Almond Water by Dzvinka Zilinko

It's hot as hell itself inside the studio.

The smell of oil paints, turpentine, and a dozen other sweaty artists is almost enough to make me faint. Almost half the students are absent, and I'm starting to wish I was one of them.

Louise is sitting next to me, drawing that same skull next to a bouquet of flowers. She snickers and leans in to whisper:

"If nobody opens a window right now, I swear to God, I'm going to end up like poor Jerry."

I chuckle. When we were kids, first attending the after school art program, the skull really freaked me out. So, Louise named it "Jerry" because "you can't be afraid of something called Jerry".

Although, recently Jerry has looked off. A different shade of white, less alabaster and more cream.

"Someone probably spilled something on him. Poor guy." I gesture over to the skull with my paintbrush, and a few droplets of color splash onto Louise's canvas. It's almost finished; it just needs some deeper shadows.

The look she gives me is one I've seen many times before. Betrayal and anger, comparable to a thousand burning suns.

"Oh my God, Louise, I'm so sorry-" I don't get to finish before she takes her bag and storms off.

Louise is a great artist. Really. She wouldn't be in this school if she wasn't. Still, I've known her long enough to understand how protective she is of her work. Others say she's insecure, but that's a bit too negative in my opinion. Louise works hard; she doesn't deserve to be criticized so harshly or have her work ruined by other people.

I rush after her, apologies and promises to fix it falling out of my mouth, even if I can't see her.

I find her in the bathroom, near the sinks. She's crying.

"Louise…" I don't get to finish, again, because Louise runs up to me and hugs me.

"Maddie, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have blown up at you, I'm such a horrible friend…"

"It's okay… it's been a stressful week, no wonder you're so on edge lately…"

Louise lets go of me and sinks onto the cool bathroom floor. I sit down next to her, and she leans on me.

"I'm just… I'm so bad at everything compared to you! Everyone else… they are so talented and I just got here because of luck." She reaches into her bag, pulls out her thermos, and pours me a cup. Her hands tremble. Surprisingly, it's just water, but I still drink it. It smells like almonds.

"Don't say that, Louise. You're brilliant, but art school is a lot of stress, and you're experiencing impostor syndrome. I mean, have you seen how many people have been absent lately? They're probably just as stressed as you are."

Louise looks down at the floor.

"About that… it's because of me."

"What do you mean?" I look at her, confused. Her shoulders tense up, and I can see her knuckles turn white from how tightly she's clenching her fists.

"Are you dense or just messing with me? They're not goddamn absent, you idiot. They're missing."

"What…?"

"I killed them, Maddie." Her voice is quiet over the pounding of my heart in my ears. "They were better than me, so I killed them."

The last thing I see, is Louise pouring the “almond water” down the sink.

Then everything goes dark.