The Witness

The School Project

She let me stay in her room a lot after that. More often than not I'd go to sleep with her in her bed. I guess you could say we got really comfortable with each other. It's crazy to say, but I trusted her, and I think, she trusted me too. I suppose anyone with eyes could have seen what was coming. Two lonely girls locked in a house 24/7 with nothing to do but get into each other's heads. It was bound to happen sooner or later. To be honest I'm surprised it took as long as it did to happen. I guess some people would call me crazy for doing it, mentally unwell, say I had Stockholm Syndrome. And maybe they are right, and maybe I don't care.

The School Project

"One more round," I click start game.

"Uh no, you promised." She pauses it.

"Dakota!" I pout.

"You promised! This project is due today, you said one more round two rounds ago."

"This is fun, school is boring." I clicked start.

She got up and turned the game off.

"Emm!" I screamed into the bed, kicking my legs up and down on her bed.

She pats my head, scratching my scalp lightly.

I like when she does that.

"Emm," I said calmer.

"Come on," she tugged my arm.

"Ugh!" I rolled over and faced the ceiling.

"The sooner we get done with the project the sooner you can get back to the game." She says.

"You're fault for showing me how to play video games," I say.

"I take full responsibility," she sighs.

"Make me food?" I look at her.

"School Project! Don't make me spell it out."

"How can I work on an empty stomach?"

She grabs both my arms and drags me out of bed.

I laugh and let her.

I hit the ground with a hard plop.

"Mel come on," she dragged me out of the room.

"Food!"

"Fine!"

"Yes!" I jump up to my feet.

We go to the kitchen where the hair dye stuff from last night still sits. I was supposed to clean it up. Oops. She huffs in annoyance and throws it in the trash, before aggressively wiping everything down.

"I sorry," I batt my lashes at her and say in a cute voice.

"You promised."

"You distracted me." I point out.

She sighs in defeat.

Since I've been here almost 5 months, my hair was looking tragic. Blond at the top, uneven, choppy, roots showing through bad. It hung in my eyes and when I scooped it to the side I looked like pre-pubescent Justin Bieber. So she went to the store, the only store still open, and found me the last box of hair dye, sadly it's black. But better than nothing I guess. Then she gave me a trim, not a tragic one this time. Just cut the sides and off the top a little to make it look nice again.

I asked her how she knew to cut hair, and she said she used to cut her dad's hair.

She never talks about her parents, and they have yet to even check on this killer once. I guess they aren't close anymore ever since Carolina. Either way I have officially determined Dakota has no friends at all, no one has ever checked on her or come over. I guess that's typical for murderers.

"What do you want to eat?" she asks.

"Make me a BLT." I spin around in my chair.

So she pulls out some bread and plops it in the toaster before frying up some bacon. I love the smell of bacon. I can't help but take in several big whiffs. Then she slaters mayo on the bread places two slices of tomato which she cut in half very precisely to make sure they fit just right. Then she put the shredded lettuce on before putting four thick strips of bacon.

She put it on a plate and poured some chips off to the side, making sure it wasn't touching the sandwich. Then she made herself one as well. We ate in silence.

"Thank you," I said with my mouth full.

She giggled and ruffled my hair.

She's been touching my hair a lot, ever since she cut it.

I don't mind.

Finally, after eating we moved to the living room for her project. It's a two-part-er, she has to make a presentation and a physical diagram. It's on the different levels of society. I promised to help her with the physical part of it while she works on the presentation.

She put music on to keep the silence away as we worked.

I made several little clay people for the towns and different levels. I made lots of little buildings too. I've always been good with crafty stuff. Plus it keeps me busy and away from boredom.

I grab a paintbrush and brush on glue over the highest level before pouring rainbow glitter inside. But it's not enough, I coat all the buildings in gold glitter and the streets in silver glitter.

"That's too much," she laughs.

"Mind ya business," I keep working.

She shakes her head at me.

I bake the little figures and put them inside their respected layers. The bottom layer takes the longest because I have to paint it to make it look gross. I paint slime drips everywhere and the buildings look like rotting fruit. The people there have rat tails.

At the level above it, the people there have bee-colored clothes and a stinger.

The people above them have bird wings.

The ones above them are the glitter people.

I think it turned out great if I do say so myself.

I stand up and dust my hands off over Dakota, raining glitter down on top of her.

"Done," I say.

"Hey! Glitter never comes off." She stands up.

"Really?" I grab the small bag of glitter and fling some at her.

"Stop it!" she chases me.

"Oops!" I fling glitter everywhere.

"Melony!" she tackles me by the stairs.

I laugh.

"You're so going to get it!" she tickles me.

"Ah! Stop!" I laugh and try to break free.

I do and run to the couch, she tackles me again so hard the couch slides back. I giggle and look up at her, she looks down at me and we both struggle to catch our breath.

She's close.

Usually, when she's this close she quickly pulls away, but she's not.

And maybe I don't want her to.

I lock eyes with her before doing it.

In one quick movement, I lean in and kiss her.