Murder

The day after

The room is quiet, filled with people in black. No one makes a sound. They just to stare at the coffin blankly, thinking about how this happened. His name was Christopher,

not that the term was should be used. He left at age 18. Very few understood why.

Right after Christopher is buried, the mourners are led into a courthouse. Confused, they all sit down. A judge and an officer then waits for everyone to settle down.

"Alright," says the judge, "I'm sure everyone is aware about the passing of Christopher Johnson. I'm also sure a majority here isn't aware that his death was a result from murder." All gasp, some faking it, but no one can tell the difference. " I believe,"

continues the judge, " That the one guilty is in this room! For the next week or so, officer Miller will be questioning each and every one of you documenting your relationships with Christopher to see who could have been the murderer. Do we all understand?"

"Yes sir," says the mourners in unison, biting their tongues.

"Great," says the judge, " We will start tomorrow to give you all time to mourn. You will each be notified individually about when you will be questioned. For now, I'm sorry for your loss."

The crowd is dismissed and they all leave. There is no conversation going on in the people's houses anymore. They are no longer mourners, but also suspects.

The first interrogation is with Christopher's father. He raised Christopher alongside Christopher's mother until he was about 12, when they divorced and Christopher never saw her again.

"Mr. Johnson, you are Christopher's father. Is that correct?" asks Officer Miller.

"Yes sir", says Mr. Johnson with shaky hands.

"It is stated in this testimony that you are both an abusive husband and an abusive father, is what I'm saying true?"

" I'm afraid so sir"

"These files also state that at about age 10, Christopher started to beat his mother as well."

"I believe so sir."

" You are aware that your behaviors are what most likely made Christopher abusive. Unfortunately, he looked up to you."

"He was much worse than me. I would only beat my family as a punching bag from my daily stress, but Christopher would beat his mother, classmates, his boyfriend,he's bisexual, and even his teacher!"

" I see, I wonder where he got that from."

"HEY! THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO JOKE LIKE THIS!"

"Just stay calm sir. You acting so angrily only will make your case as his murderer even worse."

"WHAT! YOU THINK I KILLED MY SON! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?"

"Mr. Johnson, I never had the chance of meeting you or any of your family members. This is my first impression of you and frankly, it's not going too well."

"I AM NOT GUILTY! I AM INNOCENT!"

Mr. Johnson then leaves the room in a storm of rage. Shocked at what he just witnessed, Officer Miller writes in his notebook.

"You can't do this Mr. Johnson, you'll get in a lot of trouble for this!" But it was too late.

"Next Suspect!" The day goes on with a handful of other interrogations. The next day, Officer Miller starts the day with questioning his most recent Spanish teacher, Ms.Rodriguez. Officer Miller thinks that his interactions need to go straight to the point, so he comes up with a different strategy.