to neptune and back, still. // billie eilish

fifteen.

Katherine

I greet Detective Gray as I walk into his office, sitting in the chair directly across from his desk.

What the fuck am I about to say.

He opens a tan file folder, flipping through a few pages. He pulls out pictures that have very obvious fingerprints on them, setting them in front of me.

"So-" He says, clearing his throat and closing the folder. "These fingerprints lead back to a few people." He says, looking me right in the eyes.

I dont know what to say, so a nod is the only response that comes from me.

"Kira being one of them. Another being you. And, another being Billie."

Billie?

"What are the fingerprints from?" I ask, softly tapping my fingers on my leg nervously, trying to focus on my breathing.

"The drugs in your kitchen." We both sigh. "The ones that were put inside of your liquor that you drank that night."

"Well, if you know Kira's fingerprints are on them, and Billie wasn't even in town, why is this even a question?" I say, trying not to bite with my words.

"Because we've had many witnesses saying Kira was not at your house that night. And, she wasn't there when the police showed up." He crosses his hands in front of him, piercing me with his eyes. "And, there was absolutely no proof that she was there."

At this point every word he says hits me differently. I feel like I'm going to vomit and the sweat on my palms increases with every syllable.

"Okay, so what do you think happened?" I scoff, with obvious attitude and stress. "Do you think I did it to myself? Do you think I threw myself across my goddamn room and poisoned myself on purpose?"

His eyes were widened and he sat back in his chair.

"You have depression, correct?"

He raises his eyebrow when he says that. And it all starts to click. Kira and Madison and god knows who else has talked to him. And they did a hell of a good job.

"Yes." I say, trying not to argue back.

"So, I think we're on the same page here." He pulls out the folder again, taking three individual papers out.

"No, we aren't. Because I didn't try to commit that night. I was raped, and I was beaten."

Tears start to form in the corners of my eyes, and every word that comes out is being shouted and projecting every inch of pain in my body. But, I continue.

"And I was threatened before I came here by a woman who I know you've seen before. She flashed a gun at me and told me that if I didn't tell you my dad did it then she'd fucking shoot me."

I stop for a second, fixing my composure.

"Correction, she said she'd murder me."

I sit in the chair, shaking with fear and anger.

"I don't believe you." He says with no emotion. The most monotone voice I've ever heard.

"If you think I tried to kill myself, where did the bruises come from? Huh? Where?"

He hesitates before he presses a button on his walkie-talkie.

"I think you did it to yourself to make it seem like an assault attack because you didn't want to go to a mental hospital." He says as two men walk into the room.

"Escort her to the lobby." He says, setting his pen down. "Send Mrs. O'Connell in."

I walk obediently with the two men, and I see Billie sitting in a chair in the lobby.

I see tears in her eyes immediately.

"Billie, go to Grays office." The man on the left of me says, in a dark voice that sent shivers down my spine.

What did I just get myself into.

Billie stands up nervously, walking to the back hallway, playing with her rings as she walks. She turns to look back at me, and her head twitches, which I know is a tic.

Fuck.

Billies POV:

I sigh as I see Katherine walk out, until I see two men standing beside her, escorting her. And tears in her eyes.

What the hell.

"Billie, go to Gray's office." One of the men says, so I stand up, trying to fix my composer.

I'm still trying to collect everything that was said to me an hour ago, and now I'm worried about what Katherine said.

I step into his office, smiling, trying to act like I wasn't literally shitting my pants.

"Have a seat." He says, after I stand in his doorway for a few, long seconds.

I sit down, crossing my feet as I try not to shake.

"So, I just talked to Katherine." He says, pulling out a small binder full to the brim of papers. "And I think I realize what's going on here."

Oh god.

"I think Katherine needs to be sent to a mental institution."

Fuck.

"Why...?" I say, dragging out the syllable.

"Me and my partners agree that Katherine attempted suicide the night of the 'assault '" He says assault with air quotes, snickering under his breath. I've never wanted to deck someone as much as I do right now.

"What? I literally saw it all happen." I say, giving him the most confused and angry eyes.

"Yeah, well, there's more witnesses on her side." He says, sliding a paper from the binder in front of him. "There's no proof that Kira was at Katherines house. There is proof that she was at someone else's house the same night, though."

Who the fuck.

He slides a picture towards me. The picture has all faces blurred out, because of privacy I'm guessing, and a time stamp at the top. The time stamp is about what time she was at Katherine's.

It's obvious someone is setting this up. It's obvious that this isn't just something he came up with in his mind. Witnesses? What fucking witnesses.

"But, we are going to wait a few weeks until we do anything legal. We are going to talk to Katherines father, our other witnesses, you, and Katherine some more. So, please be on the look for phone calls from this number."

He slides a small card with the same number that called our phones yesterday printed on it.

He stands up, opening the door for me.

"Have a nice day." He says passive aggressively, smiling.

I walk out of the door, immediately seeing Kat sitting in the same chair that I was in before.

She smiles at my presence, and she walks up to me as soon as I turn the corner to walk out of the door.

"We have to talk." I say, walking immediately to the car door, opening it, and closing it as I sat down in the seat.

She opens the door, plopping down into the passenger seat, letting out a sob as soon as she hits the back of the seat.

"I have a lot to tell you." She says, looking up at me extreme pain in her eyes.

"Okay, baby." I say, holding her hand tight. "You can tell me."