Elara [ON HOLD]

8

The park reminded me of a DISCO party from the 80's as soon as red and blue lights took over the green surroundings.

But before the police arrived, when the guy had told me his name, I just blinked. Instead of calling the police, I stood there and said:

"Angelo Di Caprio?"

That was all I did until I reached for my backpack and took out a stack of papers. "Well, I'm glad I found you. Here is what's left of the biology project, it's due to next Monday, good luck." And with that I turned around, sat on a medium sized rock and marked 911 on my phone.

As efficient as ever, the police took almost twenty minutes to reach the location I gave them. During that period of time, what ifs started to fill my mind with different scenarios. What if the murderer was still around, waiting for the perfect occasion to kill two innocent witnesses? What if those bite marks meant there was some kind of wild creature out there, out of control and waiting for the perfect occasion to rip us apart like a dog ripped its chew toy from Walmart?

Assumptions aside, during those twenty minutes Angelo sat down next to me (well, more like he pushed me aside, determined to squeeze onto the rock even it that meant I would fall) and waved the stack of papers arround.

"What does this mean?" He asked with a curt tone.

"It means you, that since you are not attending to class Angelo Di Caprio, someone has to do what you don't." I narrowed my eyes in his direction, and his pursed lips told me he was trying to understand what I was saying. Maybe it is a strategy to confuse me and make me do the whole project on my own. "You know that someone's been paying a school place for you, yet you have never set a foot on Port Townsend's High grounds, don't you?" I pressed, raising my eyebrows after reveling the rumors I had heard about him.

Perhaps he was not the Angelo Di Caprio everyone talked about.

"Oh, God. I thought I had told Harper I wouldn't go to that school." Or maybe he was.

"Great, so now that we are on the same track of thought, the project is due to next Monday. Here is my number, if you have any problems, all you have to do is call." I patted the stack of papers on his lap and didn't give him the opportunity to say anything else.

I needed a distraction, so I decided to entertain myself by cleaning off the blood and mud that had embedded to my skin with a pack of tissues I owned, until the police arrived.

"That was quick." I called, clapping my hands. "Congratulations, twenty minutes. It must be a new record, right?" I smiled at the police officer who just hopped off his car, followed by his fellow mates.

The man frowned at me and guided one of his hands towards his belt, where his gun rested. It didn't really intimidate me though, taking into account that his slender figure, short neck and bald head made me ponder about him being related to a roll-on deodorant.

"Who called?" He finally talked and I raised my hand.

"I did."

"If I'm not wrong, you reported something about a body. It better not be a prank." I stared at him unblinkingly.

"It's not a prank sir." Angelo talked before I could. The police officer nodded at him and signaled his companions to start searching the area. They didn't really need to search that much because the body was a couple meters away.

"Sir, you have to see this." As expected, after seeing the corpse of the little kid he called on the rest of the units and a forensic tech.

"You both are going to need to come with me." He then said turning to us, and before I knew it, Angelo and I were being locked up in different police cars.