Dielive [ENGLISH]

EIGHTEEN

WHAT happened?

Aunt May died. Impossible. Impossible. Aunt May with her plump body, her smile and laughter on her lips and wrinkled face, her nagging that I will miss every day. She brought all our memories. The happiest and saddest moments in my life, that's where Aunt May was too. She was a substitute for my mother and grandmother. Now she's dead.

I sat weakly on the hospital floor that should have been cold. I bent my knees and buried my face in my arms. It's over. Now Aunt May's departure will silence the mystery of my death forever. The police will close this case. No one can be a witness. No one can also object that Aunt May was the perpetrator who killed me.

Unless... unless....

I ran through the crowd of people in the hospital hallway, careful not to get electrocuted when accidentally touching them. I looked for Jason. He was standing in front of the iron door with a confused expression. He already knew.

"Why did this happen?" His lips trembled. Jason was never sad and angry at the same time. He sat on a chair, opening a journal that turned out to be carried in his bag.

"Something's wrong, Jason. You can't stop," I said. "There are two things wrong here. I didn't kill myself and Aunt May didn't do it. You have to tell me who did it or I'll be stuck here forever." I spoke to Jason as if he could hear me, but of course he couldn't.

Dad came over to us. "I'll take care of Aunt May's funeral at the church. You better go home."

Jason shook his head. "I'll come with you."

So we took the ambulance to the church carrying Aunt May's casket. The funeral was over. Dad went home - exhausted and grieving - and so did Jason.

I followed Jason again, trusting him.

I hoped that what I had done would not be in vain. We had known each other for a long time. Even though I was dead now, I hoped he could still feel me.

We needed more evidence to prove that my death was murder, not suicide, and that Aunt May wasn't the culprit.

Jason lay down on the bed. "I bet the gum was poisoned." He bit his lower lip. "But who could have put the poison in her gum without anyone knowing?"

I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Jason sat up and leaned back against the pillow. His brow furrowed and his eyes slanted to the left.

"Someone unexpected is suspect," Jason muttered. "That person must have gotten a bit of attention for putting poison in gum at a party."

Yeah! Phil was the culprit. Phil! He was my stepdad. No one suspected anything when he came into my room. Even though he came in the middle of a party, he still managed to do something evil.

Besides, no one cared about him when he disappeared in the middle of the party. Mom was busy chatting with my friends, Dad was with Lisa Cane and I was in the backyard with Jason. So he must have snuck into my room and put the poison in one of her gums. Oh my God, Phil was great! He was a real bad guy. I should have known he was out to get me.

Jason opened his journal. Back to the suspect list. The names were still the same. Phil, Aunt May, Will....

Someone knocked on the door. Jason got up, walked lazily to the door, and opened it. Mr. Smith stood there with a tired look on his face.

"Have you eaten?" he asked.

"Later," Jason replied. "What's wrong?"

"I bought you a pizza," he peeked his head in. I was afraid he could see me, but of course he couldn't. "You didn't do anything weird, did you?"

Jason frowned. "What weird thing?"

"You know..." his father hesitated, "some kind of investigation."

"No," Jason snapped quickly. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

His father sighed. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. This is about Nadya's death. I know her death was strange to you, but it's illegal to conduct an investigation without the police knowing."

"Don't worry, I didn't do it," Jason finally said more calmly.

I was stunned. Jason never lied, so why would he do it now? Ah. For me.

His father cleared his throat. "And, um.. I heard about the nanny who died this morning."

"Yes, Aunt May... she had a heart attack."

"Very sad, I'm sorry for that." His face turned sad, he looked down.

"Thank you, Dad." Jason paused for a moment, hesitating. "So what's the development on Nadya's case?"

"Still the same. The police suspected Aunt May and it turned out she died, so most likely this case is closed with the conclusion that Nadya committed suicide. At most I'll ask her neighbors to complete the file."

Jason felt weak. He was about to close the door, but his father stopped him.

"Oh yeah, your friend came to see you earlier. She was worried because you didn't go to school," he said. "So you skipped school?"

Jason swallowed slowly. I was sure he couldn't lie anymore so he just kept quiet.

"If I'm not mistaken your friend's name is... umm, Katrine."

I was shocked. So was Jason. He flinched a little and his face turned panicked. "She... what did she say?"

"She didn't say anything... that's all, she asked if you were sick? Hmm, so she's your girlfriend?" His father teased Jason.

Jason was completely unaffected and shook his head in annoyance. "No. Never mind. Thank's!" He closed the door. "Katrine... Katrine." His brow furrowed faintly. His eyes were irritated.

"What's wrong?"

Jason walked to the bed and took his journal. He opened the journal, writing Katrine's name under SUSPECT.