Dance Moms Murder Mystery

Part 9: The Confession

When you found out that two people had killed Maddie, you weren't entirely surprised. Based upon the evidence given, it would be impossible for only one person to do the job. But with the possibility of two murderers looming, it all fell into place.

Your correct verdict had given both Kendall and Jack the karma that they deserved. While Kendall still insisted that she was innocent, Jack began to accept the fact that he screwed up. Because of this crime, he would be deported back to Australia first thing tomorrow morning. He lay on his cell bed alone, pondering over the actions that had gotten him to his current position. He continued to ponder until his eyes closed shut, a combination of exhaustion and regret.

When Jack awoke, he was no longer in is cell: he was laying down in the middle of a driveway. He was slightly confused, given that he last remembered being in a cell. He slowly got up from the cement and gazed all around him. It was nighttime, and he heard music blasting from inside the house. It took no longer than five seconds to recognize that he was in front of Kalani's house.

"Alright, let's see what I've gotten myself into this time," Jack muttered to himself as he entered the house.

He looked around the front foyer and saw many houseguests partying. He looked up at the clock, and it read: 6:40 p.m. As he looked away from the clock, he saw Nia walking towards him, and he instinctively waved to her. To his surprise, she literally walked right through his body, as if he was just a ghost. It came to him then: he was dreaming, and he was back at the night of the murder. Just then, a thought popped into his head. Immediately, he sprinted upstairs, ran towards his and Maddie's room, put in the pass code,  and shoved open the door. To his relief, Maddie was alive, still lying down on her bed.

"Maddie, I'm so sorry," Jack stated, wanting to get that off his chest.

"Oh yeah, 'cause an apology totally makes up for killing me," Maddie replied.

"Wait,  you can see me?" Jack asked in shock.

"Yep, and I'm the only one who can," Maddie answered, now sitting up on her bed, "What the heck were you thinking?"

"Hun, I wasn't thinking. I was blinded by someone else, and now I have no one," Jack admitted, taking a seat on his bed.

"Kendall blinded you? What could she possibly do?" Maddie questioned, completely confused.

"I've been seeing so many tweets and comments over the past few months over how I'm apparently 'using you for fame' and all that, and eventually it got to me," Jack revealed, "I was too scared to talk to you about it in fear of you accusing me of it, so one night, when the three of us were hanging out together, and you left for a bit, I told Kendall about it, she comforted me, and we kissed. I was so blinded by emotion that I wasn't thinking straight, and when Kendall told me that she wanted to be with me, I was too scared to break up with you because I knew that the media would hate me for it."

Maddie just sat there with her jaw dropped; since her death, she thought that Jack killed her out of hatred, not out of fear. It definitely didn't make her forgive him, but at least she had an answer.

"The choice wasn't easy, but I was just so blinded. That's the only way to describe it. I was caught because as much as I've loved you, I just couldn't go to you when I needed you," Jack insisted, feeling remorse for his actions.

"Well, how'd you poison me?" Maddie asked, wanting more information, "It was the fajita, wasn't it?"

"No, it was the Shirley Temple," Jack answered, "We poisoned it with eye drops. Sit down, and I'll explain everything."

"I'm dead; I'm not going anywhere," Maddie responded, confused over Jack's words.

"So, as far as I know here's how the morning went: Mackenzie & Brynn hung out together, then they went to join you at the mall, where Millie argued with you. Jojo and Kalani were shopping, Nia was with her boyfriend, and I took the time to message Chloe and engage socially, while also talking with Kendall about the plan," Jack began, relieved that he had a chance to confess, "The plan was for me to tell Kalani to get eye drops, which I did, but she was taking too long when shopping, so Kendall called Chloe instead, and she got the eyedrops that way."

"These eyedrops?" Maddie asked, picking up the bottle from beside her bed.

"No, those are the eyedrops that Kalani ended up buying for Kendall, but since Kendall didn't need them, Kalani kept them," Jack explained, wanting to get back to the story, "So, when you found out that I was texting Chloe, I knew you would be upset, and you would throw me out, which would give me enough time to go to Kendall's house, get some flowers and the eyedrops, and just wait out the time until the party, which is why Kendall and I arrived very close to each other, because we both came from her place."

Maddie returned to being shocked, more because of the intricacy of the plan, and less of the fact that the plan actually happened.

"Now, the plan really didn't take affect until Chloe arrived, which is when you went upstairs. While Millie was comforting you, that was when I went to the fridge and poisoned the Shirley Temple," Jack elaborated.

"Wait, how did you know that I would be poisoned enough that I would fall over the balcony?" Maddie asked, confused over how Jack pulled of that part of the murder.

"Yeah, that actually wasn't part of the plan," Jack admitted, "You see, Kendall convinced me that eventually the poison would put you in enough pain that you would die from shock. I guess she got lucky."

"You mean that you two got lucky," Maddie corrected.

"Actually, everyone lost. You lost your life, everyone lost a friend, and I lost someone that I cared too much about to hurt," Jack remarked, moving to take a seat beside Maddie,  "Maddie, I don't expect you to ever forgive me. I didn't want to have to resort to this, but I felt that I had no options left. I should've just went to you for advice instead of Kendall, and maybe none of this would've happened."

"Ya' think?!" Maddie shouted, standing up from her seat and walking towards the balcony in anger.

"Maddie! Wait!" Jack exclaimed, walking towards her in desperation, "I just wanted you to know that I did it out of fear, not hatred. I still love you, and I was foolish to think otherwise. I love you Madison Nicole Ziegler! I was wrong! I was wrong!"

Maddie looked back at Jack for a few seconds, long enough for Jack to see the tears roll down her cheeks. Soon after, Maddie turned away and walked through the curtains separating the bedroom from the balcony. Jack hesitated for a few seconds, then sprinted directly towards the balcony. Once he was outside, he didn't see Maddie. Instinctively, he peered over the balcony, and saw Maddie's body on the ground below. Stricken with fear, he ran back into the room, and gazed upon the oddity that he had seen. When he left the room seconds before, the room was in perfect condition. When he went back in, furniture was shifted, the Shirley Temple glass was spilled on the ground, and a trail of blood, which was not there before, lead directly to the balcony. 

Suddenly, his legs gave out from under him, and he fell to the floor. He broke down in sorrow, crying more tears in that moment than he had done from the night of the murder to his incarceration. He lost everything: his freedom, his happiness, the remainder of his teenage years, and most importantly, a girlfriend who actually cared for him. Maddie loved him dearly, and he didn't realize that Kendall would flip on him in an instant until it was too late. He had hoped that if him and Kendall were caught, which they were, that they could still have each other, but that dream was obliterated the moment that Kendall blamed him for everything. He had done this to himself, and there was nothing that he could do about it now. He screwed up, and he would have to live with that for the rest of his life.

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Hopefully this raises the tone of the story a bit, knowing that Jack regretted all of his involvement with the murder. The next chapter will deal with discrepancies between the testimonies and the timelines of the suspects, and the final chapter will deal with some special facts about the process I went through when writing this story. Stay tuned.