The Framing

Thirty One

February 25th, 6:40pm. Alex's house.

The five of us were sitting in Alex's living room trying to come up with a game plan for tonight. We knew where we were going, but we wanted to make sure we were as safe as possible.

"What are we gonna use to defend ourselves if we have to?" I asked.

"I have a knife set in my kitchen," Alex said. He went to go get it.

"Is this really all we have?" I asked him.

"Yeah. But it's better than nothing," he said.

"What time do you guys think we should leave?" John asked.

"Well the note says 7:30 and it's a thirty minute drive so pretty soon," I said. We gathered all our things into Alex's car. He drove, I sat in the front and gave directions, and Thomas, Kevin, and John sat in the back.

The drive went by in a blur. No one really said anything and we weren't listening to music. Eventually, Alex pulled into the road this lighthouse was off of. When we pulled up next to it, it was 7:18pm.

"I guess we just sit here until it's 7:30," I said. The next ten minutes went by really slow, but soon enough we all got out of his car. I felt kind of silly walking with a group of people holding kitchen knives, but at least I had a group of people defending me.

"Where do you think this guy is?" Kevin whispered as we approached the lighthouse. There was no one else here. It was pitch black outside, and all we could hear was the waves crashing against the rocks beneath us.

"Uh, guys," I said and pointed to the door to the lighthouse. It was opened by just a crack.

The five of us slowly walked over to the door. Alex pushed it open a little more and peaked inside with a flashlight. I could feel my heart about to beat out of my chest at this point.

"Hello?" Thomas yelled into the building. We didn't hear anyone call back so we all went inside.

"He's probably at the top of this thing," John said.

"I'm really not in the mood to climb all these steps," I groaned.

"I don't think we have another choice," Alex said. He went first up the stairs holding a flashlight. I walked behind him, John was behind me, Thomas was behind him, and Kevin was in the back. With every step we took, I got more nervous. There was a moment where I thought I might pass out, but I was good.

It took almost everything out of me by the time we were nearing the top of the spiral stairs. We were all out of breath, but we kept moving. Eventually, we made it to the very top. There was a door separating the staircase from the part of the lighthouse where the light was.

"Okay I led us up these stairs but I am not opening that door," Alex said.

"I'll do it," Thomas volunteered. He jiggled the doorknob and slowly opened the door. We all walked in as a group with our kitchen knives ready. Alex shined his flashlight around but we didn't see anyone.

"Looking for someone?" We heard someone ask from behind us. We turned around and saw a tall dark shadowing approaching us from around the corner.

"Alex I'm really scared," I said. I clenched onto his hands and he pulled me in.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he said.

The tall dark shadow continued to approach us and then we saw him. The man who framed me.

"I don't think that's Charles Bowman," I said.

"You're right," he said and flicked the light switch on. It made us all squint, but I could finally see who it was.

"Okay who the fuck are you?" I asked. I had literally never seen this man before in my entire life.

"My name is Edward Bowman," he said.

That's a really ugly name. I thought to myself.

"What the fuck do you want with Ally?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. I don't even know you," I said.

"You really don't remember me?" He asked. "I'm Charles Bowman's younger brother," he said.

"How the fuck was I supposed to know that?" I asked.

"We've been going to school with each other our whole lives," he said.

"Okay and? What do I have to do with you?"

"It's not me," he said, "it's my brother. He deserves to be number one in your class, not you."

"I'm so confused," John said, "you put a bomb in Ally's locker because you want your brother to be valedictorian? How does that make any sense?"

"I'm tired of Ally and her brothers acting like they're better than everyone else. I wanted them to get expelled."

"Why my brothers? What have you done to them?" I asked.

"Nothing yet," he said, "but your brothers are all in front of me in the class rank, and I'm tired of it."

"So have you tried working harder in school?" I asked.

"Of course I fucking have," he said, "but you left me no choice."

"But then why did you also put a knife in my locker?" Thomas asked.

"Oh that was just for humor," he said.

"So why now? Why did you all of a sudden want to reveal yourself to me?" I asked.

"Well it's not like you're going to tell on me," he said.

"Why wouldn't we?" I asked.

He reached into his pocket to get something, and right before he could, Alex ran up to him trampled him to the ground. Thomas joined in, and the rest of us just kind of stood around and watched.

Thomas reached into this guy's pocket and pulled out the gun. He chucked it across the room and it landed by my feet. I picked it up and hid under the control panel for the light.

Thomas and Alex beat the shit out of this guy for a while. When he had enough, they stood up and brushed themselves off. "If you or your brother even look at Ally ever again, I'll take that gun and kill you myself," Alex said. He spat on him as he laid on the floor, and we all left.

About halfway down the stairs, we heard someone say something from behind us. We turned around, and saw Edward running down the stairs holding the gun. "Oh shit I left it up there," I said. We tried running down the stairs, but he caught up with us before we could.

"Just take it easy dude," Thomas said, "we don't want any trouble." He held the gun and pointed it at me and Alex. I held onto his hand and started crying.

The next few things happened in a blur. All I remember is John grabbing Edward by his leg. As he did that, Ed dropped the gun and Alex picked it up. John then grabbed Ed by the shoulders, and threw him down the stairs. All I could hear was the sound of him hitting the metal stairs and his body hitting the wall. We all ran down the steps and saw Edward laying on the floor at the bottom of them.

"Holy shit did we kill him?" I asked.

"No he has a pulse," Kevin said.

Alex stood on top of him. "I mean it. Next time you try to pull shit on any of us, I'll fucking kill you, and I'll enjoy it," Alex said, "do you understand?" Edward nodded slowly and we left him laying on the floor and walked to Alex's car.

"Well on the list of things I was expecting to happen tonight, that was definitely not on it," I said as Alex pulled away.

"At least it's over," he said, "it's all over and you never have to worry about him again."