Marionette

Jilly · #1

Katelynne saw a dead body once before. Grandpa's funeral, back in sophomore year. Open casket. She always heard even as a kid that people who're dead look like they're just sleeping, but even telling herself that back then it didn't feel quite right let alone somewhat blasphemous. It was hard to place the distinction why back then, though. But maybe that was because of the vibes at the time.

When she saw Liberty strung up on the front door like some sorta Jesus statue, she realized why.

They were dolls. Toys. Made to be manipulated by children and puppeteers.

Crucified like a scarecrow and made a mockery of. Bound by cheap socks. Throat crushed by Katelynne's own bandana.

Katelynne's hand balled into a fist, turning redder and redder as she glared at the installation art glowing off the morning light.

Her face was on fire as the tears streamed down, mixing with the uneasy coolness of the falling rain.

But these weren't sad tears.

It wasn't even like Katelynne knew Liberty that well. Honestly, she really didn't. Saw her at figure skating comps for Gretchen. Saw her around the halls every day. Maybe shared a math class or three. Other than that, she was more or less an enigma.

She didn't deserve this. None of them did, of course, but not her. Not beaten to death in her sleep and turned into an art piece. She deserved to have a funeral, a celebration of life surrounded by her friends and family who rejoice and reminisce before burying her and later revisiting at least once a year on her birthday.

But here, no one got that. No one got an elegy. No one got a real send off. Those were inconvenient. They just got dumped like trash carelessly littered on the highway.

The buzzing of the announcements broke Katelynne from her trance. And she got to work, unbinding the first sock.

"Welcome to hump day kids! How are we all doing on this fine damp morning? I'm happy to report that you're continuing to keep the pace up. If anything you all only needed a small push. It's remarkable how quickly it's all happened if I'm honest with you."

Jerk.

The sock binding Liberty's left hand to the door knob was undone. Her cold hand swung down and brushed Katelynne's midsection.

"But anyway let's get a move on, I'm sure you're all itching to hear what happened yesterday after all."

Ngh.

"We begin with a classic danger zone kill as Clayton Barber took a tumble in the stables and got put down by his collar."

That was the big, blind kid. Didn't know much about him, but he seemed nice. Poor guy.

Liberty's other hand was bound by another sock stuffed into the door hinge. Katelynne tugged as hard as she could, the cloth barely giving.

"After that Reuben Walters had a disagreement with Teresa Rojas that was resolved when he got a knife in the gut, which is a perfect example of the dangers of modern life. You never know who's carrying a weapon."

Reuben… Katelynne didn't really remember much of him, either. Quiet and kept to himself. He getting into a fight with a vending machine earlier in the semester in front of one of the other Caitlins. Katelynne thought about helping then, but he seemed to have a hold on things. Wonder if he knew that would be the last concrete memory of him in someone else's mind.

The cloth just would not give. But she had to keep trying, keep tugging.

"That was followed up by a teamkill of a fashion as Quinn Abert showed Rhonda Lawson the dangers of her mistake."

Quinn.

The cloth snapped and slapped Katelynne's arm. It didn't hurt much, just spooked her a bit.

Liberty's hands were free. Another pair of socks bound her feet. Katelynne started working on the left one.

"Camila Cañizares was the next to go when Michael Froese shot her. In our opinion, it was simple and effective work."

...There really was another Camilla, huh? Sorry for not believing in you, Liberty. Really.

Liberty's left leg was freed relatively easily. Now for the right.

"The next kill is interesting, and I'll need to consult with our stats team, but I think this means we have a new record for poisoning kills. As you may have guessed, Blake Davis died after being poisoned by Erika Stieglitz."

Didn't really know either of them. Sorry.

The right leg was tied pretty good. She gave it another good tug, followed by another. And another.

"If you thought things were good before it really picks up here."

…

"Firstly Quinn Abert made her fourth kill when she sniped Ned Jackson."

Quinn. Again.

Can't stop. Gotta free Liberty.

"This was followed by Dolores Upton getting her skull shot open by Blaise d'Aramitz, who didn't stop there. Not long after killing Dolores, Blaise came across Alexander Brooke and suffice to say he didn't see it coming."

Another multiple killer, Dolores and the other blind kid. Dolores was really cool. Katelynne should've worked the nerve to talk to her instead of just admiring her style and courage from afar. At least just to pick her brain a bit.

Just a little more. It was really on there good.

"The chaos in the village continued when Cheridene Williams took a tumble down the well. Unfortunately, Lassie was not around to go and get her help."

Sorry, didn't know much about Cheridene either. But now it meant the well in the village was a no go for water. Katelynne would have to look elsewhere. She made a note in her brain for later.

The sock finally let go. Now the only thing left was the… the bandana, through the broken cross-sectional window.

"Things didn't slow down any when Layla DeBerg had her brains scattered over a wide radius by Violet Schmidt's bullet as she reappears on our announcements."

Violet… that wasn't Princess's Violet. Right, she died the first day if that Aoi fella told the truth. Hopefully Princess was still doing okay.

Katelynne stepped back to the other side of the door. The bandana was tied on really good. Probably on purpose.

"Emil Van Zandt III was the next person to meet his end as Lorenzo Tavares bashed his head, not once, not twice, but thrice and some extra hits for good measure."

Emil was… Emil. Taylor really liked his videos, though as many times as she tried to tell him not to watch those kinda things there wasn't really anything you could do other than tattle on a 12 year old.

One more knot. A shard of glass scraped against Katelynne's hand; it stung like hell. But she had to do this.

"In a very elaborate piece of work, Marco Volker pushed Arjen Kramer off the cliffs, causing him to drown."

Arjen was on the beach, back when Quinn attacked the second time. Whatever was going on with him and Marco must've been awful. Poor thing.

Katelynne tugged and tugged. Her hands burned so much.

"Quinn Abert makes yet another appearance on our morning broadcast today as this time it was Stepney Cruz and his organs who were the unlucky victims of her run of form."

Three. Quinn killed at least four times in one day. One every 6 hours, on average. Six people altogether that Katelynne knew of. 2 a day. 2 whole people a day on average.

One last tug, and Liberty was free. She collapsed on the ground with a heavy thump. Sorry.

"In a bit of an emotional drama, Tristan O'Hara was stabbed by Adonis Cohen. Great performance from all involved, very touching."

Didn't know either of them much.

Now was the hard part. Katelynne tried to pick her up, but she couldn't. Too heavy.

...She was gonna have to be dragged through the floor. Sorry. I'm so sorry.

"And finally, Claudeson Bademosi and Bryan Merryweather had----------and it------Claude--------bullet..."

Katelynne stopped listening at that point. She had work to do; had enough of that garbage, anyway.

She grabbed Liberty by both of her legs, and with a mighty pull she managed to break friction and got her back into the house and into the bedroom, accidentally knocking her splattered head against the wall once.

Once she returned to the bedroom, Katelynne pushed the remainder of the chest out of the way and dragged Liberty over to the bed. She pulled off the covers, took off the map that was still there, and heaved her onto it, working her way up as needed.

Her arms and back were so tired. She really should've exercised more, but nothing you could do about hindsight.

Katelynne rolled Liberty faceup and pulled her arms in on both sides. Then she took the covers and covered her in them, obscuring her from the cameras.

Katelynne clutched onto the bedpost, visually inspecting her work. Wished she could do more, but this was all the steam she had in her. Couldn't think of some sort of eulogy or words that didn't sound patronizing, either.

So instead, she gave her a moment of silence.

…

…

Katelynne strolled away for a moment before coming back with the yearbook, the bandana, and the marker pen. She tore out a mostly empty page and wrote "DON'T TOUCH --- LIBERTY WREN". She meticulously placed it around Liberty's midsection, clearly in view from the bedroom door.

And then she slipped the covers slightly over, exposing a hand and wrapped the bandana around the wrist. She drew the cover back over and fiddled with the paper again before stepping back.

…

…

…

...It was time to get going.

Katelynne grabbed the map and headed for the bedroom door, giving one last look back before gently closing it.

Before she left the house, she made a detour over to the counters. She'd found a metal canteen earlier; dunno how old it was, but the inside looked remarkably clean other than that metal odor and it was all she had. She'd figure something out about cleaning it, but she couldn't survive without water for very long.

Map in hand, Katelynne closed the front door behind her and went on her way down the road on her mission.

Katelynne wasn't gonna make it off the island.

But now she would make damn sure Quinn wouldn't, too.

((Katelynne Kirkpatrick continued in Quinnspiracy Theory))