Prologue

Delilah

 

I have fallen. I know not where, but I absolutely know that I am, in fact, dead. I see myself lying on a floor in a house I don’t recognize. Someone grabs my now lifeless body and lifts me into their arms. I scream at them to tell me what happened, but I cant utter a sound. I follow the sight of my body being carried all the way out of the house until the person stops. They catch their breath for a few seconds before they walk over to another house.

They lay my body down and start to drag me from there. The person drags my body all the way down to a body of water and throws my body in the bone-chilling water. The person admires their work as my body sinks down into the dark depths of the lake. I almost start to cry, knowing that this person was the one who had just killed. Murdered. And they were about to do it again.

Sorrow

Audrey

 

Sorrow. You could easily see it in everyone’s grim faces the day after Delilah was taken. She was exactly what every girl wanted to be. She was smart, immensely beautiful, was head cheerleader, and had the perfect life. Her family was so distraught about her disappearance that they still won’t leave the house. Her boyfriend Logan won't talk to anyone, won't text anyone back, and he won't even talk to his parents. I knew Delilah before she was gone. We were best friends actually. I hated when girls that we made fun of together said that they were best friends with Delilah and that they loved her so much. These were the exact same girls that had talked behind her back so much during high school.

And then there was me, the true best friend who doesn’t know what to do with herself anymore. I was dreading going back to school on Monday. Without Delilah, school almost seemed impossible to get through. I needed someone to joke with when I’m happy and someone to talk to when I get mad at the imbeciles that call themselves high schoolers. At least I had Sunday to prepare myself. I shook my head and stood up from my bed. I looked at my clock and sighed. I would have to face my family sooner or later, and I seriously doubted that mom would’ve let me miss supper two nights in a row.

I walked out into the living room and saw my older brother Andrew watching the news. His shaggy, brown hair had gotten curlier since the last time I had seen him, and he had also gotten a lot taller since last time he had visited. He was wearing his usual faded blue jeans and Hollister polo, even though he didn’t have any place special to go. He usual just wore nice clothes for everyday clothes, which was the complete opposite of me. I sometimes wore nice clothes, but my mom always had to fight to get them on me.

Andrew was usually at college, but he skipped his classes today to come back to town for the weekend. Andrew knew her a little, since her and I used to spend a ton of time together, so he was just as upset as everyone else. I walked into the living room in the worst possible moment. They were showing a picture of Delilah on the screen, telling everyone what a shame it was to have someone so young taken. I chuckled to myself. They didn’t even know her. How could they say it was such a shame if they just see her as another name that they have to read off to the public?

I said quietly, “Is supper ready?”

Andrew jumped and looked at me like I was a ghost, which I probably did. I hadn’t put makeup on in a couple days and my hair felt tangled, which meant that it probably looked just as bad.

He got over his shock and said, “Yeah. It’s in the kitchen.”

I nodded at him and walked into the kitchen. My mom was still pulling the pizza out of the oven, but I could already smell the baked pepperonis on it. Saturday was usually the day that we all had pizza with the rest of our family, but everyone else in the family was out on a vacation that we couldn’t go on. My mom didn’t want to miss a lot of work and she didn’t want me to miss a lot of school, which I’m kind of glad for. My family wanted to go to a little kid playground area for a couple days, since most of my cousins are five years younger than me, with the oldest being twelve.

I said quietly, “That smells great mom.”

My mom looked up at me and smiled softly when she saw that I was willing to come out of my room long enough to eat with the family. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun, with some stray hairs falling into her face. Her face was more petite than anyone else’s in the family. Her cheekbones were high and her lips were small and thin. She was the kind of picture would you see when you think of the perfect mom. She looked like she belonged on a home cooking magazine, with her perfect figure and smile.

She said sweetly in her high voice, “Thanks dear. I spent a lot of time on it.”

She was trying to make the mood lighter, so I faked a smile to convince her that I was doing all right. She knew that I wasn’t really smiling at her little joke, but she didn’t say anything. She knew that I really didn’t want to talk about Delilah to her, what with her never really being in my life throughout my childhood, which eventually led to me being closer to Andrew than anyone in my close family. My dad had passed away in a car wreck before I was old enough to remember him, which left Andrew and I to entertain ourselves. During our childhood, Andrew and I would always climb up to the attic in our house and pretend that we were in a different world.

We had tons of worlds to choose from. We would either go to the slippery, wet deck of a pirate ship, the endless, snowy landscape of the arctic, or the speechless game of acting like animals. I internally smiled at the memory of Andrew and I running around, chasing each other like calves do when they play.

My mom interrupted my thoughts by asking, “Do you want to call Andrew in?”

I broke out of my trance and nodded.

I walked into the living room and said, “Andrew supper’s ready.”

He nodded and shut the TV off. He somberly walked into the kitchen behind me, not even bothering to put on a happy face for my mom, who seemed to be the only one who could find some light in our dark moods. She smoothly cut the pizza and gave us each one.

Andrew gave my mom a look and said, “A grown college boy only gets one piece?”

My mom smiled and said, “Eat that one and then you can have another if you aren’t full.”

“I swear mom sometimes you treat me like I’m five years old.”

“Well if you would start acting like you’re a college kid, I would treat you like one.”

I smiled and said quietly, “She’s got a point.”

Andrew sneered jokingly, “She didn’t ask for your opinion.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “And? Your point is?”

He stared at me for a while before my mom said, “Come now. Your pizza is going to get cold Andrew.”

He rolled his eyes and started to inhale his pizza. I slowly bit into mine, making sure that it wasn’t going to burn my mouth. When I decided that the pizza wasn’t too hot, I fully bit into the slice. The grease from the pizza immediately filled my mouth and I couldn’t help but smile. Pizza had always brought my mood up. Pizza night with the family would sometimes be the highlight of my day, as sad as that sounds. Andrew finished his first piece before I was even halfway through mine and grabbed for another one. My mom tried to keep up conversation with Andrew, but he wouldn’t really answer since he knew that mom would just scold him for talking with his mouth full, which left the talking to my mom and me.

She asked, “How’s school going Audrey?”

“It’s going good. Nothing really to report.”

“No news?”

“Not really.”

“That’s strange. Usually, you can’t wait to tell me all the juicy details of your day.”

I knew that she was kidding just by the sound of her voice, but I couldn’t make myself smile like before. She noticed, but this time she wouldn’t let it go, knowing that I would be more willing to talk if Andrew was seated near me. He always had a strange way of calming me down and opening me up like a clam, no matter how hard I tried to stay shut. My mom reached across the table and grabbed my hand gently.

She asked, “I was just kidding. You know that don’t you?”

I nodded my head, but I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. Not now. I knew that even if I tried to speak, it would just come out as nonsense until I broke down and they would feel sorry for me, which was the last thing that I wanted. I hated it when people felt pity for me. That’s why I never really wanted to leave my room when I heard that Delilah was taken. People cast looks of pity on those who have grave happenings in their lives, but don’t they know that the person who’s going through the tough time would get over it if they just bury the memory deep in their mind and don’t visit it again? That they forget it ever happened? It’s very hard to forget a memory if people remind you of your hard life every time they look at you.

I stood up and said quickly, “Excuse me.”

I walked out before either of them was able to say anything. I headed straight for my room and didn’t look back, even though I heard Andrew calling my name the entire time. I slammed my door shut and locked it so Andrew wouldn’t be able to get it. I backed away from the door, feeling the tears start to fall down my face, even though I never wanted them to. Then again, I never wanted a lot of things to happen, but they just did.

Andrew was at the door, “Audrey. Audrey please open the door. Come on. Just talk to me. You know you can talk to me. Please.”

I ignored him and put my headphones in. I turned my iPod on full volume and laid down on my bed. I brought my arm up to cover my eyes, just in case Andrew found a way to get into my room. I let the tears flow now. No one was in my room to see me, which meant that I was allowed this time to myself. No one would be able to judge me. No one would cast looks of pity on me and feel sorry for me. I actually let all of the memories of Delilah come back to the front of my mind and they played in my head like some kind of home movie.

 

We were in my backyard, trying to get tans before school started. We both laughed at how pale we both were, which was really obviously shown by the bikinis that we had worn. We laid in the lawn chairs for, what seemed like, hours. When the sun had finally set low in the sky, we gathered our stuff and went back inside before we froze to death. I made sure no one else was in the house and we rushed into my room when the coast was clear. We were both winded from laughing so hard while trying to run. We were both trying to get over our laughing fit when she snorted. It was the first time that I had ever heard Delilah snort, so that just sent us into more of a laughing fit.

We were both crying from laughter when we were finally able to get a handle on ourselves. Of course, our happiness was short-lived when Delilah had to go home. Her parents had had a fight that day and her dad was making her go home so her mom wouldn’t be able to pick her up in the morning. I waved goodbye to her and I wanted to ask her so badly if she wanted to stay, but she was out the door before I got the courage to ask her big, burly father.

 

Why didn’t I ask her father for more time with her? Where was she? Was she even alive? This question plagued my mind for the rest of the night and, eventually, I cried myself to sleep.

Dreams

Audrey

 

That night, I dreamed a terrible dream.

 

Delilah was standing at the edge of a cliff. She was smiling down at the water, which scared me. I knew that she never did like water or swimming, but now she was almost welcoming the water. I ran up to her to stop her from doing the unimaginable. I grabbed her arms and pulled her back from the cliff’s edge. She smiled at me like how she had smiled at the water, which sent goose bumps down my arms.

She said in her sweet voice, “It’s okay. I’m ready.”

I looked at her with confusion thick in my face, but she just put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I felt my arms slowly descending down, but I didn’t want them to. I knew that if I let her win this argument, she would jump. I just knew it. She walked over to the edge and looked back at me. She smiled back at me and then took one step forward. I screamed at her, but I knew that it was already too late. She was gone. I saw the top of her head fall underneath the edge of the cliff and ran over, praying that she was holding on for dear life to the rocks underneath the cliff.

When I looked over the side though, Delilah was nowhere to be seen. I gaped down at the chopping water that was slapping the side of the rocks below. I couldn’t see her anywhere. I could feel tears flowing down my face in buckets, but I didn’t care. No one else was there to see me anyway. I screamed out her name repeatedly, but I didn’t receive any answer. There was no one left to answer.

 

When I woke up, I knew that something had happened. The smell of chocolate chip pancakes wafted into my room, which was a bad sign. Whenever something happened that mom knew would upset me, she would always make chocolate chip pancakes. I felt my forehead, which was covered in sweat. I took a few deep breaths and then got out of bed. I really wasn’t ready to face whatever news my mom had for me after the dream that I had just had, but I decided to face it sooner, rather than later. I walked out of my room and slowly made my way into the kitchen. My mom was working furiously, but I also noticed that tears were rolling down her face.

I asked her quietly, “Mom?”

She turned around, quickly wiping her face before she wanted me to see them.

She smiled and said shakily, “Yes?”

“What’s wrong?”

She was quiet for a minute before she said, “They found Delilah’s body. She was in the Lake Titan. They found her this morning.”

I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t think. I felt completely numb. I didn’t know what to do. What was I supposed to do when I found out that my best friend was found dead in a lake not far from my own home? My mom walked over to me and pulled me into an airtight hug. I didn’t really want her to hug me, since I barely knew her, but I let her think that she was comforting me. She backed away from me a little after the hug, but she was still holding my shoulders firmly.

She said sternly, “Now Audrey. You must promise me that you will make the best out of this situation.”

I asked her quietly as more tears poured onto my face, “How?”

She took a deep breath and said, “Bad things have always happened and they always will happen as long as you live on this earth. Everyday, people take bad situations and use them as an excuse to run their lives down to the ground. They know that they’re able to use their bad lives as an excuse, so they do, making sure to take the easy route out of life. What others, the most courageous ones, decide is that they’re going to take their bad misfortunes and turn them into something good.

“I know that it’s hard to lose someone so close to you and I don’t expect you to bounce back right after this whole thing. I won't blame you or be mad at you if it takes you your entire life. All I’m asking you do to is to take this and make something good come out of it. Even though you had no control over what happened to Delilah, you can still control what happens after. That’s all I’m asking you. Please tell me that you will not let this affect your life in any way except positive?”

I nodded my head, feeling that what she said was right. I knew it was, but I almost didn’t want to remember that fact. She smiled at me and kissed my forehead softly.

She asked, “So. Do you want some pancakes?”

I shook my head slowly, not really remembering if I had an appetite or not. She nodded in understanding and let me walk back to my room without saying anything. When I closed my door, I didn’t know what to do. Should I wallow in self-pity for a few hours, or should I do what my mom said? Find a way to make this positive. I searched my mind for any way that Delilah’s death could be a positive experience, but I didn’t come up with anything after a few minutes of silently thinking. I groaned in frustration and fell down on my bed face first. I breathed in and out, trying to regulate my breathing and slow it down. I heard someone knock on my door, but I didn’t answer. I didn’t really want to see anyone at the moment.

Andrew said from behind the door, “Hey. I heard about Delilah. Come on out Audrey. Please.”

I shook my head, but then I remembered that he couldn’t see me.

I said quietly, “No. Just leave me alone.”

“But Audrey-“

“I’m fine! Just please leave me alone for once!”

I could hear the hurt in his voice when he said, “All right. Fine.”

I started to cry even more at that moment. I had managed to hurt Andrew before I even saw his face this morning. I guess I really wasn’t getting the concept of making this a positive experience. I sat up in my bed and took out my old scrapbook. Delilah and I had made the scrapbook together during our junior year. Was that really just last year? I looked through the photos and smiled at the memories. There was a picture of Delilah and me when we were sledding outside. I smiled at the memory of that day.

We said that we were going to stay outside all day, but we had only been out for a couple hours before we weren’t able to stand the cold anymore. We had just taken the picture right after we had gone sledding down the bumpiest hill in the entire town. We were covered in snow from head to toe, but we didn’t care. We were having fun. People would drive by us and honk at us as we were sledding down the hill. Some elderly people would give us disapproving glares as they drove past, but we didn’t care that they thought we were too old to go sledding.

We had gone inside after that bumpy ride and my mom couldn’t stop laughing at us. Both of us had tangled, messy hair and our clothes were already soaked from the snow. We were almost dripping water from how much snow was soaked into our snow pants and winter coats. I looked at the next photo and almost laughed out loud. This one was taken down at a concert. People in the background were photo bombing our photo, but Delilah and I just thought that it was that much funnier.

We had gone to a Skillet concert together and we were both running off of very little sleep and a lot of caffeine. We both looked a little crazed in the photo, which wasn’t for what we were going for at all. We were actually trying to take a nice photo for a senior photo to go in the school slideshow next year, but we really didn’t care how it looked after we saw it. We both thought that it was funny. I smiled a little as I closed the scrapbook. I remembered the look of admiration Delilah and I both had after we had completely looked through the entire thing.

I took a deep breath as I set the scrapbook down on my nightstand that was next to my bed. I knew that I would have to go over to Delilah’s house sometime, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to face her parents today. Maybe not even anytime near the beginning of the week, but I would probably have go to sometime near the end of the week. Her parents. I had always known them as Mark and Lindy, but half the time I just called them “mom” and “dad”. I knew that they needed to talk to me about some things that concerned Delilah. I knew what we would already talk about. When Delilah and I were littler, we made lists of things that we wanted to give to each other after our graduation, something to keep us together.

I still remembered when she first brought the idea up; I thought she was completely crazy. We were in the fifth grade, so I thought that graduation was still a lifetime away. I slowly walked over to my door and unlocked it. I heard the little click of the lock being unlocked, but it sounded deafening to me. I opened the door and saw that Andrew was waiting in the living room. He looked up at me when I walked out and I knew that he wanted to talk to me about Delilah. I sat down next to him and we sat quietly for a minute before he turned towards me.

He asked me, “How are you?”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.

He said gently, “You know you’re going to have to go over to her house sometime this week right?”

I nodded again and he said, “Please say something.”

I said quietly, “I’m okay. I looked at our scrapbook.”

He faintly smiled at the thought of the pictures, “Really?”

I nodded again and said, “Mom said that I need to make this a positive thing in my life, but I don’t really know how. What am I supposed to do?”

“Maybe you could go over to her house and talk to her parents. Give them some closure.”

“I know I know. I’m planning on going sometime later next week after they’ve had some time alone. What else though? I feel useless right now.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you could visit Logan. You know him right?”

I nodded and thought about it. Logan hadn’t seen anyone since Delilah was first taken, but maybe he would make an exception to his girlfriend’s best friend.

I nodded quietly and said, “I’ll visit him tomorrow.”

“You have school tomorrow though.”

I silently glared at him for reminding me.

He smiled and said, “Hey. You had to know sometime. I seriously doubt he’s going to school or football practice, so maybe you could go to his house after school.”

I nodded and said, “Yeah. I’ll drive over there after school. Maybe he needs a pick-me-up anyway.”

Andrew nodded and put his arm around my shoulder.

He said, “It’s going to be okay. Trust me.”

I nodded, almost feeling hope at his words. I looked outside and saw that a lot of cars were driving by every few seconds.

I asked Andrew, “What’s going on outside?”

He looked outside and said, “Hmm. I don’t know.”

I got up and looked out of the window. I looked down the road and saw that all of the cars that were driving by would stop just outside Delilah's parent’s house. People would get out, carrying a tray of some kind of food, and would walk up to the front door. I was almost surprised that Mark and Lindy were the ones that answered the door. They would smile, or at least try to smile, and take the food gratefully. I noticed, however, that they didn’t invite anyone who brought food in their house. They would say goodbye and almost slam the door in the face of the person who brought the food.

One lady’s face was particularly funny as she backed away from the house slowly. Her mouth was down to the ground and I could see that her shock quickly turned to rage. She stomped back to her car and slammed the car door as she got in. she turned her car on and drove away furiously. I chuckled quietly and shut the shades back over the window. I walked back into the kitchen and saw that mom had left some of her delicious pancakes on the counter for me, knowing that I would get hungry and want to eat later.

I pulled the saran wrap off of the plate and put the pancakes in the microwave to warm them up. I waited for the microwave to stop heating my food, but something outside caught my interest completely. I looked out the window, only to see that three police officers were standing on the porch of Delilah’s house. They were talking to Mark and Lindy, who looked like they were about to burst. From anger or sorrow, I couldn’t tell. They both became red in the face, but one of the police officers blocked the view from me to see their full reaction.

I kept looking out of the window, even though my pancakes were already losing the heat from the microwave. The police officers waved goodbye to Mark and Lindy, who were almost in hysteria. I could see after the police officer moved that Mark was almost purple from rage and Lindy was trying to control herself from bursting into tears. The police officers drove off after a few seconds and I looked back at Mark and Lindy. I could almost read Mark’s lips as he was talking to his wife, but a few words were a bit fuzzy. I finally made out what he was saying though, and what he was saying terrified me.

He said, “Don’t worry. We’ll find whoever killed our daughter. If it’s the last thing I’m going to do.”

Death

Logan

 

I couldn’t believe that she was gone. Just like that. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her. The last time that I saw her, she was wearing a light blue blouse with a band’s name on it. She was wearing her favorite pair of black skinny jeans that I thought she looked pretty good in. Tears started to roll down my face when I thought of our last conversation.

I asked her as she stood up from my couch, “What’s wrong?”

She crossed her arms and I knew that she was going to talk about something serious. I stood up too, showing her that she had my full attention.

She said, “I just think that we’re going a little fast, don’t you?”

I gave her a confused look and said, “We were just watching a movie Delilah. What’s wrong with that?”

She looked at me and said, “I just think that we might need a little space. Just for a little while.”

“What? You’re going to break up with me just because we were watching a movie?”

She didn’t even look like she was going to cry.

She said as she stormed out of the living room, “I just need some time.”

I gaped at her as she left. Was she serious? I followed her to the door, but she slammed it right as I reached my hand out to her. I opened it again and saw that she was running through the rain to her car. I ran out into the pouring rain and followed her to her car. She heard me running after her, but she turned around. I didn’t care if she wanted to break up. I was going to fight for her with all of my heart. She was about to say something, but I cut her off by kissing her. She seemed surprised at first, but she didn’t ever kiss me back.

I backed away after a few seconds. I gaped at her as I realized that I didn’t feel anything when I kissed her. There wasn’t any emotion that sparked between us. I let my hands fall to my sides and she just gave me a blank expression. We knew that this was the end, but why didn’t I fight for her more? What was wrong with me? How could I have just let her walk away from my house that night? That same night that she was taken. Would she still be here if I had fought for her?

I ran my hand through my hair for the fifth time that same minute. I looked up at my ceiling, but I closed my eyes after a minute or so. Why didn’t I fight for her? I was about to break down again, but I heard someone coming up the stairs to my room. Since my room was the only one on the third floor, I knew that someone was coming to see me.

I heard my mom’s voice on the other side of the door, “Honey? Are you going to school?”

Oh yeah. That was today.

I said weakly, “No.”

“Okay…do you want to talk?”

“No.”

I knew that she would feel hurt, but at that moment, I didn’t really care. I didn’t want to face all of the guys today. None of them understood. I had gotten a ton of texts from them saying that she was just a girl and there were plenty of fish in the sea or something like that. I hadn’t even looked at my phone for a couple days, not really wanting to see how many people were trying to consol me. I heard my mom go back down the stairs and I sat up on my futon.

I looked around my room, not really knowing what to do. I looked at all of my black walls that were covered in posters of bands. My eyes rested on the Silverline poster that Delilah loved the most. I felt my eyes mist over, so I moved my vision to the rest of my room. My plasma screen was collecting a layer of dust, along with the X-Box that was connected to it. I looked over at my desk and saw that all the food that was piled on top of it hadn’t even been touched since a week ago.

I took a deep breath and made my way over to the plasma screen. I looked through the different games that would occupy my time, but none of them jumped out at me. I didn’t feel like playing games, but I eventually just closed my eyes and picked one. I pulled out Call Of Duty and put it into the X-Box. I started to play it, not really being amused by killing things. I heard a soft knock on my door, but I didn’t answer. I heard it open, but I still didn’t turn around.

My mom’s soft voice said slowly, “Logan?”

I say unemotionally, “What?”

“I need to talk to you.”

I let out a deep sigh and paused the game. I got up and looked at my mom. She was wearing her usual business clothes, with her light brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her usual soft brown eyes were red and puffy.

I asked her cautiously, “What?”

“Its Delilah.”

My attention was suddenly all on my mom, “Did they find her?”

My mom nodded, but she didn’t smile. I could see that she wasn’t telling me everything.

I asked her, “Where did they find her?”

“In Lake Titan.”

I gaped at her.

I asked her, “Delilah drowned?”

“Her parents say that she was found with a cracked skull and she had bruises and scratch marks on her arms. Logan, the police believe that Delilah was murdered.”

Torture

Audrey

 

I slowly walked into school, not really sure if I wanted to be there. Everyone looked at me with looks of pity, which just made me angry. The only person who didn’t look at me with pity the whole time he talked to me was Edwyn. He used to sit with Delilah, Logan, and me at lunch. Today, he had his brown hair spiked up, but just at the front. He wore a black shirt that made his blue eyes pop. He was also the tallest person in the entire high school, so he saw me before I saw him.

He said as I made it to my locker, “Hey Audrey. How are you?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It can’t get worse.”

He nodded and started to talk to me about his new comic book that he got over the weekend. I was trying to pay attention to his story, but I was searching through the crowd to see if Logan came to school. I seriously doubted it, but it was Logan. He was usually the most spontaneous one out of our little group.

Edwyn realized that I wasn’t paying attention, “Are you looking for someone?”

I quickly snapped my attention back to him and said, “No. Not really. I’m just really zoning out. Sorry.”

“Long night?”

I nodded and he took a deep breath. I was about to say something, but the bell cut me off.

He said, “I better go to class. I have Mrs. Phillips for first hour and you know how she gets when you’re late to her class.”

I nodded and smiled at him weakly. He smiled back and disappeared into the crowd of students. I grabbed my books and headed towards my first class, which was history. Before I walked into the class, I took a deep breath. I walked in, trying to appear confident. My teacher didn’t buy it though. He motioned for me to go to his desk and I complied.

He asked me when I had gotten close enough, “How are you doing? I knew Delilah and you were close friends.”

“I’m doing fine Mr. Heis.”

He nodded reassuringly and let me walk back to my seat, trying to ignore the stares as I walked past.

I sat down and Mr. Heis started, “Okay class. Today, we’re going to talk about the Spanish-American war.”

I looked down and started to doodle on my notebook. I was halfway through drawing the cliff that I had seen in my dream when the bell rang. I closed my notebook before anyone got up, making sure that no one had seen it. If someone saw it, they would think that I was suicidal or something like that. Most of my classes passed like the first and before I knew it, I was standing in line for lunch. I grabbed my tray and proceeded down the line like everyone else. I got my school food and walked over to the usual table and Edwyn was already waiting for me.

He asked me as I sat down, “How were your classes?”

I gave him a look and he smiled, “Same here.”

“I drew a pretty picture the entire morning.”

He laughed, “I just listened to music on my iPod the entire time. I’m surprised it still has battery.”

I pretended to scold him, “Now, now Edwyn. You know you aren’t supposed to have those in school.”

He shrugged and said, “Yolo. Besides, I’m a senior. What are they going to do? Kick me out of school?”

I actually laughed, which surprised me. I hadn’t really laughed since the weekend, which is like a record for me. I was usually the giggly one making everyone else laugh. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and turned my attention back on Edwyn.

He asked me, “Have you been talking to Logan?”

I shook my head and said, “He doesn’t answer the texts, so I was planning on going today.”

“Do you mind of I come?”

I shook my head and mentally thanked Edwyn. I was actually going to ask him to come with me so I wasn’t the only one with Logan. I was afraid that if we started to talk about Delilah, he would get mad. When Logan gets mad, he tends to break things and throw stuff, which scared me more than anything else that he ever does.

Edwyn pulled me out of my thoughts, “What do you think?”

I realized that he had been talking this entire time, but I hadn’t heard a word that he had said.

I asked him, “Sorry? What did you say?”

“I said that we should go right after school, since he doesn’t have practice.”

I nodded and said, “That’s when I was planning on it.”

Edwyn nodded and finished drinking his milk. He got up to dump his tray right as the bell rang. I got up and followed him to the trashcan.

I said to him as we walked out of the lunchroom, “Just meet by my car after school today.”

“Okay. See you later.”

“Bye!”

We walked our separate ways as he walked to P.E. and I walked to choir. I walked in and remembered that we had just had a concert, which meant that we were getting new music today. I sat down in my designated soprano spot in the front row. The music teacher, Mrs. Chie, handed me my music and I immediately smiled at her song choice. The first song we were going to learn was Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. The second song was Faithfully by Journey. I already knew both of the songs, which meant that it was a free day for me. If we already knew the songs that we were going to sing, we would be able to have a study hall, since the day after a concert is just for listening to the new songs.

I got on my Mac laptop and checked my email. I didn’t have any new messages, so I closed my computer. I looked out the window of the choir room and smiled a little. The P.E. class was running outside and I could easily see which one was Edwyn. He was about a foot taller than everyone else, which made him easy to spot, plus the fact that he was almost a block ahead of everyone else. Edwyn had always been athletic, but he still ate like a pig. I never knew how he was able to run two miles without even trying after eating a huge bag of Doritos.

It was usually against the laws of physics for this to be possible, but Edwyn apparently broke the laws of physics. I shook my head and saw that it was also getting colder outside. I stepped away from the window and realized that cold air had been coming from the window without me even feeling it. Now that I was away from the window, I could feel the effect of the cold air. The bell rang after a few more minutes of wandering the music room and I gladly walked out of the room. My next two classes passed in a blur and before I knew it, I was walking out of the school. I smiled at Edwyn as I walked up to my car. He got in the passenger side and I got in the driver’s side. I turned the car on and immediately turned the heater on.

Edwyn noticed my expression and said, “Sheesh! It’s not that cold out here!”

I glared and stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed as I pulled out of the parking lot. It was a quiet ride over to Logan’s house, but Edwyn didn’t seem to mind. He actually seemed like he was in deep thought about something. I pulled into Logan’s driveway and got out of my car, secretly wishing that I could stay in the heat of my car. We both walked up to the front door and Edwyn knocked. Logan’s mom answered the door and seemed surprise at the fact that we were there.

She asked, “Yes?”

I asked her, “Can we see Logan?”

Understanding and recognition dawned on her face as she realized who we were. We didn’t really hang out at Logan’s house often, so I understood why she didn’t really recognize us. She nodded and led us inside.

She walked us over to a flight of stairs and said, “If you go all the way to the top, Logan’s room is the door at the end.”

We both nodded and walked up the three flights of stairs. When we finally made it up to his room, I knocked softly on his door. I didn’t get an answer, so I looked back at Edwyn. He shrugged and motioned that I should just open the door. I looked between the door and Edwyn, but he just rolled his eyes.

He whispered to me, “You really aren’t afraid of Logan are you?”

I took a deep breath and opened his door, which was an action that I immediately regretted. Items of his were strewn across his floor and I knew that he had a breakdown. I noticed a certain poster thought that was torn in two. It was a poster of some band, but I couldn’t read the name. The only thing I saw was that the beginning letter of the band’s name was an S. I shrugged it off and slowly took a step into his room. I searched the entire room until I found Logan lying facedown on his futon.

I quietly asked, “Logan?”

His head shot up, apparently not expecting us to be in his house. He sat up instantly and got off of his futon. He marched over to me and at first, I was afraid that he was going to hurt me. Instead, he took me into a hug that just about choked me. I hugged him back when I felt his hot tears fall in my shoulder. I looked back at Edwyn and saw that he was just awkwardly standing in the doorway.

He saw me looking at him and joined the hug. Logan looked up a little, but buried his head back down into my shoulder when he just saw that it was Edwyn. I knew that Logan was usually a tough guy, so seeing him cry just about made me cry. I held back the tears though, since I had to be strong for Logan. After a few minutes of the choking hug, Logan finally backed away form us.

He said with a hoarse voice, “Hey guys.”

We both tried to smile at him, but I'm sure that we looked like we were giving him lopsided frowns. He wiped his eyes and sat back down on his futon and Edwyn and I sat down on opposite sides of him.

I asked him, “How are you?”

He said a little too quickly, “Good. I’m good.”

Edwyn asked him, “How have you been? Really?”

Logan sighed and said, “I don’t know. I feel like this is just a dream and I’m going to go to school tomorrow and see her walking through the halls. It hasn’t really hit me yet I guess.”

I looked around his room and I knew that it had hit him sometime, but he just didn’t really want to admit it. I looked back at the two guys and saw that they were both looking at me.

I quickly looked down and Edwyn said quietly, “Man. You don’t have to lie to us. Why’s your room like this?”

Logan took a shaky breath and eyed me as he said, “It was fine until this morning.”

I asked him, “What happened this morning?”

He sniffed and said quietly, “Delilah’s dead.”

I nodded, letting him know that I already knew.

He said, “You know what? I wasn’t that mad. I kind of knew that she was dead when she disappeared. That wasn’t what I was mad at. I was mad at the fact that someone had the nerve to take her away from this town. I don’t know how someone could just kill Delilah mercilessly, without even realizing what it would do to this town.”

I could feel my hands start to shake, but I folded them so Logan wouldn’t see. I wasn’t sure if what Mark said the day before had been true since I was a far way away, but now it was confirmed. Someone who was living in this town right now murdered Delilah.

Edwyn said, “Audrey? Are you okay? You look really pale.”

I nodded and said, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Logan copied when Edwyn had said before, “You don’t have to lie to us.”

I took a shaky breath and said, “Well, I saw Mark and Lindy outside talking to police. I thought I had seen Mark say something about someone killing Delilah, but I wasn’t sure. Now I am.”

Logan said instantly, “I-I’m sorry. I thought you knew.”

“It’s not your fault Logan. Don’t you dare blame yourself for this one.”

He looked at me for a minute before he took my hand, along with Edwyn’s.

He said quietly, “It’ll be okay you guys. We’re going to make it.”

We both nodded with him, but I didn’t really feel like everything was going to be okay. There was a murderer in the town that had killed once already. Who was to say that this person wasn’t going to do it again?

Feelings

Edwyn

 

Hey. I’m back. I know I haven’t written for a while, but life’s been busy. Delilah was found in Lake Titan and I can tell that Audrey is really shaken about it. I think she’s afraid that this killer is going to keep killing people that she knows. I don’t really know what to think about this whole killer incident. The whole town in now looking for anyone that might be even slightly guilty of killing Delilah.

I don’t know what Audrey’s feeling herself, but when we left Logan’s house, she looked so shaken up about what happened to Delilah. I just hope that she calms herself down and doesn’t make any rash decisions. I don’t want anything to happen to Audrey.

Audrey. Just her name makes me smile. I don’t really know how my feelings for her started, but there was no mistake. They are definite. I just want to find this killer to make Audrey calm down a little. I wanted to ask her today to go see a movie with me sometime when we were in her car, but I know that she had other things on her mind.

I don’t know when I’ll ever get a chance to ask her again soon. Logan says that he’s planning on going back to school tomorrow, which means that asking her at lunch is out of the question. Maybe if I show up early tomorrow, I can ask her then. I know I will at least try to take her mind off of Delilah for a while, at least for two hours. Maybe two and a half hours if we went with a longer movie.

I needed to talk to Logan in private today, but I didn’t really want to leave Audrey alone. She always seems like she only thinks about deep things when she’s alone. She seems so carefree when she’s around other people. Maybe she’s just that good at hiding her feelings. If so, I really hope that she isn’t just hanging around me to make me feel better.

Coach told me today that I really need to get my mind right. Set priorities. Since I’m a senior, coach said that I need to start getting some of my running on tape to send to colleges for scholarships. I don’t even really know where I want to go yet, so coach just said to send it to every college that I was thinking about and see where that takes me.

I know that I want to go to college for running, but I really don’t want to leave this town, my parents, and Audrey. I feel as if she’s going to forget about me if I leave. The old saying “Out of sight out of mind” actually holds some truth to it. The person isn’t completely out of mind, but just enough so another person can soon take your place.

I don’t want that to happen to Audrey and me. I really don’t want our relationship to end as soon as I go to college. I know that I really shouldn’t make my college decision based on feelings, but something about Audrey just feels right. I don’t really know how to explain it. She makes me feel more important than running does.

I feel like myself in only two places. When I’m running and when I’m over at Audrey’s house. I know that you’re probably sick of me writing in you about Audrey, but hey, she’s worth it. I like her. A lot. So, I really don’t know what else to say.

Venom

Audrey

 

I left Logan’s house in a daze. Someone had actually killed Delilah. No one knew who it was, which meant that it could’ve been anyone in the town. It could’ve been the nice mailman that waves at me every morning as I drive to school. It could’ve been the usual morning jogger that runs past my house every morning.

Edwyn broke my thoughts, “Audrey? Audrey?”

I pulled myself out of my trance and asked, “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It just . . . doesn’t feel right being in this town while the killer is still here. It just feels . . . eerie I guess.”

He nodded and I knew that he was concerned for me. I tried to appear calmer than I actually was, so I turned on the radio. Timbaland’s Secrets came through the radio static. Edwyn seemed to like the song though by the way he was drumming the beat on the armrest, so I didn’t turn the station. We rode the way to his house in silence, well except for the radio.

As I pulled into his driveway I said, “Thanks for coming today Edwyn. I think Logan really needed that.”

He nodded and said nonchalantly, “See you tomorrow.”

I nodded back at him and he shut the car door. I rode the rest of the way to my house on edge, noting how eerie the whole drive home looked. At a few places, some streetlights weren’t working, so the road was completely black. I knew I was getting paranoid when I thought I saw someone standing underneath one of the dead light posts, but after a few seconds of staring I concluded it was nothing and drove past it. I made it to my house without anything jumping out at me, which wasn’t that much of a surprise to the logical part of my brain. I ran up to my house and noticed how the wind had picked up so quickly during the short amount of time between the drive from Edwyn’s house to mine.

I walked into the house and immediately smelled cooked turkey. I knew that my mom had made a thanksgiving dinner, which I was happy for. My mom had always made the best thanksgiving dinner in the entire town, so whenever she made it I knew that it was going to be good. I walked into the living room and saw Andrew playing his Wii that he had brought home from college. He was playing come kind of dancing game and I fought the urge to laugh. He looked like he was a live fish out of water as he flopped all around the living room, doing what he would call “dance moves”.

He jumped up and did a full three-sixty turn and saw that I was watching. He quickly stopped what he was doing completely and paused the game.

He asked me, “How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough to know that you will never win a dancing competition.”

“Oh please. You know that you liked it. Come on. Say it. You liked it.”

I rolled my eyes at him and sat down on the couch. I watched him play the game for a little while longer until he started to talk to me as he was dancing.

He asked as he did the Michael Jackson song Beat It, “How was Logan?”

“He was pretty upset. His room was a mess, but he just learned that Delilah was killed by someone and it wasn’t just an accident.”

Andrew nodded and asked, “When did you leave his house?”

“A while ago.”

“Why did it take you so long to get home?”

“I had to drop Edwyn off at his house. He came with me today so it wouldn’t be just Logan and me.”

Andrew nodded and I noticed that he seemed to be focusing really hard on the song, so I stood up and walked into the kitchen. My mom smiled at me as she pulled the huge, cooked turkey out of the oven. She set the turkey right on the table and I noticed that she had the entire table set like it actually was thanksgiving. She had the special plates set on the table, each one for Andrew, herself, and me. I could see the delicious array of food that she had set out for us tonight, including cranberry jam, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, baked bread, and a cherry pie set out for dessert.

Andrew walked in and looked at the splendor of the magnificent food with me. My mom laughed at both of our faces and motioned for us to sit down. We all sat down at the table and joined our hands together.

My mom spoke quietly, “God, we thank you for this wonderful meal and the fellowship that we will have together tonight. I earnestly pray for Mark and Lindy, along with Logan as they try to get over the death of Delilah. God I pray for my own children as they try to make this experience a positive one.

I felt her squeeze my hand as she continued, “Thank you once again for this wonderful food and I pray that you will continue to stay by us and protect us with your mighty hand. Amen.”

Andrew and I both said, “Amen.”

My mom smiled and said, “Dig in!”

I smiled as I watched Andrew pile his plate with the cooked turkey. I put some sweet potatoes on my plate and waited for Andrew to get done with the turkey. After a few seconds of waiting, I finally grew impatient and grabbed my own fork. I got as much turkey as I wanted and started to eat it before Andrew was even done. I looked at him to see what was taking him so long, but then I realized that he was being picky and was searching through all of the turkey for only the pieces that seemed suitable for him to eat. I rolled my eyes as I got some cranberry jam and stuffing.

I started to eat my supper and nodded in approval when I bit down into the turkey. It was definitely the best thanksgiving meal that my mom had prepared for us in a long time. I looked over at my mom, but she wasn’t really eating. She glanced up after a few seconds of just staring at her food blankly and noticed that I was looking at her. She quickly smiled and started to salt her turkey. I brushed it off and noted to myself that I would ask her later why she was so out of it. Even though Andrew had gotten a huge pile of food on his plate, he was the one who was done first and getting seconds before I was even done with mine.

I looked at him incredulously and he asked, “What?”

“How you manage to wolf down that much food is a mystery to me.”

He laughed and said while getting more sweet potatoes, “It’s a hidden talent of mine that I don’t like to show off all the time.”

I nodded sarcastically at him and he shrugged his shoulders. After we had all finished our dinner, I helped my mom clean up the kitchen.

As we were doing dishes together, with her rinsing and me drying, I asked her, “Mom? Why were you acting all sad before you started eating?”

“You noticed that did you? Oh well. I was just thinking of what Mark and Lindy must be going through right now. I can’t imagine losing either of you kids and I don’t know how Mark and Lindy are doing it. I can’t even think about losing you guys.”

I hugged my mom and she hugged me back tightly. I didn’t really feel the water running down my back at that moment. I didn’t really care. My mom had just said something that I had been waiting to hear my entire childhood. I know that she felt that way, but I just wanted to hear it from her own lips. We broke from our hug and finished the dishes soon after. I said goodnight to my mom and walked upstairs. I got ready for bed and set my alarm. I laid down in my bed that night thinking about what my mom had said. I went to sleep that night thinking that this experience actually had a positive effect on my mom, which had made my night a little better.

When I woke up, nothing felt wrong or out of place. Everything felt right, but that was before I stepped out of my house. I had gotten up earlier than normal so I would make it to school early to work on homework before the bell. When I walked out of my house to go to school, the entire town seemed to have a dark hue surrounding it, preventing any ray of happiness to be sucked down by all of the darkness. I drove to school slowly and by the time that I had arrived, my mood had turned for the worse. I got out of my car slowly looked around. I recognized the back of Edwyn’s jacket as he was sitting on a bench that was facing the track, so I decided to go meet him over there.

When I walked over to him I said, “You know, only nerds come to school early.”

He turned around, startled that I had appeared so suddenly. He calmed down after he had seen that it was I and made room for me on the bench. I sat down and tried to ignore the fact that the bench was a little wet from the dew.

He asked, “How did you sleep last night?”

“Fine. We had some of my mom’s thanksgiving dinner so it put me right to sleep.”

He moaned and said, “I love your mom’s thanksgiving dinner.”

“Okay fine. Next time we have it, I’ll invite you over.”

He smiled, but he seemed distracted by something else.

He looked back over at the track and I asked him, “How’s track going?”

He shrugged and said, “Coach said that I need to get some film of me running. I need to start sending them off to colleges.”

“What college are you wanting to go to?”

“I don’t really know. I don’t want one too far away.”

“Why? So you can see my shining face every weekend?”

I laughed, but he didn’t really show any sign that he was amused.

I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

He said slowly, “Have you ever had a gut feeling, but you didn’t know if it was real or not?”

“I don’t understand-“

“I like you Audrey. A lot. I don’t just want to be your friend. I want us to be something more.”

He didn’t look at me as he said this, almost as if he were afraid I would slap him or something. I took his chin in my hand and turned his head so he faced me.

I asked him, “Do you really feel that about me?”

He nodded and looked me in the eyes.

He asked, “Audrey? Will you go see a movie with me or something?”

I knew that I had always like Edwyn, so I slowly started to nod my head yes.

He asked me hesitantly, “You aren’t just saying this so I don’t feel bad are you?”

I shook my head and smiled. Only he would think that I would go out with him just to not hurt his feelings.

He smiled and asked, “So why are you here so early?”

“I was planning on getting some homework done, but I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate now.”

He smiled and said, “I seem to have that effect on people.”

I punched him in the shoulder and he pretended like it was a full on punch. I rolled my eyes at him and pulled my English book out of my bag.

He made a face at it and I said, “I know. I know. I really have to get this done though.”

He laughed and said, “Allow me.”

As it turned out, Edwyn was a genius when it came to English, so I got done in record time, with him helping me of course. I shut my book when we were done and put it back in my bag. As I turned around to put it in my bag, I noticed that a lot more people had shown up, which meant that it was probably almost time for class.

I asked, “What time is it?”

He pulled out his iPod and said, “Seven fifty-two.”

I groaned and said, “We’d better get inside.”

He nodded and we both got off of the bench. I felt the bottom of my jeans and grimaced when I felt that the butt of my jeans were a little wet.

Edwyn laughed at my face and said, “You can't really tell with your jeans since they’re black.”

I nodded and we both walked into school.

He walked me to my locker and asked, “Are you doing anything tonight?”

I searched through my mental schedule and smiled when I realized that I had nothing going on, “Nope.”

“Can I come over to your house?”

I nodded and he smiled.

The bell rang and he said as he walked away, “See you at lunch.”

I smiled and walked to my first class. The morning passed as a complete blur and I found myself walking to lunch.

I heard someone behind me say, “And I heard that now they’re dating. Can you believe it? The tallest, hottest athletic star and the short, wimpy girl who can't even play a sport in P.E. to save her life.”

I knew who the voice belonged to without even turning around. Emily Wale. The girl who thought it was fun to turn my life into a living hell. I ignored her comment and continued to walk.

Emily continued, “I bet they don’t even last a week, unlike my Bruce and me. We’ve been together for two months now. I don’t ever see us breaking up.”

This Bruce guy must've had a lot of patience. I don’t know who, in their right mind, would go out with Emily. She’s just the school bully who has no respect for anyone else’s feelings or belongings for that matter. I walked into the cafeteria, and I could tell that Edwyn knew I was mad at something. He gave me a confused look and I shook my head at him nonchalantly. He turned back around and started to talk to Logan about something. I looked over at Logan and he actually smiled at me. I was actually still kind of surprised that he had come to school, what with how his room was looking when Edwyn and I went over there.

I got my food and walked over to our usual table. I sat down next to Edwyn and tried to push Emily's venomous words out of my thoughts. Edwyn and Logan were talking about some football that happened last night, so I immediately became part of the conversation. Despite popular belief, I actually did know something about sports. I knew the rules and scoring of football and I even knew a lot of the teams. Emily just didn’t know what she was talking about. I can play sports! How does she know that I can’t play sports anyway? She was never in a P.E. class with me when I was in it. Sure I haven’t been in it since last year but still. That didn’t mean that I was completely in the dark when it came to sports!

Edwyn asked, “Are you okay?”

I said with a little more force than necessary, “Yes.”

He raised his eyebrows and said, “Really? You expect me to believe that?”

“It’s nothing. Really.”

Logan asked, “Are you sure?”

I nodded my head and they both knew to drop the subject. They started to talk again about their weekend plans. The bell rang and I slowly got up, not really wanting to go to my choir class. I knew that Emily was a new member to our choir class, which I wasn’t thrilled about even before I heard her saying bad things about Edwyn and me. I walked in and she immediately honed her eyes on me. She leaned over and whispered something to someone next to her and they both looked at me. The other person started to giggle, but they looked away when they realized that I was looking at them. I had a feeling that it was going to be an interesting week.

Dinner And A Movie

Audrey

 

The rest of the day passed with distant looks from the popular kids and the only nice looks I had were from Logan and Edwyn. The only thought that lightened my day was that Edwyn was going to come over that night. I was almost giddy from that thought, but of course, Emily had to ruin my good mood. She walked up to me in my last class of the day, with not even five minutes left of the class.

She asked me, “So what’s new?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said politely, “Not much.”

She asked, “Really? I heard you and Edwyn were dating.”

I nodded and she said, “You don’t count that as much?”

“Well I guess it won't really change much. We’ve been close friends since we were little, so it’s not like our relationship is going to get any deeper.”

She looked me over and said, “Interesting. Very interesting.”

I suddenly wondered what kind of weaponry I had just given her when the bell rang.

I said, “Well I’ve got to go.”

She nodded and said icily, “I bet.”

I walked away from her, not even being tempted to look back. I walked out to my car and I almost smiled when I saw Edwyn standing by my car door.

I walked up to him and said when I poked his stomach, “Hey.”

He smiled and said, “Hey. I feel really bad, but can I come over tomorrow instead of tonight? I have some family stuff to do that my mom just told me about. I’ll make tomorrow double extra.”

I smiled and said, “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“All right. I’ll text you later.”

I nodded and he walked over to his car. I got in my car and almost gagged when I saw Emily flirting with Logan. She was almost throwing herself on top of him, which I could tell he was uncomfortable by. I almost got out of my car and screamed at Emily. The guy had just lost the longest relationship he had ever had with his girlfriend, and Emily just saw him as an open, hot guy that was breathing. She sickened me. I drove out of the parking lot and slowly drove back to my house. I grabbed my bag and walked into my house in no rush.

Andrew had gone back to college, but he was going to come back in a couple days for Delilah’s funeral, which meant that the entire house was empty. Most people would’ve been creeped out by the fact that the house was empty except for me and that there was no sound to be heard. I set my bag down and walked into the kitchen. I pulled some grapes out of the fridge and walked into the living room to watch TV. My phone went off and I picked it up to see who it was. Logan was calling me.

I answered as I turned the TV on, “Logan?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Just watching TV. What’s new with you?”

“Not much. Just bored. Want to hang out tonight?”

“Sure.”

“You can come over here and have supper if you want.”

“Okay. I’ll be over in a few.”

“Okay. See you later.”

“Bye.”

I shut my phone and stared at it for a few seconds. Logan sounded a bit strange on the phone, but I shrugged it off and got off of the couch. I put my jacket on as I noticed that it had started to rain. I ran out to my car and drove over to Logan’s house. I pulled into his driveway and noticed that the front light was already on for me. I pulled my hood up onto my head and dashed to the front steps of his house. I ran underneath the safe cover of his porch roof and rung his doorbell. I could hear someone behind the door before it opened. Logan smiled at me and ushered me inside. I wiped my feet off and took my coat off.

He said, “Thanks for coming. I was really bored. I hope you weren’t doing anything?”

I shook my head and said, “It’s all right. My parents weren’t home so I was just kind of home alone.”

“Well there’s food in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

I nodded and followed him into his huge kitchen. They had an island in the middle of their kitchen that had food piled onto it. I gaped at how much food was on that island, but Logan just laughed at my expression.

He said, “Take whatever you want.”

I grabbed my plate and started to grab food from the buffet. Logan grabbed a plate and put a couple things on his. I sat down at the table, but Logan just laughed at me.

He said, “We can eat in the living room. We can at least watch TV in there.”

I nodded and carried my plate into the living room, which was twice the size of the kitchen. The living room had an impressive fireplace right underneath the plasma screen and the couches were the really expensive kind that I had only seen in furniture stores, but never in someone’s actual home. We sat down on the couch and Logan turned the plasma screen on. We settled on watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, even though I knew Logan hated the actual show. We watched the show in silence, occasionally commenting on some of the designer’s choices in furniture. When we had finished our food, Logan took my plate into the kitchen and I followed him after I shut the TV off.

He started to wash the dishes and I joined him. We finished our dishes and went up to his room, which was considerably cleaner than the day before. Most of the torn down posters from before were now hanging up on his wall, almost as if they hadn’t moved in the first place. The only poster that was missing was the torn one that I had seen earlier. We sat down on his futon and he turned on his X-Box. I was content with watching him play Call Of Duty, so I turned him down when he handed me the remote controller.

He said as whiny as possible, “Oh come on. Please?”

I shook my head and said, “Trust me. I can’t play this. I would probably end up just killing myself.”

“You would have to either plant a bomb or respawn.”

“Exactly. I’m perfectly happy just watching you play.”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Suit yourself.”

He continued to play, often making sound effects or yelling whenever he shot someone else. I started to laugh as he started to yell at the computerized player for not going to exact way he wanted it to.

He looked at me playfully and said, “Oh you think that’s funny?”

I tried to hold my laughter back and said sarcastically, “Oh no. Not funny at all.”

He shook his head and said, “Whatever.”

He continued to play the game, but my attention started to wander off to the rest of his room. There was just one window, but I could clearly see that it was getting dark outside and I knew that I had to get home sometime soon.

I sighed heavily and said, “Hey. I have to go. My mom will kill me if I miss curfew.”

He paused his game and smiled at me, “Okay. Want me to walk you to your car?”

I shook my head and said, “I think I can manage.”

“See you at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah. See you.”

I walked out of his room and laughed when I heard him yell when I was still on the second floor. I walked out to my car and drove back to my house. I was thoroughly confused, however, when I saw another car in my driveway. I parked next to it and recognized it as Edwyn’s car. I got out of my car slowly, trying to remember if he had said something about coming over. When I realized that he had said that he couldn’t come over tonight, I was even more confused. I walked into my house and smelled turkey, which meant that we were having leftovers. I walked into the living room and saw Edwyn watching TV.

I asked him, “Hey?”

He looked back and smiled at me, “Hey.”

I asked as I sat down next to him, “I thought you said you had family plans?”

He smiled slyly and said, “I got out of it.”

“How?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “A true magician never reveals his tricks.”

I punched him in the shoulder and he pretended like it had immensely hurt him.

My mom came in and said, “Audrey! Stop beating up Edwyn! Oh and supper’s ready.”

Edwyn jumped up and ran into the kitchen, with me following slowly behind. My mom laughed at Edwyn's expression as he sat down at the table.

She said pointedly at me, “At least someone likes my cooking around here.”

I said as I sat down next to Edwyn, “I already ate over at Logan’s house, but I guess I have some room for some of my mom’s famous thanksgiving dinner leftovers.”

We all laughed and got ourselves situated in our chairs. We joined hands and I could tell that Edwyn was a little uncomfortable. His family had never been religious and I could tell that he was only doing it to please my mom.

My mom said quietly, “Father, I thank you for this wonderful day. I thank you that you give us people in our lives to give us guidance and friendship. Thank you for this food and I pray that you will keep everyone safe. Amen.”

Edwyn mumbled, “Amen.”

We let go of each other’s hands and Edwyn immediately started to dish his plate. My mom and I chuckled at Edwyn and he shrugged his shoulders.

He said, “What? I’m hungry and I’m definitely not going to let this food go to waste.”

We all dished our plates and started to eat our food quietly.

After a few seconds of silence, my mom asked, “Edwyn? Do you know what you’re going to do after school?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Hopefully, I can get a scholarship for running track, which might be what I want to do as a professional.”

My mom nodded and I smiled as I bit into another piece of turkey. My mom seemed to approve of Edwyn, beings how he had an actual plan for his future. The fact that we had pretty much grown up together helped too. Edwyn was practically my best guy friend, beings how he would always come over to my house when his parents weren’t over at his. His parents were the kind to give him some money for the night and then go get drunk at a bar. His parents started this when he was just eight. Now, at the age of eighteen, he fully knew how to cook decent meals, how to manage a budget for different food and items, and how to take care of himself.

Edwyn’s humble childhood seemed the change him for the better. He was the most hospitable person that I knew in the entire high school and he also had more mercy than anyone else in this town. If a complete stranger asked him for the shirt off of his back, he would give it without complaint or questions. Sometimes though, people took advantage of his hospitality. They would ask him for stuff, making it seem like they really needed it and he would give it to them, but he never really knew that they were just using him.

If anyone told him that they were, he would just shrug his shoulders and say, “Maybe it will help them become a better person if an example is set for them.”

Edwyn pulled me out of my thoughts, “Isn’t that right?”

I could feel myself turn red when I asked him, “Pardon?”

“Logan seemed better today in school.”

“Oh yeah. He seemed okay when I went over to his house today.”

My mom asked me, “What did you guys do?”

“Logan pretty much just played a video game the whole time.”

“Well that was kind of rude to ignore you.”

“It’s okay. I like watching better anyway. He offered to let me play, but I didn’t want to. I don’t think that I would be able to play at all.”

Edwyn said, obviously amused by my modesty, “I could change that sometime.”

I smiled and said, “Okay. It’s a date.”

He laughed and said, “I’ll mark my calendar.”

I turned back to my mom and asked, “How was your day?”

“Oh you know. Same old, same old. Nothing new.”

I nodded and continued to eat my dinner. The rest of the meal was relatively quiet, with a few comments from Edwyn or my mom about how the day was or the weather. After we were done, Edwyn and I offered to help my mom with the dishes, but she just shooed us into the living room. Edwyn and I sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. After looking through the channels, I finally found a movie that I knew Edwyn liked a lot, which was Zombieland. I never really liked the movie much, but since it was the only thing that was on, I decided I could just close my eyes during the scary parts. The movie wasn’t that scary, but there was a lot of gore, which was what freaked me out the most in horror movies.

Edwyn laughed as he realized that it was the part when the two boys were in the supermarket. I grimaced as the older man hit a zombie in the face with a banjo, which sent blood flying everywhere, whereas Edwyn just laughed.

I said quickly, “I’m going to change into more comfortable clothes. I’ll be back really quick.”

He smiled as I walked away and said, “Okay. Hurry.”

I nodded and walked into my room. I was actually wearing a pair of my most comfortable clothes, but I just really didn’t want to watch anymore of the movie. I slowly changed into a pair of sweats and an old shirt that had some band’s name on it. I walked out into the living room, only to find my mom talking to Edwyn about something and that the TV had been shut off. My mom’s face looked pained, almost to the point that she might have been crying. I was anxious to see Edwyn’s face, but that was before he turned around to face me.

Talk It Out

Logan

 

I couldn’t believe myself. Why had I done it? Why did it invite Audrey over? I knew that it was just my self-will breaking underneath my own feelings. I ran my hand through my hair as I realized what I was finally admitting. Audrey had captured my heart and soul, which scared me. A lot. Did I really love Delilah if I had feelings for Audrey at the same time? I knew that the feeling for her started before Delilah was gone, which was part of the reason that Delilah and I grew apart. I knew that it was wrong in the first place to like Audrey while going out with Delilah, but I never told Delilah that I liked Audrey.

I knew that I had to approach Audrey soon about my feelings for her. I knew that I had to tell her before anyone else snatched her away from me. I stood up, not really knowing where to start. I put on my jacket and sprayed some more of my Axe cologne on myself. I took a deep breath and started to walk downstairs.

I yelled as I walked out of the house, “I’ll be back later mom. I’m just going over to Audrey’s house.”

I didn’t really wait for an answer before I walked outside. I walked to my car, making sure I didn’t run to my car. My heart was beating furiously and my legs started to feel like jelly. My shaky hands turned on my car and I drove over to Audrey’s house. I was going to pull into her driveway, but I saw someone else’s car in the usually empty spot in the driveway. I was confused for a little, but I just parked on the road instead. I got out and slowly walked up to her house.

I knocked on the door and I heard something behind the door. The door opened and I saw Audrey’s smiling face before me. I smiled back at her, but my smile was wiped off of my face when I saw someone else sitting on the couch in her living room. I took a deep breath when I realized who it was. What was Edwyn doing over at her house this late at night? It looked like he was watching a movie, which made me a little nervous.

Audrey said with a little confusion in her voice, “Hey Logan. What’s up? Did I forget something over at your house?”

I shook my head and stood awkwardly on her doorstep.

She asked me after a little, “Is there something you needed?”

I fidgeted with my jacket zipper and asked, “Can I come in?”

She said slowly, “Umm Edwyn and I are kind of in the middle of our date. Is there another time that you could talk to me?”

I said without thinking, “Date?!”

She seemed taken back a little as she said slowly, “Yeah. As in a couple date.”

A date? Edwyn and her were dating? Since when? Rage surged inside of me, though I didn’t really know why.

I said through my teeth, “You guys are a couple?”

She smiled shyly, “Yeah. We just-“

“When were you going to tell me?”

She seemed offended, “What?”

“When were you going to tell me that you two were dating?”

“Since when did we need your permission to date each other?”

“You don’t. I just thought that you two would’ve told me, but I guess being the best friend of both of you doesn’t amount to anything anymore.”

“What are you talking about? We just figured that you had heard it sometime during school, beings how the entire school was talking about us the whole day.”

“The entire school knows?”

She nodded and I ran my hand through my hair.

I asked her quietly, “How long have you two been together?”

“Today he asked me.”

I let my breath out slowly. I had been that close. Edwyn had beaten me by a couple of hours. A couple of hours were what stood between Audrey and me being together. That could’ve been me sitting on the couch in her living room. Edwyn looked back at Audrey and me and started to get up. I knew that I needed to talk to him, but I didn’t know how to ask him without making a scene in front of Audrey.

He walked up and said, “What’s up Logan?”

I shrugged and said, “Nothing much. Can I talk to you Edwyn? Privately?”

He nodded and complied, but I knew that he was confused. Audrey looked back and forth between us two and I knew that she was concerned. I smiled reassuringly at her before she walked back into the house. I turned around and faced a stern-looking Edwyn. This was going to get interesting.

Waiting

Audrey

 

As Edwyn walked out of my house to talk to Logan, I knew that this would either end in a fight or Logan wasn’t going to be around us anymore. I knew that Logan was mad about us not telling him earlier, but he had just lost his girlfriend. We didn’t want to make him feel lonely or excluded. I sighed and walked back into the living room. I shut the TV off, not really wanting to watch anymore TV. I grabbed the tray of food and took it back into the kitchen. I looked at the front door, willing it to open and have Logan and Edwyn walk in smiling together, but I knew that it wasn’t going to happen. Logan looked too pissed when I answered the door to be in a happy mood anytime soon.

I started to wash dishes, but it was only so I would stop fidgeting with my hands. I was shaking, but I didn’t really know why. I took a deep breath after I had finished the dishes and walked back into the living room. I caught myself looking at the door more than five times every thirty seconds. I got up and started to pace the floor, not really being able to sit still. I had finally had enough after about ten minutes of waiting, so I walked to the front door and opened it. I gasped at the sight that had met my eyes.

 

Again

Edwyn

 

I walked behind Logan until we were about halfway through Audrey’s front yard. Logan turned around sharply and just glared at me.

After a minute I asked, “What?”

“You and Audrey weren’t going to tell me that you two were together?”

“Not really.”

“Why?”

I mumbled, not really wanting to tell him the real answer, “I don’t know.”

He gave a low chuckle and said, “I’m not stupid Edwyn. I know why you did it.”

“Then why are you asking me why we didn’t tell you?”

“Oh I don’t know why you didn’t tell me, but I know why you asked her out. Today of all days.”

I gave him a confused look. How would he know why I asked Audrey out?

He said after a minute, “Oh come on. It’s obvious isn’t it? You knew that Audrey and me were growing closer, and you were jealous. You asked her out just to make sure that I didn’t get the girl. Again.”

I looked at him. Had Delilah’s death made him crazy?

I asked him, “What are you talking about? Again?”

“You know what I’m talking about. You liked another girl, but she liked me more. I asked her out and you became jealous, swearing never to fall in love again. Well, now you saw that Audrey and me were getting close, so you decided to ask her out, just to make sure that I didn’t get her instead of you.”

Was he insane?

I asked him, “Is that what you really think of me? I would never hurt Audrey like that.”

“Oh yes. Just like how you wouldn’t hurt the other girl too.”

I mumbled, not wanting to remember, “What other girl?”

He said cockily, “Are you going to make me say her name?”

I shook my head, praying that he didn’t say her name. I couldn’t deal with the pain again. Not again.

I said slowly, “I asked Audrey out because I care for her. I see that this whole Delilah issue is really getting to her, so I just thought that I could make her feel better.”

“So after the whole situation with Delilah calms down, you’re gone?”

“No. I’m not going to leave Audrey alone.”

He said haughtily, “Oh trust me. If you left, she wouldn’t be alone.”

I was almost to my breaking point. This guy was talking about my girlfriend.

I said, “I’m going back inside.”

Logan grabbed my arm as I turned and said, “Wait. We aren’t done.”

“I am.”

I ripped my arm from his grasp, but he was persistent. He jumped in front of me, which blocked my path to the front door. I glared at him, but I really didn’t want to fight with Logan on my girlfriend’s front lawn while we were having our first date. Something about that just didn’t seem right.

I said firmly, “You aren’t going to ruin a perfectly good relationship of mine again. Please move.”

He laughed and said, “Oh Edwyn. Always so polite.”

I gritted my teeth and said as nicely as I could, “Thanks. I try.”

Logan seemed angered by my response though and I could tell that he was about to throw a punch. To my surprise, he grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, making me completely stationary. I almost cried out in pain, but I constrained caught it before it escaped my lips.

Logan said, “You give up this relationship Edwyn! It’s not meant to be.”

I said roughly, “Let me guess. You think Audrey and you are destined to be together.”

I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “You said it not me.”

I clenched my teeth even more and I knew that Audrey would hate me for fighting with Logan. We were her best friends and I knew that she would hate to be in the middle of this argument, but he was making threats against the only thing in my life that was actually right. God knows my family wasn’t even close to an actual family. I bent back around and caught Logan off guard. My hands formed into fists and I sent one flying towards Logan’s face. I definitely knew that Audrey would’ve been mad when I felt my hand connect with Logan’s jawbone. Logan took a few steps back, obviously taken back by the fact that I had actually hit him.

I usually never fought with anyone, let alone my actual friends, unless it was something that I truly did believe in. Logan recovered quickly though and came back towards me. I brought my fists up to my face and readied myself for the blow that would come from Logan. I felt Logan tackle me and we both fell to the ground. We rolled around for a few seconds before Logan finally pinned me down to the ground. He held my hands down to the ground and straddled me, making it impossible to kick him or punch him.

He brought his fist up and connected it with my face before I was even able to make a move. I felt the blow from his fist and I didn’t feel the pain at first, but then my cheek lost the numbness that had come from the beginning of the blow. Logan raised his fist and punched me again. This happened over and over until blood was running down my face from my split lip, bloody nose, and a cut that he had somehow made on my cheek. Logan raised his hand for another blow, but something stopped him. I tried to open my eyes, but blood had run into them, making it impossible to see anyways.

I heard Audrey scream, “No!”

Indifference

Audrey

 

I opened the door and I knew that I had made a mistake. I should've never come out into the lawn. I saw Logan on top of Edwyn, who looked like he was about to pass out. There was blood covering Edwyn’s face and I saw Logan raise his fist again.

I screamed out, “No!”

Logan stopped and looked at me with pure terror in his eyes.

He said quickly, “Audrey. You weren’t-“

“Logan! Get off of him!”

Logan quickly scrambled off of Edwyn and stood up to face me. I bent down to help Edwyn up, but Logan grabbed my wrists before I could reach Edwyn.

Logan said quietly, “Please. Let me explain.”

I glared at him when I said, “I think you’ve done enough.”

He let his hands drop from my wrists and I knew that our friendship was over. There was no way I would be able to forgive him for doing what he did to Edwyn. Edwyn. I looked down and saw that he was just starting to slowly get up. I bent down and helped him up slowly, making sure that he didn’t get dizzy from standing up. I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him back into my house. I looked back just in time to see Logan speeding away in his car. I sighed heavily as I carried Edwyn into the bathroom to wash his face off. I pulled a box of bandages and disinfectant out of the cabinet and I saw Edwyn make a face at the first aid kit.

He said slowly, “I’m fine.”

I gave him a look and he knew that I wasn’t going to let him go home looking like this. He sat quietly as I got the disinfectant ready. When I turned to him, I realized that I would have to ruin one of our good towels in order to wipe off all of the blood that had already run onto his face and shirt. I smiled to myself when I realized that Andrew would have to lend Edwyn some of his clothes, but Andrew didn’t have to know that. I grabbed one of the towels out of the cabinet and started to wipe Edwyn’s face off with it, afraid that if I pressed too hard, it would hurt him.

I didn’t know how nurses always were able to do that on a day-to-day basis, since I was almost gagging at the amount of blood that was on his face, with more coming from his open wounds. After I had gotten most of the blood off of his face, I poured some disinfectant on a clean towel and started to dab his wounds with it. I heard him occasionally hiss at the effect of the disinfectant, which made me want to stop even more than normally. After I had only cleaned two of his cuts, with three more to go, I huffed in frustration and he smiled apologetically at me.

I asked him, “Are you okay?”

He nodded and said, “It’s better to get it done sooner rather than later.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. I poured some more disinfectant on the towel and started back on the unclean wounds.

I asked him as I cleaned his wounds, “What were you and Logan fighting about?”

He sighed heavily and said, “Nothing.”

“It was obviously something if he was punching you.”

“How much did you see?”

“I just saw Logan hitting you, so I yelled at him to stop.”

He nodded and said slowly, “Logan’s getting . . . protective over his friends. I think that he’s a little on the safe side from Delilah so I wouldn’t really think anything of it.”

I nodded, not really wanting to argue with him while he was in this state. I finished cleaning his face and got some of the bandages ready. I was only going to put a quick bandage on his cheek, which was the only one that I would actually be able to bandage normally. I grabbed a square bandage and used some medical tape to attach it to his face. He smiled at me while I was putting the bandage on my face and I gave him a confused look.

I asked him as I finished taping it to his face, “What?”

“Nothing. Just nothing.”

I shook my head and smiled as I put the last piece of tape on the bandage. I clapped my hands together and started to put the first aid things together.

I said, “I can get you a change of clothes from Andrew’s closet.”

He nodded and said, “Yeah. I probably don’t want to get blood on the seat in my car. My mom might ask questions.”

I laughed and said, “Along with the police.”

He laughed with me and I walked out of the bathroom. I walked to Andrew's room and walked over to his closet. I looked through his clothes for a few seconds before I found a shirt that would fit Edwyn. I didn’t really notice if Edwyn’s pants were also covered in blood, so I grabbed a pair of athletic shorts out of one of Andrew’s drawers. I walked back into the bathroom, only to find that Edwyn had moved into the living room. He wasn’t sitting on the couch, which I was glad for since my mom would’ve freaked if she had known that he had sat on the couch with blood on his clothes. He was looking at the pictures that were on our mantle, often faintly smiling at the pictures.

I said while holding the clothes up, “Here you go. I hope they fit.”

He turned sharply towards me, almost as if he were startled by me. I threw the clothes over to him as he walked into the bathroom to get changed. As the door closed, I walked over to the mantle and saw the picture that he was looking at. It was the one of Andrew and me as little kids. We were covered in mud from head to toe, and the only distinction that would hint at the fact that it was children underneath all of the mud were our eyes and teeth. I smiled at the memory of when the picture was taken.

 

It had been raining all day. Andrew and me were quietly sitting at a window, praying that the rain would stop falling so we could’ve gone outside and played.

Andrew asked mom for the fifth time, “Mom? Can we go outside?”

My mom sighed heavily and I could tell that she was about to reach her boiling point.

She said slowly, “No dear. It’s raining and I don’t want you to get all dirty before supper.”

Andrew sighed and put his head in his hands. I sat quietly, not really knowing if I wanted to say something and risk getting in trouble or not.

I said quietly, “We could go up to the attic Andrew.”

He nodded slowly, almost looking like he was going to cry. We walked to the hallway that had the ladder that would lead us up to the attic. Andrew pulled down on the string like usual and we climbed up into the attic. We started to play pirates, figuring that the pounding sound of the rain would make the ship feel real. After a few hours of playing, we were finally reached the decision that the fluffy teddy bear, Mr. Cuddles, would have to walk the plank in order for this ship to survive. I was about to give the order for Andrew to throw Mr. Cuddles overboard, but then I realized that the rain had stopped.

Andrew whispered to me, “This is your part. Tell him to walk the plank!”

“Andrew! Do you hear that?”

He listened for a minute and said, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly!”

I stormed down the ladder, almost falling in the process, and ran to the living room window. The rain had stopped, leaving mud puddles in the street and streams flowing down the curbs of the streets. Andrew’s face lit up when he finally realized that we were able to go outside. We threw the front door open and ran straight into the puddles on the lawn. We splashed each other with the water until we were both soaked. We were rolling in the mud, laughing until we were sore. I immediately stopped laughing though when I saw mom standing above us.

Andrew noticed my sudden abrupt quietness, and then he saw mom. We both sat quietly in the mud, not wanting to make her madder by saying anything. She began to laugh and we realized that we weren’t going to get in trouble. We started to smile and mom produced a camera from her pocket.

She said, “Say cheese!”

Both Andrew and I said, “Cheese!”

She snapped the picture and the flash blinded me for a minute.

 

Edwyn said from the door, “They mostly fit. I think I’ll manage until I get home.”

I nodded and he walked up to me.

He said, “I think I’m going to have to go home. It’s getting late. Sorry we didn’t get to finish the movie.”

I shrugged my shoulders and I walked him to the door. I opened the door and he smiled at me.

He said, “See you tomorrow.”

I nodded and he leaned towards my face. He kissed me on the cheek and back away slowly. I smiled shyly as he walked out. I waited until he was at his car to close the door. I smiled and rested my back against the door. I felt like I was floating when I walked up to my room, until I realized that I would have to dispose of the bloody towels before mom woke up. I walked back downstairs and gathered the towels up into a giant ball. I threw the towels into the trashcan and put a new trash bag in it. I took the old trash bag and threw it into the trashcans that were out on our street. I walked back into my house and took a shower. I welcomed the warm, flowing water and let it take over my thoughts.

I knew the next day at school was going to be hard, beings how Logan wouldn’t talk to Edwyn and me, and how Emily was going to pester me even more if she learned about the fight. I shook my head and got out of the shower. I got ready for bed and rested my head on the pillow. I closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.

 

The next morning when I woke up, I felt groggier than I had in days. I got ready for school abnormally slow and drove to school the same. I got out of my car and walked into the school building, not really knowing why I was acting so sluggish. I walked over to my locker and saw that Edwyn was waiting for me. He still had the bandage on his cheek, but I could tell that he had had his coach fix it for him so it would actually help his wound heal. He smiled at me as I walked up, but I was too tired to give him one back.

He asked me carefully, “Are you okay?”

“I’m just really, really tired. I don’t know why, but I guess I just woke up a lot in my sleep last night.”

He nodded and I could tell that he didn’t actually buy my story, but he was going to let it slide for now. I shut my locker after I had put my books in it and leaned against it. I almost gasped when I saw Logan walking down the hallway towards us, but I held it back. Edwyn saw where I was staring and he protectively took a step closer to me. Logan walked by and glanced at us. He saw the bandage on Edwyn’s face and visibly chuckled. He continued to walk though, which I inwardly thanked him for. I knew that it would be even worse if the two of them fought in school.

Right behind Logan was Emily. She looked over at how close Edwyn was to me and rolled her eyes at us. I took a step in her direction, but Edwyn stopped me. I looked up at him to reason with him, but he just shook his head.

He said so I could only hear, “She isn’t worth it. She’s just jealous.”

I looked back at him and I could see that he was kidding. I punched him on the arm and he laughed. The bell rang and he walked away to his first class. I walked to my first class and sat down in my normal seat. Mr. Heis started to talk about Pearl Harbor. I zoned out and immediately started to think about other things. I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts, though, when I felt a piece of paper hit my back. I turned around and saw Emily’s sickening smile as she pointed to the paper. She wanted me to read it. I felt my stomach churn as I picked up the piece of paper and I turned back to the front of the room. I opened the piece of paper until it was completely unfolded.

It read:

 

            Hey. I know that you and Edwyn are dating, but seriously? You really think that you’re in his league? You aren’t in the least bit popular, athletic, or pretty. I don’t know if you’re just doing this for fun, but just so you know, there are a ton of other girls that would be willing to go out with him. If you ever get tired of him or you ever face your fate as a loner, just pass him on.

 

                                                                                                Emily

 

I threw the note into my book, not really wanting to look back at Emily's face. I tried to pay attention to Mr. Heis for the rest of the class, but I knew that it would be impossible to pay attention with Emily and her gang laughing the entire time behind me. When the bell rang, I couldn’t get out of the class fast enough. As I was walking to my next class, someone grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. I was face-to-face with Emily as she smiled at me.

She asked me, “How are you? How’s Edwyn?”

I said rudely, “You sure seem to be interested in him. How’s Bruce by the way?”

Her smile fell off of her face and said, “Bruce is great. We’re going to get married after graduation.”

I nodded in mock concern and I saw her clench her teeth together.

She said, “Well I better go. I have classes.”

I smiled at her mockingly and started to walk away. Emily grabbed my elbow and threw me back behind her.

I said loudly, “Excuse me!”

She said, “Oh trust me. You don’t have to ask to be excused. We almost want you to excuse yourself so we don’t have to talk to you.”

I fought a scream back down my throat and remembered what Edwyn told me. She wasn’t worth it. She wasn’t worth it. As I thought this, I stared at the back of her head. It almost seemed as if a target was forming itself on the back of her head as I watched her walk away. I fought against it for as long as I was able, but I wasn’t able to hold it in completely.

I screamed after her, “Hey!”

The entire hallway stopped walking and stared at me. Usually, I was the quiet kid that never really talked to people other than the people that I already knew. Most of the other kids had eyes the size of saucers, while Emily coolly turned around.

She said innocently, “Yes?”

I stomped up to her, “I swear to God if you do anything to separate Edwyn and me up just so one of your little friends can have a boyfriend-“

She took a step towards me, “For your information, all of my friends already have boyfriends. In my note, I was talking about other people that were above you. Like the band geek and science nerds.”

I felt my hands form into fists by my side as I said, “I don’t care who you want Edwyn to end up with just so you and Bruce will be the cutest couple in school-“

“We already are the cutest couple. He’s the hottest guy in school.”

Even as she said that, she knew that Edwyn had him beat.

I smiled and said cockily, “Yeah. Okay. I’ll just let you think that.”

She reached for me, but she was stopped. I looked up to see who stopped her when I saw Bruce holding her back. I felt someone wrap their arm around my waist and pull me back, but I knew it was Edwyn.

Bruce said loudly, “What the hell is going on here!?”

Emily said innocently, “She was saying things about us so I had to defend our relationship!”

Bruce looked at me and I said, “She was trying to break Edwyn and me up!”

Edwyn said, “Look. We don’t care who started it. We’re going to finish it.”

Bruce nodded at him and I could feel Edwyn pulling me away from the crowd. When I finally stopped resisting, he turned me around to face him. He took my shoulders and shook me gently.

He asked me, “Are you crazy?”

“What?”

“What if Bruce and I hadn’t been there to stop the fight? You’d probably be in detention with Emily right now and you know that you can’t get detentions!”

I shook my head and said, “I had to!”

“Why?”

“She thought that I was indifferent about our relationship and that she was going to give you to someone else!”

He asked after a few seconds, “Well I can definitely tell that you aren’t indifferent about this relationship since you almost got into a fight at school for me. Second, I would never just leave you for another girl. I really want this relationship to work for us okay?”

I nodded and he smiled.

He said, “Good. Now you better get to class. You don’t want to be late.”

“I don’t think I can help that now.”

He smiled and we both walked to our different classes.

Discovering

Edwyn

 

I said to Bruce, “Yeah. It was pretty brutal.”

“I bet.”

We heard some commotion down the hall, but I almost started to sprint when I saw what was happening. Bruce and me both ran down the hall to the place where our girls were fighting. They looked like they were going to hit each other. I pulled Audrey back, knowing that she would hit Emily if given the chance. Audrey resisted, but I held her as tight as I could without hurting her.

Bruce said loudly, “What the hell is going on here!?”

Emily said while looking at Bruce, “She was saying things about us so I had to defend our relationship!”

Bruce looked at Audrey as she said, “She was trying to break Edwyn and me up!”

Of course Audrey would fiercely fight against anyone for our relationship the day after we started to date.

I said, “Look. We don’t care who started it. We’re going to finish it.”

Bruce nodded at me and I took that as a sign for me to leave with Audrey. I started to take her away from the main crowd, but she was resisting. When I finally got her down another hallway, I turned her around to face me. I took her shoulders and tried to shake some sense into her.

I asked her, “Are you crazy?”

“What?”

“What if Bruce and I hadn’t been there to stop the fight? You’d probably be in detention with Emily right now and you know that you can’t get detentions!”

She shook her head and said, “I had to!”

I asked her, “Why?”

“She thought that I was indifferent about our relationship and that she was going to give you to someone else!”

Did Audrey really think that I would just leave her to go with someone that Emily told me to go with?

I asked her after a few seconds, “Well I can definitely tell that you aren’t indifferent about this relationship since you almost got into a fight at school for me. Second, I would never just leave you for another girl. I really want this relationship to work for us okay?”

She nodded and I smiled.

I said sternly, “Good. Now you better get to class. You don’t want to be late.”

“I don’t think I can help that now.”

I smiled and walked to my art class.

The rest of the morning followed with the usual drooling looks from other girls, but there was just one girl on my mind. I wondered if Audrey had kept it together during her other classes, but I didn’t have to wonder long. Before I knew it, I was meeting Audrey at the doors to the cafeteria.

I asked her jokingly, “Did you get in anymore fights?”

She glared at me and said, “You can say what you want but I still think I seriously would’ve fought her for saying those things.”

“Why do you care about what she thinks?”

She shrugged her shoulders and I decided that I needed to drop the subject. Whenever Audrey didn’t want to talk about something anymore, she shut down and it was very hard to get her back to being open about even small talk.

I asked her when I realized that all of the tables were full, “Where are we going to sit?”

She scanned the tables, but her eyes rested on one table in particular. I looked over and saw Logan sitting with Bruce and Emily. Bruce was actually a kind of cool guy that I got along with, but Emily was something else. It seemed as if she thought it was fun to mess with other girl’s minds. We walked over and sat down with a few people that we knew from our other classes. We didn’t really talk much, but the other people almost didn’t even notice us sit down. Well, they noticed me, but then they saw Audrey. I hated when people did that. They just judged Audrey without even really knowing her.

I shook my head and asked Audrey, “What are you going to do tonight?”

She said slowly, “I need to go see Delilah’s parents tonight. I’ve needed to since it happened.”

I nodded slowly and made up some excuse for her to go alone, “I’ll have some other things to do tonight anyway that I need to get done.”

She nodded and I knew she didn’t want to go over to Mark and Lindy’s house. She never really was one to be able to easily talk with people dealing with grief. I would’ve offered to go with her, but we both knew that she had to go alone, which was why I lied about having something to do in the first place. We finished lunch in silence, but I tried to hold her back from going to her next class in the hallway.

I said to her quietly, “You know that you’re doing the right thing by going over to their house don’t you?”

She nodded and I smiled at her. I left her and walked to my next class, which was science. I had Bruce as a lab partner, so that made the class more tolerable in my opinion. I walked in and nodded at Bruce as I sat down.

My teacher started, “Okay class today we’re going to go over Macrominerals and how they affect the growth of leaves.”

I immediately started to zone out and draw on my notebook. Bruce passed me a piece of paper and I slowly unfolded it.

It read, “Hey. I’m sorry about what happened with Audrey and Emily. I don’t know what’s gotten into Emily lately. She just seems different.”

I wrote down, “It’s okay. I think everyone’s a little unstable, what with Delilah and all.”

He saw what I had written and nodded his head. He stuffed the piece of paper in his book, which I took as a sign that we were done talking. I continued to draw on my notebook, not really knowing what I was planning on drawing until I saw the final picture. It was a picture of a clear sky, with only a puff of cloud to block out the shining sun. There was a long road that led off into the distance, but I didn’t know where it led. I ended up drawing a few small tufts of grass on the roadside before the bell finally rang.

I walked out of class and took a deep breath through my nose. This day had turned out more exhausting than I had imagined it would’ve. I slowly walked to my next class, which was shop class, and didn’t really bother to participate with what the teacher was showing us. I knew that I would have to go running sometime if I wanted to keep my sanity. It seemed as if two week’s worth of things to do was all packed into one. I made it through my shop class, only having to give slight nods when the teacher looked in my direction.

I walked out of school when the final bell rang and breathed in a deep breath of fresh air. It was definitely a day for running. There was hardly any wind and it was the perfect temperature, making it so I wouldn’t get too hot or too cold while running. I got in my car and slowly drove home. Another reason for running was that it would’ve meant less time at home. I pulled into the broken driveway and sauntered up to the house that had peeling paint and cracked windows. My house looked like it had been abandoned ten years ago, which wasn’t really far from the truth. My parents spent most of their time at the bar and I was mostly gone from the house doing other things so I wouldn’t have to spend time there.

I opened the squeaky door and walked into my house. I set my bags down by the door and walked into the seldom-used kitchen. I opened the fridge, but, like always, there wasn’t any good food in it. I walked up the stairs to my room and changed into my running clothes, which consisted of gym shorts and a cutoff. I grabbed my iPod off of my dresser and went down the stairs. I opened the door and shielded my eyes from the bright sun. I looked around myself and grabbed a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses that were always in my bag. I smiled as I put the neon blue glasses over my eyes and stepped out onto the road.

I started to jog down the road, not really knowing where I was going to end up. I jogged for about ten blocks before I started to walk. I wasn’t really winded; I just wanted to make my jog amount to more time than it normally would. My parent’s weren’t going to be home anytime soon anyways. I started to look around and saw that I was near Bruce’s house, which was also near Tom Adler’s house. Tom Adler used to be in jail for selling drugs to minors. He had been set out on parole recently, which had all of the families on the street worried. As I looked down at Tom’s house, I noticed that there were a lot of police cars at his house. There was a crowd that was starting to form, so I joined them. The police had broken into Tom’s house and was now taking him towards one of the police cars.

I asked a woman who was standing next to me, “What happened?”

The woman replied, “Did you know Delilah? The girl that was murdered?”

I nodded my head, already knowing what she was going to say, “Well they think that they found out who did it. They think that Tom Adler killed her.”

 

 

I sprinted the entire way to Audrey’s house. I knew that she needed to know that they had found the person that had killed her best friend. I made it to her house in record time and reminded myself that I would need to do that more often to get in shape for track. I shook my head at myself as I walked up to her front door. I knocked on the door and waited patiently as I heard someone coming to answer it. Audrey’s mom answered the door and smiled when she saw that it was me.

She noticed how sweaty I was and asked, “Did you just go running?”

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.

I said through breaths, “Is Audrey . . . here?”

She shook her head and said, “No. She went over to Mark and Lindy’s house today right after school. Do you want to stay here and wait for her?”

I nodded and she motioned for me to follow her into the house. I regretted not going back to my house to change and I could tell that Audrey’s mom saw my hesitation to sit on the couch.

She said, “It’s okay Edwyn. You can sit down.”

I shook my head and said, “Its okay.”

I sat down on the floor and turned the TV on. I turned the news on and I immediately see that the story of Tom being found as the killer was already on the news. There was a video of Tom being put into the police car with a reporter talking on the side.

The reporter said in a slight accent, “What you’re seeing behind me is Tom Adler, a former convict, being taken into custody. Police reports state that DNA of Delilah Locke was found in Adler’s backyard and house. There is no comment at this time from Tom Adler, but he is believe to have a court case the following Monday.”

The news station switched to another station, but I just zoned out and waited for Audrey to come home.

Visits

Audrey

 

As the last bell for school rang, I walked out to my car slowly. I was dreading going over to Mark and Lindy’s house, but only because I didn’t really know what to do. What can you do when your best friend dies? How do you confront their parents about it? I shook my head and got in my car. I turned it on and drove over to Mark and Lindy’s house. I slowly walked up to their front door and rang their doorbell. It was a few seconds before the door slowly opened. It was Lindy. She saw that it was only me and swung the door fully open.

She said while motioning for me to follow her, “Come in Audrey. Come in.”

I smiled and her and said, “Thanks.”

We stood in the foyer awkwardly before she said, “It’s very nice for you to come here after everything. I know Delilah would’ve loved it.”

I smiled at her and said, “Yeah. I meant to come earlier but-“

She shook her head and interrupted me, “It’s fine. Don’t stress yourself.”

I smiled at her and she said, “Well. Shall we go?”

I knew that she meant Delilah's room, but I didn’t really want to. I knew that just seeing her old room would make me emotional. We slowly walked up to her room and Lindy waited for me to go in first. I walked into her room warily, not really sure what I was going to see. I immediately smiled in spite of myself when I saw her room. Her walls were covered in posters of movies, some of which included Twilight, Mean Girls, and Beastly. Delilah always loved movies that I had never really liked. I had only ever seen Twilight because she had literally dragged me into the movie theatre to see it with her.

Her mom said, “I’ve made a small box for you with the things that I know she would want you to have. If you want anything else, just take it. It won't bother me a bit. Just please ask before you take it so I don’t think it just went missing.”

I nodded and she smiled at me as she left to go back to the kitchen. I walked around Delilah’s room for a few minutes before I actually looked at the box. Inside the box, there were pictures of us when we were littler, an old pair of sunglasses that matched the same pair of mine, her bracelets of her favorite bands, a CD that we always took with us on a road trip, and her favorite necklace of all time. I picked the necklace up and inspected it closer than I had before. The necklace had a pendant that looked similar to an angel on a silver chain. The angel didn’t really look that much like an angel, but that was all that we were able to think of when trying to explain it to Logan and Edwyn. Of course she never wore it on a regular basis to not break it, but it was still a gorgeous necklace.

I knew that Lindy had put this necklace in the box only because I had bought it for her in the first place for her fifteenth birthday. The only time I could remember seeing her wear it was her first sophomore prom experience. She had a white dress with silver slits in the bottom half of it, which matched the necklace perfectly. Her earrings looked like three diamonds that were hanging to each other only by a chain. Her hair looked beautiful with it being half-up and half-down with eight layers of curls in it. She walked in and literally silenced the entire entry hallway.

I was walking next to her, but I looked like a dingy dust ball while standing next to her. I smiled at the thought of her wearing the necklace at prom and placed it back into the box. I closed the box lid and looked around the room one last time. I knew that I wouldn’t ask for anymore things of Delilah’s, since it was already impressive that her parents were willing to give up that much of Delilah’s things. I walked back down to the kitchen with the box carefully in my grasp. The last thing I wanted was to drop the box and have the necklace shatter into a million pieces. I walked into the kitchen and Lindy smiled.

She asked with a little confusion in her voice, “You didn’t want anything else?”

I shook my head and said, “This is more than enough. Thank you for letting me have some of her things. It really means a lot to me.”

She nodded quickly and I could tell that she was really close to crying.

I asked mostly to change the subject, “Where’s Mark?”

She said while trying to will away the tears, “He’s at work. That’s all he ever does nowadays.”

I smiled encouragingly at her, but she didn’t smile back.

She said weakly, “I’m sorry but I really am tired. I was just about to lay down for a quick snooze before you came.”

“Oh please. I was just about to go anyway. Thanks for having me over Mrs. Locke.”

“Oh it’s no trouble deary. No trouble at all.”

I nodded and she walked me to the front door.

She said as she shut the door, “Thanks again.”

I nodded, but she didn’t see it before the door was shut. I walked back down to my car, not really taking my abrupt leaving personally. I could tell the entire time that she was still shaken up about the whole thing. Who wasn’t? I couldn’t even wrap my mind around the amount of pain and loss that Lindy must’ve been feeling. I got into my car and put the box into the passenger seat, making sure that it wasn’t going to topple over as I drove. I drove back down to my house, which wasn’t really all that far. I probably could’ve walked down to Delilah’s house, but in all honesty, I was really too lazy. I made a mental note on becoming less lazy.

I pulled into the driveway and saw that the living room light was on. Mom never really watched the TV, so I was wondering what was going on. I shut my car off and gently picked up the box of Delilah’s things. I walked up to my house and opened the door. I heard the news in the living room, which I found even more odd. My mom never watched the TV, let alone the news. I walked into the kitchen, only to find my mom making supper in the kitchen.

I asked her slowly, “If you’re in here, then who’s in there?”

She smiled and said sweetly, “Edwyn came by after his run, but you weren’t here. He decided that he was going to wait here for you. I guess he had something really important to tell you.”

I set the box down on the table that was in the foyer gingerly, trying not to upset it’s contents. I walked into the living room and saw that Edwyn was sitting on the floor.

I said sarcastically, “You know you can sit on the couch right?”

He turned around quickly and I could tell that I had scared him. He quickly covered it up and smiled up at me.

He said, “Why on earth would I sit on your couch when there is a perfectly good, soft carpet here? Why else would there be carpet in a room other than the reason to sit on it?”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him as I sat down on the couch.

I asked him as I played with his hair, “What made you come all the way over to my house and wait for me exactly?”

His expression turned grim for a second and he said slowly, “Audrey. They found out who killed Delilah.”

I sat up and stared at him “What?”

“Tom Adler killed Delilah. They’ve taken him into custody and he’s going to court on Monday. They’ve got a lot of hard evidence on him and they’re really convinced that he did it, which I don’t blame them for. He’s got a criminal record already.”

I was quiet. I didn’t really know what to say to Edwyn. What was I supposed to say? That I was happy that they had found the killer? Of course I was happy that they found out who the killer was so he wouldn’t do it again, but what real, hard evidence did they have against him?

I asked Edwyn, “What do they have against him?”

“They found some of her blood in his backyard and they were able to trace it all the way down to where they found Delilah. They found some of her DNA like hair and skin that were on his clothes and things in his house. All the evidence is there Audrey. They got him.”

I let out a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair.

He asked me quietly, “Aren’t you happy they found out who did it?”

“Of course I am I just can’t believe that they found him so quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well don’t you think that Tom would’ve been more careful when he did it? Like you said, he’s got a criminal record. Wouldn’t he know that he had to be careful about it?”

“You can’t really hide DNA Audrey. It’s there and there’s no way of making it go away.”

I nodded, not really wanting to argue with him.

He said after a few seconds, “So Mark and Lindy don’t know then?”

I shook my head, remembering the box that Lindy had given me.

He said, “Do you think they’ll be glad? That they found the killer I mean?”

I shrugged my shoulders and he could tell that I was tired.

He said, “I think I’m going to have to go back home soon. My parents weren’t home when I left so they’re probably wondering where I am. See you tomorrow okay?”

I nodded and he walked out of the house. I grabbed the box and walked to my room slowly. I took out all of the contents of the box and set them out on my bed. I grabbed the picture of us when we were littler and set it on my bedside table. I used the sunglasses to prop the picture up and smiled as I put the CD by the picture. I knew that I would be listening to the CD soon since it had most of my favorite bands on it. It had songs from Maroon 5, Linkin Park, and Skillet. I got ready for bed and laid down slowly. I knew that there was going to be a buzz around school tomorrow about finding Delilah’s killer. I brought the covers up to my chin and closed my eyes. I fell asleep, thinking of what was going to happen at school.

When I woke up, it was to the sound of my alarm clock. I shut it off and got ready for school. I slowly drove to school, not really wanting to go. I was tempted to tell my mom that I wasn’t feeling good and just stay home for the day. I parked in the school parking lot and walked into school. Just as I had suspected, everyone looked over at me as I entered. A few people just turned away when they saw that it was me, but some people just kept staring at me. I felt like screaming at them to stop, but I just ignored them. I walked to my locker and Edwyn crept up to my locker slowly.

I raised my eyebrows at him when I asked, “What’s up?”

Edwyn said slowly, “Tom’s not the killer.”

“What? You said last night-“

“Everyone said last night that Tom was the killer. He’s not.”

My heart was pounding at what I was hearing. Tom wasn’t the killer. He didn’t kill Delilah.

I asked him slowly, “How do you know this?”

“Emily was found in the same lake as Delilah last night. She was murdered.”

Decisions

Edwyn

 

I can’t believe what I just heard on the news. Tom Adler was innocent. How will I tell Audrey? I was the one who told her in the first place that Tom was guilty and now, he’s being found innocent. This will only add to her stress levels, what with all that happened to Logan and everything. I still don’t know what to think about that.

He seemed fine one day and then he just seemed to go crazy when he found out Audrey and me were dating each other. I know Audrey didn’t really know what to think when I told her that Tom was found guilty. How will she react when she finds out that Emily was also killed? That was the only reason they had found out that Tom was innocent.

Apparently, while they were transporting him to the local jail, they had gotten a police call saying that someone had found Emily’s body near the spot where they had found Delilah's. They said that Delilah's cause of death was a serious blow to the head, but Emily was a different story. Emily had bruises all over her body and had multiple cuts in her arms, almost like fingernail cuts.

Emily’s death was definitely by someone who knew what they were doing. There was no trace of anything from Delilah in anyone else’s house except for Tom’s. Of course Tom’s house was the only one that they had searched, since he only lived on a street with families on every side of him.

They were still looking for traces of Emily’s DNA in the surrounding area, just to be sure that there wasn’t a trail leading to somewhere, but I really don’t think they’ll find anything. If this killer was able to murder Delilah without anyone else finding out about it, they certainly would’ve been able to do it again with Emily.

I know that Audrey hadn’t really gotten along with Emily, but I really don’t know what her reaction will be. She might feel regret, or maybe a bit of fear. I don’t really know sometimes with her. She was always a little unpredictable. I know I have to confront Bruce and comfort him tomorrow, if he was in school tomorrow.

I don’t think he will be, but he might surprise some people. He is stronger than people think. Sure, on the outside he is physically muscular, but he is also really strong on the inside. I know that I am going to have to talk about Logan sometime just to get him to talk to Bruce about what’s going on with him.

Only Logan would know Bruce’s pain right now. No one else would be able to comprehend Bruce’s pain at this time in his life. I don’t really know how I’m going to tell Audrey tomorrow, but part of me is hoping that someone else tells her before I see her tomorrow. I don’t know. I want to be there with her when she learns that Emily’s gone too.

I want to be able to comfort her like I’m supposed to. I want to be there for her like any person should. I really hope Logan comes back to being friends with Audrey. I hate to admit it, but she needs him. He was another person that makes her feel welcomed in our school. I don’t care if it takes Logan and me and really long time to become friends again.

I just really hope that he gets it together enough to be there for Audrey when she needs him. Us. I know I’ll be there for her. Will he?

Friends?

Logan

 

I didn’t expect Edwyn to come to me during lunch at school. We hadn’t really talked since I had made his nose bleed. Just the thought of that night made my hands clench into fists at my side. Edwyn walked up to me and nodded at me awkwardly.

He said slowly, “We need to talk.”

I shrugged and dumped my tray nonchalantly, “Why?”

He seemed really impatient as he said, “It’s about Audrey. Please.”

Something in his voice made me look at his face, which was twisted with pain and guilt.

I nodded my head and said slowly, “All right.”

We walked out into the front courtyard of the school and Edwyn stopped in front of me. He turned around sharply and ran his hand through his hair.

He said slowly, “Please make up with Audrey. She needs the comfort of knowing that she has friends right now. Please.”

He seemed really sincere about me making up with Audrey.

I asked him, “What’s in it for you?”

“Nothing. I just want her to feel safer than what she is right now. I don’t care if we never become friends again, just please. Do it for her.”

“For her? Not anyone else?”

He shook his head and I knew that it killed him to talk to me about Audrey. I sighed after a while and nodded. He let out a deep breath and I could tell that he was relieved that the conversation hadn’t ended in fighting.

I asked him as we walked back into school, “How is she?”

“She didn’t really react when I told her that Tom was taken in. Her reaction when I told her about Emily was the same. She just kind of stared at me for a few seconds before saying that she had to go somewhere. I think she’s really freaked out about this whole thing.”

I nodded and let it all sink in. Audrey needed me; well she needed friends, but still. That included me. We walked back into school and got a few weird stares from the other kids that had seen us walk out together. Almost everyone in the whole school knew about our little fight, so this must have seemed like a weird phenomenon to them. Edwyn and I walked back to where Audrey was sitting and by her look of surprise when we sat down together, she hadn’t really noticed that we had even left the lunchroom.

I sat down and said, “What’s up?”

She looked at Edwyn for a second before she realized that I was trying to make amends.

She said, “The usual.”

I smiled and she seemed to become happier, compared to before I had sat down. I knew that I had to make amends to Audrey sometime before it was too late. By the time the bell rang for the next class, we were laughing like the fight had never even happened. I walked to my next class carefree, feeling happier than I had ever since the fight had happened. I hated being cut off from Audrey and, even sometimes, Edwyn. The class after lunch was boring as always, which I didn’t really expect much of a change in the class. The teacher was an old-school kind of teacher that didn’t like doing things differently.

When I walked to my next class after that, I was thoroughly surprised. Bruce was sitting in his usual spot on our lab table. I walked up to him and he nodded awkwardly at me. I sat down without really saying anything to him, but I knew that I would try to talk to him about Emily soon. He had to know that someone had gone through the same thing that he was going through. When the bell rang, he stood up quickly, almost as if he knew what was coming.

I asked him, “Hey Bruce? Do you have anything after school?”

Bruce shook his head and I continued, “Can you meet me over by the park benches by the track?”

He nodded sadly and walked out of the classroom. The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur and before I knew it, I was waiting for Bruce on one of the park benches by the track field.

I heard him behind me, “What’s up?”

I said while still looking at the track, “Nothing much. How about you.”

He sat down wearily and said, “Oh you know.”

I looked at him and said, “So how have you been doing?”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “It hasn’t really hit me yet I guess. I mean I cried. Of course I cried, but it still hasn’t hit my core yet. I don’t know.”

“That’s kind of how I felt with Delilah. I really don’t think it has all hit me yet but most of it has hit me.”

He nodded and we both stared out into the track field.

I said quietly, “I know what you’re going through right now. If there's anything you want to tell someone, but you don’t know if they’ll understand, you can always come to me.”

His lips formed into a tight line and he started to shake his head.

I said, “Really man-“

“Look. I know you’re trying to comfort me and everything, but you don’t know what I’m going through. Everyone experiences things differently so you don’t know what I’m going through.”

He stood up angrily and walked back towards the parking lot. I shook my head and wondered what kind of damage I had just done to our friendship. I made up my mind after a few minutes that I would go over to his house and apologize to him about the way that I had acted after practice. I got off of the park bench and jogged the way to the locker room.

Losing Sanity

Audrey

 

I walked through school numbly, not really noticing all of the looks and glares that I was getting from everyone else. Emily was gone. Was she just killed randomly or was the killer actually picking their next targets? After school was done, I walked over to my car and got in slowly. I drove to my block, not really paying attention to my surroundings. I walked into my house after I had shut my car off and noticed that the whole house was quiet. My mom wasn’t home, which meant that I had to fend for myself. I looked through the kitchen to see what was in the house for snacks, but I didn’t find anything.

I walked into the living room and turned the TV on. The local news station was on and it was showing a picture of Emily. The reporter was sadly reporting that Emily was found dead in Lake Titan last night and that the killer was still not found.

The reporter said, “The killer was believed to be Tom Adler, but police quickly learned that Adler wasn’t the killer they though he was. While he was in custody, Emily Wale was found in Lake Titan, almost exactly where Delilah Locke was found last week. Tom Adler was released from custody earlier this morning and police are still on the search for the real killer of these two young girls. We’ll have more on this story as it progresses.”

I shut the TV off and wandered up to my room. How was this killer picking its victims? Was the person just targeting random people, or did this killer have something against the people that they had killed? My heard beat started to accelerate as I tried to think if I had wronged anyone lately. I tried to think that someone who lived in my town actually had the guts to kill someone. How twisted would this person’s mind have to be in order to do that?

I pulled out my phone and texted Logan, “Hey.”

I put my phone back in my pocket, but I froze when I heard the door open. My mom wasn’t supposed to be home for the rest of the night, or at least, that’s how it usually was. I held my breath, listening for any noise that the person might have made. After a while of no more noise, I told myself that I had just imagined the noise. I told myself that there wasn’t anyone in the house beside myself. I forced my body to let the deep breath that I had taken earlier out. I noticed that my hands were fidgeting, so I took out my iPod and started to play games on it. After a while, I had completely forgotten about the noise and was only focused on the game that I was playing.

I completely forgot about the game though, when I heard someone stepping outside of my room. My door was closed, but I could still hear someone walking in the hallway right outside of my room. It was almost as if the person was wearing heavy boots, and I knew that my mom didn’t own one pair of boots. I shut my iPod off and sat up in my bed. I waited to hear another noise, but there wasn’t a sound outside in the hallway. I slowly stood up and inched towards my doorway. I took a deep breath and swung the door open as fast as I could. I raised my fists and prepared myself for whatever was lurking about my house. I was surprised, however, to find that nothing, or no one, was there. Had I just imagined the noise? Was I going crazy?

Ideas

Logan

 

After practice, I climbed into my car and headed in the direction of Bruce’s house. I pulled up into his driveway and huffed when I saw that no lights were on in his house. I got out of my car anyway and rang his doorbell. After a few seconds or so of waiting, I knocked on the door. When my fist connected with the door, it just swung open. I looked around and saw that no one else was on the street.

I yelled into the open door, “Hello? Bruce? Are you home?”

I walked into the house when I noticed a sign on the door for his parents.

It read:

 

Hey mom and dad. I went to the store to get some things. I’ll be back soon if you get home before I get back.

 

I assumed that he wouldn’t be mad at me if he knew that I was only in his house for a few minutes. I looked around the house when I walked in. The foyer seemed like it was in pretty bad condition, what with mud scattered everywhere on the floor, chipped paint that was peeling off of the walls, and bare floor where some of the tiles were missing. I walked through the foyer and ended up just standing in the middle of a hallway. There was a flight of stairs in front of me that led to the second floor and two openings in the wall opposite of each other that led into different parts of the house. There was also another tiny hallway, which was adjoined to the stairs, which led to a small kitchen.

I waited for a few minutes before deciding to lean against the wall that was next to the stairs. There was a metal radiator that I hadn’t noticed before that was next to the wall, so I just stood across from it. I noticed that the radiator was obviously old since it had a faded red look to it. I looked around the house before I heard the radiator turn itself on. It shook a little when it tried to fire itself up and I laughed at its pathetic attempt to turn on. When it was shaking, I heard a small plinking noise come from it. I bent down towards it to see what it was, but I couldn’t find where the noise was coming from for a few seconds.

When I had finally found out where the sound was coming from, I gasped and flew back into the wall. It couldn’t be. No. My shaky hand reached out towards the radiator and pulled the necklace off of the bar that it had gotten caught on. I turned it over in my hand and saw that it was a necklace of Delilah’s. It was covered in red, which I assumed to be blood. I looked at the radiator again and realized that the red was only in one general area. It wasn’t faded paint. It was blood. I pulled Delilah's necklace completely off of the radiator and stood up slowly.

I started to shake violently. Bruce had taken her away from me. He was the reason for all of my pain. Had I really just tried to help my girlfriend’s killer get over the death of his girlfriend? What about Emily? Did he kill her too? What kind of messed up thoughts would make him do such a thing? I slid down the wall slowly, afraid that my legs might have given out. I stared at the radiator for a few minutes. I was sitting on the spot where Delilah had died. I looked towards the kitchen and realized that Bruce was supposed to be back any minute.

I pulled my shaky self off of the floor and turned towards the front door. I gasped and took a few steps back when I saw Bruce standing in the doorway. He was shaking his head, which meant that he understood that I knew he had killed Delilah.

Bruce said menacingly, “What are you doing here Logan?”

All I could say was, “You killed her. You did it.”

Bruce sighed heavily, almost impatiently, and said angrily, “Yes. I was the one who killed her. I am the famous killer in this town.”

I took a few steps back and asked to buy time, “What about Emily? Did you kill her too?”

Bruce said sadly, “Yes. I had to. She was going to tell someone that I had killed Delilah, but I couldn’t have that. Especially when Emily helped me kill her.”

Emily? I knew that she was mean, but was she mean enough to kill someone?

I told him, “I have a right to know what happened to Delilah. Right now.”

Bruce laughed loudly as he shut the door behind him, “You don’t have anything Logan. Delilah’s gone, your friends don’t trust you, and Audrey-well she’s going to have a little surprise tonight, but don’t you worry about her.”

My hands clenched into fists at my side. He wasn’t going to kill again. I was going to stop him, even if it was the last thing I was going to do. I ran at him, but he knew what I was going to do before I even got near him. He dodged my punch and grabbed my wrist instead. He twisted my wrist and shoved me against the wall, using my entire arm against me.

He whispered threateningly, “Who knows? With you gone, who’s going to protect Audrey? Her little track star is just going to run when he sees who he’s up against.”

I gritted my teeth together and said back, “You won’t touch her.”

“Who’s going to stop me?”

“Me.”

I spun around and butted my head against his. He stepped back, not expecting my blow. I lunged at him before he had the chance to recover and we both fell to the floor. We rolled around the floor and I tried to punch him in the stomach while we were down, but he was doing the same thing. Neither of us was getting anywhere, so I decided to just pin him down on the ground. At least then he wouldn’t punch me anymore. I grabbed both of his arms, but he realized what I was trying to do.

He brought his knee up and put it between us, making it impossible for me to pin him down. He used all of his leg strength and pushed me off of him. He threw me down to his side and pinned me down. He had managed to do what I had tried, but failed, to do without even really seeming to think about it. I tried to get him off of me, but he had my arms pinned with his legs, which left his arms free. I looked up into his face and he leaned real close to my face. Our noses were inches apart and he smiled.

He whispered, “I ask again. Who’s going to stop me? I’m going to make Audrey my next target. I’ll gain her trust, and then use it against her. And you know what? You won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

I open my mouth to retaliate, but no answer comes out. I feel an enormous amount of pain coming from my side; so I looked down to see what it was. I saw a small knife protruding from my side and I knew that I was going to die. I had already lost a lot of blood and more was coming out.

Bruce said, almost as if I were a nuisance, “You’re going to be a lot harder to clean up than the girls. I don’t think I’ll be able to carry you down to the lake myself. Hmm. Maybe you can help me.”

I gave him a confused look when he got off of me. Did he really expect me to just throw myself into the freezing lake without complaint or fight? He grabbed my arm to make me stand up, but I willed my whole body go limp when he tried to lift me. He huffed and threw my arm down. He looked at me for a few seconds before he smiled. He grabbed the knife that was still protruding from my side and pushed it in even more, which seemed impossible since the hilt was already at my side. When he pushed it in more, it seemed as if all of my muscles and bones in my body were on fire. I screamed out, but Bruce just covered my mouth with his hand.

He said, “Now. You’re going to help me or I’ll stick another in you.”

I knew that I couldn’t let this guy hurt Audrey, so I stayed where I was.

Bruce said, “You’re more noble than most people. I’ll be right back.”

He walked back into the kitchen and I knew that he was going to get another knife. I looked towards the door and started to crawl towards it. I couldn’t really move as fast as I would’ve liked, but I still tried to go as fast as my wounded body would’ve let me. I was almost to the door when I heard Bruce coming up behind me.

He said, “Now look at what you’ve done! You’ve made a bigger mess for me to clean up!”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back to my original spot on the floor. I almost cried out at the pain that shot through my body when he dragged me across the floor, but I held it inside of me. I knew that I wouldn’t let him see that I was in pain, but he seemed to already know how much pain I was in. I looked back down at my side and saw that my blood was soaking more and more of my shirt the worse the wound got. Bruce stood above me and crouched down so we were more at eye level with each other.

He said, “Now we’re going to try this again.”

He grabbed my arm, but he got the same reaction from me. My entire arm went limp and he threw the arm back on the ground. I started to get lightheaded from losing so much blood, but I willed my eyes to stay open.

Bruce said, “Fine. Have it your way.”

He put the tip of the blade to my side opposite of the one that had the knife and dug the tip into my skin. I bit my lip and I tasted blood in my mouth from biting so hard. I tried to grab his hand to stop him, but he pushed it even farther into my side. I realized that I was going to die somehow by the hands of Bruce, so I looked through my options. It was either to die in his house, which would make a big mess for him to clean up, or die in a lake where all of the traces would be washed away, along with my body. I sudden idea popped into my head and I knew that I was going to try it.

I cried out loudly, “Fine! Just take it out!”

Bruce smiled triumphantly and slid the knife out of my side.

He said, “I knew you’d see it my way sooner or later.”

I nodded and he grabbed my arm. This time, I helped him get me standing on my feet and he put my arm around his shoulder. We walked back towards the kitchen and out the back door. I saw the lake in the distance, which made my idea’s chances rise, but it also made my hope fall. Bruce was silent as we made our way down to the lake, but I was just glad that he wasn’t making threats against Audrey anymore. Maybe he was in his mind, but I was glad that he wasn’t saying them out loud. We made it to a small break in the shrubbery by the lake and Bruce walked through it, almost dragging me at that point.

Most of the blood was gone from my body, which made moving harder and harder the further we went.

Bruce said, “Start walking and when you get to the middle . . . well let’s be honest. I really don’t think you’ll make it that far.”

I started to slowly walk towards the water, but I slowly looked back at him. He motioned for me to walk into the water, but I just kept looking. He became angry and took a few steps towards me. I used up the remainder of my energy and threw my arms around his neck. I hurled both of us towards the water and I knew Bruce was surprised. I made my grip iron tight around his neck and I knew that I would have to keep it that way while we were underwater. We both hit the water and I knew that it was now a matter of whoever had the longest breath. I could tell that Bruce hadn’t taken a huge gulp of breath before we hit the water since he hadn’t really expecting me to bring him in the water with me.

Bruce looked around frantically for the surface of the water, but the current was throwing both of us around. I didn’t really know what direction the surface was, but I knew that I was going to die anyway. Even if I did make it out of the lake somehow, there was no way I was going to make it all the way up to my car and to a hospital. Just the walk downhill had winded me, which meant that the walk uphill would’ve probably killed me, literally. I felt Bruce grab my arms and try to rip them off of him, but I wasn’t about to let go. What my plan didn’t anticipate though, was a huge rock that we both slammed into.

When we hit the rock, my arms slipped for just a second, but Bruce took advantage of that opportunity and got out of my grasp. I tried to grab him again, but he kicked me in the side in his desperate attempt of trying to find the surface. I opened my mouth to cry out, but all that came in was water. Water flooded my lungs and I knew that I was going to die. I silently prayed that Audrey would someday be able to forgive me for letting her down. Maybe we would see each other in Heaven when this whole killing thing was done with. I thought back to earlier that day and smiled when I realized that Audrey and I had made amends before I had died. I knew that she would feel guilty if we had not, which wouldn’t be good for her to live the rest of her life like that.

I finally reached a spot in the lake where the current wasn’t as bad, so I was able to see the sun through the surface of the water. I reached my hand up and tried to reach the sun, but it was too far away. I closed my eyes, not really being able to keep them open for much longer. I started to allow my body to shut down and I accepted my fate. I knew that I never really wanted to drown since I wasn’t really a fan of water, but it was almost peaceful. It was almost as if I were falling asleep after taking some medicine. I couldn’t really control it and it just kind of happened. I shut my mind off and let my body sink into the dark depths of Lake Titan.

(Un)Friendly Visit

Audrey

 

I walked back into my room and shut the door. I told myself that I was just imagining things and that this whole killer thing was freaking me out. I checked my phone, but Logan hadn’t replied back, which I took as a sign that he was still at practice or something. I sat down, but I quickly jumped up when I heard the doorbell ring. I ran to the door since the person seemed impatient, what with them ringing the doorbell five times in the same second. I threw the door open, expecting to see Edwyn or Logan, but instead, Bruce was standing in front of me. He looked extremely winded and I took a step back at his appearance. I could tell that he had just showered, since his hair was wet, and his clothes were a little wrinkled, which meant that he had just put them on.

I asked him, “What’s up Bruce?”

“Just thought I would drop by for a visit. May I come in?”

He seemed a little on edge, but I invited him in anyway. He was probably having trouble with coping to the fact that Emily was gone. H might’ve just needed someone to talk to, since Logan wasn’t answering his phone.

I asked him, “Do you want something to drink? I have milk, water, juice…”

He said quietly, “Anything but water please.”

I nodded and led him into the kitchen. I pulled out the milk as he sat down at the table. I gave him his glass and sat down across from him.

I asked him, “So how are you?”

He nodded and said, “I’m doing okay I guess. Someone in my position can’t really be doing great but what are you going to do right?”

I nodded and said, “It’s okay. Everyone experiences death in their lives.”

He said quietly, “I know that all too well.”

I continued quietly, “We just have to learn how to make an experience like this turn into something positive.”

“How?”

“Well, what if you try to help other people that have gone through the same thing? I’m sure there’s someone out there that needs help coping to the same thing.”

He asked quietly, “You think so?”

“I know so. Maybe if you went to a bigger town, you would meet more people that you would be able to help, rather than just sitting around this old town.”

I smiled, trying to make his mood lighter, but it didn’t work.

He sulked even more and said, “Do you think this town is worth living in? What with the killer and all? Do you think living is even worth it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying. The pressure of knowing that someone in this town is a killer is just making it hard to trust anyone around this town. People smile at me when I walk down the street, but all I can't think about is the fact that one of them could’ve killed my girlfriend.”

“I don’t know what you’re going through, what with Emily being taken away from you, but I know that Logan does. He knows the exact same feelings that you’re feeling right now. He would be more than happy to help you right now in your life. Try to talk to him tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll just lift your spirits right up.”

His lips tugged at the corners and I knew that he didn’t want to smile, but he couldn’t help it. He started to smile after a while and to cover it; he took a huge gulp of his milk. By the time that he was done with his milk, his mood was still light.

He smiled down at his empty glass and said, “Thanks Audrey.”

I asked with confusion thick in my voice, “For what?”

He looked up at me and said slowly, “Everything.”

He stood up quickly after a few seconds of just staring at me and said, “I’m going to have to go soon. My parents are going to be home soon and they don’t know I’m over here.”

I nodded and picked up both of the glasses. I put them in the sink and walked Bruce to the door.

He said, “Thanks for having me over so late Audrey. I know that you weren’t really prepared to console me tonight.”

“Oh it’s okay. I was up anyway.”

“Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

Something about the way he had asked that made me wonder why he was really over at my house.

I said slowly, “Edwyn and I are going to be doing something and the rest of my week is completely booked. I’m sorry. Maybe another time we can get together.”

He smiled and I really hoped that he hadn’t taken that as a promise. He walked out and I shut the door behind him. I slowly walked to my room and laid down in my bed. I shut my eyes and let my mind slip from the present time. I let my memories take over and dreamed of a happier town that I used to know.

 

When I woke up, I knew that I had dreamed a bad dream. I could feel the salty remains of tears that had flowed down my face sometime in the night. I wiped them away, but I couldn’t think of what I had dreamed that would’ve made me cry. I couldn’t really remember my dream at all. It was all kind of blurry without any details. I got up and started to get ready for school, but then I remembered that it was Saturday. I smiled as I climbed back into my warm bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. My happiness was short lived, however, when my phone started to ring. I threw my hand out and blindly searched for my phone on my bedside table, but I only ended up knocking it off the table completely.

I bent down and grabbed my phone off of the floor. I looked at the screen and smiled when I saw that it was Edwyn who was calling me.

I answered the phone, “Yes?”

He sounded shaken up as he said, “Can I come over?”

I sat up slowly and said, “What’s wrong?”

“Please. I can't tell you over the phone. Can I come over?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Okay. See you in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Bye.”

He just hung up, which was never a good sign from him. I started to search my mind, wondering what he could’ve been so upset about. Maybe he didn’t want to date me anymore. Maybe he wanted some of the other, more popular girls instead of me. I got out of bed and put on some jeans and my normal graphic t-shirt. I walked out into the living room and sat down on the couch. A few minutes later, I heard my doorbell ring and I knew that it was Edwyn. I walked to the front door, almost afraid to answer it. What bad news did he have that made him call me and demand for him to come over to my house?

I opened the door and almost gasped when I saw Edwyn. He had taken his car, which I always knew was a bad sign, beings how he usually just jogged over. I looked at Edwyn and realized that his eyes were red and puffy and his face was wet from tears. I motioned for him to come in, but he just wrapped his arms around me. I shut the door and hugged him back, still not really being sure what was going on.

I asked him after I had pulled away from our hug, “What happened?”

He said shakily, “Logan . . . he-he’s missing. His mom said that he never came home from school yesterday and no one’s seen him since. They’re having a huge search party go out today and look for him.”

“What does that mean?”

He shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I don’t want to think the worst, but it’s Logan. He never does something like this. He wouldn’t just leave without telling anyone.”

“Shhhh. You said they were sending people out to look for him. I’m sure he’ll turn up. Trust me.”

He nodded and almost said to himself, “Yeah. Yeah you’re right. He’ll turn up later today and it’ll be like nothing happened.”

I was surprised at Edwyn. It wasn’t even a week since Logan and him fought and now Logan was the most important person in the world.

I led him over to the couch and asked him, “Edwyn what’s gotten into you? Not even a week ago you and Logan were fighting. Now, your worried sick about him. What’s going on?”

He sighed heavily and sank back into the couch, “I asked him to come over for lunch yesterday.”

“Why?”

“You need him.”

“But Edwyn I have-“

He smiled and said, “I know I know, but admit it Audrey. We were both a little depressed without him around to cheer us up.”

I nodded and he wiped off his face. He looked around my house for a minute, pretending like he was getting awkward.

I laughed and asked him as I got up, “Want anything? Milk? Water?”

He shrugged his shoulder and said, “I don’t know. I'm just going to look in your fridge and take whatever I find.”

I laughed, knowing that he was fully joking, and walked into the kitchen. I pulled out some things from the fridge to make breakfast with and he came up behind me.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and asked, “Whatcha making?”

“I’m making . . . something. I don’t really know what it’s going to be yet but when I find out I’ll tell you.”

He laughed as he unwrapped his arms around my waist and sat down in one of the chairs.

I asked him as I put some eggs in a pan on the oven, “Did you get some footage of you running yet?”

“Not yet really. I have to be running at a meet in order to really show them what I run like. If they like it, they’ll show up to one of my practices where I can show them how fast I can run different things.”

I turned around to face him and said, “Cool. At least you know what you want to do with your life. I have no clue as to what I’m going to do when I go to college.”

He laughed and said, “You’ll figure it out. Look at me. If I can figure it out, anyone can.”

I laughed mockingly at him and said jokingly, “You were running before you could even walk! It’s not that hard of a decision for you.”

“True. Maybe I can get some college scouts to watch you run.”

I glared at him and threw a piece of an eggshell at him. He laughed as he threw it into the sink.

I said while turning around to myself, “And he can play basketball.”

“What was that?”

I turned around sharply and said, “I said you can say basketball.”

He glared at me humorously and said, “Are you sure that’s what you said?”

I nodded my head vigorously and he laughed.

He walked over to me and said, “You know what? We haven’t even really had our first date yet. I mean, we tried to but it kind of ended in a fight.”

I smiled and asked, “Are you free today?”

“I think I can clear up my schedule.”

I was about to say something, but the doorbell rang. I groaned and trudged to the front door. It seemed as if every sweet moment of Edwyn and me’s relationship was usually interrupted. I opened the door and saw Bruce standing in the doorway.

I asked him, “Bruce? What-“

“They found Logan.”

“What!”

“They found Logan.”

I heard Edwyn run up behind me and join in the conversation, “Where was he? Where is he?”

Bruce took a deep breath and said, “That’s just it. They found him in Lake Titan. This time, they know that someone has definitely murdered him.”

I didn’t want to ask, but I did anyway, “How?”

“He was stabbed in both sides.”

Edwyn asked, “How do you know all of this?”

“My house is right next to Lake Titan…”

I knew that he was still talking, but I tuned out all of the noise. Logan was dead. Gone. He wasn’t going to school on Monday and he wasn’t going to come over and play video games anymore. I started to shake and Edwyn saw that I was about to break down.

He said while shutting the door on Bruce, “We’ll talk to you later Bruce. This really isn’t a good time for either of us right now.”

I could tell that he was about to break down too, but he didn’t show emotion until the door was fully shut. I hadn’t realized it before, but tears were rolling down my face without my knowing. Edwyn wiped them away and pulled me into a hug. I cried into his shoulder and he did the same. We stood for what felt like hours just crying and holding each other. After a while, the tears stopped flowing and I was just trying to focus on Edwyn. He was still there, holding me when I needed him most. I’m sure that if he hadn’t of been there, I would’ve called him up anyway and asked him to come over. After a while, I realized that there was a little smoke coming from the kitchen.

I was confused until I realized that I had left my eggs on the burner without turning it off. I broke away from Edwyn and raced into the kitchen. The eggs were completely black and the pan was smoking. I turned the oven off and fanned the smoke away. Edwyn came rushing in and pulled me away from the oven. He grabbed an oven mitt and put the pan into the sink. He turned the faucet on and the pan smoked even more from the water. By the time that it had stopped smoking, we were both in a coughing fit.

I turned the fan on in the kitchen and we both went into the living room. Edwyn was silent for a while, but I didn’t want to break the silence. I didn’t really know what to do. How were we supposed to react to Logan’s death? After a while of silence, Edwyn turned the TV on. He switched it to a random game show and we both watched it in silence. After a while, I reached out for his hand and he gently grasped mine in his.

I asked gently, “What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well we can’t just let this killer go around town killing people at random? Are we just going to sit and hope that we don’t get killed next?”

“Audrey. It’s not like we can do anything. This killer is obviously too clever to get caught by the police, so why wouldn’t the person be too clever for us too?”

I sighed heavily and said, “I know I know. All I’m saying is that I just can't sit around here waiting for something else to happen. I need to know that this isn’t going to happen again. I don’t think I could take it again.”

My voice broke at the end and I knew that he had heard it break.

He squeezed my hand tighter and said, “This isn’t going to happen again. They’re going to catch this killer and do whoever it is some justice. Trust me. You don’t need to be afraid Audrey. This killer will not even touch you. I will make sure of that.”

Missing

Edwyn

 

I had gotten the call around six in the morning. Logan was missing. No one had seen him since school yesterday. I dropped the phone and put my head in my hands. I fell down on my knees and tears started to fall right then and there. Why hadn’t I asked him to be friends with Audrey sooner? Well, at least he had before he went missing. I knew Audrey would’ve felt guilty if he hadn’t because she would’ve taken the blame on herself like she always does. I knew that something bad had happened to Logan. He wouldn’t just leave without telling at least one person unless something was really, really wrong. I grabbed the phone and dialed Audrey’s cell phone number.

She answered the phone, “Yes?”

I asked her while trying to cover my shaky voice as well as I could, “Can I come over?”

She asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Please. I can't tell you over the phone. Can I come over?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Okay. See you in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Bye.”

I hung up quickly and started to walk towards the door. My mom walked around the corner of the hallway and took a step back at how I looked.

She asked me, “What happened to you boy?”

I shook my head, not really being able to form words. All I tried to say came out as blubbering.

She said meanly, “Say what you mean to say boy! I don’t have time for your nonsense talk! I actually have things to do!”

I looked up at her and just shook my head. Her only son was on the floor crying right in front of her and she just says that she has more important things? I stood up and leaned towards her face so we were only inches apart. It was the closest I had ever really been to my mother.

I whispered to her, “You wouldn’t understand. You never do. You have no idea what’s going on in my life and I honestly don’t think that you care about my life or what's going on in it!”

She narrowed her eyes and said, “If I cared, I would’ve gotten you a stuffed teddy bear. Now get out of my way so I can go up to my room for some money.”

I didn’t move, “What do you need the money for?”

She looked everywhere except in my eyes and said, “Things that we need in this house. Food, clothing. That sort of thing.”

I whispered as I walked out the door, “Lies.”

She yelled something back at me, but I slammed the door before I could hear what she had to say about my behavior. I walked over to my car and got in. While I was driving, I let all of my tears out. I didn’t care who saw me. I just let go of everything in my life that was a burden to me. My parents. My house life. The death of my friends. I let it all go, except for the one thing that made my day brighter. Audrey. As I thought her name, her house appeared around the corner and I almost smiled to myself.

I pulled into her driveway and rang the doorbell when I had walked up to her house. She answered the door and gasped at how bad I looked. She quickly covered it though and motioned for me to go inside. I ignored her gesture and just pulled her into a tight hug. She was a little stunned at first, but she melted after a few seconds of awkwardly hugging.

She asked me after we let our arms drop, “What happened?”

I explained carefully, “Logan . . . he-he’s missing. His mom said that he never came home from school yesterday and no one’s seen him since. They’re having a huge search party go out today and look for him.”

“What does that mean?”

I shook my head and said, “I don’t know. I don’t want to think the worst, but it’s Logan. He never does something like this. He wouldn’t just leave without telling anyone.”

“Shhhh. You said they were sending people out to look for him. I’m sure he’ll turn up. Trust me.”

I nodded and tried to convince myself, “Yeah. Yeah you’re right. He’ll turn up later today and it’ll be like nothing happened.”

She brought me into the living room and asked as we sat down on the couch, “Edwyn what’s gotten into you? Not even a week ago you and Logan were fighting. Now, your worried sick about him. What’s going on?”

I sighed heavily and sank back into the couch, “I asked him to come over for lunch yesterday.”

“Why?”

“You need him.”

“But Edwyn I have-“

I smiled and said, “I know I know, but admit it Audrey. We were both a little depressed without him around to cheer us up.”

I knew that she would’ve said that she had me and she didn’t need Logan around, but I knew her better. We actually both kind of needed him for a little comic relief. I was just glad she wasn’t arguing the point. She nodded and I wiped my eyes off. I looked around her house and pretended like I was getting really awkward. I mainly did it just to make her laugh and make the moment lighter.

She laughed and asked me as she went into the kitchen, “Want anything? Milk? Water?”

I said loudly, “I don’t know. I'm just going to look in your fridge and take whatever I find.”

She laughed and I got up. I walked into the kitchen slowly, only to find her trying to make something from what she had just pulled from the fridge. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, mostly just to see what she would’ve done. She smiled, which surprised me.

I asked her slowly, “Whatcha making?”

“I’m making . . . something. I don’t really know what it’s going to be yet but when I find out I’ll tell you.”

I laughed as I sat down in one of the chairs.

She asked me while making some eggs, “Did you get some footage of you running yet?”

“Not yet really. I have to be running at a meet in order to really show them what I run like. If they like it, they’ll show up to one of my practices where I can show them how fast I can run different things.”

She turned around and said, “Cool. At least you know what you want to do with your life. I have no clue as to what I’m going to do when I go to college.”

I laughed and said jokingly, “You’ll figure it out. Look at me. If I can figure it out, anyone can.”

She laughed without humor and said, “You were running before you could even walk! It’s not that hard of a decision for you.”

“True. Maybe I can get some college scouts to watch you run.”

She playfully glared at me and threw a piece of an eggshell at me. I grabbed it out of the air and threw it into the kitchen sink, which was what I was hoping for so I would be able to impress her.

She said quietly, “And he can play basketball.”

I asked her humorously, “What was that?”

She turned around and said, “I said you can say basketball.”

I asked her with challenge in my voice, “Are you sure that’s what you said?”

She nodded her head and I think she thought I was going to hurt her or something.

I laughed while I walked over to her and said, “You know what? We haven’t even really had our first date yet. I mean, we tried to but it kind of ended in a fight.”

She smiled and asked, “Are you free today?”

“I think I can clear up my schedule.”

She looked like she was about to say something, but the doorbell rang before she was able to say anything. I laughed quietly as she walked to the door. I couldn’t really tell who it was at first because she was talking so quietly, but I figured out who it was after a while.

I heard the familiar voice of Bruce say, “They found Logan.”

Audrey practically screamed, “What!”

“They found Logan.”

I ran into the foyer of the house and asked Bruce, “Where was he? Where is he?”

Bruce took a deep breath and said, “That’s just it. They found him in Lake Titan. This time, they know that someone has definitely murdered him.”

Audrey asked hesitantly, “How?”

“He was stabbed in both sides.”

How did Bruce know so much about Logan’s death already?

I asked him suspiciously, “How do you know all of this?”

“My house is right next to Lake Titan. I woke up and there were a bunch of police cars all over my block. It was pretty intense this morning.”

I looked over at Audrey and saw that she was blocking things out. She usually did that when she wasn’t trying to think. I could see the tears start to form in her eyes, so I started to shut the door on Bruce. I knew that I would just apologize and explain to him later, so I didn’t really feel all that bad for doing that to him.

I said while shutting the door on him, “We’ll talk to you later Bruce. This really isn’t a good time for either of us right now.”

I shut the door fully and sighed heavily. I looked back over at Audrey and saw that tears were pouring down her face. I rushed over to her and wiped the tears from her eyes. I pulled her into me and held her tightly. We only stood like that for a couple minutes, but it felt like hours to me. I started to smell something burning, so I looked around to see what it was. Audrey did the same and realized that something in the kitchen was burning. She raced into the kitchen and I followed her. She was trying to fan away the smoke, but I knew that she would probably just hurt herself. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her behind me.

I grabbed the pan and threw it into the sink roughly. I turned the water on, but that just made it smoke even more. I tried to fan away the smoke like Audrey had been doing, but I had ended up just making things worse. Audrey turned the kitchen fan on and we both retreated into the living room. I didn’t try to talk, beings how there really wasn’t anything to say. What were we supposed to say? ‘Oh it’s a really shame he had to go and be killed. Just after we had all become friends again. It’s a real darn shame’. I didn’t know what else to do, so I turned the TV on, hoping that it would fill the silent void with noise. I turned it to a game show that my grandparents used to watch whenever I was over at their house, but Audrey didn’t seem too interested.

She asked me quietly, “What are we going to do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well we can’t just let this killer go around town killing people at random? Are we just going to sit and hope that we don’t get killed next?”

“Audrey. It’s not like we can do anything. This killer is obviously too clever to get caught by the police, so why wouldn’t the person be too clever for us too?”

She sighed heavily and said, “I know I know. All I’m saying is that I just can't sit around here waiting for something else to happen. I need to know that this isn’t going to happen again. I don’t think I could take it again.”

Her voice broke at the end and I could tell that she was about to cry. I knew that I had to make her feel safer than what she was feeling.

I said sternly, “This isn’t going to happen again. They’re going to catch this killer and do whoever it is some justice. Trust me. You don’t need to be afraid Audrey. This killer will not even touch you. I will make sure of that.”

Bitter Sweet Feelings

Audrey

 

I could tell that he was trying to make me feel safer, but it wasn’t really working. I nodded uneasily and he sighed heavily.

He said, “You know what you need? You need a day off. Let’s go somewhere out of town. We can go to another town if you want. I’ll drive.”

He clasped his hands together and got down on his knees. I smiled at him, but I tried to push him away. He wouldn’t move from his spot, so I knew that I would have no choice but to go with him. I nodded and he jumped up from the ground. He hopped around and cheered like a little kid, which made me really start to laugh. Edwyn stopped his jumping fit and walked back over to me like nothing had happened.

He said, “Shall we go?”

“I have to get ready first.”

“You look beautiful.”

“Yeah. I bet I do, what with my uncombed hair, my teeth not being brushed yet, and my pajama bottoms.”

He smiled and said, “You know it.”

“I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

I walked back into my room and shut the door. I put on a pair of skinny jeans and a plain black shirt. I walked back out and saw Edwyn sitting on the couch, but he hadn’t noticed me come out of my room yet. He looked over when I walked towards him and he smiled.

He said as he stood up, “And away we go!”

I shook my head as he hooked his arm through mine and walked me towards the door. I looked outside and saw that it was raining. I grabbed my jacket quickly and put it on before Edwyn dragged me out into the bone chilling rain. We ran to his car and got in quickly before the rain that was now coming down in buckets had drenched us. He turned the car on and put the heat on full before we froze. He pulled out of the driveway and started to drive down the road. I turned the radio on, but made the music just loud enough for a little background noise so it wasn’t completely quiet.

He asked me, “Where do you want to go?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I don’t know. Surprise me.”

He smiled and said, “As you wish.”

I smiled as he drove out of town and down the old, paved road towards one of the bigger towns near ours.

He asked me after a few seconds of driving by plain fields, “So what do you want to do today?”

“Well it kind of depends on where you’re taking me.”

He smiled and said, “Fine. I’ll surprise you.”

I giggled a little and looked out the window. All of the fields were wet from the rain, but the rain was only coming down in a mist now. It was almost a peaceful mist as we were driving through the country. I smiled as we drove through the small town that we usually went to so we could hang out. He pulled into the town’s bowling alley and shut the car off.

He asked warily, “Is this okay?”

I smiled and nodded, “Oh yeah. I always love to beat you at bowling.”

He raised his eyebrows and said, “Did I just hear a challenge in your tone?”

I shrugged my shoulders cockily and said, “I don’t know. Did you?”

“You are so on.”

We opened the car doors and jogged up to the front doors. He held the door open for me and I walked in slowly. The bowling alley was huge. It was during one of their hours where the lights were completely out and only black lights were on. Edwyn’s neon yellow track shirt brightly shone, even underneath his jacket. We walked up to the main counter and Edwyn smiled at the manager. The manager was thin and wore western clothes. He had a white beard that was a few inches below his chin, but the hair on top of his head was much less.

Edwyn asked, “Can we get some shoes?”

The manager nodded slowly and asked in a raspy voice, “What sizes?”

Edwyn said, “Size eleven for me.”

I said quietly, “Seven and a half for me please.”

He nodded and handed us the right sizes. We walked towards one of the lanes and set our coats in one of the chairs.

He asked me, “Do you want any food?”

“I can get some myself. I’ll be right back.”

He nodded and started to get the machines ready for our game. I walked up to the front counter and ordered some fries for both Edwyn and me. I leaned against the counter and looked around while I was waiting for the fries to come out. There were only two other couples that were apparently on a double date. They were already almost done with their game and both of the boys were far ahead of the girls put together. I looked around some more and saw that there were old retro signs of guitars and bowling pins being knocked down.

There was a small TV that was playing some reality show. The manager of the store was watching the TV, not really making any movements. I thanked the cook for my fries and walked back over to Edwyn. He had set up the whole game and was waiting for me. I handed the fries out to him and he took a couple. I set them down on the table and walked back over to him.

I asked him, “Who’s going first?”

“You can.”

I nodded and picked out a bowling ball from the rack. It was the tiniest one that they had, but it was still slipping from my fingers a little. I walked up onto the lane and brought the bowling ball up to my face. I threw the ball down the lane and almost slipped. I heard Edwyn laugh behind me, but I turned around with my eyebrows raised when I had gotten a strike.

He started to cough to cover it up and said, “That was good. Good job.”

I laughed and said, “Your turn.”

He got up and threw the ball down the lane with as much grace as a ballerina. The ball flew down the lane and knocked all of the pins over with one hit. He turned around and I laughed at his expression.

I said, “Let the game begin.”

He laughed and said, “Now, now. Let’s not allow this get the best of us.”

We both laughed and I walked towards the lane. I picked my bowling ball up and threw it down the lane with a little more grace than the last time. It went all the way down, but it went into the gutter at the very end without hitting any pins. Edwyn laughed behind me, but I just turned around and glared playfully at him. The ball came back up the lane and I slowly grabbed it again. I threw the ball down with force that time and it ended up hitting seven pins. Edwyn gave me a pat on the shoulder when I came back towards our seats. He grabbed his ball and threw it down the lane. It hit all of the pins again and he threw his fist into the air. He was smiling hugely, which made me feel better about losing. At least he was having a lot of fun.

He sat back down and said, “Beat that.”

I shook my head and said, “I don’t think I would be able to after that amazing display.”

He laughed as I took my ball again and threw it down the lane. It continued like that until the game was over, with Edwyn beating me by fifty points. I laughed when Edwyn asked me if I wanted to play another game.

I asked, “What so you can just beat me again?”

“I’ll go easy on you.”

I laughed and punched him on the arm. He jokingly rubbed the spot where I had punched him, which made me punch him again. We were both laughing when we walked out of the bowling alley after two more games, both of which Edwyn had beat me, even though he said that he was going to go easy on me. He held open my car door and gently shut it when I had gotten into the car. I looked outside while he got in the car, but started to squeal when he shook his head to get rid of the drops of rain that had fallen on him while he was walking to the car. He leaned closer to me and shook his head even harder. I recoiled against the door of the car and put my hands up to block some of the rain, but it didn’t really work.

He grabbed my hands and put them down so I would get the full blow of the water droplets. After a few seconds, his hair was almost dry and I was covered in little drops of water. I flicked my hands in the air to get the water off of them and glared at Edwyn. He laughed and drove out of the parking lot. I couldn’t really tell what time it was since it was raining outside, but I couldn’t read the time off of Edwyn’s broken clock on the dash of his car. The clock on his dash hadn’t ever really worked ever since he had bought it, but he didn’t have enough money to fix it, plus he didn’t really see the reason to get the clock fixed since he could’ve just looked at his iPod to see the time.

I asked him, “What time is it?”

He moved his iPod out of his pocket and handed it to me. I turned it on and saw that it was a little past three o’clock. I knew that my mom would’ve figured that I was out with Edwyn, so I didn’t really see the need to call her. I turned Edwyn’s iPod off and put it in one of the cup holders underneath his dash. I watched as the windshield wipers wiped all of the droplets of rain off of the windshield, only to have to do it again and again from the continuous fall of rain.

Edwyn broke me out of my trance when he asked, “What time do you have to be home?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “My mom’s never really home anyways. She’ll probably not even notice that I’m gone.”

He nodded and continued to drive in silence. I looked over at him, only to find out that he was looking over at me. He turned a little red when he realized that I was looking back at him.

I asked him, “What?”

He shook his head and said, “Nothing.”

“Oh come on. What were you staring at me for?”

“I just-never mind.”

“You just what?”

He sighed heavily and asked after a minute of silence, “I wanted to . . . ask you if I could . . . hold your hand?”

I looked at him for a minute, noticing how darker of red his face was becoming.

I smiled and said quietly, “Yes.”

I held my hand out and he slowly took it. He rested both of our arms on the center consol and continued to drive with a little happier expression than before.

I said quietly before I looked back outside, “Thank you.”

He looked over at me and asked, “What?”

I looked back at him and said, “I said thank you. I’m flattered that you asked. Most guys would’ve just taken my hand. Thank you for asking.”

He smiled and I could tell that he was happy from my reaction. We drove the rest of the way in silence, knowing that we were both putting off the inevitable.

Motherly Support

Audrey

 

When we broke the outer ring of town, both of our moods darkened. We knew that we would’ve had to face the fact that Logan was gone when we came back, but we still didn’t want to. I just wanted to hide away from everyone for a few minutes, just so I could have a moment to think for myself. Edwyn drove up to my house slowly and I knew that he didn’t want to go back home.

I asked him, “Do you want to stay for supper?”

He nodded and said, “Thanks.”

I smiled and said, “It’s not like you’re that much of a burden. It’s almost like making food for Andrew and me whenever my mom is gone.”

He laughed and said, “Yeah I guess so. I don’t eat as much as him do I? You know I’ve got to keep my figure for track season.”

I laughed at his expression of worry as he looked at his stomach. We pulled into the driveway and I was surprised when I saw that the lights were on in my house.

I asked Edwyn, “We turned the lights off right?”

He nodded and we both got out slowly. I looked over at the spot where my mom’s car usually is if she’s ever home early, but it was empty. We walked up to my house and opened the door slowly. I let the door swing all the way open before walking into the house.

I called out, “Mom? Hello? Mom are you home?”

I heard someone coming down the stairs and I knew that it was just my mom. I almost started to laugh at my sudden thought of the night before and the noises. Edwyn and I walked into the living room and my mom nearly tackled me to the floor.

She asked me hurriedly while he inspected my face, “Where have you been? I’ve been so worried about you! What if something had happened to you? I wouldn’t know where you were!”

I could feel my face turning a little red in front of Edwyn as I said, “I was on a date with Edwyn. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I just figured that you weren’t going to be home tonight. I’m sorry. I’ll tell you next time I leave the house okay?”

“Just be sure to. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I knew that she had heard about Logan, which was why she was probably so worried about me.

I said sincerely, “I’m sorry mom. I understand why you were so worried. I’ll call next time okay?”

She nodded and acted as if she had just noticed Edwyn.

She smiled at him and asked, “Edwyn? Would you like to stay for supper?”

He laughed and said, “That would be great.”

She beamed and said, “I’m going to start so we can eat early. I’ve got to be back at work tonight. Sorry I won't be able to stay longer.”

Edwyn and I both shrug as she heads off into the kitchen. We sat down on the couch and I turned the TV on. I looked through all of the movie channels and decided on the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Edwyn sank back into the couch and smiled. I knew that he had always like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which was the main reason that I had picked it.

Halfway through the movie, my mom called from the kitchen, “Come and get it!”

I hadn’t even really noticed the smell of her baking something from being so engrossed in the movie. I hadn’t really seen the whole movie before, but now that I was watching it, it was almost impossible to stop watching. Edwyn jumped up from the couch and nearly sprinted into the kitchen. I chuckled to myself as I slowly made my way into the kitchen. I walked in the kitchen to see Edwyn already holding a plate, nearly drooling from the mouth at the sight of my mom’s cooking. He was standing near the enchiladas that my mom had made, almost bouncing up and down from excitement. I grabbed my plate lamely and walked over to him. I used my hip and bumped him out of my way.

He complained, “Hey!”

My mom laughed and said, “Now, now children! No fighting in the kitchen!”

They started to laugh when I walked behind Edwyn with a pouting expression on my face.

Edwyn said jokingly, “I will give you your way with anything else, but when it comes to food, you’re going to have to wait behind me if I beat you to it.”

I laughed and said, “Fine! Just be that way!”

He laughed and asked, “Do you really want to be in front of me that bad?”

I shook my head and he said humorously, “Good. I wasn’t going to let you in front of me anyway. I just wanted to see what you would say.”

I glared at him and said accusingly, “That’s low. Even for you.”

We both laughed and Edwyn turned his attention on the food in front of him. As we dished up our plates, I giggled at how much food Edwyn was piling onto his plate, compared to my plate. We all sat down at the table and joined hands together.

My mom said slowly, “Dear God. We thank you that we are all here to enjoy your day and provisions. We pray for Logan’s family Lord. Only you know how much pain they’re feeling right now. I pray that you allow us to use this situation to bring them and us closer to you Lord God. I pray for the children in the school that are having a hard time coping with this situation that is happening in our town. I just pray that you keep all of us and everyone else in this town safe. Amen.”

We all let go of each other’s hands and started to eat our food. My mom’s prayer had made me realize what school was going to be like on Monday. I cut off a piece of enchilada and put it into my mouth, not really noticing how it tasted or how hot it really was in my mouth. After I had swallowed the piece of enchilada, I noticed how hot it really was, but I didn’t want to make a scene, so I slowly grabbed my glass of water. I gulped down a full swig of water, hoping that no one else noticed. Luckily, no one else heard it, or they just pretended like they hadn’t heard it. After my throat was done burning, I waited for my enchiladas to cool a little before I took another bite. Edwyn of course was inhaling his enchiladas, which I noticed was making my mom really happy.

Usually the food that she made was just thrown away after we were done, since we wouldn’t ever really be home for supper and she was never home for lunch. We only saved the meal if it was a Friday night or something, just so I would have something to eat on Saturday. The way Edwyn was eating though, we wouldn’t really have to waste any food tonight. By the time that I was halfway done with mine, he was already getting seconds.

While he was in the kitchen, my mom whispered to me, “Does he always eat like this?”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “It might just be your cooking. I know that he doesn’t really eat that much at school, but they serve school food there, so who can blame him. I don’t know. He might just be really hungry. I know I am.”

She looked down at my plate and then back at me.

I said, “I just don’t eat as much as him. Just be glad that we don’t have to throw so much away anymore.”

“I know. I’m glad that he’s eating this much. It’s a nice change from your bird-eating habits.”

I smiled and stuck my tongue out at her jokingly. She laughed and by the time that Edwyn walked back in, we were both laughing our heads off from making funny faces at each other. Edwyn walked in slowly, not really sure if he wanted to break up our moment that we were having. He slowly sat down and we both looked at him funny.

He laughed and asked, “What?”

My mom and me both laughed and slowly went back to our food.

He asked jokingly offended, “What? Are you laughing because I took seconds?”

I started to chuckle, “Yes. We’re laughing because we think that you are getting fat and you won't be able to run anymore.”

He laughed and said, “I would have to be on my death bed to not be able to run anymore.”

We all smiled and finished our supper mostly in silence. When we were finished, Edwyn and I took our plates up from the table, but my mom took them from us before we made it into the kitchen.

She said, “You guys can go into the living room and watch your movie. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

“Are you sure mom?”

She nodded and took our dishes into the kitchen for us. We shrugged our shoulders and walked back into the living room. We turned the TV back on and saw that there was still about an hour left of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We finished watching the movie and sat in silence as the credits slowly rolled onto the screen.

Edwyn sighed heavily and said, “I should probably be getting home. I need to clear some things up with my mom.”

I nodded, not really knowing if he wanted to talk about his home life with me or not. I walked him to the door and opened it for him. He started to walk out the door, but he turned around quickly. He leaned in towards my face and kissed my cheek lightly before turning back towards his car. I waved at him as he drove out of my driveway and closed the door slowly. My cheek was burning where he had kissed it, which I didn’t know if it was from the fact that my face was probably red as a tomato or if he just had that effect on me. I walked to my room in a phase, not really feeling the ground beneath my feet. I shut my door and flopped down on my bed.

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily. All of the feelings that I had been holding in the whole day finally showed themselves. I was angry, sad, and confused at why Logan had died. Why did the murderer pick him of all people? I’m not saying that I would’ve rather had the murderer kill someone else and make them feel the same pain, but I just didn’t want the murderer to kill any more people in our town. The only reason the day hadn’t been a total waste was the fact that Edwyn had taken me on our real first date. I hadn’t really ever dated another boy, knowing that most of the guys in our town wanted just one thing from the relationship, so I didn’t really know what first dates were supposed to be like.

I knew that most people didn’t go on dates the same day that their best friend was murdered, but I knew that Edwyn was just trying to get my mind off of the whole situation and just get me out of town altogether. I realized how grateful I should've been for having Edwyn there for me whenever he was. Guys that were as talented as him would care at all about me, yet he did. I wondered why he had picked me out of all the girls in the school and how I had been so lucky. My mom had gone off to work sometime while Edwyn and I were watching the movie, so I was home alone again. I didn’t really mind, except for the fact that I really didn’t want to hear more freaky noises that didn’t belong to anything. That part just really freaked me out last night.

I tried to forget about the noises, but I found myself listening for anything that might make a noise. I jumped when the fridge started making a noise when it made more ice, but I was always used to that noise so I didn’t really know why I jumped at that. I was just waiting for my phone to go off and really freak me out, but it never did. I knew that Edwyn wouldn’t really be texting me if he was talking to his mom. Whenever he talked to his mom, he always seemed to come away angry from them, so he didn’t want to take his anger out on me, which he subconsciously did sometimes when he was done fighting with at least one of his parents. I changed into some pajamas that were really fuzzy and climbed into my bed. I set my alarm on my phone and set it to vibrate. I didn’t want to go to school the next day, but I knew that I had to. Someone had to go and show that there was hope in this town yet.

When I closed my eyes, I knew that I wasn’t going to sleep that well, but I still tried to let my mind shut down. I knew that I had fallen asleep sometime in the night because when I woke up, it was to the sound of my alarm going off. I turned it off and got out of bed slowly, really not wanting to go to school. I got dressed and walked into the kitchen. I made some cereal for myself and sat down at the table in the kitchen. I slowly ate my cereal, making as much time for myself as I could before I would have to go to school and face everyone’s familiar stares. After a few minutes, I knew that I would have to go sometime soon if I wanted to make it on time today. I finished getting ready and got into my car. I turned it on and immediately put the heater on full blast, but turned it off just as quick when I realized that it was just going to blow out cold air since the car wasn’t warmed up.

I drove to school with the radio on low volume, since it was just people talking anyways. When I got into the parking lot, I realized that most of the parking spots were already taken. I parked in one of the last spots available and made my way up to school. I walked into the main hallway and noticed how everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and stare at me full on. I almost wanted to stare back just to see what they would do, but I just kept my head down and silently made my way to my locker. I wanted Edwyn to show up and at least smile at me, but he didn’t. He was probably at a class getting help or something like that. I walked to my first class when the bell rang and sat at the back of the class. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to focus today anyway, so I didn’t really bother trying to in the first place.

I pulled out my notebook and started to doodle on it. Before I knew it, the bell had rung and I was almost the last one out of the class. I walked out slowly after getting some weird looks from my teacher and walked through the hallway. I looked for Edwyn’s head above everyone else’s, but he wasn’t in sight. The morning passed as slowly as I had ever remembered it to and I sighed out of relief when the lunch bell rang. I walked into the lunchroom and saw that Edwyn still wasn’t anywhere to be found. I looked around the rest of the lunchroom and saw that the only other person that was missing was Bruce. Maybe Edwyn was talking to him about some important things. I grabbed a tray and got some food that I knew I wouldn’t really eat.

I sat down at a table by myself and picked at my food. I waited for Edwyn to come back into the lunchroom, but he never did.

Pieces In The Puzzle

Edwyn

 

I knew that no one would’ve judged me if I didn’t go into school the next day, but I knew that I had to be strong for Audrey. She needed someone to show her that there was hope, especially now that Logan wasn’t there to show her himself. I drove to school, but I was already late. I walked into school right when the bell rang, which meant that I didn’t have a chance to talk to Audrey before classes began. I went to all of my classes, but I never really paid attention to the teachers. I was wrapped up in my own thoughts. When the lunch bell rang, I walked out of my class and into the hallway. I saw the back of Audrey’s head in the hallway, so I tried to push through the crowd towards her.

I stopped though, when I saw Bruce in the hallway. It wasn’t how he looked that brought him to my attention; it was the way that he was looking. He gazed at Audrey as she walked past, but she didn’t notice. He had a look in his eyes that made my blood boil. He stared at her as she walked down the hallway, and I noticed how his eyes seemed to drift down as she was walking away. I stopped immediately in the hallway, even though some people gave me dirty looks. I walked over to Bruce and he smiled at me.

He asked casually, “What’s up?”

I said through my teeth, “I need to talk to you. Outside. Now.”

He shrugged his shoulders and shut his locker, “Okay, just as long as we make it to lunch.”

I didn’t nod my head so he knew that I wasn’t in a joking mood. I walked towards the front doors not caring to look back, knowing full well that he was following me. It all seemed to make sense now about his actions. He wanted to tell Audrey about Logan so he would’ve been able to comfort her, but he didn’t know that I was over at her house. He hangs on every word that she says and just stares at her whenever she’s near him. I thought that he was just given hope by her like me, but I was wrong. It was okay for me to look at her like she was my whole world, but he didn’t have any right to look at her like that. She was mine. Not his.

He asked behind me when we were outside, “What’s up?”

I turned around sharply and pointed my finger at him.

I said accusingly, “If you ever look at her like that again, I won't hesitate to stop you next time. She is mine, not yours. I appreciate that you think she’s beautiful, since she is, but you have no right to look at her like you just did.”

Bruce calmly looked at me while I was talking to him, which angered me even more.

Bruce said calmly, “I’m just admiring the . . . general splendor of our school.”

“How can you say that? You just lost Emily! How can you be over her so fast?”

At my mention of Emily’s name, his expression changed for the worse.

He said slowly, “Don’t you dare even bring Emily into this. She has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with this! How can you just forget about her so quickly and move on to someone else?”

“I never get attached to the people that I date. It’s too hard to lose them, which is something that everyone experiences sometimes in their life.”

“Did you get that line out of a magazine or something? And how can you not get attached-”

“Your girlfriend said that line. Not some cheap magazine.”

I hesitated for a second and then asked, “When did she say that to you?”

He smiled faintly and said, “One special night that I will always remember in my heart. She was just trying to comfort me with the loss of Emily. I knew that she was a little uncomfortable with it all, since she was dating you at the time, but that didn’t stop her from comforting me that night.”

I took a step back. He was lying. He had to have been. Audrey wouldn’t do that to me. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Bruce saw that I was debating whether or not to believe him, so he just shrugged his shoulders.

He said, “Maybe some things are meant to happen. I think that God let Emily be killed so Audrey and I would be able to bond together.”

“Is that what you think this whole situation is? Just some way for God to let you and Audrey some closer?”

Bruce nodded and I actually thought that he believed what he was saying.

He said, “Some things have to happen for the bigger picture.”

“The bigger picture? Is that what you’re calling Delilah’s, Emily’s, and Logan’s deaths? Just pieces in the puzzle? What kind of sick mind-“

“Sometimes a sick mind is needed for a better picture.”

I looked at him to see if he wasn’t serious, but his face told me that he was completely serious. Was he admitting that he had a sick mind? It sounded like that, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. What did that mean? What was he trying to tell me?

I asked him, “What would you need a sick mind for in this town?”

Bruce shrugged his shoulders and said, “Maybe to take control and let this little town see a slight glimpse of the better picture.”

I just shook my head, not really knowing what he was saying.

I said quietly as I walked back towards the school, “Just stay away from Audrey…”

He grabbed my arm when I walked by him and said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t be worried about Audrey.”

I tore his hand off of my arm and gave him one of the dirtiest looks I could manage. I walked back into school; only to find that the bell ending lunch had already rang. I went to my class that I usually went to after lunch and sat down in my desk. Throughout the class, I kept getting nonchalant looks back my way since I was hitting my pencil against my desk to keep me from freaking out.

What did Bruce mean by telling me to watch my own back? Was he threatening me? I shook my head and tapped my foot on the ground even faster when I was thinking about going against Bruce in a fight. I knew that it was coming close if Bruce continued to look at Audrey like he had before. I knew that I would have to talk to Audrey soon and make her talk to Bruce about how he was looking at her, but I also knew that she didn’t like confrontation. I looked around the class and saw Bruce four chairs ahead of mine. Just by looking at his back, I felt anger rise inside of me. I continued to stare at his back when I noticed markings on his neck. His jacket covered most of the marks, but I could tell that something had scratched him.

I thought about why he would have marks on his neck, beings how he didn’t have any cats or pets to scratch him. I looked out of the window and saw Lake Titan in the distance. It was obviously a windy day outside, what with the water as choppy as it was. I looked at the tops of the houses and saw one that I had recognized as the top of Bruce’s house. In that moment, it was almost as if my mind was figuring out a tangible puzzle. I could almost feel the pieces being put together and I finally saw the final picture.

Bruce had killed Delilah, Emily, and Logan. I didn’t get why he would’ve killed Emily, beings how they were dating, but I decided to let that fact go. I needed to talk to Audrey sometime before Bruce got to her. I knew that he was just lying about Audrey and him. She would’ve never have done that with him. She wouldn’t have. The feeling in my gut reminded me that she would have never done that. The bell rang and I tried to walk calmly out of class. I walked by Audrey’s locker and sighed out of relief when I saw that she was there. I walked up to her and leaned against one of the lockers next to hers.

She smiled when she saw me and said, “Hey you.”

I tried to smile, but I knew that she saw that I was freaking out.

She asked me, “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to go to your house right after school. No going anywhere else and when you get there, lock your door and don’t let anyone else in. I’m going to go to my house right after school and get some things that I’ll need to stay over okay? I’ll sleep on the couch just please lock your door when you get home. Right away. Don’t let anyone in.”

I could see that I had scared her, but she asked me, “Why?”

“I’ll tell you when you get there okay? I don’t want you freaking out the rest of the day. Just please promise me. Lock all of your doors and close all of your windows. Make it so no one can get in from anywhere okay?”

She nodded and the warning bell rang.

I said, “I’ll see you after school okay?”

She nodded and walked down the hallway to her next class. I let a deep breath out and slowly walked to my next class as well. At least she was going to be safe. She knew to listen to me when I was really freaked out. I didn’t have any doubt that she was going to do what I told her, but I just had to make my trip to my house a flying one. The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of worry and anxiety, but I made it out to my car without having a mental breakdown. Thankfully, my car was parked near the exit, so I didn’t have to beat the large crowd out of the small opening to get onto the road. I sped out of the parking lot and drove the way over to my house in record time.

I didn’t even bother to shut my car off as I sprinted into my house and up the stairs to my room. I opened the door and ran over to my closet. I pulled out a small night bag and started to fill it with random things that I would’ve needed, which included just a pair of jeans, a few shirts, and some shorts. I shut the bag and ran downstairs. I ran back out to my car and peeled out of the driveway. When I got to Audrey’s house, her car was already in the driveway. I pulled up to her house and shut my car off. I ran up to her front steps and knocked on the door.

It was quiet for a few seconds before I yelled, “Audrey! Audrey it’s me. Edwyn!”

The door swung open and Audrey pulled me inside quickly. She shut the door behind me and looked at me as I set my bag down in the foyer.

She told me, “You better tell me what’s going on or so help me-“

I interrupted her, “I know who the killer is.”

She was quiet for a moment, “Who?”

“Bruce. Him and me had a fight today and he practically told me that he had killed them.”

“Why would he tell you that?”

“Well he didn’t I actually just wanted to talk to him about the way he was looking at you, but after that the conversation wandered and I put the pieces together.”

“Looking at me? How was Bruce looking at me?”

“Did you not notice?”

She shook her head, so I explained, “You were walking in the hallway and Bruce was looking at you funny. I didn’t like it, so I took him outside and tried to talk to him about it.”

She asked me, “Are you completely sure about this Edwyn? This is a huge accusation and could get you in a lot of trouble if you’re wrong.”

“I know I’m not wrong. I have a gut feeling about this one Audrey. Please. Trust me.”

She crossed her arms and thought about it for a minute, “Whatever you say, I’m going to believe. I know that it’s serious when you really think that it’s true, so I believe you on this one.”

I nodded my head and said, “Good. Did you do everything I told you to do? All the windows and doors are locked?”

She nodded and said, “I double checked all of them.”

I nodded again and we both walked into the living room. I set my bag down by the end of the couch and she turned the TV on. I sat down next to her, but halfway through the movie that we were watching, she leaned her head down on my shoulder and scooted a little closer to me. She gently grabbed my hand and started to lightly trace where the lines were on my hand. After a few minutes of this, she grabbed a pillow and put it on my lap. She laid her head down on the pillow and I started to faintly rub her back. She smiled when I did that, which led me to believe that she liked having her back rubbed. When the movie was over and the credits rolled onto the screen, she didn’t make any move to change the channel.

I looked down at her and realized that she had fallen asleep. She faintly smiled when she slept, which made me not want to move her at all and risk waking her up, but I knew that she would be mad if I fell asleep with her in my lap. I picked her up in my arms and carefully rested her against my chest. She snuggled down deeper in my arms and I smiled as I carried her to her room. As I set her down on her bed, she woke up slightly.

She asked me sleepily, “Is the movie over?”

I nodded and said, “Yeah. It’s okay though. I was about to fall asleep myself. Goodnight Audrey.”

“Goodnight Edwyn.”

I brought the covers up to her chin and kissed her forehead. She smiled as I tucked her in and almost giggled when I wouldn’t stop kissing her forehead. I smiled down at her and walked out of her room. I noticed that she had set out some sheets for me on one of the tables that was near the couch, so I figured that they were for me. I put the sheets on the couch and grabbed a blanket from one of the other couches. I put my bag on the couch and looked through it to see what I had actually grabbed. I finally found a pair of shorts and a shirt that would somewhat match and grabbed them out of my bag. I walked into the bathroom and changed into the ‘pajamas’ that I had brought. I walked back out into the living room and threw my day clothes on the floor by my bag.

I laid down on the couch and concluded that it was definitely the most luxurious couch that I had ever slept on. Audrey’s family had always been one of the wealthier families in this town, but she didn’t flaunt it like everyone else that had money. I liked that about her. She didn’t depend on her money in life. She was independent, which made me like her in the first place. I sighed heavily, but I knew that I wouldn’t really be getting any sleep. I wouldn’t want to miss the signs of anything happening to Audrey while I was asleep. What if Bruce came during the night while I was asleep and took Audrey from me without me even realizing it? I wouldn’t even be able to live with myself if I knew that I could’ve prevented something from happening to Audrey while she was in my care.

I sighed heavily again and got ready for a long night.

The Real Killer

Audrey

 

This day had just gotten worse and worse from lunch since most of the classes that I had assigned either homework or we had tests. It was just getting to be a hard day for me. I saw Edwyn walking down the hallway towards me, which made my smile.

I said to him when he made it over to me, “Hey you.”

He smiled, but I could tell that something had gone horribly wrong for him.

I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“I need you to go to your house right after school. No going anywhere else and when you get there, lock your door and don’t let anyone else in. I’m going to go to my house right after school and get some things that I’ll need to stay over okay? I’ll sleep on the couch just please lock your door when you get home. Right away. Don’t let anyone in.”

What was wrong with him? I knew that something had happened to make him freak out that bad, but I couldn’t really think of anything that had him spooked.

I asked him shakily, “Why?”

“I’ll tell you when you get there okay? I don’t want you freaking out the rest of the day. Just please promise me. Lock all of your doors and close all of your windows. Make it so no one can get in from anywhere okay?”

I nodded as the bell rang for the next class. I really didn’t want to leave, but I knew that my next teacher wouldn’t forgive me if I was late.

He asked me gently, “I’ll see you after school okay?”

I nodded and he walked off to his next class. I walked to my class hurriedly, knowing that my teacher wasn’t going to accept tardiness. The rest of the school day, I was plagued with the thought of what had made Edwyn so jumpy and freaked out. Maybe something had happened in his family, but why would he make me lock all of my doors and windows if it was something with his family? After the final bell rang for school, I hurried out to my car and looked for Edwyn. I saw the back of his car speed out of the parking lot, but I knew that he hadn’t seen me. I got into my car quickly and turned it on. I made it to my house and ran inside. I shut the front door and locked it. I ran around my house doing the same to all of my doors and windows. I knew that I was going to listen to Edwyn, beings how he was usually right most of the time.

I heard a car pull up, but I didn’t bother to look and see who it was. I heard a knock on the front door, which brought my attention to it immediately.

It was quiet for a few seconds before I heard Edwyn say from behind the door, “Audrey! Audrey it’s me. Edwyn!”

I opened the door quickly and pulled him inside when I saw that it was actually him. I shut the door just as quick and leaned against it. He set his bag down uneasily in the foyer and looked at me for a few seconds.

I said sternly, “You better tell me what’s going on or so help me-“

He said quickly, “I know who the killer is.”

What? How had he found out?

I asked after a moment of silence, “Who?”

“Bruce. Him and me had a fight today and he practically told me that he had killed them.”

Bruce? Why would Bruce kill Emily, Delilah, and Logan? They didn’t have anything against him and Emily was even dating him!

I asked him skeptically, “Why would he tell you that?”

“Well he didn’t I actually just wanted to talk to him about the way he was looking at you, but after that the conversation wandered and I put the pieces together.”

The way that he was looking at me? He was looking at me?

“Looking at me? How was Bruce looking at me?”

“Did you not notice?”

I shook my head and he said patiently, “You were walking in the hallway and Bruce was looking at you funny. I didn’t like it, so I took him outside and tried to talk to him about it.”

I told him carefully, “Are you completely sure about this Edwyn? This is a huge accusation and could get you in a lot of trouble if you’re wrong.”

“I know I’m not wrong. I have a gut feeling about this one Audrey. Please. Trust me.”

I crossed my arms and thought about the possibility of Bruce being able to kill someone. He had come over to my house after Emily’s death so torn up about it, but it could’ve just been all an act. I knew that Edwyn didn’t really have a lot of gut feelings, but whenever he did they were always right.

I said after a minute, “Whatever you say, I’m going to believe. I know that it’s serious when you really think that it’s true, so I believe you on this one.”

He nodded his head and said, “Good. Did you do everything I told you to do? All the windows and doors are locked?”

I nodded, “I double checked all of them.”

He nodded again, almost trying to convince himself that we were safe at the moment. I brought him into the living room and we both sat down on the couch. I turned the TV on and turned the channel to the movie Tron: Legacy. I didn’t really like the movie, but the music was really good. Halfway through the movie, I started to think about Bruce and how he would have to be so sick-minded to kill all of those people. I started to scare myself with my thoughts, so I moved closer to Edwyn and rested my head on his shoulder. This didn’t really seem to get my mind off of things, so I took his hand and started to faintly draw the lines on his hand. After a few minutes, I had finally calmed myself down a little by just blocking everything else out except Edwyn and me watching a movie together.

I started to feel really tired, even though it wasn’t that late in the day. I grabbed a pillow from behind me and put it in Edwyn’s lap. I didn’t really know how he would react to that, so I slowly put my head down on it. Almost instantly, he started to rub my back, which I took as a sign that he was okay with it. I smiled and he started to rub my back a little more. After a while, I felt myself falling asleep, but I tried to stay awake as long as I could for Edwyn’s sake. After a while though, I couldn’t fight it anymore. I fell asleep and didn’t wake up until I felt someone moving me. At first, I just thought that I was dreaming, but I knew that it was real when I felt someone set me down on my bed. I opened my eyes a little and Edwyn smiled down at me.

I asked him, “Is the movie over?”

He nodded and said, “Yeah. It’s okay though. I was about to fall asleep myself. Goodnight Audrey.”

“Goodnight Edwyn.”

He walked out of my room and closed the door behind himself. I heard him walking around outside my room for a little while, but I knew that he was just going back and forth to the bathroom. I closed my eyes and let sleep overcome me again. When I woke up, it was to the sound of Edwyn screaming. My eyes flew open and I shot straight up on my bed. It was pitch black in my room, but I knew it well enough to be able to run through it without hitting anything on my way. I flung my door open and ran out into the living room. I turned the light on, but I wished that I hadn’t. I screamed as I saw Bruce standing above Edwyn with a bloody knife. I didn’t know where Bruce had stabbed Edwyn, but I knew that it couldn’t be good if there was that much blood on his knife. My stomach churned at the thought of the same knife being plunged into Logan.

Bruce looked up at me as I screamed and he took a step back. He looked between Edwyn and I, almost as if he was confused with who was who. He realized why Edwyn was over at my house in the first place and smiled at me.

He said, “Ahhh. I see. He was going to be your knight in shining armor that would’ve saved you from the dreaded killer. So much for that fairytale.”

He laughed and I knew that that laugh would haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. He started to walk towards me, but I ran back into my room. I slammed the door shut and leaned against it, but Bruce ran right into it. I screamed slightly when he slammed into the door, but the door didn’t break down since I was leaning against it.

Bruce said menacingly, “Oh come on. Come out and save your boyfriend before it’s too late!”

I could feel tears rolling down my face, but I didn’t care. I heard a sharp cracking noise and the door gave a slight shutter. I looked to my left and saw Bruce’s knife, not five inches from my face. It slowly retracted, so I took a few steps away from the door. The knife came through the door again, only it was in the spot where my head had been resting not two seconds ago. The knife slowly crept back away from the door, but Bruce didn’t plunge the knife into the door again. I didn’t hear anything from the other side of the door actually, which was what really worried me.

After a few seconds of silence, Bruce said from behind the door, “Fine. If I can't get you to come out, maybe Edwyn can.”

I screamed as loud as I could, “Don’t you dare touch him!”

Bruce laughed and said, “Words from a coward who won't even come out of her bedroom to play.”

I heard him back away from the door, but I didn’t open the door. I knew that I had to come up with a plan of some sort to get him exposed and out in the open. I heard Bruce whispering some things to Edwyn, but I couldn’t form the words of what he was saying. After a few seconds, I heard Edwyn start to say something over and over again, but again he was too quiet for me to hear. I heard the loud guttural scream come from Edwyn right after his pleading though, which sent knifes through my own heart. I breathed in deeply and stood up on my shaky legs. I grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. I opened the door and let it swing open fully. The sight that met my eyes was not a pretty one. Bruce was holding something, the knife I guessed, to one of Edwyn’s calves.

He stopped pushing the knife further into Edwyn’s leg, though, when he saw that I had come out of my room. He looked at me thoughtfully and then back down at Edwyn.

He said, “See. I told you that I have very good persuasion skills.”

Edwyn looked up at me and shook his head. He tried to form words with his mouth, but every time he tried, Bruce would shove the knife further into his calf.

Bruce said, “Well, well, well. She comes out to play.”

“This isn’t a game Bruce. Stop hurting Edwyn right now.”

“Or what?”

At that, he took the knife out of Edwyn’s leg, which made him scream even more now that blood was gushing out of his leg.

Bruce said, “I ask again. Or what?”

He put the tip to Edwyn’s other leg and I screamed, “Don’t!”

Bruce laughed and said, “See. I can control you, him, and probably this entire town if you know who to target. I can easily see that you’ll do anything for him, as sickening as that is, just as long as he’s safe.”

I glared at him and he knew that he was messing with the only thing in my life that I was actually happy with.

Bruce asked quietly, “How does this make you feel? When this happens . . .”

He started to put the blade farther into Edwyn’s leg and I closed my eyes at his screams.

Bruce laughed and said, “I like this. This is fun.”

I gave him a sick expression, which changed his mood quickly, almost as if he were bipolar. His face darkened and I knew that he was going to hurt me when he stood up. He pulled the knife out of Edwyn’s leg and started to walk towards me. I started to back away from him, but he ran up to me before I could’ve made it to my room. He pinned me against the wall and held the knife up to my neck.

Edwyn said from behind us, “Don’t you dare touch her!”

I looked behind Bruce and saw that he was trying to stand up, which made even more blood come from his legs. I winced at how pale his face was, but he tried to walk towards us. He fell without even a step of progress and went limp on the floor.

I screamed out, “No! Edwyn!”

Bruce laughed and said, “Guess it’s just you and me now sweetie.”

I shook my head and looked at him straight in the eyes. I brought my hands up and pushed on his chest as hard as I could. He only fell back a couple steps, but that was enough to make him fall over a table that was behind him. I took that as my chance to run upstairs to one of the rooms that had a phone in them. I heard Bruce get up as I was halfway up the stairs, which made me start to full on sprint towards my mom’s office, which was the only room in the house that had a phone, along with a door that would close shut and lock. I ran into the office and slammed the door behind me. I locked it right as Bruce rammed into it. I jumped back as he slammed into the door, but the lock didn’t budge. I ran over to the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

The operator’s voice said slowly, “This is 9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

I screamed as Bruce slammed repeatedly into the door, “There's a murderer in my house! He’s stabbed my boyfriend twice and he’s trying to get to me. Please help me!”

The operator’s voice sounded more urgent now, “What is your address?”

I started to say, “Seven hundred fifteen marks-“

I screamed as Bruce broke through the door.

He said, “There you are.”

I screamed as Bruce grabbed my arms, “Marks street!”

He smiled sickeningly and said, “No one’s going to help you now.”

I screamed and kicked at him, but he wasn’t fazed.

Bruce said, “You’re coming with me.”

Just In Time

Audrey

 

I screamed as loud and as high as I could, but he wasn’t fazed at all by it. He dragged me back down the stairs, not really caring that he was sometimes kicking me as he was walking down along with my head hitting the edge of the stairs as he walked down, which made my nose start to bleed. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, he noticed that some of the blood from my nose had gotten on his hand as he was dragging me down the stairs.

He screamed, “Look what you did! Now, I’m going to have to wash my hand and sanitize it! That just made a lot more work for me than normal!”

He threw me against the wall and slapped me hard on the face. I grabbed the place where he had slapped me and rubbed it a little to dull the pain. He laughed at my pained expression, which made me want to slap him right back, but I knew that he would only hurt me more, or worse, he would hurt Edwyn even more than he already has.

Bruce said, “Now. Do you want to do this the civilized way or the barbaric way? Either way is fine with me, I guess it just depends on your personal preference.”

I asked quietly, “For what?”

“Well how you want to get down to Lake Titan of course.”

I gulped a breath of air and I could feel the color drain from my face. I decided to try a different tactic with Bruce, beings how civility didn’t really help much with him.

I said slowly, “You’re doomed on this one Bruce. You’ll never be able to clean up your mess here. Your prints are all over this house. They’re going to catch you.”

He laughed and hesitated. I knew that I had gotten him then, and I could see it in his face that he was feeling real terror and panic. There was no way that he was going to be able to hide his prints, since they were all over the house. The police would catch him and pin him on all of the other murders. He would be thrown in jail for the rest of his life and he knew that he would probably die in jail from how long the sentence would be.

He sighed heavily and said, “That’s why I’m going to move. Sure people here will know that I did it, but no one else will. This town is so tiny, no one’s going to believe them about what’s been happening.”

Even as he said that, I knew that he didn’t believe in what he had just said. He had no hope and he realized that. He was going to get caught no matter what he did.

He smiled at me after a second and said, “Then why not go down without a fight? Leave a legacy?”

I backed up against the wall, but I couldn’t get any farther away from him. I knew that he planned to kill us both. I knew that I wouldn’t live to see another sunset or sunrise. I wouldn’t live to be a mother or a grandmother. He was going to take away all of that from me. Bruce was going to end my life. Why not take some of his advice? Why not go down without a fight? I smiled at him, which made him really confused. I brought my knee up while he was confused and got him right between the legs. He bent down slowly and I knew that he hadn’t expected me to hit him. As he was bending down, I brought my knee up again and hit him in the face. I felt his nose crack underneath my leg, but I put that feeling out of my mind. I pushed him away from me and ran over to Edwyn, who looked like he wasn’t going to make it. I put his head in my lap and he smiled up at me.

I said to him while trying to push back tears, “Hey there.”

He said weakly, “Get out of here. Run. Leave now.”

I laugh and say as I looked at the sight of Bruce slowly getting up, “He’s going to kill us Edwyn. Both of us. What’s the point in running when I know that if I leave now, he’s just going to find me again?”

Edwyn said, “Run. Please.”

“I can’t just leave you. Trust me. Please let me stay with you.”

He sighed heavily and said, “Always so stubborn.”

I laughed unnecessarily, but we both knew that we needed to hear it. I looked back up at Bruce and saw that he was finally starting to get up.

Edwyn asked quietly, “Did you call the police?”

I nodded and he said, “Hide. Now. Just until the police get here.”

I shook my head and said, “He’s just going to hurt you until I come back out. Trust me. I’m just going to stay here right beside you. I promise I won't leave you.”

He nodded and closed his eyes.

I rubbed his face and said, “Please don’t close your eyes. Please.”

He slowly opened them again and said, “I’m just so tired. Maybe for just a few minutes.”

I shook my head and said, “You’re going to stay awake, at least until the ambulance gets here. Promise me that you’re going to stay awake.”

He shook his head and said, “I can’t promise that much.”

“Please.”

Bruce said, “How sweet. Now . . . where were we?”

He grabbed my shoulders and threw me against the wall. The back of my head hit the wall extremely hard, which made me blackout for a few seconds. When I regained consciousness, Bruce was screaming at me. I didn’t really form his words into sentences, I couldn’t really. My brain wasn’t really functioning as fast as it normally would. Things took a few more seconds than normal to click for me. I started to understand what he was saying after a while.

He said, “You think he’s going to live? You really think that? I’m going to make him die a painful death right in front of your eyes. That way, you can always remember his screams right before your death. Who knows? Maybe you won't even live that long. Maybe his screams will make you kill yourself in the process, but that wouldn’t be any fun, so I’m going to make you kill him yourself.”

I gave him a confused look, which he returned by smiling at me. I really didn’t like where this was going. Bruce grabbed my arms and led me back over to Edwyn. I resisted and fought as hard as I could against his grip, but he wasn’t about to let go of me. He grabbed his knife from his back pocket and put it in my hand. He put his hand over mine so I wouldn’t be able to let it go or hurt myself with it. He brought me down to Edwyn’s level and guided my hand over Edwyn’s heart. I stared into Edwyn’s eyes, but my vision was becoming blurry from the flow of tears that were pouring down my face. I knew that I would want to be killed after this, which is what Bruce was planning on. Bruce used my hands to push the knife down into Edwyn’s skin. Edwyn tried to hold the scream in for my sake, but after a few seconds, he wasn’t able to take it anymore.

Bruce only pushed it in a few millimeters, but I knew that if he pushed it in anymore, Edwyn was going to die. I knew that he would’ve already, but he was trying to hold onto life for me. I knew that he didn’t want to leave me to Bruce all alone, so he was trying to hang onto life as long as he could.

Bruce whispered into my ear, “Hear his screams.”

I shook my head and tried to back away from Edwyn, but Bruce prevented me from moving at all.

He said after a few seconds of resistance from me, “Now, now. Don’t move too much. You’re going to drive the knife in too much and kill the poor man before he can even say a word.”

I shook my head and looked down at Edwyn.

I said to him quietly, “I’m so sorry.”

He nodded in understanding and closed his eyes.

I started to scream at him, “No! Don’t leave! Please!”

He didn’t respond to my screaming, which made me scream even harder. By the time that Bruce clamped his hand over my mouth, my throat was numb from the pain.

Bruce laughed and said, “Your turn.”

I almost started to resist, but then I thought about the possibilities if I just stopped resisting. I could see Edwyn, Logan, and Delilah up in Heaven. I could make amends with Emily and say that I understand why she was acting out the way she was. Who could blame her when she was dating a psychopathic maniac? I knew that my mom would miss me if I was dead, but then she wouldn’t have to feel guilty for working all the time anymore. I closed my eyes and I felt the knife rest above my heart.

Bruce said slowly, “Join the others who died along with you by the same blade.”

I snapped my eyes open at his last words and realized that I was thinking completely irrationally. There had to be someone who had to live from this to give everyone else hope. I knew that I had to make this experience into a positive one. I hit the bottom of Bruce’s arm, which made the blade scrape my skin up to my shoulder, but I didn’t care. I brought my foot up and kicked Bruce straight in the chest. He flew back into the wall and was dumbfounded for a second. He regained his composure quickly though and lunged after me. I was already too far ahead of him to catch me though and I ran outside. I heard him behind me, but I stopped completely in my tracks anyways. Outside of my house, there were at least a dozen police cars driving up to my house. I noticed that Bruce was still running towards me, so I ran out into the middle of the street.

Bruce realized what I was doing and tried to run back into the house. A policeman that had gotten here a little earlier than all of the other cars stopped him where he was by pointing a gun at him. Bruce didn’t want to go down without a fight though. He acted as if he was going to stop, but as soon as the policeman came near him, he swung his knife at the policeman’s face. The policeman was ready though and dodged the knife smoothly. I heard more and more police cars coming and I started to cry when I saw the ambulance pull up.

A paramedic came up to me and said, “Ma’am I need you to step inside the ambulance.”

“No! You have to help Edwyn! He’s inside the house! I don’t know if he’s living or not just please . . .”

I trailed off as the paramedics stormed into my house. I saw them carrying Edwyn out on a stretcher and I breathed a sigh of relief. I saw now that there were twenty policemen that had tackled Bruce to the ground. They had taken away his knife and they were putting handcuffs on him.

One of the head policemen came up to me and asked, “Are you okay miss?”

I nodded and said through tears, “Thank you.”

He said, “It’s our job.”

I looked up at him. He had a police hat on that had the town’s emblem on it and I could tell that he wore the hat often. He was a little overweight, and he had a moustache that was completely white. His eyes were a light blue, almost like the sky, but it was hard to tell behind this thick-rimmed glasses. His hands were big and he had small little sausage fingers. He wasn’t really tall, but I was always used to Edwyn’s tall so he was probably about average height. I felt someone put a blanket around me, but it was just one of the paramedics. I looked over at the ambulance to see if Edwyn was conscious yet, but I couldn’t see anything through the wall of paramedics that were standing around Edwyn. One of them turned around and motioned for me to come inside the ambulance to get my cut cleaned up.

I nodded and walked over to the ambulance slowly, now realizing that I had a cut on my leg too from when Bruce and I had fought. When I got to the ambulance, one of the paramedics stopped working on Edwyn and came over to me. I could tell that he was one of the newer workers, since he looked like he had just gotten out of college. His dark brown hair was gelled up at the front and his eyes were almost darker than his hair. He had an abnormally long nose, but it kind of suited him. His hands were long and bony, which was almost exactly like his body. He didn’t really have that much weight on him, which meant that he probably weighed the same amount as Edwyn, who was only a senior in high school.

I said quickly, “If you need to work on him go. I don’t really need that much care. Just a few scrapes.”

He laughed and said in a surprisingly low voice, “It’s my job to patch you up. Come on.”

He led me over to the end of the ambulance and made me sit on the bumper. He started to disinfect the wound from my chest to my shoulder, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was looking behind me the entire time at Edwyn’s heart monitor. At that moment, there was only a tiny little blip that occasionally went across the screen. I knew then that Edwyn didn’t have a good chance of living. He probably wasn’t going to live. The paramedic that was working on me put a bandage on my shoulder wound and then started on my leg wound.

He gave me a rag and said, “Here. You can clean up your face by yourself I think.”

I thanked him and started to wipe all of the blood off of my face. When the paramedic was done with my leg, he took the rag and got the rest that I had missed from my face.

I said while I wrapped the blanket tighter around my shoulders, “Thanks.”

One of the paramedics that was working on Edwyn said to the paramedic that was helping me, “We need to take him to the hospital. Now.”

The college aged paramedic smiled at me and said, “Bye.”

I waved at him but I asked before he left, “Can I come with you? To the hospital I mean?”

He shook his head and said, “I think they’re wanting to ask you some questions about what happened.”

I nodded and he got in the back of the ambulance. They shut the back door and drove off with Edwyn, not even really telling me how he was doing. Or if he was even alive.

Bearer Of Bad News

Audrey

 

As soon as the ambulance turned the corner, the policeman that had talked to me earlier came up to me.

He told me, “We need to ask you some questions about what happened here okay?”

I nodded and he led me over to a circle of policemen. They all had notepads and were ready to write down what I told them.

The same police officer said, “My name is Officer James. How do you know Bruce Johnson?”

I said back automatically, “He goes to my school and he was friends with one of my friends.”

“What were you doing before Bruce came over?”

“Well my boyfriend Edwyn was over at my house. We were watching a movie, but I fell asleep. He put me in my bed and I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, he was screaming and Bruce was standing above him with a knife. Do you know how Edwyn is doing? Is he okay?”

Officer James replied patiently, “We don’t know his medical status at the moment. Please finish your answer.”

“I was done.”

“What happened after you found him standing above your friend with the knife?”

“Well, I ran back into my room and leaned against the door, but he started to stab the door with his knife and he did it hard enough so the knife was coming out on my end of the door. I walked away from it, but then he started to hurt Edwyn when I didn’t come out. I came out and he started to threaten me. I pushed him away from me and he fell over a table. I ran upstairs and called the emergency number and tried to tell her where I lived, but Bruce carried me back down the stairs before I could finish. He tried to threaten me, but I kicked him and threw him down on the ground. I ran over to Edwyn and told him to keep hanging on until you guys came, but he told me to hide. I wasn’t going to hide and make Bruce hurt him again until I came back out, so I stayed. Bruce grabbed me, but I blacked out for a few seconds because he hit my head against the wall.

“After a while, I started to understand that he was telling me that Edwyn wasn’t going to make it and that he wanted me to speed up the process. He made me take the knife, but he put his hands over mine so I wouldn’t be able to let go. He made me press the knife into the spot just above Edwyn’s heart, but I didn’t want to. I told Edwyn I was sorry, but he closed his eyes. I thought that he was dead, so I just gave up the will to live too. I was about to let Bruce kill me, but then I remembered that I had a lot to live for, so I pushed him away from me and ran out the door. I saw that you guys were here and that’s that.”

All of the officers were madly writing things down and I thought that I had said my story too fast.

Officer James smiled down at me and said, “It’s okay. It’s all over now. Bruce is going to be put in jail and he’s never going to bother you again.”

I nodded and said, “Thank you.”

He nodded again and the whole circle of officers seemed to shut itself as they began to talk about what I had just told them. I looked around, not really knowing what to do. I wasn’t going to go back inside my house, no matter what. I knew that my mom was probably on her way at that moment, beings how she always made sure that I was safe. I waited around for a few moments before I heard a familiar voice that I longed to hear. My mom broke through the crowd of policemen and started to cry when she saw me.

I screamed out as I ran to her, “Mom!”

We came together and hugged in the middle of the street. My mom was full on crying now, and I was almost to that point too.

My mom broke the hug and asked me as she inspected my face, “Are you hurt badly?”

I shook my head and said, “No. I’m not too terribly hurt.”

My mom asked quietly, “What about Edwyn?”

I shrugged my shoulders and pointed at the end of the street that led to the hospital, “I don’t know. The ambulance took him away a while ago.”

“Then what are we standing around here for? Let’s go to the hospital.”

I nodded and we started to walk towards my mom’s car. We both got in and she turned the heater on after noticing how cold I really was underneath the blanket. We were both silent on the way to the hospital, which I was glad for. I don’t think I could’ve been able to hold a conversation while being in the state that I was in. I was worried sick about Edwyn and the memory of the small little blip didn’t help my hope either. We made it to the hospital and I got out of the car before my mom was able to shut it off. I practically ran inside the hospital and walked up to the front desk.

I asked her, “Edwyn? Edwyn Buckler?”

She looked through her charts painstakingly slow until she finally found his name.

She said slowly. “He’s in surgery right now. You’re going to have to wait.”

I nodded uneasily and joined my mom in one of the waiting chairs. I looked around me and found that the only other person in the waiting room was completely out cold across the room. The man looked to be in his early thirties, maybe even late twenties. His blonde hair fell into his face as he slept, but he was obviously too tired to care. He looked muscular but lean at the same time, which made me think that the man either played sports or lifted weights a lot to keep himself in shape. After a few hours of waiting, I finally couldn’t sit still anymore.

I got up and told my mom, “I’m going to get some fresh air.”

She nodded in understanding and I walked outside. Everyone else who was walking outside didn’t seem to have a care in the world, while it felt like the whole world was on my shoulders. Waiting for Edwyn was definitely the hardest thing that I had done while the whole tragedy was unfolding. After a few minutes of walking outside, I strangely felt claustrophobic, so I went back inside and sat down by my mom.

After a few more hours, the doctor finally came in and said, “Edwyn Buckler’s family?”

My mom and I both stood up and walked over to the doctor. I folded my hands together and waited for the doctor’s verdict.

The doctor said slowly, “Edwyn made it through the surgery, but he’s going to have a long recovery ahead.”

I nodded and asked, “May I ask why?”

“During this whole excursion, he was pierced in both legs right?”

My heart dropped when the doctor had pointed that out.

I nodded and he continued, “Well in the course of that happening, the person that had pierced his skin had also fractured many of the main nerves in both of his legs. He will be able to walk again after months of therapy, but he will never be able to run again. I’m very sorry to have to deliver this to you. He’s in room two thirty-eight if you want to visit him.”

My mom spoke for me, “Thank you.”

The doctor walked back towards the hallway that he had come in, but I called after him.

I said, “Wait! Please!”

He turned around sharply and asked, “Yes?”

“Does Edwyn know that he won't be able to run again?”

The doctor nodded and I said, “Thank you.”

He nodded and continued to walk in the direction that he was already going. I motioned for my mom to come with me to go see Edwyn, but she shook her head.

She said, “You need some time with him alone. Trust me. It’s going to be tough. He ‘s going to be mad for a while, but you just have to learn that he’s not going to want to be okay with this fact for a while. He’s going to be very, very mad for a while. Be gentle with him okay?”

I nodded and she sat back down in a chair.

She said, “I’ll be waiting here.”

I nodded again and went up to his room. When I had made it to the second floor, I wondered if he would want me to visit him yet or not. After a few seconds of trying to find his room, I started to decide whether or not to visit him yet or not. Before I knew it though, I was standing in front of his door.

Noble Strength

Edwyn

 

I couldn’t run anymore. The doctor waited for my reaction, but I felt numb. It didn’t feel real. If I weren’t able to run anymore, I wouldn’t have any options for college or my life. My life was pretty much ruined. I knew that I would still probably have my legs if I had just stayed awake during the night while I was at Audrey’s house. I could’ve stopped Bruce before he had hurt Audrey and me. None of this would’ve happened if I had just done my job and stayed awake. That’s the reason that I went over to Audrey’s house in the first place and I had failed. I knew that Audrey was coming to visit, but I didn’t want to see her. Not after my failed attempt to keep her safe. She was the one who had ended up saving me instead of the other way around.

It was pretty pathetic when you had to have your girlfriend save you when you can't even save yourself. I looked around at my room as I wallowed in self-pity. I was in a room with white walls and only one window, which didn’t really have much of a view anyway. I looked up and saw that there was a TV, but I didn’t see a remote for it anywhere. I glanced over at the tray of food that they had set out for me after my surgery, but I wasn’t really all that hungry. I heard a knock on my door and I knew that it was Audrey.

I said loudly, “Come in.”

She opened the door slowly, almost as if she was afraid that I was going to yell at her or something like that. She saw me and carefully walked towards my bed. She pulled the only chair in the room up to my bed and sat down gracefully in it. She smiled at me, but I didn’t have the heart to smile back at her. She looked down and I could see that I had hurt her by not smiling back. I knew that I was supposed to be strong for her in times like this, but how was I supposed to be strong when I was the weakest out of our relationship?

She told me, “The officer said that they’re going to put Bruce behind bars. He’s never going to get out and do this again.”

I nodded, not really knowing what to say to that. I was happy that they were putting him in jail, but Audrey didn’t really look like herself when she said that. She almost seemed joyful at the thought of him rotting in jail. That wasn’t really the Audrey I knew.

She looked up at me and said after a few seconds of silence, “Please say something. Please.”

I said after a few minutes, “Hi.”

She smiled, but then she looked down at the ground, which meant that she wasn’t happy with my response.

I asked her weakly, “What am I supposed to say? I can't talk to you while I’m like this. I’m afraid that I’m going to take my anger out on you and that would just make us both mad. I’m just not wanting to say anything that I’ll regret later.”

She nodded and said, “I know, I know. I just miss your voice.”

I grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it.

She smiled and said, “It took ages to wait for you. They took a long time in there.”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “A lot needed fixing.”

She sighed heavily and said, “I’m sorry Edwyn.”

I was surprised at her.

I asked her, “Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

“I put that blade into your skin.”

I gripped her hand tightly and said, “No you didn’t. Do not tell yourself that the person holding that knife was you because it wasn’t. Bruce made you do it. Please don’t blame yourself for that one Audrey. Please.”

She sighed heavily and said, “I know that I’m not supposed to, but every time that I look at you, I think of that moment. The knife piercing your skin, making your own blood come out of you. I did that. I could’ve fought against Bruce, but I didn’t. I guess you’re the stronger one out of the two of us.”

“Audrey. How can I be the strongest one when I don’t even have my legs right now? You’re obviously the stronger one.”

She shook her head and said sternly, “I meant mentally stronger. You are what holds me up so to say.”

I shook my head and said, “I think you’re the stronger one.”

She said jokingly, “Oh yeah. If I could get all of your mental strength and make it physical, I could’ve easily taken down Bruce right away.”

I smiled a true smile and said jokingly, “Honestly? You think you could’ve taken on Bruce? Really?”

My nurse came in at that moment and told Audrey, “I’m sorry but Edwyn here needs his rest. You can come visit him tomorrow if you’d like.”

She stood up and pushed the chair back to where it was before she had moved it. She smiled and waved at me, but I just gave her a confused look.

I said jokingly, “What is that? Come over here and give me a hug!”

She smiled and walked over to the side of my bed. I hugged her tightly and planted a kiss on the cheek. She smiled even more, which made me smile too. She waved goodbye and I did the same. She walked out of the room and the nurse raised her eyebrows at me. My nurse was an older woman who was a little overweight. She seemed to be the kind of person that, if you saw on the street, you’d think right away that she was a grandmother. She just smiled all the time and acted in a way that made you feel like you were one of her own grandchildren. She seemed really nice too when I first met her.

She said, “She seems like a nice girl. What’s her name?”

I said quietly, “Audrey.”

“Really? I was going to name one of my kids that name. Did you know that her name means noble strength? That’s why I was going to pick it, but my husband had other thoughts.”

She laughed her sweet laugh and I smiled. Maybe Audrey was the stronger one of the relationship.

Silence

Audrey

 

I raised my hand to knock on the door, but I hesitated. What if he didn’t want to see me? I shook my head and knocked anyway.

Edwyn said behind the door, “Come in.”

I opened the door slightly, just to make sure that it was the right room. When I saw that it was his room, I carefully stepped in, not wanting to set him off in any way. I grabbed a chair that was in the corner of the room and brought it up to Edwyn’s bed. I smiled at him to lighten the mood, but he didn’t smile back. Maybe he really didn’t want me to visit him. I looked down and pushed back the tears that were forcing themselves on my eyes.

I said quietly, “The officer said that they’re going to put Bruce behind bars. He’s never going to get out and do this again.”

He nodded slowly, almost as if he was disgusted at what I had just told him.

I looked up at him and said after a few seconds of silence, “Please say something. Please.”

He said quietly after a few minutes of deafening silence, “Hi.”

That was all that he had to say? Hi? I was really contemplating whether or not to just leave and visit later when he had calmed down, but a gut feeling told me to stay.

He asked me quietly, “What am I supposed to say? I can't talk to you while I’m like this. I’m afraid that I’m going to take my anger out on you and that would just make us both mad. I’m just not wanting to say anything that I’ll regret later.”

So he really did want me here?

I nodded and said, “I know, I know. I just miss your voice.”

He grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it. I smiled up at him, now that I knew that he really did want me here.

I tried to lighten the mood by saying, “It took ages to wait for you. They took a long time in there.”

He shrugged his shoulders and said, “A lot needed fixing.”

I had to bring up the surgery didn’t I? What was wrong with me? This poor guy had just gone through surgery and I was making jokes about it?

I sighed heavily and said, “I’m sorry Edwyn.”

He asked me, “Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything.”

I didn’t want to say it, but I knew that it had to be said.

“I put that blade into your skin.”

He gripped my hand tightly and said, “No you didn’t. Do not tell yourself that the person holding that knife was you because it wasn’t. Bruce made you do it. Please don’t blame yourself for that one Audrey. Please.”

He was begging me not to be guilty? That was like begging him not to run when he was stressed while he could run.

I sighed heavily and said, “I know that I’m not supposed to, but every time that I look at you, I think of that moment. The knife piercing your skin, making your own blood come out of you. I did that. I could’ve fought against Bruce, but I didn’t. I guess you’re the stronger one out of the two of us.”

“Audrey. How can I be the strongest one when I don’t even have my legs right now? You’re obviously the stronger one.”

Did he really think that I just made all of the hope that I had out of thin air?

I shook my head and said sternly, “I meant mentally stronger. You are what holds me up so to say.”

He shook my head and said, “I think you’re the stronger one.”

I could tell that he wanted to turn the conversation to more carefree talk, so I happily obliged.

I said jokingly, “Oh yeah. If I could get all of your mental strength and make it physical, I could’ve easily taken down Bruce right away.”

He smiled one of his true smiles and said jokingly, “Honestly? You think you could’ve taken on Bruce? Really?”

A nurse came in at that moment and told me, “I’m sorry but Edwyn here needs his rest. You can come visit him tomorrow if you’d like.”

I nodded and stood up. I pushed the chair back to the corner and smiled at Edwyn. I waved goodbye to him, but he wasn’t going to have that.

He said jokingly, “What is that? Come over here and give me a hug!”

I smiled and walked over to the side of his bed. He brought me down and tightly hugged me. I was about to let go of him, but he kissed my cheek before I could’ve moved. I beamed even more, just happy that he wasn’t mad at me like my mom said he would be. I stood up straight and waved goodbye to Edwyn, not really wanting to talk after he had kissed me. I might’ve squeaked or something. He smiled and waved goodbye too, almost knowing why neither of us talked. I walked out of the room and towards the elevator. That had definitely gone better than I thought it would’ve. I walked back to where my mom was sitting, only I saw that she had moved outside, where she could talk on her cell phone. She was probably trying to get us a place to stay for the night, since the living room of our house was probably covered in blood.

I looked around the rest of the waiting room and saw that the same man that was sleeping before was now on his laptop, but he still looked really tired. He rubbed his eyes frequently and squinted to see the screen. I walked past the tired man and out towards my mom.

I could hear some of her conversation with the person on the other end, “Please. I know it’s really late notice but . . . well I know that you probably don’t have a lot of room . . . it won't be for a really long time. Maybe a couple of days at the most . . . please. We don’t have anywhere else to go . . . really? Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate this. Thank you so, so much!”

She hung up her cell phone and breathed in a deep breath.

I asked her quietly, “We have a place to stay then?”

She turned around, surprised that I was behind her and said, “Yes. We are staying at a hotel for a couple of days, at least until the police are done with our house and whatnot. I don’t know if you just want to go home and get some clothes or what.”

I nodded and said, “Yeah some other clothes would be nice.”

She nodded and we got back in her car.

While we were driving to our house, she asked me, “So how’d it go with Edwyn?”

“Better than I thought it was going to. He seemed like he was trying to make the conversation lighter, but I just think that was because he didn’t want to take his anger out on me or something like that.”

She nodded and said, “Well that’s good. I only told you that he might’ve been mad just to prepare you. No one knows how certain people react to different things.”

I nodded my head and we continued the ride to our house in silence. When we had gotten there, policemen were still swarming the house. My mom and I both groaned at the same time as she shut off the car. We got out and I saw the back of Officer James as he walked into the house.

I asked my mom as we walked up to the house, “Will we even be able to take our clothes and stuff or will they use it for evidence or whatever they call it?”

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Only one way to find out I guess.”

I smiled and we both walked into the house. There were policemen taking pictures, mainly of the living room, but some were taking pictures of the walls that Bruce had thrown me up against. I hadn’t really noticed before, but Bruce threw me into those walls hard enough to make a small dent in the wall every time. My mom gasped at the sight and put her arm around my shoulder. I had no idea what she might’ve been going through, not knowing what was happening in her own house and the fact that her daughter was a witness to the bloody mess in our living room. Officer James walked up to me and tipped his hat at us.

I asked him, “Are we allowed to take some clothes with us? We’re going to go stay in a hotel and we’d really like another change of clothes with us please.”

He nodded and said, “I really don’t see any harm in that, just as long as nothing happened in the rooms that you take clothes from.”

My mom and I both nodded and we went to our rooms to get some clothes. I shuddered as I saw the two wholes that the knife had made in my door, but I opened my door anyways. I walked into my room and sighed heavily. I grabbed a suitcase that I never really used and started to fill it with stuff that I didn’t really look at before throwing it in. When I was done packing, I think that I had only thrown a couple pairs of shorts and a pair of skinny jeans in, but all the rest were shirts. I walked back out into the living room, paying really close attention to remind myself not to look down near the couch, which was where Edwyn was most of the time that Bruce and I had fought. After I had made it outside, I saw that my mom was already waiting for me inside the car. I threw my bag in the trunk and got into the passenger side.

My mom said, “Buckle up. After all that’s happened to you, I wouldn’t want to lose you from a car accident.”

I smiled and buckled my seatbelt. I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes. I was exhausted. I hadn’t really felt it before since I was mostly just running on adrenaline, but at that moment I felt at how tired I really was. My mom turned on the radio, but after she realized that I was falling asleep, she turned it down so it was just faint background music. By the time that we had made it to the hotel, the sunrise was almost up.

My mom said, “I’ll call the school and tell them that you won't be in, but I’m going to take the day off of work too.”

I nodded and looked at our hotel that my mom had rented. It seemed nice enough. It had three stories to it, but all of the walls were painted a brown color that I really didn’t know the name of. I looked behind the hotel and saw that there was a small pond with a few flowers in it. An idea started to form in my head and I smiled as we got out of the car. We took our bags inside to the front desk and my mom took control from there. The person at the front desk gave us our room keys and we walked to our room, which was on the first floor. I set my bag down on the floor as my mom checked the room out. The rooms were well equipped with a bathroom, two beds, and a flat screen TV.

I said quietly, “Hey mom. I’m going to take a small walk. I won't go far I promise.”

She nodded and I walked out of the room. I walked back to where I had seen the old pond and sat down on one of the rocks that was surrounding the pond. I grabbed a handful of flower, one for each friend that I had lost. I counted them out, just to be sure that I had enough and found that there were just enough of them for each person. I picked out which friends were which flower, beings how they were all different colors. Emily’s flower was a red one, Delilah’s flower was a small yellow one, and Logan’s was the fully bloomed orange one. I picked each flower up in my hand and smelled them. Together, they all smelled like a type of candle that people would light to make their house smell like flowers.

I picked up Emily’s flower first and picked all of the petals off of it. I put the petals in a pile on my hand and smiled when the wind picked up. I raised my hands and saw the flower petals fly out of my hand. I watched them soar as far as I could, but I moved on to the next flower when I couldn’t see Emily’s anymore. I picked up Delilah’s flower and I felt tears start to roll down my face. I picked all of the petals off of her flower with the gentleness of a mother and placed each one in my hand carefully. The feel of the petals on my palm was light to the touch. Delilah had always been a softer person. I raised my hands again and let all of the tiny petals flow free in the wind.

The only one left after that was Logan’s flower. I gently picked his up, knowing that tears were flowing down my face. I was ready. I was ready to let him go. I picked each petal off, but this time, taking time between each petal to remember funny memories of our times together. He was definitely the closest friend that I had ever lost, with Delilah being the second closest. When all of the petals were picked off of his flower, I held them in my hand for a few seconds longer. Was I really ready to let Logan go? I knew in my heart that I was, but I didn’t think so in my mind. I sighed heavily and realized that I didn’t want to just let him go. I wanted to help him be set free. I brought the flower petals close to my face and blew on them a little. After they left my hand, the wind instantly picked them up and carried them out of sight.

I knew that I would want to stay out by the pond for a little while longer, beings how I really didn’t want my mom to freak out over the fact that I had been crying. I smiled up at the sun and realized that it was probably time for me to go back inside; otherwise my mom might start to wonder where I had gone. I stood up and rubbed the bottom of my jeans off to get the leaves that had clung onto the pant legs of my jeans. I slowly walked up to the hotel room and opened the door. My mom was sitting on the bed, crying at the TV.

I started to ask her, “Mom? What’s . . .”

I looked at the TV screen and fell to my knees.

The headline read:

 

Bruce Johnson escapes from police custody.

 

The reporter said with sadness, “Bruce Johnson was being taken by police to the county jail, which was where he was going to be held until his trial. On the way there, Johnson managed to choke the driver with his handcuffs until he went unconscious, while the other police officer jumped out of the car when he realized that they were headed towards Lake Titan. Detectives were searching for Johnson’s body, but all they found were the handcuffs. They believe Johnson to be dead in Lake Titan, which has yet again claimed another victim . . .”

I just blocked out the rest of what the reporter was saying. I knew that Bruce wasn’t dead.

 

Bruce was alive. He was out. And I knew who his next target was.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.12.2014

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