He was known for throwing the best parties. His parties were huge and fun and amazing. If you hadn’t gone to a party thrown by him, you weren’t living. I went to his party once, but I don’t remember it too clearly. I got wasted and woke up with no memory of what had happened. Nothing bad ever happened at his parties, until it did. One time. No one even knew. But I know.
I walk past the memorial they put up for the kids who died. They were missing one person. James. I shake my head. He should be there, he was a victim too. He was more of a victim then any of the kids up there. He saw things he never should have saw. I take out a sharpie from my bag and add JAMES GREY to the list. I put the marker back and look at the names. My eyes stop at Robin’s name. ROBIN FREDERSON. I look at his picture. Pitch black hair, green eyes, a sharp chin, dimple on his left cheek, and a big wide smile. It was a picture from the junior prom. If you looked hard enough, you could see me laughing with James. I was covering my mouth as James did a funny face. I remembered that night perfectly. James was my date and it was perfect. We danced and had fun. He was my best friend junior year but after Robin’s party we grew distant. I never knew why. But now I know,
“Hope?” I look up from my thoughts and see Britney walking towards me,
“Yeah.” I answer. She comes up to me and looks at the memorial. I can tell she was looking at the picture of her and Adam. They were both smiling and holding each other. Her breath catches as she sees James’ name attached to the list,
“Why is his name up there?” she asks,
“I put it up there.” I tell her honestly. She glares at me,
“Why would you ever do that?” I stare at the name,
“He was a victim too. He had a reason to kill all those people.”
“My…Adam,” she struggled, “never did anything wrong. He didn’t deserve to die.” Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, “Why are you defending him?” I scoff and begin to walk away,
“Because he was a person too!” I yell out, walking farther and farther away from her,
“Holy shit.” She says loud enough for me to hear, “You were in love with him.” I stop. Goosebumps fill my arms. I look down not denying it. I was. I am, “How could you be in love with such a monster?” she asks me. I turn around, angry,
“He was never a monster. You people were. This place was. Your Adam was.” I spit out,
“Don’t talk about Adam!” she yells back. She points her finger towards me; walking closer,
“Don’t praise your boyfriend, Britney. You don’t know what he did.” I tell her darkly. I begin to walk away,
“What did he do?” she cries out. I don’t stop this time. I walk away. Reminding myself she wasn’t ready. Or maybe it was me who wasn’t ready. I run out of the school. I see Lucas leaning against a car. Logan, not Lucas. Lucas was dead, I remind myself. He sees me and gets into his car. I get into the passenger seat. He starts driving,
