Population: 1245...And then Some

Chapter Eight

"Hellooo!" Keith sang through the phone as he answered my call. I chuckled.

"Hey Keith," I replied, as I started picking up all my posters from the ground and putting it in the trash bag.

"What's up?" Keith asked.

"Oh um that's why I called. You see I was wondering if you'd like to help me with something," I asked him feeling my chest tighten. I really didn't want to do this thing on my own.

"What is that something?"

"It's a case, on all the murders that's been happening," I told him with anxiety brimming at the edge of my voice. Keith went dead silent for the longest time. All I could hear from the other end was static. I played with the paper in my hand nervously.

"You know my dad's a cop right?" Keith asked me.

"H-he is?" I stuttered.

"Yeah he is, I can ask him if I can borrow his extra police radio so we can check in on the alerts going in town," I could tell he was smiling on the other end.

"Wait that's a yes?!" I squealed as I dropped  a poster  onto the ground excitedly.

"Of course, I love a little danger." 

I chuckled at his response. "Great! Want to come over tomorrow at two? We can work on it - if you're not too busy of course!" I said in all a rush, too excited to talk slowly.

"Yeah sounds good, see ya tomorrow."

"Yup see ya!" 

I hung up smiling like a fool. I put my phone back in my pocket and proceeded once again to pick up the posters. Just when I put a handful of scrap in the garbage bag, Mom walked in opening the door. Once she saw my mess and my wall, her jaw dropped in shock and wonder. I winced. This must look bad.

"Hi Mom," I laughed nervously as I quickly cleaned up the mess on the floor.

"Who were you talking to?!" my mom asked with a stern voice. She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot impatiently on the hardwood. She narrowed her eyes at me and her lips went into a tight line.

"I was talking to Keith," I said, defeated.

"About?" my mom said abruptly.

"Uhhhh about the murder's going in on town...?" I replied stepping back, terrified of what her reaction would be. The room was filled with dead silence for the longest time.

"And why would you two be talking about that?" she huffed.

"Uhhhh c-cause we are investigating the murders," I mumbled fairly quickly.

"YOU'RE WHAT?" my mom screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Mom! It's okay I'll be fine -" I said with my hands up, trying to calm her down.

"NO you are NOT getting into this! I am not letting my one and only daughter get into something this dangerous!" she yelled with so much anger I thought she was going to explode, or she was going to kill me for doing something this dangerous.

"MOM!" I screamed. 

"Mom, please let me do this! Keith is my first friend and his dad is a cop, we will be completely safe. Mom I never asked for anything, I never disobeyed you. Please, Mommy let me do this one thing," I pleaded with tears swelling up in my eyes.

It was silent for a very long time as my mom thought it over. "Okay...I'll let you do this. But if you get hurt, I'll kill you then raise you back up and ground you," my mom said, chuckling with tears in her eyes. I ran over to her and hugged her tightly.