Killer

Chapter 14: Cold Case

A month later...

I had spent the last few weeks in what I believed was called "depreciation." But I claimed to find myself getting better and better, to the point where I created some relationships around me. A new, unlikely friendship with Mila and Tre grew more profoundly, something I needed at the time. I was so glad to finally have people to talk to. We had grown closer, leaving me with the sense that I finally had friends and was not going to a high school full of faces I had known forever.

Whenever I would get rides to school, I would sometimes notice Jace staring at me from the corner of his eyes, infatuated, but then turning away when I caught his glance. My short, curvy frame, long honey-blonde hair, and freckles all over my porcelain skin. I just knew he found me pretty. Even Tre and Mila mentioned that I was. If so, then why did it take me so long to have my first kiss with a boy I crushed on so long, or no past boyfriends? During my last hangout with Mila—which was kind of awkward when it was just us two—I told her a little bit about Jace, and she encouraged me to shoot my shot with him by asking him out on a date.

But I didn't know how. I never thought to myself to make a move when situations similar to this could get awkward really fast; we were still in the stage of getting to know each other and becoming really great friends. I wasn't sure who I was exactly to establish a relationship yet. But I felt comfortable enough being myself around him.

However, I haven't thought about the snuff film anymore since my attention has turned to two handsome boys lately. I had a feeling drilled into my body that wasn't put into words, which was a great thing. I stopped feeling scared and restless, and maybe more people noticed. I felt sort of alive in a weird way. I haven't had feelings of someone stalking me. I've never walked alone again since that night, when Crest picked me up and took me home. He strongly suggested that I never do that again. It was a stupid and careless mistake on my end; lesson learned. Thankfully, I was able to continue on with another day in my life and inform Jace about what happened. He never let me walk alone, and whenever I needed a ride somewhere, he gave me one in an instant. It changed a lot.

My mom and Rick broke up. He packed everything and moved out. My mom suspected he was hiding secrets and doing things behind her back. She found out he had been stealing stuff around our house and selling it to the local pawn shop to support his drug habit. What really ended things for them was when my mom went to the grocery store and forgot her wallet. Rick took it upon himself to snoop through her things, including her wallet, and took whatever was in there. Trouble was what he was, as mom told his ass to get out, which he did. She vowed she would never think about that bastard again the minute he left, and after living with us for almost two months, he was nothing but a liar and a thief. He hurt my mother so much that it led to her being more broken than she already was and drinking more excessively.

That has been the update for me.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was how warm my blanket was. My pillows felt extra fluffy and soft. My bedroom smelled like apple cinnamon from the candle I lit up the night before; it made the air more brisk and crisp. A band of morning sun streaming in from the window made my face warm, although it was chilly. The birds were chirping so effortlessly from the now brownish-orange colored trees. It felt like autumn.

I sat up and stretched my entire body, then let a sleepy grin spread on my face. I was free.

I finally felt like I could sleep normally again. I was nightmare-free. No snuff film. No dead, naked girl.

I headed downstairs with plans to make some warm tea. Now that Rick was gone, it felt like things had gone back to normal in my household. I picked up the remote control to switch on the small living room TV on the stand, which was already set to the local news. A story was on the screen, as the headline said, "Snuff Film Goes Cold." Screenshots of the film were blurred on some parts of the naked girl for the audience to see across the screen. The news reporters gave away a summary of how two unidentified teenagers in Tanglewood discovered a videotape. It showed a naked, blindfolded girl dying from strangulation and was now considered a cold, unsolved case due to the lack of evidence and information.