Parallel (discontinued)

Jonah- Chapter XV: Broken Words

YOU WERE WARNED, JONAH KAI.
YOU SHOULD'VE FOLLOWED ORDERS.

Okay. Calm. Relax. Peace. Content. 

So those obviously weren't Louis' words in that letter. The murderer was probably the one who wrote it, and the investigators must've thought it was Louis' since it was addressed to me.

I stayed up that entire night, dwelling in all that had happened in the past few days.

I had just finished my emotional rooftop conversation with Kee. Still haven't seen her in awhile, actually. I had almost forgotten about her. I remember leading Charlie and Tori away from her so that she wouldn't overhear the unfortunate news of everyone bombing their music projects. I remember Louis sitting on Charlie's spot, and Charlie retaliating with the typical punch to the leg (some have rumored that the "Charlie horse" prank was coined by him, which I know to be absurd, since it was made way before he was in school, but I guess it's just a natural part of having a Charlie Baskins reputation). After that, we walked (well, he limped) back to our houses, and he wanted to tell me something. 

That bothered me. I realized that I would never be able to talk to him about what exactly he had wanted to inform me of. I know something was up. 

Then a thought hit me.

No...is it possible...he suspected that someone was going to go after him that night?

Maybe that's why he shook it off. He didn't want to worry me.

But no. He couldn't have known. The letter was addressed to me. It must have been a surprise to him. Right?

That's when another thought hit me. Part of me had died with Louis that night. I knew Louis was too innocent a soul to have stirred up any trouble. The murderer had taken his life just to come across to me. The only wrong thing Louis ever did was be a close friend of mine.  Louis Turner was dead because of me.

I had never loathed my existence until that very moment. Never regretted my being on this Earth until this realization had crossed my mind. 

This brought my attention to another detail. Whoever the murderer was, he or she obviously didn't mind letting me know that they were on to me. In fact, you'd think they'd be more cautious then to address me by name, since that only confirmed that the murderer was someone that I personally knew.

My mind raced that night. Like an endless book of blank pages flipping through over and over again. 

It made sense now. Why he was absent the next day. I will never forget his last words he said to me before I got to see him walk through his door one last time,

"...you take care of yourself too! And good luck with Kee!"

...

Needless to say, I didn't have to wake up. I hadn't slept a second by the time I was supposed to go to school. I remember almost skipping out, but I knew if I was absent people would worry about me and think I got murdered too. I didn't want to be the talk of the school that day, especially not over Louis' death. I also had a letter to Tori to deliver, though I was actually terrified of what the contents of the letter would be, since now there's a good chance that it won't be from Louis either. Louis had been passionate about his studies, so out of respect for him, I decided to muster up enough strength and energy to walk to school.

I made sure there was no sign of rampant stranger canines before I approached the sidewalk. The scraps of paper that the vicious mutt had torn up was still scattered all over my lawn. I figured I'd clean that up before the Fosters blamed me for it, even though it was all that dumb animal's fault. I picked up the pieces and put them in my pocket to throw away when I got to school.