And Just A Touch of Death

Part XI

8:01 am

"Winter?"

Someone was calling her name. She didn't know who.

"Winter?"

There it was again.

"Winter. Come on. We've got to get back to class."

Finally, Winter looked upwards at the source of the voice. Micah was standing, gazing downwards at her with a stoic expression.

Winter didn't respond. She couldn't move or think or breath or-

Yesterday had been the last day Robin Sterling was ever alive. She had known that. What she hadn't known, however, was that Robin had known that too.

"Winter Maddox?"

At the sound of her full name, she whipped her head in the direction of the deep, unfamiliar voice.

It was the city sheriff; a bald and round man with dark eyes that reminded Winter of broken glass. They probably weren't always that way, she thought.

"We need you to come down to the station." The sheriff's face was expressionless. It unsettled Winter to her core. How many teenage suicides do you have to investigate until it doesn't bother you anymore?

"Why?" Micah said above her.

The sheriff didn't even look in his direction; he kept his eyes focused on Winter. "We have a couple of questions for you."

Winter opened her mouth to respond, but found her voice was gone. Instead, she just nodded.

That's how she found herself, twenty minutes later, sitting in a small conference room at the police station, as still as a statue in her seat.

She should've been freaking out right now. She was down at the police station for questioning about her friend's death. Should she need a lawyer? Did she need to call her mom at-least?

But, Winter was completely calm. Well, calm isn't the right word.

Numb.

Shocked.

Devastated.

Looking back on yesterday, everything began to make sense. Robin's strange behavior, his talk about feeling trapped, about feeling like a burden, about feeling like his friends didn't care about him- it all made sense. Robin was crying out for help and nobody heard him.

Someone above her cleared their throat. Winter looked over to the officer standing by the doorway. She hadn't heard him come in.

"Hello, Miss Maddox." He said, his voice nice and professional; void of emotion. In his hand was a plastic ziplock bag with a piece of paper inside of it. "My name is Officer Henderson. I will-"

"What's that?" Winter asked. It's the first time she's spoken since hearing the news.

The officer didn't respond; just placed the bag with the note in it onto the table in front of her.

Carefully, as if it was made of glass, Winter picked up the bag. Inside was half a sheet of notebook paper that had clearly been ripped out of a notebook and in half. The writing on it was curvy and neat. It read:

Winter,

Thank you for giving me the best last day I could ever hope for. Take care of my snowflake for me.

Robin

Winter's trembling fingers found their way to the dainty necklace Robin had placed around her neck last night.