When 17-year old Scarlett Adair is found dead, having been brutally attacked with an axe, at a house party, the local police find themselves in over their heads. Now, nearly a year has passed and no new leads have been discovered and they have no su...
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Song of the Chapter: ivy- Taylor Swift
11 MONTHS AFTER THE MURDER...
To say that Everly Garguilo was well-liked would be an understatement. Everyone loved her. She was one half of a sibling power-duo. Her brother, Carson, was the top of all of his classes and had some of the best grades in the entire school. But more than that, he was popular. Not as popular as some of the super rich kids like Carly Brager or Collin Motter, but still everyone knew him and his sister and not one person had anything bad to say about either of them. Which is why it was such a shock to Everly when she was told that the police would be interviewing her as a suspect in Scarlett Addair's murder.
"Did you know Miss Addair?" asked the officer, who Everly recognised as Michael Reed, the father of a girl she went to school with. He had slight creases on his forehead and light brown hair that was starting to grey. His eyes were a misty blue, full of exhaustion. It was clear as day that his job had some effects on him, but still he seemed passionate about it. Something about the way he carried himself made Everly feel comfortable in his presence despite the fact that she was being interrogated for murder. He appeared to be very fatherly in nature, reminding her own her own father.
"Yes, I did. We grew up going to the same schools." Everly was doing her best to remain calm, though it was becoming much more difficult by the second. She didn't want to go into detail, though she knew that eventually, she would have to explain her true relationship with Scarlett.
Everly's mind floated back to that night, thirteen months earlier. The night that she and Scarlett began their affair. A thing that had weighed on Everly ever since
~~~
Scarlett had been a casual friend of Everly's for a while, but they were never half as close as she was to Winter. If she were to be completely honest, Everly believed the reason they weren't that close was because Winter could be jealous and didn't like when Scarlett had other close friends. However, it all changed one random night.
Everly had been studying for an algebra test when her phone began to buzz. It was Scarlett. When she picked up, Everly was taken aback at the heartbroken mess that was crying on the other end. That was the night that Scarlett discovered what her boyfriend and best friend were doing behind her back and with no other idea of who to call, she turned to Everly.
After a brief conversation, Everly prepared to head over to the Addair residence to pick Scarlett up. If only she knew then that those decisions would change the course of her life. The second she stepped in the car, there was no going back.
~~~
"What was your relationship like?" The question appeared innocuous enough, but she knew what Officer Reed really meant. Were you in a romantic relationship? The number one question on everyone's minds. The only one she didn't want to answer.
"We were friends for several years," Everly wasn't quite sure whether to bite her tongue or tell the truth. Would she rather be known as a liar and live the rest of her life under a cloud of suspicion or sacrifice her deepest secrets? It was a winless battle. No matter what choice she made, there would be consequences. And so in a sole moment of bravery, she cast aside her fears and dove head first into the very thing she swore she never would. "And, we were also involved in a romantic relationship."
~~~
After picking Scarlett up, Everly drove the two of them around for several hours with no real destination. They spent those hours talking. Talking about Pierce and Scarlett. Talking about what life would be like outside the sheltered environment of Harborough. As the hours passed by, a thick tension grew and before Everly knew it, they were parked at a playground on the outskirts of town, making out in the backseat.
The moment was romantic, magical, and nothing that Everly had ever experienced before. For the first time in her life, she had fallen in love. It was pure, untouched. But that didn't mean that there weren't problems arising just as quickly as the feelings of love. For starters, Everly could never publicly love a woman with her family being the way they were. Scarlett also had no intentions of leaving Pierce as it would be too messy. At least for the time being.
So despite the intensity of the emotions they shared, they would have to keep their love affair a secret. Something only for the two of them. Everly was okay with that if it meant continuing to have those magical moments and getting to love Scarlett as she was. In the eyes of Everly, she was pure perfection, even with all of her flaws. Nothing was going to change that.
~~~
As Everly explained how the affair began to Officer Reed, hot tears began to roll down her cheeks, stinging her skin. It was all too much and she could no longer keep it in. She had been stuffing her emotions inside for eleven long, cruel months and now they were overflowing.
The room was for the most part quiet and it was cold--freezing cold. As Everly sobbed, she covered her face with her shaky hands. Her grief, anger, and hurt consumed her. How could someone take Scarlett, the only one who truly loved and understood her, away and in such a horrifically brutal way? How was she supposed to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and just exist after such a tragedy? This was the one thing she took solace in and she felt so angry at whoever murdered Scarlett for it, but at the same time she felt guilty for being so selfish. The motive for the murder certainly wasn't to destroy Everly's life and there were many other people who were affected by it.
Her mind was in eternal conflict. Was she selfish or simply in unimaginable pain? It was a question she would never know the true answer to.
As she sat and suffered, the world around her continued to spin. She could hear Officer Reed call in someone else, asking them to make sure she didn't go anywhere while he talked to her parents, who were directly outside the room. It was clear that the interview would be coming to an abrupt end following Everly's emotional overflow.
All she wanted was to be able to talk to, hold, and kiss Scarlett again. She wanted to sink into her arms and never leave. But that would never be possible and despite all of her prayers, there was nothing that Everly could do. She didn't care if her parents would scream at her about how she would be going to Hell for loving women. Nothing could be worse than the Hell she was living. Nothing.
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