Torched by Bella Love-Wins

called out as he sat in the car.
    He closed his eyes. “That isn’t true,” he muttered. “They love me, and this is the only way they can move on. Deep down they’re an emotional mess.”
    The voice laughed, taunting him. You are a loser and they’re better off without you.
    “Stop it!” he moaned, holding his temples and urging the words to vanish.
    He jumped out of the car, trying to escape the voices locked inside his head. As he bolted farther away from the house, he collided into a man walking his dog.
    “Excuse you,” the man said gruffly.
    He almost fumbled, but then turned around and looked at the man walking away. Are you going to let him get away with that? Another voice chimed in his head.
    He shook his head. There was no way he would stand back and let someone else walk all over him. He mattered, and everyone needed to realize that. He threw up his hoodie and went after the man, following him until he passed a thick grove of trees.
    “I matter,” he mumbled.
    It was about time people knew not to mess with him.

Chapter 13
    K evin jerked out of a peaceful sleep. They had fallen asleep upstairs, after the game with his parents. He woke up to the wail of sirens approaching.
    “Tara...” He shook her, but the only sound she made was a soft moan. “Tara...wake up,” he said a little louder.
    The sounds of an emergency vehicle grew closer, and then died out somewhere near their house. She opened her eyes, disoriented from being pulled out of such a deep sleep.
    “Something’s going on,” he said.
    She sat up, accepting his outstretched hand so they could check it out. They went downstairs and out the front door to find three police cars, an EMS van, and a coroner’s vehicle parked at the opposite end of their street.
    “What’s that about?” she asked, looking at the commotion and the growing crowd.
    “Wait here,” he mumbled.
    He walked up the street, forging through the darkness, not realizing he’d left his coat behind. When he reached the small crowd gathered at the caution tape, he saw a gurney with a body being carried out of the woods. A black sheet covered the body as it was lifted into the back of the coroner’s van. He saw Mr. Johnson, an elderly widower who lived in one of the houses near the woods, and approached him.
    “Hi, Mr. Johnson. Do you know what’s going on?” he asked.
    “Two teenagers took a shortcut through the woods and discovered a body. I’m not sure exactly what happened, or what they saw, but they came screaming out of there. I was in my backyard cleaning up the barbecue from our Thanksgiving dinner, and I called the police. That’s all I know.”
    “Okay. Thanks, sir.” He spotted Officer Jessup. She didn’t notice him, so he hurried back to his house.
    Unease was written all over Tara’s face. He closed the door and glanced at her, not prepared to tell her what he had discovered.
    “So, what’s going on?” she inquired.
    “Another body.”
    “Jake?” Her voice was barely a whisper, and her eyes were wide with fright.
    He couldn’t bring himself to tell her Officer Jessup was at the scene. It seemed clear the murders were related, but the less he said...the better. He didn’t want her to worry about anything else.
    “We’ll have to wait to find out.”
    Thankfully, the ruckus hadn’t roused his parents, who had fallen asleep cuddling in the living room. He grabbed Tara’s hand and led her back upstairs. He wasn’t going to let her go home alone until morning. It wasn’t safe anymore.
    ***
    K evin didn’t sleep much, his mind racing with what might happen next. He saw Tara stirring next to him and glanced at her. She’d finally fallen back asleep after one in the morning. He hoped she’d had enough sleep.
    “Good morning,” he said.
    “Good morning. What time is it?”
    He glanced at the clock. “After nine. Did you get much sleep?”
    “As much as I could,” she answered, pulling herself up. “I couldn’t stop thinking about