The Killer Secret

12.

The world around me spun out of control like I was on a merry-go-round from hell. My life was falling apart and I couldn't stop the chain reaction that was occurring because of it.

Travis had taken me to the police station and called my parents. They were more frantic than I was an hour ago, begging for updates from any officer that passed by.

Sitting alone in a room, I looked at my reflection in the two-way mirror. My ponytail was loose, allowing strands of hair to fall out of place. My nose was red and my eyes were blood shot from crying.

Detective Carter came into the room and placed a glass of water on the table and took a seat in front of me.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked, clicking his pen but I didn't shift.

All I kept thinking was that I needed my sister to be okay because I wouldn't survive if she was gone.

"Kayla?" He reached out and touched my hand. "You can trust me."

My eyes fell to his hand on mine. "It's all my fault," I muttered softly, sliding my hands under the table. "I provoked him and he retaliated."

He closed his notepad and tucked the pen under the spiral. Then, pushed the glass of water towards me.

"Listen, nothing you did can cause anyone to do anything."

"You don't know what I've done!" I yelled, catching him off guard. When I had calmed down, I continued. "I killed someone."

The expression on Liam's face was lingering between disbelief and surprise. "What do you mean?"

I looked him in the eye and sighed. "Sophomore year, Tammy took me to this party an older guy was throwing. A girl, Emma, had disrespected her at school and Tammy wasn't going to let it slide."

I took a sip of the water. It was cool as it ran down my throat, making me shiver. Liam had loosened his tie and folded his sleeves up to his elbows as he waited for me to continue with my story.

"Travis and Axel came as back up just in case Emma had her own."

Thinking back to that night had me feeling nervous. We never talked about any of it, since it happened, and I was afraid that it would make matters worse than it already was.

"Then what happened?"

After taking another sip, I replied. "The plan was to grab Emma and bring her to the lake. Tammy wanted to scare her but it went all wrong and she died."

A single tear escaped, rolling down my cheek. "Tammy wasn't even remorseful about what she had done. Instead, she left Emma floating face down. I wanted to get help, but Tammy threatened me, saying that it was all my idea."

I wiped my tears and sniffed back the cold that was starting to run. "A few months later, I started getting random texts, telling me to do things like sleep with my best friend's boyfriend or our secret will get out. I didn't know it was all constructed to split us apart until it was too late."

"Did the others know about the blackmailing?"

I shook my head. "The damage was done and they didn't want anything to do with me."

Liam rubbed his hand down his face and sighed. I could tell he was struggling between two forces and I  was afraid.

There was a knock on the door, followed by an officer and called Liam out of the room. After a few minutes, he return with a sour look and my heart sunk because I've seen that look too many time now.

"We found Taylor."

- - - - - - - -

It felt like a dream, like I had an out of body experience. None of it felt real. Half of me was gone and I couldn't cope.

"Kayla, you have to talk to me at some point," Travis muttered and I blankly looked at him.

I was in fresh pajamas and my wet hair was now in a messy bun on top my head, yet I still felt unclean.

I glanced at the space between us. Travis knelt before me and his hands were touching my knees. Before I knew what I was doing, I was taking his hand and pulling him closer to my body. Travis went with the flow, resting his forehead on mine.

"Kayla," he whispered, as I brought my finger to caress his cheek and he clenched his jaw. Then, I gently took his lips in mine.

My hands wondered behind his neck, pulling him even further towards me that I felt his heart beat against my chest. With my other hand, I slowly tugged his shirt over his body, while I stared into the abyss of his brown eyes.

"It's okay," I whispered, taking his lips into mine again. I needed a distraction to take my mind off of the drama I will be faced with in the morning.

He slowly moved on top of me as I laid back into the mess of pillows behind me. Travis' hands roamed down my thigh, gently scraping it with his nails. I shivered as the soft shock waves travelled up my spine. It felt so good that I started to cry. Lately, all it seemed like I did was cry and felt sad. It was becoming a routine.

Travis pulled back, confused by the sudden turn in my mood. "Hey, don't cry," he whispered, wiping a tear from my cheek.

Taylor was in a coma due to excessive trauma to the brain. She had bruises all over her body.

The bastard beat the crap out of her.

Just thinking about it made me angry. Taylor was innocent in all of this. She didn't know a thing about Emma and I still couldn't protect her. My eyes caught a glimpse of Tammy's bracelet hiding under some papers.

If what Bethany said was true and Tammy was alive then I needed to find her.

"Trav, I have something to show you." I got up from the bed and padded over to my desk. When I turned back to face him, I held up the bracelet. He froze, analyzing the jewelry.

"Where...How...Where did you get this?" He took the bracelet in his hands, rubbing his fingers over the blue stone.

"This is going to sound weird but Tammy is alive."

I had no proof of this, only the word of an old friend, but I knew deep down that there was some truth to it. Bethany was crazy but not delusional and, if Tammy wanted to fake her death, she went to the right person to do it.

* * * * * * * * * *

Soundtrack 21 = A Way To You Again by Peter Bradley Adams

Soundtrack 22 = Tourist by Axel Flóvent