Killer

Chapter 10: The Truth Will Be Told

Jace grabbed the remote control from his nightstand and replayed the tape. We were both staring hard at the film. The dark and anonymous person reached and strangled the blindfolded girl with her necklace with no mercy. A sickening feeling danced inside my stomach when the person removed the blindfold from the girl's face on the screen. I had to stare at the image clearly to notice that her hair was tied back from her face. She didn't look familiar to me or someone I knew from Tanglewood High as I shuddered.

The video had to be about how the girl died, right? I searched through my brain long and hard from the very start. I walked into Goodwill and spotted the tape, wanting to know what film it would be. Something told me inside to stop, look, and buy the tape to discover what I could find, and that was what I did. It was a tape of a murder, and the whole thing was freaking me out tremendously. The moment the girl took her last breath as I felt it.

Did her death occur days, weeks, or months ago? How did the tape land at the Goodwill? What sick person would record it for someone like me to see? It has to be some twisted joke.

I pulled the tape out of the device. I couldn't take one minute of seeing the girl getting choked on camera and me sitting there to watch it. It was too much for me, feeling my stomach churning. I had to do something. I had to let the police know what Jace and I found.

Jace glanced at me from the screen. "What are you doing, Sunny?" He asked me.

"We-We have to do something," I stood in the middle of his basement bedroom with the gruesome tape in my hands, feeling like there was blood pouring out. I didn't like this feeling at all. "We have to go to the police, like, right now."

"Sunny..." Jace quietly pleaded.

I screamed. "We need to confess! It is a videotape of a murder!"

"If it makes you feel better," He rose from the bed and walked over to me. "Let's burn the tape...together."

I looked at Jace, not believing what he said. "Are you out of your mind? I say we don't burn it." I held up the black murder tape and started making my way out of the basement. Thoughts were racing inside my head about the situation as Jace pulled my arm back.

"Sunny, please," he turned me around, and I felt like a frightened child. "What do you think the police will do about this? Huh?" I could feel his nearest hand slowly grabbing the tape from me.

My eyes were glued to his piercing green ones, casting a charm on me. "The quality of this video is poor. It will be hard for them to identify who the people on this tape are."

Tears were helplessly dripping from my eyes. "That's bullshit, and you know it. I want to do something, or else I will regret not saying anything," I jerked away from his hold. "I feel like whoever this girl is, is still out there," I swallowed and wiped my warm tears. I didn't know how someone like Jace could be so chill about what we watched.

"Her-Her body is probably decomposing in that video and nowhere to be found."

Jace raked his fingers through his curly light hair. "What if the police think we have something to do with this? Then what?"

"Oh,  you want me to say we videotaped ourselves choking a naked girl for fun?" I nearly snapped. We were not getting anywhere with a decision. It was beyond frustrating at this point.

"I want to go to the police station and report what I found. Either you are with me or not."

Jace nodded and turned to grab his car keys from the drawer. "Alright, let's go." He said with a monotone voice like before.

I followed him up the creaky stairs out of his basement bedroom. I understood what Jace was trying to say. He was afraid that the police would think we were murderers because of the tape we watched. But I didn't have in me to stay quiet about something that needed to be out to the public.