Harrison Woods is a 17-year-old girl attending Arbor Coast High, a boarding school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her dark past including her rocky relationship with her parents and her esteemed older brother's suicide are the reasons she landed herself at...
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West had been with Jason for over two hours now and Harrison had been MIA ever since. I was left completely alone in the small, claustrophobic waiting room. Then, as if reading my mind, Harrison walked back through the door and said my name. "Otto?" I looked up at her: her eyes were red and wet from tears, she looked a mess, but for some reason, I still couldn't seem to resist her. I was still mesmerized by her beauty and in love with every single part of her. She walked over to where I was sitting and sat in the chair across from me, simultaneously wiping a tear away.
"What's up?" I asked, and I reached out to grab for her hand, but she moved away before I could. Something was wrong.
"I need you to answer me one hundred percent honestly, no lies, no bullshit," she said. "Jason told me about this journal that he found in your classroom and I saw it, too. It was full of pictures of your ex-girlfriends, and they were all... dead. Murdered."
My eyebrows raised, and I could barely believe what I was hearing. There was no way what she was saying could be true. I didn't keep a secret journal in my classroom filled with dead girls, that wasn't something I would do. It wasn't something I was capable of, was it?
"I just need you to tell me if you wrote this book. You need to tell me if you did this, and if you know what I'm talking about," she breathed out, barely able to speak calmly. Her hands were shaking, and she was anything but calm, but I could tell she was trying her best to mask her nervousness.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, but from the way she bowed her head down and shook her head, I could tell that she didn't believe me.
"Please, Otto, I said no bullshit. No lies. I know what Jason told me is true, I know that he found this journal in your classroom and if you don't tell me the truth right now, I can't do this anymore. I can't do this with you," Harrison said.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I swear!" I defended, sitting up in my chair. I didn't want to lose Harrison, I couldn't fathom it. "I know that what happened today was scary for you, I get it even though I don't remember what happened. But you know me, Harrison, you know who I am. I wouldn't do something like this! You know me! I am not capable of murder! You have to believe me, I am not capable of murder!"
She sighed and retreated her face into her palms. When she came up from her resting position, it looked as if she was about to cry again. "Otto," she mumbled, "I don't know what to say."
This time, when I reached out to grab her hands, I didn't let her pull them away. I grabbed both of them and leaned in, looking into her eyes vibrant eyes. "You know me, Harrison. I am not capable of murdering people, and I would never keep a journal filled with photos of... of dead people. I couldn't do that! Please, you have to believe me, I..." My words were frantic, and I needed to calm myself down before I uttered the following words, "I love you. I love you with all my heart, Harrison Woods. And I know you love me, too. So please, please believe me. Please don't give up on me. Please, you can't give up on me, you have to believe me." I was begging her at this point, and as she looked up at me, I wished that she would never look away. I wanted to look into her eyes forever, to be with her forever. I didn't want to let her go, she needed to believe me.
