Finding Madeline

Chapter 10

Madeline:

The next few days I was petrified. I was extremely alert to everything around me and didn't talk to people much anymore. Unfortunately, the kid who got hit with the brick ended up passing away late that night. That made me feel even more uneasy. Whoever was doing this was capable of murder. Every person at my school seemed to be in shock and many people were dead silent. Police were constantly at the school and they blocked off that whole building to do a homicide investigation. It was pretty frightening and a few kids parents even pulled them out of this school because of this. All the teachers seemed distant and disconnected and didn't assign much work. Some kids missed school and this event was all over the news. I constantly felt like someone was watching me and I was always scared for my friends lives. I stayed distant and far away from people so that my presence wouldn't cause more lives to be lost. There was a constant guilt in the back of my mind about the kid's murder. In a way, I blamed myself. I was clearly warned about disobeying orders. If I had just gone in the first place this kid would still be alive and well. I stopped a life on Tuesday. I couldn't shake the sickening feeling that I would get every time I thought about what his parents must be going through. Every night I would awaken to another scary dream about the traumatizing incident. I couldn't get the gory image out of my mind. Police were interviewing every student on campus and today it was my turn to be interviewed. The whole day my mind was racing with ways I could avoid the subject of the gazebo. My heart skipped a beat when they called my name to the office for the questioning. I was convinced that I wasn't ready and that they were going to figure out it was my fault.

~~~

"Madeline Pierson?" The detective asked.

"Yes."

"Where were you located the day of the murder of James Derk?"

"I was in the hallway coming out of class," I said as I picked at the smooth nail polish on my fingers.

"You were coming into the building?"

"No I was walking out of class."

"Alright. Did you know James very well?"

"No not really. I probably only talked to him once."

"So after you walked up to the building what did you see?"

"I came out of a classroom, I was already in the building. I saw the brick hit him and I ran over and checked his pulse."

"What color was the brick?"

"Uh brown? I'm not sure I wasn't really paying attention but I think it was reddish brown like a normal brick."

I began to calm down. These questions weren't hard, I knew the facts. The detective wasn't asking me any questions that I couldn't answer truthfully.

"So after the brick was thrown where did it go?"

"It was in the pathway to get out of the building."

"So after you touched the brick where did you go?"

"I felt sick so I went to the bathroom."

I froze as I realized my mistake. I said I touched the brick. He would know I was responsible!

"Wait, you said brick? No uh I never touched the brick I thought you meant the kid like if I touched the kid after the brick was thrown."