me just so she could escape."

And then, it finally made sense as to why she had dressed up to look exactly like me. "What?!" I breathed out, my voice coming out small for a second. "What is that even supposed to mean. I'M MARINETTE!" I screamed out the words even with the little energy I had, feeling like I needed to get my point across. All of a sudden, the police officers pointed their weapons at me, and even though I knew they weren't going to shoot me, I could still feel the fast pounding of my heart, angry and disappointed that they'd seemed to believe her over me. "Listen to me!" I tried again, not wanting to yell anymore as my voice was beginning to get weaker.

They all stared at me, and I knew they were trying to decide whether or not to believe me over her. It was then that Chloe pointed, backing away. "She's holding a weapon!" I looked down to see the bloody knife slip out of my pocket, all of them witnessing it. "It looks to be the same weapon she used to murder the rest. Officers, you may now take her away, but make sure not to hurt her in any way as the same painful result will come to Marinette as well."

I grabbed the knife and threw it away from me with tears streaming down my face. I got up from the dirty floor and started walking over to the door behind. More weapons were being pointed at me as if they were all afraid I was going to get another larger weapon to take them all down with, but with the knowledge that they wouldn't try to hurt me, I grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door opened. My face softened to see the machine right there, where I'd expected it to be. All the lights were turned off from it, it looked a little bit old now, and it didn't even look like something that would work anymore, but I was still glad to see it there, and I could feel the small relieved smile making its way up to my face. "Here's the machine."

Some weapons slowly turned towards Bridgette herself as she stood in her spot. "Bridgette is willingly trying to give herself up, but she wants me dead first before that happens," still, she didn't seem to give up, this time looking even more determined than before as she spoke these words. "If you take me instead, you're letting her escape free. Bridgette purposely wore the same outfit as me just to create this confusion, and now I'm terrified it's actually working. You guys are going to end up believing her, and killing me off. I'm your best friend!"

My eyes landed on a small gun that had been placed right beside the machine itself. Though not knowing what I was going to do with it, I slowly picked it up with every strength I got left, before turning back around to face the others. "You killed my parents, you killed Romain. Murdered my best friend's parents, and made her sister end up in the hospital. And then next, you end all of my classmates' lives. You slaughtered these people, and you really think you're going to get away with it? Even if no one believes me, Bridgette, I'm tired. I'm tired of having you around. I'm tired of having to come up with ways to take you down so you'd stop what you're doing. I'm tired, and if I have to take myself out in order to bring you down, then I'll do it!" I slowly pointed the gun towards her, not even sure if there were any bullets inside. I'd never used a gun before, and though my arms wanted to shake with fear, I forced them to be straight.