Knives & Waterlilies

Epilogue - Three Years Later

* Three Years Later *

*Adriana's Point of View: Letter to Lily*

Dear Lily

I am writing to you to tell you that I met up with Toby today in a coffee house. It was really quite amusing.

When he promised to find out who stabbed you, I didn't know he really meant it. He had put loads of written evidence together in a scrapbook and had it sent to me about 2 weeks ago. 

For the next week, I read through every bit of it when I had the chance but I still could not work out who it was. Maybe it was obvious, I guess I have been so busy in my final year in 6th Form. I was also distracted by all the memories of when we were in year 10. 

Anyway, so I could work it out, I phoned Toby and arranged to meet him at a coffee house nearby. 

I got there first and ordered a drink before sitting down at one of the tables. Slowly, I sipped the hot drink while thinking about the last few years in school. 

You and Curtis remained a couple for a long time. Are you still together?

I remember that you and I shared a room. We didn't talk much. Sometimes I felt hurt because I found out stuff about your relationship through rumours and not you. Pretty much everyone in the year found out when you lost your virginity to him. 

Most of the time, I hung out with Toby. He was very good to me. In the end, I gave in and joined the newspaper club. I soon found I was quite good at it and now I have the desire to become a journalist. 

Toby tried to help me find someone by setting me up with his nerdy friends. They were all nice, but I was just too busy to get a boyfriend. Just because some people in the year said it would work, Toby and I went on a couple of dates. It didn't feel right or natural so we stayed friends. 

I watched the door when my thoughts on school began to drift away. A tall, skinny boy walked in. He had large glasses which looked like those fake hipster ones. He wore a deep red shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black skinny jeans. 

To my surprise, he came up to me. "Adriana!" he announced. It was only at that point I realised this tall, attractive young man was Toby. 

"Toby, that is you right?" I asked to be sure. 

"Yeah! Wow... Um... I'm just gonna get some coffee. I'll be with you in a couple minutes," he turned round and joined the queue to order drinks while I sat and waited. 

I had not seen him since year 11. We all went to different 6th Forms and then Curtis went to a performing arts college so he could carry out his musical career. He went from the ugly duckling to a swan and I felt very happy that he had turned out this way. 

When he returned, he was smiling gently. "So... How are things?" he asked casually. 

"Pretty good thanks, you?"

"Yeah... It's great! When I finish 6th Form, I'm going to Uni. Thinking about studying History," he explained. "So what's this about the scrapbook?"

"Firstly, where did you get all this from?" I asked.

"Well... When I came to help you pack your stuff on the last day of term, I found them lying around. So I just picked them up because I thought I would give them back. That never really happened... And the emails were from when I hacked into Mr Johnson's email. I got suspicious after reading that news report. Other stuff; I have my ways," he explained while wittily smiling.

"Right," I glanced down at the scrapbook on the table. "I don't get it. Who did it?"

Toby sighed and looked back up at me. "Who was it who got defensive of Ryan when he got accused? Who played "the second king" in primary school and got jealous of it? Who smoked tonnes after Lily was stabbed? Who convinced Kevin he was mad? Who had to talk to Mr Johnson after English? And why would Lily want to keep it quiet?"

One named hit me almost instantly. "Curtis?"

Toby subtly nodded.

Thinking back on all those questions. It seemed obvious that it was  Curtis. "Why would he do that?"

"After reading the emails, I thought it was something to do with heroine, but I needed to be sure. So I called up Curtis and he just let it all out down the phone," Toby explained. "He was doing a favour for his friend's older brother. He had heroine in his backpack and was going to give it to some guy he was supposed to meet in town after school. Curtis just so happened to get detention that day and his bag fell open revealing the drugs. Mr Johnson blackmailed him into stabbing someone as a diversion for what Mr Johnson was going to do."

I nodded and took in each word he said. "But why would he choose Lily?"

"He knew Lily wouldn't tell. She liked him and he knew that. He heard her play guitar on her own and believed she had a crush on him. If he stabbed a random kid in our year then they would instantly say it was Curtis," Toby pointed out. "Also, did you notice how quickly she recovered? She collasped to the floor when the damage done was not enough to make you do that. She obviously put it on for Curtis' sake of causing distraction."

"So Curtis blamed it on Kevin because he did it?" I asked. 

"His friend, Ryan, was getting the blame. Kevin was vulnerable and would be easily fooled. He really does regret what he did but it was the easy way out," Toby defended him. 

I looked down at the scrapbook and shuffled it towards Toby who took it and slipped it in his bag. 

"You won't tell anyone will you?" Toby asked. 

"About it being Curtis?" He nodded. "It won't bring Kevin back, will it?"

Toby smiled in relief, but it was a sort of awkward smile. He was still sorry for me about Kevin. When he looked up, his eyes widened. "Oh look, there's Emily."

"Emily, who?" I turned to the door to find a beautiful brunette walking through the door. 

"Oh yeah... She's my girlfriend. You seeing anyone?" he asked casually. 

"Not at the moment," I responded, but Toby's attention was on Emily. He waved at her and made a gesture for her to head towards our table. 

"Hey you," he said flirtatiously before kissing her gently. It was nice to see him so comfortable with a girl. "Emily, meet my friend, Adriana."

Emily looked at me sweetly. "So this is the girl you have been telling me about?" she said excitedly. I shrugged shyly. "I'll go order a drink."

While Emily went, Toby and I stayed seated. "Look at you all loved  up," I teasingly said.

"Haha well... She is pretty much perfect," he looked down at the floor in slight embarrassment.

I then stood up from my seat. "I'm sorry, I really must be heading off," I announced. "I wish you all the best for the future with Uni and Emily and everything."

He stood up shortly after. "You too," he leaned forward and gave me a hug. It was a nice warm hug I missed the past few years. 

Eventually, we parted. "Stay in contact, OK?"

"OK."

I turned and left the coffee shop. Quickly, I walked down the street taking in the news I just recieved. It was Curtis the whole time. 

You know, if you just said it was Curtis, he would have been in jail for a few months. But thanks to you and him, Kevin has permanently lost his life. 

But I can't stay mad at you forever. And I guess neither of you ever planned for this to happen. 

I understand you are probably busy. You don't have to bother replying to this letter, I just want you to know that I know who did it. 

Did you really expect this to be a secret kept from me all your life?

Love Adriana x

Ahhh it's ended. I really enjoyed this! And wow this has turned out to be much shorter than thought it would be. But oh well! Thanks for reading this! Hope you enjoyed :)