A secret is a secret | ONC 2024

17 | The feeling of guilt

I walked into my bedroom, closing the door behind me for privacy. I sat down on the edge of my bed, I entered into my sister's contact and I called her. I placed my phone on my ear as I heard the line ringing against my ear.

"Hey, Lenora, wait, let me walk somewhere more private." My sister answered my call at the third ring. "Honey, I will be right back, I need to talk to my sister. I promise that I am not going to take long."

"Hello, Kara, okay, take your time." I replied, pulling my phone away from my ear and I sighed softly, getting ready to have this unprepared conversation with her. I took a breath in as I returned my phone to the same spot.

"Okay, Lenora, I am in my office. The reason for this phone call is I wanted to check on you because I watched the news about the case of the young man who passed away and how your boyfriend is the main suspect and he was arrested. Can I know what happened?" Kara asked me, quickly going to the main topic of conversation.

Instead of sitting by the edge of my bed anymore, I lay in the middle of my bed. Buying some time before I tell my sister the story about the events that happened that night.

"Yeah, Kara, I will tell you what happened. It doesn't matter about keeping it a secret anymore, I am sure that the news will find out soon enough. I believe that you should hear the real story from me before the public makes assumptions. Kara, you better sit down for this, it's kind of a long story." I started speaking, playing with my hair with my free hand.

"Okay, I have sat down on my desk's chair, whenever you are ready Lenora." My sister told me as I took my phone away from my ear I placed the call on speaker phone and I placed my phone down on my bed inches away from me.

"Back at the start of January, when my boyfriend, Beck, Cyrus, and I had a weekend free without any responsibilities, personal and university. So, we decided to spend our entire weekend by the beach. We stayed in a hotel located near the beach. The start of our trip went well like we had expected, I swear the time we were on the beach was when we were sleeping." I started telling the story to my sister and stopped to laugh at my sentence.

"Yeah, Lenora, I believe you told me about this back in January. Just putting this out there, I am not even surprised that you guys spend the time off the university by going to a beach. I swear that the four of you were marine animals in a past life." My sister said, earning another small laugh from me. "Correct me if I am wrong, but you are about to tell me when things took a turn?"

"Kara, well it is not my fault that I found sitting down by the shore is calming. It is something about the sound of the waves crashing into the shore and watching them." I spoke after I stopped laughing at what my sister said and I started defeating myself.

"Yeah, you're correct Kara, I am going to tell you what happened. Since we were leaving early Sunday morning, the four of us slept in and we spent the afternoon packing up our things. It was Saturday evening when we finished packing up our things, we decided to go to the beach for one last time before leaving. My boyfriend and I arrived at the beach first because Cyrus and Beck were getting food and alcoholic drinks." I stopped talking to catch up some breath before finishing telling the story.

"Lenora, are you okay? Are you still here with me?" I heard my sister's voice sounding worried.

"Kara, yes, I am still here, I just need to catch my breath. That was a lot of words." I responded to my sister's questions, hoping that I made her worries go away. "Okay I am ready to continue telling you the story. Fast forward to a couple of hours later, it was night time near, midnight, a young man around my age appeared out of nowhere. My boyfriend, my two best friends and I noticed that the man was drunk. And for some annoying reason, the young man started asking me if I wanted to leave the beach and go with him to his room."

"Wait, Lenora, sorry, he said that to you? I don't know what is wrong with some men lately. What he said to you was both awful and disgusting." My sister's voice came out from my phone, sounding disgusted.

"Yeah, he did, Kara. You describe perfectly what I felt at that moment." I spoke again after my sister finished speaking. Anyway, back to the story, I told him no and that my boyfriend was here with me. Let me tell you, I think the young man was deaf or something because he kept asking the same question over and over. To the point that Alfred protects me by pushing the guy away from me and telling him that I said no. Unfortunately, due to how drunk he was, the push made him lose balance and he fell backward resulting in him hitting his head on a rock and sadly passing away."

"Wow, Lenora, I am so sorry that the weekend away from university ended badly. How are you feeling about this whole situation? Another question, I am the only one who knows about this" My older sister asked me, sounding worried once again.

"Kara, to be honest with you, I feel bad for my boyfriend because meanwhile he is stuck in prison. I am here trying to move on with my life." I answered one of her questions, sharing my feelings about the situation. "Kara, you are the only one who knows about this other than Beck, Alfred, and Cyrus. I know that the truth will be out there soon."

"Lenora, all these feelings are natural and valid. And I want you to know that you aren't alone, I will help you figure something out to get your boyfriend free. It is not fair that he is stuck in prison because he was a good boyfriend by defending you." My sister told me, sending a small smile to my lips. "I understand, this secret is safe with me sister."

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Final chapter word count: 1,090

Total book word count: 22,473