Enigmatic ✔

4|Odell

Stella

I had stayed silent the entire drive home. After the murder, the students and teachers were told to take the rest of the day off, no doubt the trauma for other students would probably be so severe they had to wait a whole week before returning.

The teacher who had been killed, Mr. Finch, had been suffocated to death, what a sad fate for someone to suffer, Mr.Finch was always nice to all his students, who would want to harm him and why do it in public where students were placed to learn, not be scared for life, that person for sure had no heart.

Whispers of it being Hudson, of course got even louder now, people were out for blood, even though the police had told the town countless times, Hudson was not to be blamed, the complaints only got louder and so they had to take Hudson to the police station, said it was safer if he stayed their for while, at least until, the police could calm the people down.

Odell was a small town, deaths, this close to each other would of course caused people to be in fear plus deaths rarely happened at Odell and if they did the cause would mostly be old age.

I was in my room, considering whether I should go provide an alibi for Hudson, maybe he would trust me a bit more after.

"Mother" I say to her when I'm at the bottom of the stairs, "I know for a fact that poor Hunter did not commit the crime everyone has been accusing him off, he was with me when the murder took place, we were conversing on the steps, I wish to speak with the police, justice must be served, Hudson cannot suffer for crime he did not commit"

"That is what he has his lawyer for Stella, if he is in fact innocent he will be proven as such"

"My confession will help him" I remind her, I know they want to take down Hunter but this is the wrong way and it is not how they themselves taught me to do things. "They don't have a reason for holding Hudson but the mere fact that he has been connected to the previous murder and that the town is scared, I've talked to Hudson, he may not posses manners I would find compelling but he did not kill that teacher, and I will not let him go down for something he didn't do when I have the power to help him"

"If the police cannot find any evidence to lock him up Stella, then he will be perfectly fine"

"And then what? We sit back and watch the town as they feed on his flesh after they've slaughtered him-killed him cold blood"

"This isn't your fight Stella, why do you continue to push this?"

Oh these hypocrites it was my fight until this morning though.

Mother is not getting it, unless she does but she has other thoughts, "You don't want me to help him, because you want him to go to prison, isn't that so?" I ask her. She holds down her head for a second before lifting it up again.

This is what her and father had in mind all along but once again, I must remind them, that this isn't the right way, when I agreed to this, I agreed on Hudson taking himself down but now my parents have double-crossed and has used me for their own gain.

"Why does it matter Stella? The harm has already been done"

"No. I will not stand for this" I angrily march up to my room. I begin pacing back and forth in a desperate attempt to stop the anger I'm feeling, I was a person who didn't stand for injustice at any time, I hated seeing innocent people suffer and my parents who think my heart is as cold as theirs doesn't understand that, which is very pathetic if you ask me. Absurd even.

I stop all my pacing and walk into the bathroom, stripping naked and stepping into my bathtub. The warm water runs over my body and I try my best to allow myself to calm down but all my scrubbing failed in getting Hudson from my mind. I must do something about this.

I walk out of the bath tub to wrap my towel around me. I find something to wear to the police station and I walk out of my room.

After I pass my sleeping mother, I walk out of the house, I burrowed her keys and I drove to the police station.

"I wish to add information on the case of Hudson Harris" I say once walking into the police station. With luck, the sheriff called me to his desk.

"Hudson Harris. You have information" The sheriff had shock written across his face.

"Is that a problem?" I questioned. Was I breaking a law of some sort for these officers to be behaving so odd?

"You are Stella Burman, your father-"

"Don't take this an offence, but I have had it with people thinking I'm like my father, I am not and I would like to tell you what I know"

"Okay" He says raising his hands in defense.

I proceeded to tell him the whereabouts of Hudson when the crime was committed. He seemed to think I was lying. He's probably wondering why we would be talking, when my father is who he is.

"Now sheriff, will you release him?" I ask once I'm done confessing. A heavy weight lifting off my chest.

"Is there anybody else who can back this up?" He answers my question with a question.

"Of course, students who passed us on the steps" I say. He nods writing something down in his book.

"Sheriff, if I may ask, what is the reason why your still holding him?"

"You seem like you have good intentions, but-" He stops himself, coming closer to me, before he continues, "This town is on edge and letting him go will only start wars that we are not sure we can afford"

"Your job is to serve and protect this town, not to put innocent people in jail, it's absolute stupidness, justice must be served"

"We're handling the situation and right now this is the safest place for Hudson"

"The longer you hold him, is the more people will think he's done it and the more comfortable they'll get without him so when he returns they aren't going to be able to handle it"

"I understand what your saying but-" He begins to explain before an officer comes over to us, "We got a house robbery" He says and the officer I was conversing with just gets up and begins to leave, How rude.

"Sheriff, you've been holding Hudson here for a while, and he obviously is not the one that has just robbed that house, so if you could please release him from that cell and tell the people to be scared of whoever is robbing houses and killing teachers,that would be great, you're polices and your job is not just to capture the easy target, but to investigate and find the real perpetrator"

I had hoped my words would have made some impact and so I was slightly delighted when he handed another officer the keys to unlock Hudson's cell.

Shock, wouldn't even cover the facial expression Hunter made when he laid eyes on me.

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