GeoffsNovella

Chapter 1 In every town, there is at least one person where their goal in life is to make everybody that they can, be as joyous as possible. Here in the small town of Allston, that person is David Johnson, better known as Dave. He is a 12th grade student at Allston High School. He created a club where the purpose is to help all that need it. He gathered a couple of friends that were good listeners. Many people came to his club, needing a boat load of assistance. One of his regular customers was a well known 11th grade girl named Emily. “Hey Dave.” “What’s up Emily, how has your life been recently?” “Well, I have has a lot of family trouble lately. Yesterday my parents told me that they were getting a divorce. I have no idea who I can talk to.” “I am here for things like this along with any other member of this group. You can talk to any one of us. Also, you should talk to your close friends. They know you better than we do so they might have some better information to tell you than I do.” “Thank you so much Dave.” “You are welcome.” “I heard that Peter is having a huge party this week. You should go, I’m going to go to try and get things off of my mind.” “Alright, I will think about it.” The school bell signaling the end of the day interrupted their conversation. As David was walking back to his locker, his good friend Peter caught up with him. “Dude! My party is gonna be sick, you gonna come right? Everyone is gonna be there.” “I don’t know if I will come. A few people have asked me to go but I’m not quite sure it is the best idea to have everyone go man…” “Don’t worry about Dave. It’s gonna be at the Hyatt. There will be a crap load of space. The best part is I’m getting a lot of the druggies to bring some booze. It’s gonna be crazy!” “Pete! Are you serious!?!? That is possibly one of the worst ideas ever. I’ll probably come but I’ll think about it more and get back to you later. I’ve got to get to work “Aight dude. Catch you later.” Many people came up to David while he was heading to his car, asking him if he was planning on going to Peter’s party. Yea, he wanted to, but David just had an awful feeling about it all. He knew that something bad was going to go down. That night, David got a call from his one of his other good friends, Henry. Henry is the captain of the Baseball team, a student with a pretty good GPA (about a 3.76), and to many of the girls at Allston high, the hottest guy there. Henry started out the conversation by saying; “Dude, you have to go to the party tomorrow night. I talked to a lot of the girls and they were planning on getting wasted before it. Now’s your chance dude.” David is a good looking guy but has never really had a relationship before. He secretly loves his best girl friend Molly. David responded as fast as he could think of an answer. Unfortunately his answer was; “Of course I’m going, why would I miss this party?” “I don’t know man; you have been acting all innocent lately and… I don’t know.” “Well I’m going, no need to worry about that.” The rest of the conversation wasn’t interesting so David ended it. Once he had hung up the phone he realized the mess that he got himself into. Now he had to go, there was no way of getting out of this situation. The next day was pretty boring for the first part of it. David did homework and went outside and played some ball, his typical Saturday. Before he knew it, it was 7 o’clock. The party would start in an hour. He called Peter. “Yo Pete, its Dave.” “Waaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzuuuupp?? How…how u…how u been lately?” “Pete… are you drunk?” “Who me?? Noooo….hahaha yaaaa” “Alright, well I’m just calling to let you know that I’m going to be about an hour and a half late.” “That’s toootally fine dude, this party is gonna go aalllll night baby!!” And with that, the conversation ended. About two hours later, David arrived at the Hyatt. An insane amount of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks were everywhere. David rushed up to the nearest police officer. “What the hell happened!?!?” “I’m sorry son, I don’t know. I think a kid got shot or something.” “Shit, ok thanks for the info.” “No problem.” David rushed through about 30 vehicles to where most of the lights were flashing. He arrived and saw paramedics surrounding 3 people. He ignored them and looked around and saw Molly. He rushed over to her and embraced her. He then looked at her face and saw tears streaming down her face. “What the hell happened?” “Pete…there…shot…” Those were three words that just sunk David’s heart. He went over to the crime scene and saw a pool of blood around a man’s head. He realized that the man was Pete, and he had a bullet through his forehead. David collapsed on the spot. He had just lost his best friend and he had no idea what to do. He has been so used to giving help to people. But now, he was the one that needed help. Henry ran up to David. “Dude…Peter…” “…I know…” That was all that David could squirt out. He was so shell shocked that all he could do was stare. Now it was Molly’s turn. She came over and embraced him while tears were just pouring out of his eyes. All the people left by 11:00, except David and Molly. David had all of the life drained out of him. “Hey Dave…. It’s getting late. You should probably get home.” “I know…” “Do you want a-” “How could anyone do this? Who has the god dam nerve to shoot a fucking 19 year old kid?” “I don’t know Dave… but you have to get home.” “….I’ll get there when I get there.” “Alright, but I have to go. My parents are probably wondering where I am. Just call me if you need anything.” “I know…” Molly left Dave alone. What else could she do? She immediately called his parents when she got home. “Hello is this David’s house?” “Dorothy speaking, who is this?” “This is Molly, one of his friends from school. I’m sure that you know about Peter.” “Yes we do. David said that he was going to his party tonight.” “Well, I don’t know any other way of saying this. Peter was shot and killed. David is still at the Hyatt where the party was held. He was in so much shock that he collapsed.” In a shaky voice, Dorothy said; “Alright, thank you very much.” She hung up and rushed to where Molly said David was. He was still there. He hadn’t moved an inch. Dorothy just put a hand on his back. After a long silence David spoke.

“Who could do something like this?” “I have no clue sweetie. But come on now, we need to get home, it’s late.” “Alright…” As Dorothy walks back towards the car David looks up and whispers to himself “I promise man, I will find the bastard who did this to you. You won’t be forgotten.” And with that, Peter got up shakily to his feet and moved slowly to his patiently waiting mother. He got home to his father, Ben, being an absolute nervous wreck. What else could David have suspected? Ben had come out of the bathroom after Dorothy had left to go pick up David. He had no idea where she was. He remembered that David was going to Peter’s party tonight so he called his parents. He called them 3 times. After that he called Dorothy on her cell. Once he had dialed her number he heard a familiar ring tone come from the kitchen. This is when David and Dorothy walked into the house. “Dorothy!?!? Is that you?” “Yes dear it is. I have David here as well.” “Where have you been? One second, I was in the bathroom with you sitting comfortably here at home, the next second you are no where to be found.” “I know, I am terribly sorry. David’s good friend Molly called. She said that there had been a murder at Peter’s party.” Ben then looked straight at David and knew that the person at Peter’s party that was killed was very close to David. It was quite enough for you to hear a pin drop for a few seconds while Ben took in this awful news. He broke the silence by saying to David “Why don’t you go upstairs. Try to get some sleep.” Then he looked down at David’s hands and saw that they were covered in blood. “Actually, why don’t you wash up.” “Alright dad…” Ben and Dorothy waited patiently for David to trudge slowly up the stairs and into the shower. Once they heard the water running the conversation started. “Who died?” asked Ben. After a long silence where tears were coming to her eyes Dorothy squirted out “Peter” “Oh my god, do they know how he was killed.” “Yes, it was very obvious. There was a bullet through his head.” “O wow…” They immediately embraced each other in a hug and while a few tears dribbled out of Ben’s eyes, many tears came flowing out of Dorothy’s. They sat there like that until David came out of the shower. Once he was dressed, they all went to bed but none of them could sleep. They all were thinking the same thing. Why Peter, why now? Chapter 2 Ben was the first to wake up on Sunday morning. He slowly got out of bed and crept stealthily out of the room. Then to not disturb David, he tiptoed down the hall way and down the stairs into the kitchen. So many thoughts were racing through his head. The most important one was 'How is David going to react to this entire situation?' He got up to get himself some breakfast. To try and make this day a little less sad, he decided to make David's most favorite breakfast (which was also his), french toast. Ben only makes french toast on special occasions and he thought that this would qualify as one. He was in the middle of pouring on the syrup when Dorothy walked into the kitchen. It was quiet for a second but Ben soon said; "Hey sweetie, how did you sleep?" Dorothy responded quietly. "I had the worst night of sleep that I had in years." "O ya? How come?" Dorothy walked over to the table and sat down. She rubbed her eyes while blurting out "I had the worst dream." "What was it about?” asked Ben. "Okay, so you know how David went to Peter's party last night right?" With a solemn face Ben responded with a quick yes. "Well I dreamed that David got there and found a lot of police cars and ambulances in the middle of the parking lot. Then in the center of all that commotion, lay Peter." Ben was speechless; he had no idea how to tell her that what she dreamt was real. Dorothy then said "I know, I am speechless as well." "Honey..." "Yes?" "That wasn't a dream. That actually happened. You went and picked David up at the crime scene. You both went to bed as soon as you got home." "No.... that cant be true." Dorothy put her head in her hands for a few seconds and then soon bursted right out of her seat and up the stairs. Ben soon followed her and called as quietly as he could to her: "Dorothy! Get back down here. Let him sleep!" But as soon as he said that she had opened the door. She stopped right in her tracks when she glanced inside. Ben came up right after her and turned her towards him. "Close the door, let the boy sleep." "What boy? David is gone!" David looked into the room. She was right, David was no where to be found. They both rushed downstairs to the kitchen where the nearest phone was located. But once they got there, they saw their son looking into the refrigerator getting out the orange juice. "David! Where have you been?", the parents screamed in unison. "I couldn't sleep. I crept downstairs last night so I wouldn't wake you guys up and went to the couch to watch some TV. Why are you guys so freaked out?" "You were not in your room, and with what happened last night, we had no clue as to what you might have done.”

Dorothy buts in by saying “I personally thought that you went back to the crime scene at the Hyatt.” “I did. I wanted to go observe the details. When I was there earlier, I was just taking in the fact that Peter was actually dead. When I was there for the second time, I noticed something. As you guys know, there was a trail pool of blood around Peter’s head after he was shot. I saw a sneaker trail that went away from the body.” “And what do you suppose that means?” “Well, it means one of two things. A couple people came over to try and help Peter out and when the paramedics came, they were forced to walk away.” “I bet that that is what happened. That seems like the most logical thing.” “That is what I thought as well. But then I decided to follow the trail of sneakers. After a while it split into two separate ones. I followed the first. Nothing. It just led to a parking space. So I went back to follow the other trail. This one led into the bushes.” “You don’t think…” “Ya I do. Someone tried to frame someone. I went into the bushes and found a piece of shirt that was ripped off by a thorn bush.” Ben and Dorothy just sat there in awe. They had no clue that David had the skills to become an investigator. Finally Ben asked in a quiet voice “Well what did you do with the piece of the shirt?” After another long silence David said, “I kept it. Before you say anything!...I know that is illegal. I am going to take it in eventually but I have to take a picture of it first. This way I will be able to help the police out in their search for the murderer.” Once again, another long silence occurred. Ben was again the one to break it. “Okay. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work.” Dorothy then blurted out “Are you serious? That is ILLEGAL.” “No one has to find out. Go ahead David, take the picture. No one is stopping you.” “Alright thank you so much guys.” David rushed up to his room to get his phone and computer. One picture for each piece of technology. He took a picture on his phone so that he can have a picture on him at all times so that if he recognizes a shirt that the ripped off piece could be part of, he could verify it. He would take a picture on his computer so that if he has nothing to do at home he could do some research on the shirt.

Back in the kitchen, Dorothy and Ben exchanged a frightened glance. Their son was getting in the way of the law. "Ben, do you realize what is going on here?" "Well I know that David is really screwing himself over. I don't get why he has to do this. I kinda think that he is ruining his life. He is getting too involved. I understand that he wants to help and all, but I personally believe he just has to stay out of it." "I'm not talking about that dear." "Well, what are you talking about?" "Ben, I think that our son murdered Peter." "DOROTHY! Why would you say such a thing?" "I'm doing what David is doing, looking into the case and if you think about it, it all lines up." "How so? Show me that our son could have possibly done this. Prove to me that he is guilty." "I can't prove it but just listen. He calls Peter and tells him that he is going to show up late. When he shows up, Peter is dead. Then, after everything is done with, he goes back to the crime scene to look for evidence. He finds a ripped off piece of a green shirt. Now he is wanting to 'turn it into the police'. What if he was actually there when he called Peter and was just waiting for the perfect time to strike. What if David made the trail to the parking space to throw people off his case." "No...No no no no no. That can NOT be true. Can it?" "Well, does he own a green shirt?" "I don't know, you are the one that usually goes shopping with him." "Well I have never gotten him a green shirt." "Then he couldn't have done it!" "Maybe he borrowed it. These are the things that you have think of." “Well we should go check in his room when he is out of the house.” “No, we have to check everywhere. You don’t know where he could have hid it if he actually did.” “Hey mom” “Yes sweetie?” “I am going out to play some ball. I have my phone and keys so if you need me, just call. I don’t know when I will be home, probably around 6…ish.” “Alright honey, go tell your father. Then send him to me please, I have to tell him something.” “Ok mom, will do.” Ben runs downstairs to the basement to where his father was ‘working out’. “Yo dad.” “What’s up?” “Two things. One: If you want some pump up music to work out to, listen to the Pokémon theme song. It actually works.” “Okay, and two?” “Two, I am going out to play some ball. I have my phone and keys. If you need me you just know to call. I will probably be home around 6 ish.” “Okay.” “O dad! I forgot to tell you that mom wants you upstairs.” “Thanks Dave. Have a good time playing ball.” For amusement Ben added sarcastically “J it up in their faces for me.” “Ha-ha okay dad.” Ben went back to running on the tread mill while David slowly walked away, bouncing the ball from his left hand to his right. Once David was out of sight, Ben waited patiently in silence to hear a door slam. Boom. David was gone. Ben rushed up the stairs as fast as he could and was screaming his wife’s name constantly. He ran into the kitchen. “He is gone.” “I know Ben, perfect timing too.” It was 2:30. That left them about three and a half hours to work together and find either the green shirt or the piece of the green shirt. The couple was debating on where to start looking though. They had to search the entire house according to Dorothy. “We have to search the entire house Ben.” “How come?” “Well, if he did take it, he could have hid it anywhere. You never know where he could have put it. Remember that Ben has a history of hiding things. Do you remember that time when he was in third grade he hid your watch?” “Oh my god… that was awful. I couldn’t find it for three weeks!” “Exactly. If he hid something that well in third grade imagine the places he could have hid the shirt.” “True that sweetie. So where do you recommend we start?” “Well, I think you should check in his room. Just to make sure it isn’t lying around randomly. I will check our room.” “Why our room?” “The best place to hide something is right under someone’s nose, where they would usually start looking but then they would think it would be too obvious so they look somewhere else.” “Why do you know so much about criminals and cases and stuff?” “I have watched a lot of Law and Order, CSI, NCIS. A LOT.” “Huh, who ever knew that television would come in handy.” And with that they parted ways into the separate rooms that they would be looking. Dorothy, in her own room, checked every single drawer in her cabinet, and checked each of her closets. But it was no where to be found. Ben had the exact same luck searching everywhere he could think of. He checked under the bed, in David’s closet, in his covers in his cabinet but nothing was to be found. Out of discomfort, annoyance, every disturbed type of emotion, Ben let out a sigh and flung his arms up to his head to wipe off the sweat he had worked up in the past 45 minutes searching for a piece of clothing. On the way up, his arms knocked over David’s Ipod. It fell to the floor and with a thud; the screen broke. Ben screamed as loud as he could “GOD DAMN IT!!” “Dorothy came rushing to the door to see what had happened. “What happened!?!?” “I knocked over David’s fricken Ipod.” Dorothy picked up the broken Ipod. The cover on it had slipped half way off. Then Dorothy said with a broken heart “I think that what you just did completely saved us many many many hours of work.” “O ya? Now in addition to searching, we have to go buy David a new Ipod.” “Not in addition to working.” Dorothy pulled out of the case the piece of shirt that they had been looking for so long. “You just found the piece of shirt.” “Great, now we know our son did it.” “Unfortunately so, yes we do.” This was the first time that Ben and Dorothy got a good look at the ripped off piece of clothing. It was the part of the logo, which was a pink bird with outstretched wings with the main color of the shirt being a light colored green. Now it was their turn to do research on the shirt. As they sat down at the computer, Ben stated something. “I think it’s American Eagle.” “That would make sense considering that it is one of the only brands with a logo of an eagle.” Dorothy typed in American Eagle logo into the google search bar. The Eagle on the shirt matched the one on the picture on the screen. Ben said wearily “I am getting more and more suspicious that our son actually killed his best friend but what I don’t understand is why.” “I don’t understand either honey.”

Chapter 3 Ben came home from basketball as sweaty as a professional basketball player after an overtime playoff game. Dripping with sweat, he walked through the front door. “Mom! Dad! Is anyone home?” No answer. He walked into the kitchen and straight to the fridge to grab the carton of orange juice. He set it on the counter and went to the cupboard where the cups were. He got a glass and walked slowly back to where the orange juice was calling his name. He poured it until the juice was at the brim of the cup. He lifted it slowly to his mouth and chugged it all in about 10 seconds. He wiped his mouth clean and refilled the glass, this time not as full. He put the orange juice back into the fridge and went into the living room to where the television was. He sat down and turned it to Sports Center. Meanwhile, downstairs in the basement, the two parents, Ben and Dorothy, had, in fact, heard David call their names. But since it was only around 5:30, they hadn’t finished their plan on how to confront David. “Dorothy,” Ben said in a whisper, “what the hell are we supposed to do? David is home and we don’t know how to tell him that we found out that he was hiding the piece of evidence from the police.” “I think we just need to go up to him and say that we found out that he has been hiding the evidence. It is the best plan that we have. But we have to try and make him tell us that he was hiding it.” They walked upstairs as if nothing had been going up. First went Ben, then followed Dorothy. They went into the kitchen and started setting up the table for diner as loudly as they could to try and get David’s attention. “Mom? Is that you?” “Yes sweetie it is.” “Is dad home too?” Ben yelled from the kitchen “Yes son.” “Come here dad.” “Why?” “I have to show you something.” Ben walked slowly to the living room. Ever since the murder, he hasn’t been able to trust David. He didn’t truly believe that his son had murdered his own best friend but at the same time, he had a terrible, gut wrenching feeling in his stomach that David actually did kill his best friend, Peter. Ben took about 2 or 3 minutes taking about 10 steps. He to the point where he could see the television and David. David turned around and said “Come here dad; as in sit on the couch. Watch the T.V.” Ben walked slowly and even more cautiously towards the couch. He finally got next to David and sat down. “Look dad.” “I don’t get it.” Ben wasn’t even looking at the T.V. He was staring off into space, thinking about what David had done, if he actually had done it. “The Celtics won! They are on their way to the finals again!” “That’s awesome son! Who are they playing?” “Well most likely the Lakers. The Lakers are up on the Suns 3 games to 2. They are going to play tonight. Phoenix is at home. They won twice there but the Lakers are more determined to win I am guessing. Plus, since basically the entire world wants another Celtics vs. Lakers rematch in the finals, I’m sure that most of the calls will go the Lakers’ way. “Interesting….” “Dad, are you okay?” “Yeah son, I am just tired. I couldn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” “Oh, sorry about that.” “Ya, it’s okay.” Quickly to change subjects, Ben asked how David’s day was. “How was playing ball today?” “Oh! It was fantastic. There was a pick-up game going on when I got there with many of the old team members from Alston High that graduated in the last few years. They were really good.” “Oh ya? Did you play in the next game?” “Yes I did! I played so well! I scored almost half of the team’s points. I hit a few threes and then I had a couple step backs and finally a few layups” “That is fantastic son! Congratulations.” “Thanks dad!” “Anytime, but son?” “Mmhm?” “You stink. Go take a shower.” “Ha-ha, that’s not a bad idea.” “Have a good one.” “Thank you.” Ben watched carefully as David turned off the T.V., put the ball away, and finally walk up the stairs. Ben then walked into the kitchen where Dorothy was waiting/ setting up the kitchen for diner. Once they heard David turn on the water upstairs, they started to talk about things again. “Dorothy, what are you doing?” “Well, we told David that we were setting up the dinner table, so now I have to make diner.” “Why don’t we just order out tonight. Let’s get some pizza.” “Okay.” Ben called the pizza place and ordered two large cheese pizzas and one garden salad for Dorothy for delivery. It would take about 30 minutes for it all to arrive. “They said it would take about 30 minutes.” “Okay sweetie. I just realized something.” “Yes honey?” “Did you ask David about him returning the piece of shirt?” “O crap no I did not. We can just bring it up over diner.” “Sounds good.” Then something came from upstairs that didn’t sound so good. Dorothy and Ben looked at each other and whispered at the same time “David’s Ipod.” They had forgotten to tell him. They rushed up to his room and saw him with a towel around his waist, dripping wet again, but this time from the shower. “David, is everything is okay?” “What did you guys do?!?” David screamed at them. Dorothy then made up an excuse. “I was doing laundry while talking on the phone. I came in and put some clothes in your drawers and closet and I must have accidentally knocked over your Ipod.” “Okay, really?” David stared at Dorothy with evil eyes expecting her to say yes. She bought the bait. “Of course sweetie.” “Are you really going to lie to me?” “I am not lying to you David.” David noticed that her face was turning red. He knew that she was lying. “I can’t believe that my own parents would lie to me after what has just happened to me.” “I am not lying to you!” “YOU ARE JUST MAKING IT WORSE!! I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT MY IPOD BREAKING. YOU SAID IT BEFORE I DID. NOW YOU ARE TRYING TO DENY THE TRUTH. WHAT DID YOU REALLY DO?” Ben blurted in. “David, don’t speak to your mother that way.” “O, okay. So she is allowed to lie to me and I am just supposed to sit here and take it like nothing is happening. What were you guys doing in my room. Why is my Ipod broken?” Dorothy tried to speak but Ben held her back. “Let me tell him Dorothy.” “Well?” “Okay. I know you don’t really want to hear this but Dorothy and I are suspicious… that you killed Peter.” “You have to be kidding me. You can’t be serious. Peter was my BEST FRIEND! Why the hell would I kill him?” “We didn’t know why you would. But we both had a terrible feeling in our stomachs. We thought that you weren’t going to turn the evidence into the police. So we decided to search the house for it. We looked everywhere. Then I went into your room and stripped your bed, went through your drawers, went through your closet. I was done until I accidentally hit your Ipod when it was in your case and knocked it onto the ground. It broke and the cover came off. There we found the ripped off piece of shirt from the crime scene. We didn’t know what to think so we were planning to tell over diner.” “So you raided my room to look for a piece of evidence that I hadn’t turned in yet only after one day after the crime scene.” “Well… yes.” “I can’t believe it. Why on earth would you do this?” “I told you, we thought-“ “Yes I know what you told me. Are you actually stupid enough to believe that though? It has been one day since the murder and you thought that I was trying to hide the evidence.” “… Yes…” “Well, I was actually keeping the evidence in a place where I wouldn’t lose the damn thing.” “Oh….” A very awkward silence occurred after this wretched conversation. Then, at basically the best timing possible, the door rang. “I will get it!” Dorothy said and rushed out of the room. “Hold on! You need money to tip him!” Ben said as he quickly followed her. This all left David speechless. He calmly put on some comfortable shorts and a tee shirt and walked downstairs to where they were both talking to the pizza delivery guy. He arrived downstairs and walked through the dining room with an angered expression like no other. There they were, he was thinking. The two that have loved me throughout my entire life, cared so much about me, and trusted me. They had betrayed him by thinking, no, truly believing that he had murdered his best friend. He could never let that go. They had destroyed the bond between him. He leaned against the wall, watching his parents. “That will be twenty-three dollars and forty-five cents sir.” “Alright, now if I could only find my darn wallet. That pesky little thing.” “Sir, I have been here for about 5 minutes. Please just find your money so I can get back to work.” “Hey woah woah hey. Can I take my time please?” “No.” “Well then…” Ben walked around his living room slowly looking for his wallet that was supposedly lost, just to waste time. When the pizza delivery man was unable to see him, he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. “Oh HERE it is.” Ben walked slowly back to the front door where the pizza man was now impatiently waiting. It had been 10 minutes since he had arrived. “Here is the money sir, and thank you for your patience.” With a pathetic smile the pizza man said “Thank you sir. Have a good day” Ben closed the door and went to where Dorothy was waiting in the kitchen. “Well, here is the pizza!” “Ya. But now we have to talk to David. I know that that is a terrible thing to say but I am really not looking forward to doing it.” “At least we have some nice and warm pizza!” Ben opened the box and touched the pizza. “…cold pizza!” The two set the table, not knowing that the entire time David was sitting near the doorway to the kitchen. He had heard everything that they had said. Once Ben and Dorothy had finished setting the table, Dorothy called David’s name. “David! Super is on the table!” David immediately walked into the room, even before she could finish her entire sentence. “I know mom.” “Oh, okay well sit. We have pizza.” “Obviously. You guys know I heard every single word that you guys said in here.” “Were you eavesdropping?” “No shit. I can’t trust you two at all any more.” Niether of them said anything. “Really? Now you can’t even fess up and say that you are at least sorry?” Once again, not a peep came out of their mouths. “Wow that is so sad. I’m gonna eat in my room. If either of you two grow a pair, come tell me.” David took five pieces of pizza that looked the best and walked back to his room, nearly crying because his parents were being so awful. He got to his room and set the pizza down. David wanted to do something just as awful to them in return to the pain that they have caused him. He was thinking of destroying one of his mother’s old chairs, nothing that was anything of significance to him. The chair he was thinking about was a gift from Dorothy’s mother after her husband had died. She cherished it with all her heart. But what hurt him was the grief and guilt he would have if he actually destroyed the piece of “useless” furniture. David isn’t that kind of person. No matter how much pain someone causes him, he didn’t have the heart to deal them any pain in addition. David sat down on his bed. He turned to his side table and put his Ipod into his Ihome. Luckily it still worked. He turned it on and set it to shuffle. The first song that came on was “Lost” by Micheal Buble, one of his most favorite songs and artists. He turned back around and lied down on his bed. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to drain the pain out of him but unfortunately, he was unable to do it. Luckily, with his eyes closed, he was able to fall asleep. At least for a short time, he was able to relax and just be alone for once. Meanwhile, downstairs, Dorothy and Ben were struggling to find out what to do. They had two, well three options. The first option, which is mainly out of the question, was to not talk to David at all and hope that he would eventually forgive them. The second option was to go up and talk to David now. They chose not to do this because it would seem like they were only apologizing because David called them out about it. The third and final option was to go upstairs and talk to him in a while, maybe 15 minutes or so to apologize. This way they would apologize to him and make it seem like it was under their own power.

They had made their decision. They would wait about 15 minutes to go up and talk to him. The question was, what were they going to say? A simple sorry doesn’t seem like it would be enough. As Ben got up, he wiped his face in exghaustion and fatigue. “What are we going to say? We cant just say ‘Oh I’m so sorry about what just happened. Can you ever forgive us?’ That would never work. We need something elaborate.” Dorothy stood up as well and hugged Ben to reassure her self that everything would be okay. “We cant make up an excuse, that would make the situation much much worse. “ “Maybe we could say that this entire situation was throwing everyone off track and that we weren’t being ourselves.” “That sounds good. We can improvise after that if we need to.” With somewhat confident strides, both Ben and Dorothy walked upstairs to David’s room. It must have been at least 830 since it was getting dark. Ben slowly pushed the door open and saw the light from David’s bed side lamp shining out. Then they just barged in. The one problem was that David was asleep. Unluckily for them, they did not know this, and with the ruckus that they caused, David woke up with a scream. “Who’s there?” “It's just us sweety.” Dorothy said with as much affection as she could. As David wiped the crustiness of tears from his eyes he said; “What do you want now? Have you come to accuse me of more crimes?” “No, of course not. We have come to apologize. We feel terrible about what happened today.” “Oh really.” “Yes we do honey.” Dorothy had to say. “David, these last two days have been an awful experience for all of us. You said when you came home this morning that you really wanted to help. Well that inspired us to want to help as well.” “… Really?” “Of course sweetie.” Dorothy said again. “Yes we were really inspired by you. But, with the, mixture of emotions and determination, many things rushed to our heads that were not true. But at the time that they came to us, we were unaware of the fact that they were false facts. But in the spur of the moment we went and searched your room and found the evidence that you were ‘hiding’. We both understand that what we did was wrong now, and we are both unbelievably sorry for making you go through even more pain.” “Yes, we are so sorry.” With a huge sigh of relief, David finally agreed to take the apology. “Alright, I believe you.” Both Ben and Dorothy smiled and also took sighs of relief. They turned around and left with smiles on their face. Once they walked back downstairs and sat in their favorite chairs, Ben said “Wow, that went much better than I expected it to go.” “Agreed Ben. I was impressed with how you came up with that on the spot” “Thank you sweetie. It is very helpful to have a creative imagination.” Those were the last words that everyone said for the rest of the night. Ben went downstairs to work out again. This time, he put the Pokémon theme song on repeat. Dorothy went to her room and read her book for the rest of the night. And David, finished his pizza then went to bed early, around 10:30 ish. They all went to bed early, Dorothy around 10 o’clock and Ben eventually came back upstairs, took a shower and finally went to bed around 11:15. After a long day, they all deserved to get a lot of rest. But now the question is, what will school be like tomorrow (Monday) for David?

Chapter 4

"Ugh... 5 more minutes..." David slams his hand down on the snooze button and quickly falls back asleep. "Ugh..." It is 6:30am on Monday morning; not exactly the time that you want to be awake. David slowly got out of his bed and walked clumsily down the stairs into the kitchen. He went to the cup board to get a bowl. He set it on the table and went slowly to another cup board to grab a cup. Once more, he gets up to go to a drawer to get some silverware, specifically a spoon. Now he goes to the fridge to get some orange juice and milk. Finally he goes to the pantry to get some cereal, his favorite cereal, cinnamon toast crunch. He puts it all together for a delicious breakfast. At about 6:50, he goes back upstairs to the bathroom and gets in the shower. This is when his parents wake up. They have basically the same routine as David but they have different breakfasts. Ben's favorite breakfast available at the time is rice krispies with sugar. Dorothy's favorite breakfast is a smoothie that she makes from scratch out of fruit from their fruit bowl. Once they finish their breakfast they go back upstairs to their room to get dressed. Once they get into their room, David gets out of the shower and goes into his room, almost completely dry from his shower. Then in about 10 minute’s time, they are all downstairs, dressed and ready to go. This was a morning to remember. David had no clue that his parents were up and Ben and Dorothy had no clue that their son was up. They were all surprised when they met in the living room downstairs all ready to go. “Since when have you been up David?” “I have been up since 6:30. Since when have you two been up?” “We have been up since around 6:50- 6:55. Why do you ask?” “Well I haven’t seen or heard either of you too this morning and I have basically covered the entire house.” “Same here. Huh…” “Weird…” This Monday morning was very weird indeed; and it was only going to get even more weird. When David left the house at around 7:20, it started out as a normal Monday morning. He got out his bike and rode it for about 15 minutes until he got to school. He locked it up and went to his locker. Once there, he got all the binders that he needed for his morning classes; Math, History, Chemistry, and English. He wasn’t expecting to need all of them considering school was basically over. After he finished up at his locker, he walked to the gym where his Health and Fitness course took place. At 7:45, David walked through the doors to the gym. “You are lat Johnson” his gym teacher Mr. Nelson said without looking up from his assignment sheet.” “Whatever.” “Excuse me?” For the first time ever, someone had talked back to Mr. Nelson. “I said whatever.” If I haven’t mentioned it yet, Mr. Nelson is an extremely harsh and rude teacher that even many of the staff do not like. “I think you just earned yourself 5 laps around the gym.” The rest of the class stood silently, waiting excitedly to see the outcome of this once in a lifetime occurrence. “I think you should shut the hell up. You have no good damn clue what I went through this weekend so if you think that I’m going to run 5 laps around this gym just because YOU of all people told me to, you have another thing coming.” Mr. Nelson stood there in awe. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. As calmly as he could, he said to David: “Go sit down.” “No. I’m gonna participate in class.” “Go. Sit. Down.” Mr. Nelson was getting extremely heated. No one had ever challenged his authority. “No.” “Now.” “I don’t think you get it. I went through hell this weekend. I’m not going to listen to what you say to me.” “You know what? Fine.” Mr. Nelson turns his back to David and speaks to everyone else in front of him. “Change in plans. Today, we are going to play dodge ball. Girls verses boys. Except for you David. You are going to be with the girls because other wise, the teams would be unevenly matched.” With a smile on his face, David said; “Okay. Time to kick some ass!” Mr. Nelson could hardly believe his ears. So with steam coming out of every possible hole on his face, he set up the court. The clown of the class, named Danny, tried to ease the tension in the room by pulling a joke out of his sleeve. “Folks, this is truly a sight to remember. Boys verses Girls, plus David. Who will be the victor, the feminine side or the masculine side?” Mr. Nelson blew the whistle and they were off. Within a few seconds, balls were flying everywhere across the gym. “Halley! You are outta here!” “Bryson, you are gone as well!” “Michelle, get on the bench!” In a matter of minutes it was down to two guys: Henry and Eli against 1 guy and 1 girl: David and Molly. Eli was fueling balls into Henry’s hands luckily, since David is basically best friends with Henry, he knew all of his skills and tactics. David was dodging every one of Henry’s throw no matter where they were. Up, down, left, right, anywhere Henry threw David dodged it. Then, amazing happened. Henry threw at David but then out of no where Eli decided to throw a rocket as well. Henry’s throw made David dive left and hit the ground. Eli’s throw was then right at him. It hit David in the head and knocked him out. Henry, Molly, and Eli all rushed over to where David laid motion less on the floor. Blood was gushing from his nose into a pool on the ground. Mr. Nelson calmly walked over. Also from the crowd, Emily and a couple other people that attended David’s group rushed to the scene to see if they could help. “Get up boy… I said get up!” Out of no where Molly of all people screamed “SHUT THE FUCK UP!! HE IS OBVIOUSLY KNOCKED OUT YOU DUMB PIECE OF SHIT!! HURRY UP AND GET THE NURSE!!” Mr. Nelson was about to speak back at Molly but she looked down to examine David. Then he looked around at the class. They were all glaring at him. With a shaky coward voice, Mr. Nelson said “I… I’m going to go get the nurse. Class is dismissed.” He quickly went to the nurse and within five minutes they both arrived. No one had left the scene but they had all formed a circle around David. Molly was plugging David’s nose with one hand so not as much blood would escape from David’s head and with the other hand, she was stroking his hair. Henry was on the side with Eli, trying to calm him down. “It’s not your fault man. Don’t worry about it. He will be fine.” “Yes it is. It’s all my fault.” “Dude, I made him go to where you threw your ball. If I didn’t throw it where I threw it, everyone would be fine. If it is anyone’s fault, it is mine.” “But still! I hit him.” Tears were gushing out of Eli’s eyes and onto his lap. “It’s alright. He will be fine. There is no need to worry. Why don’t you get out of here. Go somewhere that you feel happy and just try to forget what happened today. I’m going to go see if there is anything that I can help with over there.” “Alright Henry, thanks man.” “No problem.” Eli silently got up, looked over by David where he was surrounded by Molly, Mr. Nelson, and the Nurse. Then he went and got his bag and left. Meanwhile, Henry went over to where everyone else was. Instead of crowding the place right next to David, he took action in trying to clear the way for the nurse, Molly and Mr. Nelson. “Hey everyone!”Henry shouted. Only a couple of people looked, not the result that he was expecting. At the top of his voice, Henry screamed “EVERYONE, GET OVER HERE!!!” He had gotten everyone’s attention. “Ms. Mahoney needs her space. Why don’t we get out of here and give it to her.” People slowly filed out one by one, disappointed and scared because of the most likely outcome for David: becoming hospitalized. Once everyone was out of the room, Henry calmly but briskly walked back over to where the remaining people were. “How is he doing?” “Molly answered very nervously “We don’t know quite yet. All we have been able to do is stop the bleeding.” Mr. Nelson then added “I think you two should get out of here. Leave this to the grown ups. Molly and Henry both reacted in unison by saying “Shut the hell up.” Henry added onto that by saying “I think if anyone would leave it would, no it will be you. Molly and I are David’s best friends and you are the most hated teacher in this school.” Mr. Nelson had no answer to that besides a couple stutters. “You...I will…” That’s all Mr. Nelson could squeak out of his mouth. Then he got up from where he was sitting/ kneeling on the ground, took his work bag and left, muttering under his breath, most likely muttering swears. Neither Molly nor Henry could believe that Mr. Nelson had left. “Did he really just leave?” Molly asked out of disbelief? “Unless my eyes are lying to me, yes, yes he did.” Ms. Mahoney then butted in by saying “Thank you both so so so much! That man is a bastard.” “Agreed.” Henry said. The person with the most concern on her face, Molly, asked “How is he doing.” “Well, he has stopped bleeding from his nose but it has swelled up significantly. So my guess is that it is broken. We don’t want him to wake up anytime soon because he will be in a humungous amount of pain if he does.” “Should I call an ambulance?” Molly asked. “Can either of you drive?” “Well I can, but my car isn’t here with me.” Henry said. “Then yes call the ambulance, tell them to come to the front of the Alston high gym. A kid had most likely broken his nose and is unconscious. He is already on a stretcher.” “I’m on it.” Molly said. As she went out into the hallway, a question came into the mind of Henry. “Since when do we have a stretcher?” “We have always had one, well, not always. A few summers back I worked in the hospital because I was low on money. I worked in an ambulance. One day, a stretcher was needed at a school. We brought it to the school and on the way back from that mission, I asked the driver if I could take one back to the school that I work at, here. He said yes, thankfully. Because now, life will be so much easier for everyone at this school knowing that they have access to a lot of medical technology.” “Wow, that was a really smart idea on your part Ms. Mahoney!” “Why thank you sweetie! Alright I’m going to stay here and attend to David if he wakes up while you go get the stretcher.” “Yes m’am.” Henry walked as fast as he could to the nurse’s office. But as soon as he got out of the doors of the gym, David woke up. “AHHHH OH MY GOD. MY NOSE!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO ME??” “Sweetie calm, down. You broke your nose during a game of dodge ball.” “THEN WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE? SHOULDN’T I BE IN THE HOSPITAL?” That moment, Henry arrived with a stretcher. “Is that for me? Did I break anything else in my body” Molly then tells David the news. “That is for you. No you did not break anything else in your body. You are going to be fine. It is so you don’t need to walk because the impact of your foot steps would jostle your nose and make it hurt even more.” “More than now?” “Yes, more than now. We want to prevent that though so the stretcher is here for you.” And with that, Molly embraced David. He was completely not expecting this to happen. It really calmed him down since he liked her so much. He hugged her back and they stayed like that for a while. Then David saw the pool of blood. “Is that my blood?” “Yea man, it’s yours. You were bleeding pretty badly when you got hit. But don’t worry, you will-“ “Oh my god… Oh my god. OH MY GOD. AHH Someone in this fucking school is dead.” “Dead, what do you mean David?” Molly asked as nicely as she could.” “Look at my blood. “ Each person’s head turned towards the direction of the pool of blood. “Do you see that?” Everyone replied in unison “Yes”. In addition to that yes there were a couple gasps. “That right there is a footprint.” “Ya, well what about it?” “AHH!” “Are you okay?” “Yes I am fine. But anyways, I have seen that footprint before. It was at the Hyatt hotel on the night of Peter’s murder.” “Okay, so what is so important about it.?” “Well-” Before David could really even start his sentence, the Ambulance crew rushed through the doors of the gym. They looked straight at the nurse and said “Ms. Mahoney?” She replied “Yes. This is David. I believe that he has broken his nose during a game of dodge ball.” “Alright. Let’s get you on a stretcher and get you to the hospital.” “NO NO NOT YET!!” “Come one kid, this needs to be done as quickly as possible with little to no resistance.” “NO NO NO. Henry, Ms Mahoney, do not let anyone touch that pool of blood. It is evidence from the crime scene to Peter’s murder.” As David was shouting this from the moving stretcher, Molly came up to him and held his hand up until the door of the ambulance. Before he got in she said “I love you David.” Out of disbelief, David smiled and said “Thanks. I will call you. I love you too.” The two love birds parted each other with smiles. The ambulance drove off to the hospital and Molly went back into the gym. Henry asked her: “What was that all about?” “She replied: “Oh nothing.” To get away from this topic she quickly changed the subject by saying: “We need to get a photo of this, just in case someone accidentally messes the footprint up.” They got a camera and took a picture of it, a few actually. They took a total of 5, one from each side then one from directly above. Meanwhile in the ambulance, David was actually having fun for the first time in a long time. Once he had parted ways with Molly, he was given ice and some pain meds. His entire face was covered with ice. You would think it would burn, but with the combination of the medicine and his feelings towards Molly, he couldn’t help but laugh and smile. The ambulance assistance man struck up a conversation with David. “Now who was that lovely little lady?” “Oh, she was just a friend. We have gotten close ever since Saturday night.” “Oh ya? What was Saturday night?” “Saturday night was just an awful night. Even thought the day started off normally, it got to be 7 o’clock. My best friend Peter was having a party at the Hyatt. I called him to tell him that I was going to be late. He was drunk. I then got there around 8ish I think it was and I arrive to find out that he is dead. He got shot in the fore head. I didn’t know what to do. I saw Molly, the girl that we just left, and I went over to her. We hugged, and we just…connected, you know?” “Ya I feel you man. But what happened after that. If you don’t mind telling me.” “Sure thing. Well, I stayed there and everyone left to sum up the next hour or so. Then my parents came and picked me up. I got home, got in bed, but I couldn’t get to sleep. So, I left my house, went back to the scene of the crime and examined it. I saw a trail of extra footprints coming from where Peter’s pool of blood was. It trailed off into the woods. I followed it and then I found a ripped up piece of shirt.” “O wow, that is really intense. Have you found out any lead?” “Well right as you guys were taking me away, did you hear me yelling takes pictures of it?” “Yes we sure did. What is **//__it”__//** “Well, **//__it__//** is a footprint that I believe is the one that is from the crime scene. I didn’t want to leave because there is someone in my school that killed Peter. I have to get back to school and question people about it.” “Why yes you do!” The assistant yelled up front to the driver “Yo! Step on it! This kid has some things to do!” “Sure thing Bill!” “Thanks Mo!” Mo turned back around and faced David. “So, tell me more about Molly.” “Well, today was the first time I have seen her since Saturday.” “Oh really. Is she in your gym class or did she enter the gym once she saw that you were hurt.” “She is in my gym class. You know how we were playing dodge ball?” “Yup, that is how you broke your nose correct?” “Yes, yes it is. But, we were the last two on our team that hadn’t been thrown out yet. The two people on the other team were deliberately aiming at me so once I was out they would have an easy kill. When I got hit, I think she was the first by my side.” “Uh huh. That’s sweet. What did she say to you right before we left?” “She said she loved me…” “Well what did you say back?” “I said ‘Thanks I will call you later’ or something like that.” “Ya did good kid, ya did good. Also, how is your nose.” “It is actually feeling pretty good.” “Good, because we are here so we are about to get you to the emergency room.” “Cool sounds good.” And with that, David was taken out of the ambulance and was taken to the emergency room. Once there he got a nosed brace to protect his nose from coming in contact with anything. David was hustling as quickly as he could to get out of there. One, it was uncomfortable, and two, he needed to get back to the gym to examine the foot print. The one from the crime scene was slowly leaving his mind. It would soon exit his memory which would make it much more difficult to trace the culprit. “Excuse me” David said while the doctors were talking. “Yes son?” “I have to go. AS IN NOW.” “Well son you are going to have to wait a little bit longer. We still need to get the x-rays. As a matter of fact, here they are now.” “Sweet, thank you very much.” “Hey sonny do you need a ride back to your house?” “Uh… yes please. But can you get me the ambulance assistance guy named Mo?” “Sure, why do you want him?” “I haven’t finished telling him my story.” “Oh, alright kid. One second.” Within a minute or two, Mo was in David’s room ready to get out of there. “Thanks Doc.” “Anytime kid.” David and Mo quickly left the Hospital’s emergency room and rushed down the hallway to the nearest exit. “You know what, what the heck. Where exactly are we going and why do you need me?” “Well, I am supposed to go back to my house but with the entire case lying in my hands I cannot risk losing the information that I have in my head. So we are going back to the school.” “Are you sure about this kid? Should I call your parents and let them know what is happening?” “Um… No. Not yet. I think that you should leave that to me when we get back to the school. They don’t need to know quite yet.” “Alright kid. Whatever floats your boat.” It was a quiet drive back to the school. Both David and Mo knew that what they were doing was illegal. But the only person that cared, was Mo. His job was on the line but for some reason he was willing to risk it all for this kid. He understands what David has gone through the past weekend and he doesn’t want to get in his way. “Alright kid, here you go.” “Thanks Mo.” “Do you have everything you need? Phone, keys, bag?” “I think I only had my phone and it’s in my pocket so I am all set thanks.” “”Maybe see you sometime later in life.” “Same to you Mo. Bye.” And with that, they parted ways. David let out a huge sigh of satisfaction and quickly rushed into the gym. As soon as he opened door he was stopped by a police officer. “What are you doing here kid? Get to class.” “Um, well I am David. The kid that asked you guys to come here. So you might want to get out of my way.” “Yo kid. Don’t talk to me that way. Get out of here.” This police officer wasn’t going to leave nearly as easily as Mr. Nelson did. But luckily behind the officer, David spotted Molly. “Molly! Over here! At the door! Please! Come help me!” David was waving his arms in every possible motion he could to try to get her attention. Finally he did. Molly ran over to the door. “David, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?” “I need to figure this case out as soon as possible and when I am in the emergency room, I can’t really get any work done.” “That is true. Excuse me sir…Larry. You can let this young man in. He is the main detective for this case. He thinks it leads back to the one that happened at the Hyatt on Saturday.” “Yes I do sir…” “Whatever kid. Go on through.” “Thanks sir.” Once David wasn’t facing the police officer he began to mock him to Molly’s amusement. He quickly finished up with that when he arrived at the sight of the pool of blood. “Listen up everybody.” David said. He needed to get their attention so he could do things the most efficient way. “I know every one of you wants to get out of here as soon as possible. That can only happen if I can meet with the people that were surrounding me once I had collapsed, unconscious.” Mr. Nelson, Molly, Henry, and Ms Mahoney all stepped forward. “Alright, I need you all to wrack your brains to try and remember who could have crossed through the pool of blood when they weren’t being the focus.” Ms. Mahoney was the first to speak up. “Well, there were a bunch of girls that came over. Maybe 5 or 6 I think to see if you were alright. They could have stepped in your blood then…” “True very true. Thank you Ms. Mahoney. Alright, anyone else?” “Yes David. I think I know who the people are that came over. They all went to your club to get help. One was Emily, one was Paula, one was Becca, one was Katie, and the last one was Bruce.” “Okay, can you guys all go find those people and bring them back here as soon as possible!” “We will get right on it David.” David went over to the bleachers while everyone ran over to the door to search for the possible criminals. But, Molly stayed behind. She walked back over to David and sat down next to him. “How are you feeling?” “I am feeling alright. I am beginning to get a major headache. Can you go get some Advil or something? That would be fantastic.” “Sure thing sweetie.” David was about to comment on what Molly just said but she had already gotten up and ran to Ms. Mahoney. Within a few seconds but what felt like hours to David, Molly ran back. “Ms. Mahoney is going to get some medicine.” “Okay, thanks.” There was a long pause between the two. Molly broke it by saying “Is everything okay David?” “Ya, I think so.” “What’s up?” “Do you like me?” Molly put her head down and smiled.” “’Cause I like you to.” “Really?” “I have liked you for so long you don’t even understand. Ever since we met last year at the basketball. You have been on my mind at almost all times.” “Really? Cool. I like you too.” With a smile David grabbed Molly’s hand and just held it. Finally, David’s fantasy had come true. But now, who is the missing link to the two scenes?
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Chapter 5 The first person to come back was Henry. But by the time he was back in the gym, almost the entire police force had left. The only thing that remained was the police tape that surrounded the blood scene. Surprisingly, the footprint was still in mint shape. While Henry was running towards David, he shouted the names of the people that he was able to gather. "Yo David! I found 2 people!" "Well who did you find?" No one was following Henry while he was running towards David. "I found Bruce and Paula." Henry turned around. "What the..." David was right. No one was behind him. He dashed back out of the room and saw that the Paule and Bruce standing right outside of the doorway. "Well what are you two doing here?" "We just thought it would be a good idea to wait here." Paula said. Paula is a very quiet girl that is known for doing before acting. Not one of her best traits. Henry, knowing that he is pressed on time began to let out his anger on her. He bent down and put his face right in front of hers. "Are you stupid? If I am running, maybe you might think it is a good idea to continue to follow me!" "I'm sorry. I just hate the sight of blood. I want to be as far away from it at all times possible." Henry just figured out something. He stood up straight and smiled. "I am sorry for exploding on you like that. But will you two please come and follow me?" "Don't worry about it. We will be right behind you this time." For the second time, Henry briskly came in through the gym doors. "Hey David. This time I got them." "Sweet. Thanks man." "You two wait her. I have to go talk to David." "Alright Henry." Henry ran over to where David and Molly were sitting. He got up to the row in the bleachers that they were sitting in and saw them holding hands. "WOAH! Since when?" "About 10 minutes ago, right after you left to go find the peeps." "Alright well congrats. But I have to tell you my opinions on Bruce and Paula." "Okay... so..." "Ya right. Okay. So I am pretty sure that Paula did not do it. She is obviously terrified at blood because that is why she didn't follow me the first time. Just look at her now. She is not even facing towards where the blood is." "True, true. Now what about Bruce." "Well he doesn't seem like the type of guy that would kill anyone. Also, he just doesn't want to be here and he is keeping his cool. When we see the killer, we will be able to tell if he or she is the murderer." "Alright sounds good. Also, while you were gone, the last remaining police officer came over and told me that the shoe size was a 9.5 women's shoe size. I have no clue what that is in men's but I know that it is small." "Okay, i will go ask them to show me what shoe size they are." Henry ran down the stairs and quickly got to where Bruce and Paula were patiently waiting. "Hey guys. I need you to take off your shoes." "Okay, whatever." They both took off their shoes. They both said in unison "Here you go." Henry found out that Paula was a size 8 women's. Bruce is a size 9.5 but in men's." "Alright, thank you both very much. Here are your shoes back and you are free to go." They put their shoes back on and walked briskly out of the door. Henry turned around and faced David. He signaled that both of them were not the murderer. Henry went over to the first row of the bleachers and sat down. But once he sat down, Ms. Mahoney ran in through the doors. As Ms. Mahoney was running over to where David was sitting, she screamed “I found three more people!!” “Really who? Quick tell me!” “Well, I found Katie in her chemistry class, I found Becca actually waiting in the nurses office waiting for me, and I found Emily in her math class taking a test.” “Alright, that doesn’t really matter. But where are they?” “They are right over there waiting with Henry.” “Okay.” David got up and got a humungous head rush from sitting so long and not moving. But he kept on going. He stumbld down the stairs and went over to where the crew was sitting. “Alright who is up first?” “What do you mean Dave?” Dave…that’s what Peter called him. This made David extremely sad and angry aat the same time. “Who wants to get the fuck over there and match their god dam shoe print?” No one had ever seen David like this, not even Henry. There was a look of determination and rage in his eyes. Every person there became scared of what was going to happen. It was silent in the gym, like it would be in a game 7 of the NBA finals when the final shot goes of at the buzzer. “Becca, why don’t you step up to the plate and give it a whirl. Come over here and match your shoe size.” Becca slowly got up and walked cautiously over to the bloody scene. She took of her shoe. “What size shoe are you Becca?” “I am a size… 8. What size shoe is the one of the criminal?” David let out a sigh of disgust. “Ahhhh. She was a size 9 and a half shoe. You are free to go back to your class.” “Thanks I guess.” “Antime.” As Becca put on her shoe, David walked back over to where the waiting people were sitting. “Who is next in line?” “I’ll go.” Emily said. “Now that you said that, come over here Katie. Lets see your shoe size.” “Alright, fine with me.” Katie and David both walked over calmly to where the blood was. “Take off your shoe please.” “Sounds good to me.” Katie flung up her shoe and caught it in mid air. David grabbed it from her hand and checked the tag. It said 9.5. “You my friend, have a good chance of going to jail. But since there is one more person to check you are not screwed quite yet. Stay right here.” David walked back over to where Emily was sitting with Henry. “Well Emily, you are the last person that could have possibly killed Peter. Katie has a shoe size of 9.5. PLEASE don’t tell me that you have a size 9.5 shoe as well.” Emily took off her shoe and gave it David. He took a deep breath and looked at the tag under the tongue. “9.5. Shit.” David looked up and took a deep breath. “Emily, go over to where Katie is standing. I will be there in a few minutes.” “Sure thing.” Emily walked over to Katie. “Henry, you might as well go back to class. I don’t think there is anything else that you can do. It is either Katie or Emily that did it.” “You sure I can’t help any more?” “I am sure man. Thank you so much,” “Any time Dave. I will catch you later.” “Yup.” David now walked over to where Molly was patiently waiting. “Hey sweeite. We narrowed the killer down to two people. It is either Emily or Katie. You might as well go to class. I don’t think that there is anything else that you can do.” “Alright. But there is one more thing that I can do.” Molly leaned over and kissed David on the cheek. “I think you could use a little more motivation because once this is over, there will be more where that came from.” “O. Okay.” The two love birds smiled at each other. Molly then got up and went to class. David watched her walk away until she was out of the doors. David whispered to himself “Alright, time to get down to business.” He took another huge breath and walked over to where both Katie and Emily were sitting. “Okay, I will ask this once right now. Who did it? Who killed Peter?” “I barely knew him,” said Katie. “He was in my Physics class last year and I barely even spoke to him. I did not do it.” “What about you Emily? Did you do it?” “No I did not do it. I knew him last year very well to the point where we went out for about 2 weeks. But then we realized that it wasn’t going to work out so we stopped. Since then I haven’t really talked to him.” “So neither of you did it. This is your last chance to confess. If you do now, your penalty will be decreased.” Neither of the two girls confessed. “Alight, follow me.” While they both jumped up, Katie asked “Where are we going?” “We are going to the art room to get some clay. That is where you will step on it so we can get a footprint! Fun isn’t it?” The two girls looked at each other in confusion, wondering why David didn’t just take of their shoes and compare them at the crime scene. They both shrugged it off, neither of them really cared as long as it took more time out of their day. The three students arrived in the art room while the art teacher, Mr. Doart, was lecturing yet another class about the wonderful ways of art. As soon as Katie, Emily, and David walked in through the doors, the entire class let out a silent cheer, well, by entire class, I mean the ones that were awake. Mr. Doart was struggling to keep back from screaming at the top of his lungs at the three students. As calmly as he could, Mr. Doart asked them a simple question. “What are you doing here?” Henry was in this extremely boring class. David noticed this and exchanged eye glances as well as the common “what’s up” head nod. As this happened, David completely ignored Mr. Doart. With a little more aggression in his voice and gestures, Mr. Doart repeated himself. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” You could basically see steam rising from the bald spot on the crazed art teacher’s head. David calmly came back and said: “Woah dude, chill out. I need some clay.” Mr. Doart was unbelievably pissed off. No one had ever told him to ‘chill out’. “And why may I ask do you need clay?” “I don’t know if you have been paying attention at all today, but I got nailed in the face with a dodge ball. Blood started gushing from my nose and in the end there was a pool of blood next to me as I lay unconscious. When I woke up, there was a footprint in it. I immediately recognized it from the crime scene at the Hyatt on Saturday night from when Peter died. I have narrowed the possible suspects down to these two girls, Kaite and Emily. I need the clay to figure out what their footprints are like so I can match them to the one in the gym. Once I have done this I can figure out who killed David.” By this time, almost everyone in the class was wide awake and paying attention to what was going on. Except of course for the druggies. No matter what goes on in their daily lives, they will be sleeping. But as for the rest of the class they were trying to decide what was going to happen in this conflict. Mr. Doart finally spoke up and wimpily said: “How much clay do you need?” “Figure it out, I need enough for two size 9.5 shoe prints. How much do you think that is?” “I have no clue.” “Well than just give me more than enough, you are starting to piss me off.” “Whatever.” “Hurry the fuck up and get the clay, I don’t have all day.” Mr. Doart took his time walking to the supply closet where he puts the clay. “Any time today would be nice thank you.” “Hold your horses kid, I have to find the clay.” “It is right in front of you, literally. Are you god damn blind?” “That is rude, and no I did not see it.” “Well it is in the exact place that you usually put things. Why don’t you try to stay a little bit more organized.” “You know what? I don’t think that you deserve any clay. Go find something else to figure out those two girl’s foot prints with.” “DUDE, ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?” “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.” “Well then you have a fucking problem on your hands right now. You are getting in the way of me solving a crime scene. I am sure that there is something I can charge you with. Unless of course, you give me some god damn fucking pieces of clay!” At this point, many of the people in the class were talking amongst them selves about what was going on. No one could believe how manipulative David was being. Mr. Doart was known for being an individual and not giving in to anyone else’s demands. That had certainly changed tonight. Mr. Doart chucked the clay at David. “Knock yourself out kid.” “Go to fucking hell.” And with that, David dragged the two girls out of the art room and into the hallway where he told them to start walking towards the gym. “You guys go to the gym, I need to go talk to the principal about this entire incident that just occurred. Alright?” “Ya, sounds good to me.” Katie said. Katie pulled the arm of Emily and they were off to the gym. Meanwhile, David started to walk in the complete opposite direction towards the principal’s office. David arrived quickly to the door of the head master’s office and peeped inside to check if anyone was there. The secretary of the school was. David knocked on the door. He watched as the secretary slowly stood up and came over to the locked front door. She weakly opened the door and said “Come in young lad. What do you need?” As David was walking into the office he alerted the secretary of the situation. “To make things quick and simple, Mr. Doart was an absolute douche and he hindered my abilities to complete my work on the case that I have been trying to solve.” “Oh my, I am so sorry honey. What are you doing here then?” “Well I need to talk to Dr. Strong. Is he in?” “I am once again terribly sorry. He isn’t in at the moment. He actually went down to the gym to where the ‘crime scene’ is to survey what has been going on in these last few hours.” “Oh wow, that would happen. Alright, thank you very muchMs….secretary. Have a good day.” “And you as well sweetie.” David walked out of the front door and closed it as soon as he got both of his feet past the door frame. He muttered to himself, “That was so unbelieveably awkward…And why the hell does Dr. Strong need to check in on the situation? He rarely does that for any other type of thing.” David rushed quickly down the corridors of Alston High. First through the math department, then a sharp left to go through the chemistry department and finally a second left that lead you right into the gym. Boom, he was there in less than 30 seconds. But Emily wasn’t. David walked quickly towards the group of people that were surrounding around a motionless body. HE got there and realized that it was Katie. “See, I told you I didn’t do it.” “Well thank you for being honest, I am sorry that I didn’t trust you.” David turned around and saw Dr. Strong looking at him. “You young mad have to start watching your mouth.” “No sir, I think that you need to hire better teachers. I don’t think that you understand how awful a teacher Mr. Doart is. He is utterly boring and he is only able to function if things are done his way. Also, he isn’t even a good artist! What the hell is he an art teacher for. No if you excuse me, I need to go finish this case.” David turned around and walked to where Ms. Mahoney was standing, leaving Dr. Strong speechless. (I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but the faculty at Alston high is on the poorer side in Massachusetts) “Ms. Mahoney! How are you doing?” “I am doing fine. I am just so surprised that Emily was the person to do it. Her of all people, that just completely caught me off guard.” “I know Ms. Mahoney, me as well. She was a good kid, from what I knew but I guess we were both wrong about that.” “True, now what do you need from me?” “I just want to find out if you know where or which way Emily went.” “I am not completely sure but I think that since Katie didn’t quite enter the gym yet, Emily must not have fully entered the gym either, meaning that she stayed in the back of the building.” “Wow, that is really smart. Alright, can you do me a huge favor?” “Yes sure, what is it?” “I need you to round up a search team to attempt to find Emily. Get three teams of 4. One for each floor.” “Well what about the basement?” “Yes that too. If she is in here, we can’t let her escape. If she is outside, we can finally leave it to the police because we have done more than enough work.” “True, very true.” “Who do you think would be--” Before Ms. Mahoney could even finish her sentence, the lights in the gym went off. Screams came from every direction possible. David immediately took out his phone and used it as a flashlight. “Well, I am pretty sure that she is still in the building because I am pretty sure that the lights in a gym do not just turn off randomly.” Another person came in through the door, a student most likely. They also had out their cell phone as use for a flashlight. She screamed into the gym; “The entire power has gone out in the school, someone turned it all off.” “Ms. Mahoney! Do you know where the power supply comes from?” “The basement.” “Well, we know where to look first.” Ms. Mahoney was just about to walk away when David caught her attention. “Ms. Mahoney!” “Yes David?” “Can you go over to Dr. Strong and ask him to call a janitor and to tell him or her to come to the gym and get us flashlights?” “We don’t you just do it?” “I said some things that I am not very proud of saying to him…” “Oh, I see. Well you stay right here and I will be right back.” “Sounds good. “Ms. Mahoney walked briskly over to the vicinity of where Dr. Strong was standing just a few minutes ago. “Dr. Strong? Are you there?” “Yes I am right over here. What can I do for you?” “We need to get flashlights, as soon as possible. If we are going to find out where the hell Emily is, we are going to need some light.” “This is true, I will call some right now.” Dr. Strong took out his walkie talkie and called 3 janitors. “Hey, I need you guys to come to the main gym as soon as possible, no, now. We need flashlights in order to go look for Emily.” “Sure thing boss.” In about 1 or 2 minutes, which of course seemed like forever, all three of the janitors arrived with fully operating flashlights. “Here you go boss.” “Thanks Mo.” Ms. Mahoney, Dr. Strong, and David were now all occupied with fully charged flashlights. If they were in for a long ride, they were prepared. “Ms. Mahoney! Dr. Strong! We need to split up. We have to search this building room by room. Dr. Strong, you start on the bottom right side of the school, Ms Mahoney, you start on the bottom left of the school. I will start in the middle on the top. We will go in a counter clockwise motion so we don’t run into each other and we can cover the most ground.” “Sounds good David.” “Samesies.” Each person turned on their flashlight and walked out the gym door, trying to make the least amount of sound possible to try and keep themselves hidden as well. They all split up. Dr. Strong got to his post first, then Ms Mahoney, and finally David. Once they were all set, they started their search. Not even 5 minutes into their search, David and Ms Mahoney both heard a scream come from the northeast part of the first floor. Ms. Mahoney ran as fast as her little old legs could carry her. David recognized the scream from somewhere. The Hyatt building, Peter’s party. What was that scream? “MOLLY!” David took off in a sprint towards the place where he heard the scream come from. David heard faint foot steps way ahead of him. He was slowly gaining on his target. Meanwhile, Ms. Mahoney was closing in on the incoming target, fast. All of a sudden though, in front of both David and Ms. Mahoney, a light appeared and they saw two silhouettes run out the door. One of them had a gun. David and Ms. Mahoney met up at the door way, nearly colliding with each other. David blurted out “Emily has a gun, and she has Molly.” “Oh My God! She has Molly?” “Yes she does. We have no way of getting to them without any weapons. I want you to go contact every possible person that you can saying that we need weapons and that it is getting serious. Can you do that for me?” “Yes, I think I can. What are you going to do?” “I have to follow them. If no one else does, Molly is as good as gone.” Ms. Mahoney was completely speechless. “Ms. Mahoney! I need you to do this. For everyone, Please.” “Ya, I’ll do it. Now you be careful.” “I will be, don’t you worry about that.” And with that they parted ways. Ms. Mahoney immediately called everyone she could think of, and then the police. David ran outside. Right there, he saw Emily holding Molly captive. She was waiting for him to come out. David slowly advanced forward. “What are you doing?” “Who me? Oh nothing, just trying to get you to love me.” “What the… Then why do you have Molly?” “Well she is your girlfriend isn’t she?” “Molly? No no no.” “I saw you two holding hands.” “Ya, she was comforting me. I have had a long day.” “Oh.” “Put the gun down.” “No.” “Can I propose a trade?” “Sure, go ahead.” “Release Molly and take me.” “Okay!” Emily quickly threw aside Molly and ran towards David. She embraced him and said “Don’t do anything stupid, remember I have a gun.” “I know. But I have another question. Why did you kill Peter?” “He is an absolute douche bag. He broke my heart and I know he was your best friend. I didn’t want him braking yours either.” “O wow, I am so thankful for you!” “Really?” “Yes! Come here, kiss me, please. I need someone to love me.” David outstretched his arms, closed his eyes and puckered up his lips. Emily dropped the gun and ran towards the awaiting David. Bingo. David grabbed Emily and held her tight while Molly ran and picked up the gun.