Crystal Stain

9

I was in a state of trance.

We left my house in Harry's car under the pouring rain.

I was so dumbfounded I didn't ask another question. I had no idea who the victim was and how it all had happened. I only remembered nodding at Harry when he had asked me again if I could help him.

I also remember the coldness. It was a warm night, for we were getting close to summer, and Harry hadn't turned on the AC of his car, and yet, I was chilled to the bone with my arms wrapped around myself. I remember my teeth were chattering so much I had to clench them to stop.

I snapped out of trance when I realized we had been on the road for a while. In fact, I could only see darkness around me, which meant we must've been riding the road that crossed the forest outside of town.

"Where are we going?"

Harry squinted his eyes, trying to see through the darkness whatever he was looking for.

"There's a church around here."

"St. Claire's?" I figure out quickly.

"Yeah! Do you know it?"

"That's where Billy and I did our first communions." I remembered fondly, it was one of the few memories I held dearly of when my parents were alive. "But what were you doing there?"

"Well, it's not exactly a church anymore."

I remembered the fire that had erupted a few years ago, burning the whole place down from the inside, only leaving decrepit ruins. No one had bothered to restore it, instead, they built a new church in town.

Harry shrugged. "I've been using it as a... social spot for a while."

"Social spot?"

"You know" he sighed "dates, gatherings... sometimes we hang around to do things that might get us in trouble."

I furrowed my eyebrows. I knew Harry used to ingest other substances besides alcohol, and I knew he could get pretty playful with girls in public spaces, things that could get him in trouble if he ever crossed with the police, but I was pretty sure every teen in our town used to do that kind of stuff at parties. I'd never heard about a "secret place" to do it, but then again, I wasn't exactly a party animal to know every social trend going around town.

After a while rambling around trying to look for the church under the pouring rain we arrived to the abandoned building.

At first, when we went inside the church, it was impossibly dark, being our only source of light the lantern I had packed from home and our cellphone's flashlight. Slowly, my eyes started adjusting to the darkness, and I could take in everything that surrounded me and the feeling of peacefulness started filled me. There was something about churches that always calmed me, I felt protected, and even then, inside that church where you could see destruction had hit it a few years ago, the feeling of comfort was still there.

Harry stopped abruptly at the end of one of the stair cases that led to a room on the back. I had been so lost in taking the beauty of the building I had forgotten why we had come here at all, but, as soon as I saw the body at the bottom of the stairs, I was brought back to reality.

I stepped closer next to Harry. It took me a few seconds to take it all in, I didn't know who I was expecting to find but it definitely surprised me when I recognized who I was seeing.

I gasped "Is that - Jessica Lancey?"

Harry sighed sadly "Yes."

"What happened Harry?"