Parallel (discontinued)

Jonah- Chapter XVII: Developed

Before I move on with my tale of how I ended up here, perhaps I shall give a moment of insight regarding my current conditions.

As of now, while I write these pages, I am sitting in prison, as I mentioned before I began writing this entire thing. And no, I am not referring to school. I mean actual prison. It has been about a week and a half already in this death cage. It is now December 15. Honestly, writing all this since I've been here has really made me reflect on all the events that have led up to this moment. Such meditations have led me to muse whether or not all of it was worth it. I did what I had to do. Besides, this place isn't too bad, considering I was spending a majority of my time at Werdshter High anyway. Anytime I wasn't there, I was at home with the Fosters. This prison has honestly been a luxury. Yeah, a getaway of sorts. A retreat. An escape. A safe space. A haven. I overheard from one of the officers speaking that I might be relocating by the end of the week. They deemed me too..."crazy" for this place.

I can't really tell you whether they're right or wrong, but I will tell you what is crazy, is to even realize how quickly this all happened. It seems like only yesterday I had spray painted that wall. What made it all change so quickly? Like a jerk at a tight turn on a windy road. How in the world did I get caught and snared in such an elaborate and interconnected scheme. As if it was a lot to bear with school drama, struggling in music class, to dealing with people like Ms. X, Mr. Smith, Ms. Smith, Caleb, Charlie, Tori, and even the Fosters,  to the murder of Louis, and then the suspicious notes. What happened? 

That's right...what made it all change was her. Jackie "Kee" Jones. None of this would have happened if I just hadn't agreed to tutor her. It all started cause of her, and so it ended with her as well. That's right...she's the reason I'm here.

Never mind that. I'll elaborate on THAT when we get there. 

IF we get there. Who knows if we'll survive by the end of the week anyway. 

I shall return back to where we were...If I haven't much time, I might as well get to it

...

I watched hopelessly as the dog mutilated the written words to a state of scattered shreds.

No...

I was speechless. As I watched the dog tear apart the letter to shreds, it bore a striking resemblance to the last encounter I had with it.

As much as I had no desire to, my mind brought me back to that fateful first encounter in my yard. It had started ripping a paper that seemed to have come out of sweatshirt hood, but I never really gave it much thought. Those scraps. I had picked them up that morning and put it in my pocket to throw away in school. Luckily, I had never had the opportunity, so they had remained in my pocket! 

The answer to all this...the key...might have been in my pocket the entire time!

The dog was done mutilating its papery victim and began staring at my direction. Tori was still to my left, so I grabbed her we proceeded to make our escape. I figured with this new revelation, I didn't need to inform Kee or bring her into something she was uninvolved in. Besides, Louis was only a victim because he was close to me. If I want to prevent other people I care about from ending up like him, it was probably best I didn't express any intimacy with Kee.

Tori and I ran to my house. I let her in, since the Fosters couldn't really care less about who I brought over. They had shown previous contentedness with just about anybody that I brought home. Even Charlie, who they had heard many unfavorable stories about from Mr. Smith and even Dr. Baskins himself. Charlie. The school has decided to zero down on him as the responsible culprit for Louis' murder. In fact, everyone has. But I knew Charlie was innocent. He had done a lot of things, but he wouldn't have murdered Louis. Even if Louis did take his cafeteria seat, I know to the core of my being that Charlie was not a murderer.