Destined

Sixty Two

I took a deep breath as I stared at the gun in my hand. I couldn't believe it. Talia? Talia killed Tyler? But...but why? And.... Sorry, you're confused. I've skipped something. I tend to get ahead of myself at times. Let me go back a few minutes, back to Vince's call.

"We have a problem,"
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"My gun is missing,"
"What?" I asked surprised.
"I was talking to the police, some of them knew my father. Out of courtesy, they told me some details about the case. The gun that killed Tyler, was a glock 21. The same gun that belonged to my dad, the one that I believed was in my house. Except, when I went to check for it, it was gone,"
I gulped, "Gone?"
"You and I are the only ones that knew the location of that gun, Kristina, unless my house is bugged with cameras too, I don't know how anyone could have known about it. And it's not a coincidence that it's missing and Tyler ends up dead killed by the same weapon..."

I stopped listening to Vince. We weren't the only ones that knew about the gun. Talia did too. I'd mentioned it to her. The day of Vince's party. As a joke of course, but she knew about it. And where it was. And then it hit me. We'd met her in the hallway that day. I'd assumed she was coming from the bathroom, but now...now, I thought she might have been coming from Vince's room. But then, that means she'd planned the whole thing. And I couldn't believe that. I couldn't believe my best friend had planned to murder her boyfriend and used my boyfriend's gun to do it.

"Kristina, are you there?" Vince's voice permeated my fog.
"Yes, yeah Vince, I'm here," I said making my way upstairs. "I just, I need to check something,"
"What's wrong?"
"Just stay on the line, please,"

I stepped into Talia's room. Now remember, Talia had I were in middle and high school together. I knew her. Her secrets, her weaknesses, her thought process, just as she knew mine. And so I knew where she'd hide stuff. Stuff like her journal back when we were kids. And her hiding place had not changed. On the underside of her mattress, she'd cut a slit through the stuffing, and she'd hide stuff in it. And like I expected, this mattress here had a slit too.

Scared out of my mind, I stuck my hand in and felt around and gasped when my fingertips came in contact with something cold and hard and definitely metal. Slowly, I grasped what felt like the barrel of a gun and as I pulled it out, I prayed desperately that my hand would pull out anything, anything other than a gun. But you can guess that it didn't.

"No," I mumbled.
"Kristina?" Vince tried to get my attention.
"Vince, I have to go," I said.
"Wait, what's wrong?"
"I'll call you back,"

I hung up before he could continue speaking. I stared at the gun in my hands, willing it to disappear, willing it to turn it into something else. I blinked but it was still there. The cold metal foreign against my skin.

"Damn it Krissy, why couldn't you just trust me?"

Talia appeared at her door, startling me. I was so busy staring at the weapon in my hand, that I didn't hear the door open until I heard her voice.

I stood slowly, facing my best friend. Gun in one hand, phone in the other.

"Talia," my voice was shaking. "What is this?"
"What does it look like?" She snapped.
"What the hell? Why do you have a gun? Why do you have Vince's gun?"
"I borrowed it,"
"Did you....did you kill..."
"Did I kill Tyler? Well yes, I guess I can't hide that from you anymore,"

She said it so calmly, completely dispassionate.

"Why?" I asked confused, a part of me unsure if the conversation was actually taking place or being imagined.
She sighed, "Is Vince on his way here?"
"What? No,"
"Don't lie to me. What did you tell him?"
"You don't get to ask questions, T. Not when I find a weapon in your room,"
She nodded, "Fair enough. I killed Tyler. I didn't mean to, it was an accident,"
"You shot him six times," I said in horror.
She nodded, "I was angry,"
"About what?"
"Krissy, I don't have time to explain this right now. I need to get that gun back to Vince's house,"
"He already knows it's missing. And the police know what gun was used, you put that back in his house, you're framing him for murder,"