After hearing Mrs Callan confess over the phone to killing her husband, I stopped dead in my tracks. I heard footsteps coming and I ran to the nearest janitor's closet. I heard her say, "Hello?" I heard her getting close to the janitor's closet and I held my breath and stood still.
Just as she was about to open it, I heard the principal Ms. Murray, call her name. I heard footsteps fade away and I waited a little while before opening the door and leaving.
She killed her husband? And she lied and she was trying to cover it up. What the hell. This bitch is crazy. My mind was still trying to process and I completely forgot why I even left the lunchroom to begin with.
"Betty? You look like you saw a ghost." I looked up and saw Jug stare at me. "Uh, Jug come in here." I took Jug's arm into the old classroom that belonged to a teacher whom moved away a long time ago. "What is it?" He asked, "You okay?" I shook my head. "You might want to sit down for this."
He sat down looking confused. "Jug, I heard Mrs Callan on the phone say that she killed her husband after she caught him cheating on her." Jughead looked at me with widened eyes.
"No way." He said shaking his head in disbelief. "It's true, I was walking down the hallway and I heard her say that. I was looking for you."
"What are we going to? I mean, do we tell somebody or what?" I shook my head. "We can't go to the police yet. We need more evidence." I liked doing detective work.
I was like the 17 year old version of Nancy Drew. Wild, funny, curious, some may describe me as "nosy."
"Okay, so let's pull out the facts. What exactly did you hear?" Jug asked. I started to pace around the small classroom. "I heard her say on the phone 'I didn't mean to kill him... It was an accident. I caught him with a mistress and this darkness.. it-it took over me.' After that, she heard something from the outside, she came out and said hello asking if anybody was there and i panicked so I hid in the janitors closet. Afterwards, the principal came out."
Jug began writing in his notebook everything I said.
"Holy, shit. Do you think Murray knows?" He asked. He was eating corn chips and chewing obnoxiously. "No, I don't think so. Stop eating your chips like that, you're distracting me." He mouthed a 'sorry' and put his snack away.
"We can't tell anyone else about this, keep this between you and me, Betty." Jughead said, he took my hand and I heard someone announce, "Can't tell anyone else what?" We both turned around and saw Xiomara and Jardin. "Nothing." I said standing up and rolling my polyester sweater down.
"I think I know what's going on here." Jardin said and me and Jughead both said, "You do?" And he said, "You guys are dating and you didn't want to tell me." Wow, Jardin was way off but Jughead said, "Wow you caught us." He was a horrible liar.
Jardin laughed and put his arm around Jughead and I. "You don't have to hid it from me. I don't care. I am happy for you both. You two are my best friends." I awkwardly laughed.
"Betty, I think we should start getting to class." Xiomara put her hand out and I took her hand and said goodbye to the boys. As annoying as Xo was, it was nice to have a female friend around.
I mean, I've only known her for a couple hours, but she seemed really sweet and trustworthy. "So, who's the guy? Jughead?" I nodded. "Yup, he's my boyfriend." I lied. Xiomara put her head on my shoulder. We walked to class until the bell rang.
School was finally over and I said goodbye to Xiomara and the boys. It was going to be awkward having dentition with Mrs Callan after overhearing her say that she killed her husband. I just would have to keep calm and act normal. Easy.
I opened her classroom door and sat down. I was the only one that had detention. "Have seat, Elizabeth." She took off her glasses and crossed her legs. She was typing something on her computer. "Is there anything you'd like me to do?" I asked. "Dust the erasers and clean the board." She demanded.
I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. "Actually, I forgot I left papers in the printer. Stay right here and don't go anywhere." She stood up and left the classroom. I continued what I was doing but I couldn't help but notice she left her computer tabs open. I walked over to her computer and saw her tabs.
Her search history had how to get away with murder, how to kill somebody and hide their body, what to do if the body has a stench. What the hell? I thought to myself. Why is she searching all of this stuff up?
I heard footsteps coming and I immediately stood up and acted nonchalant. "How long will I be in here for?" I asked her. She sighed and said, "For another 45 minutes. I have places to be and business to handle." By business she means hiding her husband's dead body!
"Oh, what are you doing after school?" I asked. Shoot. That was a dumb question. "You know Elizabeth, you shouldn't ask a teacher that." She stacked her books up. "You know what? You can leave." I looked up at the clock. I've only been here for forty minutes.
"Okay, in that case, I will see you tomorrow." I gathered my things and exited her classroom. As I was walking out, I realized I left my phone inside the classroom.
I knocked on the door and called out her name. "Mrs Callan? It's Elizabeth, open the door." I knocked a few times. I waited a couple of seconds before I opened the door.
I opened the door and saw Mrs. Callan, dead laying flat on her desk. "Oh, my god!" I screamed. I dropped all of my books and ran to her aide. "Mrs Callan! Mrs Callan!" I shook her a couple of times and tears formed in my eyes.
Her lips were a greenish color and the lens of her glasses were broken. I called an ambulance and they came over. They asked me some questions and I answered them. "I don't know, I had to stay after school for a detention and I came back to get my
phone and I found her dead."
"There wasn't anyone else in the room?" The police officer asked and I said no. After they questioned me, my dad came to get me.
"'My poor sweet Betty, I'm sorry you had to see that." I awkwardly mumbled a 'yeah.' I put my head on the car window and Dad turned up the radio. "Strumming my pain with his finger, singing my life with his words..." Dad softly sang. When I was younger, this was my Dad's favorite song.
I could never figure out why, but he liked it a lot. "You liked this song a lot Betty." He said. "I know, Dad." I never really got along with my dad. We would always argue and get into it.
Mom would just watch and allow him to say horrid things about me. My dad pulled up into our house. He came around and opened the door for me.
"Betty, I will see you later on tonight." He said and I scoffed. "Oh, yeah, you're gonna go see the woman whom you're cheating on my Mother with." I declared.
He laughed and said, "Actually I had paperwork to finish." He got into his car and drove off. I walked upstairs and saw my mom in the kitchen cooking.
"Betty!" She ran to me and hugged me. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Are you safe." I fake smiled and said, "Yeah, mom. I am okay." She kissed my cheek and let me go. She continued what she was doing and I walked upstairs.
A couple hours go by and I was getting ready for bed. A knock at the door caused me to run to get it. I opened the door and was greeted by eight police officers. I seen their sirens and heard flashing lights. "Elizabeth Miller, you are under arrest for the murder of Danielle Callan."
"What? No! Get your hands off of me. I didn't kill Mrs Callan. What are you doing? Stop! Mom? Dad?" My parents stood at the entrance of the front door and watched as the police officers put me in handcuffs. "Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in court." Sheriff McKellen said.
"For the last time, I didn't kill her!" He shook his head and they put me into the cop car. Tears were held back in my eyes and I seen my parents at the front door, watching their daughter go to jail.
Neighbors came outside and watched in disbelief. And I realized something, I was framed. Mrs. Callan didn't kill herself. She was killed.
