The Girl Next Door

The Suspicion

Over the next few days, I tried to forget about what Adrian had told me but I just couldn't for some reason. One night, I picked up my sister's Kindle and began reading....it was something like The Big Book of Facts by James Egan if I remember correctly. At the very end there was a paragraph on why there's no shame in not knowing, there's shame in not finding out along with an example of a loyal follower questioning MK Gandhi's integrity after his death

Coral Coast High, 23 February 2023
"Does Hanorah smoke ??", I asked Evan as he's searching through his locker
"Yeah, I guess so. Why ??", came the reply. "Why, what happened ??"
"Nah...She told me she didn't. Did you even see her smoke ??", I enquired
"I don't hang out with her outside school and she doesn't seem stupid enough to smoke at school, so no", he said
"Oh", I said in a low voice, wondering why she'd lie about something like this as he took out a few files and closes his locker, preparing to leave
"Gotta get to German. What d'you have now ??", he asked

I glanced at my wristwatch and see there's like 3 minutes & 12 seconds before the next bell rings

"Is it true that you caught Hanorah acting like a pyro ??", I finally enquired, ignoring his previous question
"Yeah, last year. How d'you know ??", he asked
"Adrian told me....dude told me to stay away from her. Got any idea whats up ??", I blurted
"Yeah bro he right, stay away from her", he advised. "Cya"

Damn, his story seems to be checking out.....I was half hoping Adrian's story was a lie since I didn't wanna believe Hanorah could be this crazy. Next to question was Sarah but she didn't show up that day

That night, I lay on my bed, still scarcely believing that Hanorah Sykes was a pyro. Finally, I picked up my phone & looked up pyromania on Wikipedia to have some definite answers for once. Only around 3% of people in for arson actually met the strict diagnostic criteria for pyromania and only around 3% of that were girls, so surely she couldn't be a true pyro. But I kept asking myself....did she set that fire ??

I eventually fell asleep at like 1:45 am but was woken up by a nightmare - our apartment building set on fire with the roof collapsing. Although this situation luckily wasn't real, the fear sure was. This is it, I'm confronting Hanorah if Sarah confirms the other half of Adrian's story

24 February 2023
"Hey Sarah, wait up!"
"Yah wat ??", she slurred. Great, she's drunk....at 7:35 am

"Hey did you catch Hanorah being a pyro ??", I asked. I don't have any more patience to wait 'til tomorrow or even until she sobers up
"Which....Hanorah ??", she asked
"God, Sarah! What've you had ??", I sighed
"Nothin", she slurred again. "Pinky promise"
"Look Sarah, this is important. Please try to focus", I pled. "Did you see Hanorah Sykes starting a fire in the washroom last year ??"
"Ohh....yah!", she exclaimed after a pause, almost shouting. "Bitch set fire to the stairs in her building and at Welcome* too", she blurted out. I didn't know whether to believe her or not as she seemed pretty out of it. But I was definitely gonna confront Hanorah with this the next time I see her

27 February 2023
While walking home, I see Hanorah cycling towards the mangroves again. I just head home and wait for her door to slam. About 20 minutes later, it does
I ring the doorbell and she invites me in. She puts on the TV & asks me what we should watch today
"No Hanorah", I grabbed the remote from her and switched the TV off. "I've heard some concerning things about you from uhh...school"
"Told you, I got a terrible reputation. They're ruthless in high school, y'know", she coolly replied
"No, this is beyond normal bad reputation thing", I said, just as her doorbell rings again. Mr Sykes was back from work so we headed to her room & pick up where we left off

"Alright fine, what is it, Arlo ??", she finally asked, closing the door behind her
"They're sayin' you set a washroom on fire last year", I hesitantly informed her. "Did you ??"
"No idiot, I didn't", she said, seemingly unbothered at this serious accusation

"Oh", I mumbled as I glance at her bookshelf which several titles populated. But on closer observation, I noticed that most of 'em seemed related to fire: Fire Lover, Kerosene, Firebug and Points of Origin to name a few. There were of course other famous titles like Paper Towns, The Outsiders, The Catcher in the Rye and 13 Reasons Why as well as nonfiction like Jeffrey Archer's prison diaries and A Father's Story but they seemed to be in the minority

"What about that time you....uhh, tried to light somebody's backpack on fire ??", I enquired further but before she could answer I see smoke & bright yellow flames erupting from the mangroves out her window
"Hanorah, look!", I exclaim. "The mangroves are on fire!"

She turned around and mumbled a barely audible "Yeah, I know"