Penhallow

XI

I did not plan to kill Jenzy. I was planning to break up with her when the time came but it was not in my plan to commit murder. She was Bree’s bestfriend, an important part of her. I should have known that I had it in me all along, being fascinated with Bree and all of it. After Rebecca’s murder everything went insane. The incident this time was too brutal and too serious, everything went on red alert. I became more watchful of my surroundings, looking for some sign of strange behaviour that could point out to the identity of the suspect. At first, everyone was either grieving or cowering inside their house. I spent half my time accompanying my father and half the time with my friends who were in varying shades of emotion- Jenzy being traumatized, Phin terrified, Nancy in some sort of stupor and Bree, she was always composed.
It was after one month had passed, as things started to mellow down, when I noticed Jenzy acting strange. It had a feeling that it was not some post-mortem grief and my gut feeling was telling I had to keep an eye on her. As days passed, we saw her less and less and I can see the worry in Bree’s eyes. One afternoon as I decided to skip class, I was checking the camera’s I had at Bree’s room, when to my surprise I saw Jenzy sneaking in her room through the windows. She was absent that day. I saw Jenzy rummaging through Bree’s stuffs silently like a thief, and then putting them back the way they used to be. I couldn’t see clearly the things that she was checking but it took her almost an hour before she slipped back out.  It was odd. What was she looking for? I began to monitor her then. I caught her two more times sneaking inside Bree’s room. There was no mistake, she was up to something suspicious and I had to confirm it if she really was suspecting her. I timed it to the day she was absent again, I skipped class and pretended to coincidentally catch her sneaking out of Bree’s room. She had no choice but to confide in me. And I was right. She really was suspecting Bree. She told me everything from the day she stayed at Bree’s room and saw a date marked on her personal calendar, the date when Rebecca died. I guessed it was something Jenzy would never forget until the day she died. Seeing that date, anyone else would think that it was a reminder of Clancy’s party, but not Jenzy. Maybe seeing Rebecca’s dead body had put some kind of awareness inside her that wasn’t there before. She saw that marked date in a new light- a prepared date, a target date for something importantly planned, especially when Bree herself did not attend Clancy’s party. She also mentioned the fact that when Loreen died, Bree was also absent from sight, vaguely remembering her being sick, if she really was sick. She had her suspicions and couldn’t quite believe her best friend capable of murder, thus sneaking into Bree’s room for any clue to confirm it.
I couldn’t quite believe it of Jenzy, that she had it in her some deductive prowess. She mentioned that she found clues in Bree’s room, not enough evidence but they were suspicious. She found some receipt from an online shop where Bree ordered some stuff like clothes, and she found some boxes confirming Bree received it. It was nothing out of ordinary but the thing was, after searching through Bree’s things, it was strange that she couldn’t find those new things at all. She was familiar with all of Bree’s clothes and couldn’t find some new addition, like they vanished out of thin air after receiving it. I can see that she was getting into it too much. There was some crazed look in her eyes. She had me sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone yet as she will try looking for it more. I acted shock and I reassured her that everything will be okay. I would help her search for more clues and told her to be careful. I held her in my arms, kissing her softly. As she softened toward me and move more closely seeking comfort, I was already anticipating my next move. Jenzy was already in too deeply with this. She unwitting involved herself and now it was too late to back away. She needed to be gone.
It was three days later when had to put my plan into action. That morning, I’ve met up with Jenzy before going to school (she was skipping class again) and she informed me that she was going to meet Bree later that day for some time together, and that she would try her best to ask her some things without being too obvious. That plan of hers was stupid as I told her so but she was so convinced that she could pull it off somehow. I couldn’t let her do that, Bree would certainly notice. And if Bree found out that Jenzy was suspecting her, she would unavoidably have to kill her out of necessity. It would break her heart. I can see that she really cared for Jenzy in her own way. She was more like a real sister to her than Riley ever did. Even people like her do know how to love, I guess. I didn’t want things to come to that.  I had to do it myself. After class I went to dropped my things sneaked out into Jenzy house. I saw her just in time she was leaving. She was way too early but that was just perfect. I still have time then. I followed her secretly. We only passed a couple of people who fortunately did not paid any attention to us, I made sure to stay a little farther away not taking my eyes of her. I pulled my hood a little more to cover my face without being too suspicious and then waited for the opportunity when we were alone.
It would be my first time killing someone if it would be successful. I was both feeling excited and nervous but I managed to steel my nerves. To my surprise, I found Jenzy making her way, not to the center of the town where she will be meeting Bree, but towards the main road just bordering the town. We were alone for quite a few minutes now. No one goes around this part that much unless to go hunting to the forest beyond or off to leave the town. What was she up to this time? When we entered the forest, it was hard to say silent with the dead leaves making such crunchy sounds whenever I stepped on it. I double checked the clearing to make sure we were alone before revealing myself. I called out for Jenzy. She turned around quite surprise and nervous but when she saw it was me she relaxed.
I asked her the same time she asked me the same question. I told her I saw her on my way back home and decided to follow her. She then quickly explained that she was going her way into the Clancy’s house using the forest shortcut to avoid being seen. She was looking for more clues and so she was backtracking every scene in the incident. I know that she and Bree loved watching detective shows, thus fancying herself as a detective now. I think Jenzy saw something in my face that had her narrowing her eyes at me. She asked me again, this time why was I following her? Ah, the right question. There was no use pretending when we were alone. I still gave her an innocent smile that her backing away from me. What was it they say about psychos and their creepy smiles? Jenzy asked me again, and then her eyes moved downwards at my hands. At my gloved hands. She just noticed it. Her eyes quickly returned back at me, widening with suspicions and something akin to fear. I played for a bit asking her why the sudden fear in her eyes, it was not as if I was planning to hurt her. She shouted at me to stop joking around because it was not funny, but I only took a step toward her. She stepped back further away. I was amused by the sudden fear emitting from her. We were alone, that even if she screamed, there was no one who could hear. She was right to be afraid. Was this what the predators feel whenever they stalked their prey? What Bree was feeling to her victims? They were unknowingly trapped.