The Night Of August 15th

31

Harper took in a deep, shaky breath and through gritted teeth she asked, ''so what did your animalistic cousins end up doing with the body?"

Amber wet her tongue and with her gaze to the floor, she replied: "they cut him up and burned his body, and then they threw his ashes into the water,'' she said in a small unconfident tone. A tear slipped out of her eye and she quickly wiped it off.

Bekah whimpered and then she dropped to the ground beside Ana's grave, her eyes also watered. She stared at Amber with a shocked expression on her face.

"Was he-,'' Alicia started, her voice trembling. "Was he even dead when they cut him up?"

Amber nodded. "They suffocated him until they were sure he was dead and then they dismembered him," her voice broke. "After the job was done my cousins called us and they advised us to part ways. There was a serious search for the officer, and they said that the more we hang around each other the guiltier we'll look. They asked us to part ways and live life like nothing happened, and so we did," her mouth trembled as she finished her sentence.

 Amber had known all along that what they did to the man was wrong, but t wasn't until she told the story that she realized the gravity of their incogitant actions.

"And your cousins?" Alicia asked "where are those bastards now?" she demanded.

Amber jumped a bit at Alicia's harsh tone, but she quickly recovered. "One of them died—Tyrone. He was tortured and killed by some gang members. Marquis is in jail, he was found guilty of multiple heinous crimes, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole."

"So all this time you all lived happy lives, you slept peacefully while the officer's family had numerous sleepless nights from wondering what happened to him. Maybe they've even been to the ocean his body was thrown in, maybe they've even swum in it," Harper fumed. "And you dragged my innocent best friend into this, how selfish and disgusting of you all."

"She's not so innocent," Rowan retorted. "She had the option of reporting but she didn't."

"The only option she was given was prison," Harper's voice got croaky as she spoke. "And the only option you monsters gave that officer was death. I despise you people," she spat. "I despise people who think they can get away with anything, I despise people who take advantage of other people's weaknesses and feed on their fear and tears," her chest heaved. "I hope that you all suffer, I hope that you all suffer so badly that you'll want to die," she said and then she grabbed Bekah's arm and dragged her away.

"Chick is scary," Brody said.

There was an eerie silence surrounding all of them. Alicia stared absentmindedly at Ana's gravestone. Iris and Emerson looked dazed and Amber had tears dropping out of her eyes. Rowan's face was blank and Brody' eyes were wandering.

"Amber, you're stupid for telling her what happened," Rowan said in a gentle tone.

"I know," was the simple reply Amber gave.

"I still don't know why the girl killed herself," Brody said, abruptly. "I get it, we- we, dammit," he groaned and hit his head with his fist. "We killed her uncle but that doesn't really explain why she killed herself," he rushed the words out of his mouth.

"Ana and her uncle were very close. He was like a father to her. She told him everything, and he was the only person she ever opened up herself to. Ana's uncle wasn't working that night but she let him know that Amber was bringing illegal substances to the party. He left his house to teach his niece's bullies a lesson. There were so many times when he wanted to teach you all a lesson," Alicia eyed all of them. "But he never had the opportunity. So that night when he finally got the chance, he put on his uniform and went there in order to give you all a little scare, that was all Ana wanted, to see you guys tremble for once in your lives."

"Ana knew Amber would have drugs? How?" Iris asked with her eyebrows drawn together.

"On graduation day she overheard Amber yelling at her cousins, over the phone. Amber was telling them that she had a party in two weeks and that she needed a new bag of coke for the party. That was the exact moment Ana thought up the plan-- she would beg her uncle to go there and rattle you all up a little bit and then he'll arrest all of you," Alicia paused for a bit and took in a deep breath before continuing. "Ana's uncle was a sick man, he had just found out that he had cancer, that's probably why he could not endure the blows to his head."

"That night, Ana stayed up excitedly awaiting a call from her uncle. She wanted to hear about how terrified you guys were when you saw an officer, but that call never came. After two days of not hearing from him, she was sure that something bad had happened. She began to get worried and so she started investigating. Over the course of six months, she followed you guys everywhere and saw how jumpy you all were. She noticed that she never saw any of you together anymore, she also noticed your worried facial expressions and somber demeanors. She eventually came to the correct conclusion that you people had murdered her uncle. Ana blamed herself for it. She loathed herself. She had thought that it was finally her turn to laugh at you all, but once again you guys won. She didn't think she deserved to live because she put her uncle in harm's way. For two years she lived a miserable life. She didn't speak to anybody, she barely ate. She was living, but dead."

"So it wasn't the bullying that drove her to commit suicide," Emerson said in a shaky tone. "It was guilt."