After I Met You

The Research That Started It All

I attend Serenity State University. I'm typically a very outgoing person, but in school I'm quite shy. I stay to myself and prefer not to say something wrong. I'd rather not get embarrassed in front of 90-ish other kids. I also hate group projects because I, somehow, get stuck with all the work while the other people present what I worked by butt off to finish. So I just hate them.

But, when I'm not at school, I am the life of the party. I don't really party anymore now that I'm a junior, but I did last year. I almost failed because of it. This year, I am still the life of my friend group, but I don't really party very much anymore. I'm mostly trying to get through school. It's been a long year. It's only October, and this year has been so much work. So much more than last year. They say it'll slow down before Halloween and I really hope it does because I wanna throw a Halloween party.

Anyways, I have one big project due before Halloween. It's research on an unsolved case from our campus. Whoever's report is the best will get to put it on the schools website and newspaper. Plus, we get a special segment in the morning news. Let me just say this, I took the hardest case and I'm working my freaking butt off. There's about to be MANY late nights.

The case I chose is the disappearance of a young lady by the name of Cheryll Smith. She was a freshman at Serenity when she went missing on Halloween night. Nobody could find her purse, phone, cloths she was wearing, or her. She completely vanished. Her phone last pinged on a tower near her dorm. After that, she fell off the face of the earth. None of her friends knew she was going out because she has reportedly been recovering from an incredibly messy breakup. That's what one of her friends said. The friend had reported that he had cheated on her with her own so called "best friend" and she caught them in the act. She broke up with the guy and broke off the friendship with the one so called "best friend." Her other friends had no idea, they just knew she was staying in for Halloween because she also reportedly "wasn't feeling well." She was reportedly last seen in her dorm room eating ice cream and crying. She was last seen by one of her friends. It's seen a cold case for almost 3 or 4 years now. The evidence the police have? Well funny you ask, I'm going up the school's police station to find that out right now. Let me say one thing though, I did hours of research before I went in. I know the basics. The stuff that everybody's already gone over. I know every interview. I know every new broadcast. I know everything that was posted out to the public.

"Hi," I smile.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The front desk lady asks.

"Well, I'm actually here because I'm doing a report for my class. It's on a young lady's cold case by the name of Cheryll Smith. She's the a young lady who we-" I was interrupted.

"Oh! Yes!" She smiles, "We were informed you were coming by your professor." She gets up, "We have all of it in an interrogation room. It's not allowed to leave here. A detective will help you sort through everything and look for anything you may need."

I nod, "Okay, sounds good to me." I smile at her, "Thank you, I really appreciate this."

"Oh! No problem, honey. This case has been attempted every semester, for the last three years, by multiple students. It's reported on easily by simply being brought back up and gone over, but never even close to being solved though." She sighs, "It's a shame. She was a really sweet girl, and I-"

"Wait- hold on." I stop her, "You knew Cheryll?" I ask.

She nods, "Yeah, almost everybody did. She-"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Please pause so I can grab a pen and pad. I need to ask you some questions." I say.

"Oh-" she looks taken aback, "That's a first."

I grab my pen and notepad, I grab my phone and open the voice recordings app, "are you okay with me recording this so I can have every word of this conversation to refer back to?"