The Tuesday paper read “New Murder Added to Case, Total of 5 Dead.” The worst part about reading the headline was the fact that the whole high school knew that she did it, all five of the murders. Her name is Katie Brighton, and she is the most obnoxious person I have ever met in my life. Living in a small town, everyone knows everyone, and with that being said, everyone knows Katie is obnoxious and no one wants to be around her. Like, sure she is popular, but no one ever actually likes the popular people. I don’t want to be popular. I was fine with my sister being my only friend and listening to my favorite bands instead of talking to people at school.
While these thoughts were rummaging through my head, I realized I was still looking at the same headline, so I quickly put the pages down and turned to face my mother and sister who were looking at me with curiosity.
“You okay there?” My mother asked, as she walked up to put a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Mom. I just wish they would arrest her already.”
“You know they can’t do that until they have evidence, honey,” she said before removing her hand from my body.
My mom always looked at me funny when I brought up the murders. It was probably because she was worried about my “real” feelings about Katie presumably committing the crimes, but really, I was happy to see that girl in trouble, especially if it meant her leaving.
I took one last bite of the bagel I was eating and said my sister and I left after saying our goodbyes to our mom. As we got in the car, my younger sister, Brittany, looked at me strangely as I got in the driver’s seat of our Toyota Corola.
“What are you lookin’ at?” I asked, wondering why she wore the strange expression upon her face.
“I just feel like you’ve been really hateful about the Katie situation. She’s a nice girl you know.”
“Please, Brit,” I began, “you don’t even know her. She’s a real bitch once you really get to know her.”
“Watch your language, Jesus, Savannah.”
“Oh, stop. I’ve heard worse things come out of your mouth,” I said knowingly.
“Shut up,” was all she had to say back.
We made small talk all the way to the high school. It was weird to bring my sister here with me. Granted, school started two months ago, it was still weird to think she was a freshman. It was even harder to think that I was a senior, and in a year, I would be leaving my baby sister and mother to go to college.
As we pulled into the parking lot, there was one spot left, and right next to it was none other than Katie’s blue BMW which she proudly showed off to practically the entire school being the narcissistic asshole she is. Ugh, I was so done with letting my thoughts of her distract me from whatever I needed to be doing at that moment in time. For example, parking my car instead of sitting in the middle of the parking lot and not moving while cars pile up behind me.
I continued to pull up to the space, receiving a “be nice” face from my sister. I stepped out of the car and met my sister at the back end of my car. We stood there waiting for the bell to ring, allowing us to go to class, when the evil one, Katie, came up to talk to us.
“Hey guys!” the peppy blonde said to me and my sister as she walked over to stand next to me.
I awkwardly took a step back before meeting my eyes with hers.
“Hi, Katie,” I said unenthusiastically, in a way hinting that I did not want her around. But, of course, she paid no attention to my unwillingness to have a conversation with her.
“Did you guys hear about the 5th murder in that case? I think it’s awful. What psycho could do such a thing?”
“Takes one to know one,” I muttered to myself to where only my sister could hear, which only caused her to nonchalantly hit me on the arm. It really hurt and it amazed me how she managed to do it with such grace. The bell rung whilst Katie was in the middle of telling me some boring story about her little brother who plays baseball. Like honestly, I did not care.
I walked away from the blabbering blonde towards the main building of our high school, so I wouldn’t be late for my Sociology 101 class. For some reason, the human mind amazes me. I was profound with the idea of sociopaths. They fascinated me in every way possible.
The rest of my daily classes were boring and things didn’t get interesting until the last block change of the day. I was standing by my locker, like most of the other students, and around the corner came a group of four policemen, including the sheriff. My heart sped up in hopes that they finally came to arrest the wretched Katie Brighton, but I was left disappointed as they passed by her without a second glanced. I turned my head back towards my locker after realizing they were probably here for a routine check-up on the school. I was busy putting my Forensic Science book in my locker when I felt cold hands travel up and down my body. My Miranda rights were given to me as the police officer continued to search my body for any kind of weapon. I wasn’t stupid enough to bring one with me, but, I knew I had been caught.
“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to throw them off.
“I think you know exactly what is going on. You are being thrown into custody under the murder of five citizens. Never would have thought it was you, Savannah,” one of the officers said. I recognized him as a friend of my dad’s before he passed away. In all honesty, without my dad’s death, I wouldn’t be where I am today, but I couldn’t be happier. Well, besides the fact that I was finally caught and the only two people who could’ve ratter were my mother and sister. One of them had to have done it and I was determined to find out who.
The ride to the jail facility was short, but long enough for me to process my thoughts. The way my sister had been so hostile towards me this morning gave me the feeling she was the one who told, but who knew? My mom was always full of surprises and it could be either one of them, if not both.
Once I was given my new uniform and transferred back to one of the cells, I was informed I had a visitor. It had to be either my sister or mother considering I had no other friends. One of the officers who arrested me earlier led me to a room in which I could speak with my “visitor”. Once there, I saw the teary-eyed face of my mother and I knew she was the one who told.
“Savannah, I-“she said before I cut her off.
“Save it. Don’t apologize; I know you don’t really mean it. No matter what you say, I’m not going to forgive you. You wanna know why I won’t forgive you? It’s because you don’t really want forgiveness. You want protection. Protection from me whenever I get out of this damned place. And, let me tell you one thing, you’re gonna need it.”
With that said I was taken away by one of the officers, and I could hear my mother behind me murmur the words “I love you,” before the doors were closed separating the two of us.
Now, I wait.
