Accomplice

Chapter One

Marissa Smith was born on January 8th, 1998 and died on December 21, 2012. 

The cause of her death? Murder. 

At least that's what everyone at school is saying. I am not even completely sure that she was even killed. Odd rumors can go around school, especially when the meanest girl at school completely vanishes. It is said that her parents couldn't find a single trace of her when they went to check on her this morning. I honestly believe that she just ran away or something. The chance of someone getting murdered in this town is one in a million. My parents moved to this town when I was three, and they didn't do that for anything but the fact that we were guaranteed safety in this town. 

To add onto this stressful day, Kathy still isn't here yet. She hasn't texted me at all this morning, and when I called her it went straight to voicemail. It might just be that her phone was off, because she was staying home sick and needed sleep. I am not really sure but it would be nice to talk to Kathy about this, and how our sworn enemy may be dead. 

I headed to first block to find Kathy sitting in her usual spot, reading a book. She wore sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and her hair was in a messy bun. This seemed odd to me, because she likes to look presentable every single day. I tried to ignore it though because it could have been literally anything. I walked over to her desk to ask her what was going on. 

"Hey Kathy," I said as she looked up. I noticed that she wasn't wearing any makeup (as she usually does) and was wearing her glasses (which she almost never does). "Why didn't you reply to me this morning?" 

"Oh I'm sorry," she replied with a very slight smile. "My phone died in the middle of the night because my charger stopped working, and it wasn't on at all this morning. Also, I look like complete trash today because my alarm never went off and I woke up about 20 minutes ago." We both laughed because we both knew it was true. 

"Well, I'm glad to see you because I have a lot to talk about. First off, did you hear about what allegedly happened to Marissa? This is complete madness if you ask me, I would NEVER in my wildest dreams expect someone to get murdered in this town. I believe that it is total rubbish." 

"I haven't really heard the whole story but I heard a few whispers in the halls about her on my way to class. What happened?" Kathy asked me, seeming slightly unfocused. 

"Well, Marissa hasn't talked to anyone at all this morning and her parents say that they didn't see or hear from her at all either. Rumor is going around that she was murdered but I don't believe it. What are the chances, am I right?" I laughed. 

"Yeah," Kathy let a laugh slip out of her mouth for a second and went back to her book. 

"I guess we will find out the truth later, if she died there will probably be a news special on it, right?" Kathy looked up at me and nodded slightly. I walked across the room and sat in my desk that is placed in the back of the room. I took the time to check my twitter to check up on the latest drama going on in the world. What I saw in the trending section on Twitter shocked me completely. 

Marissa Smith, 14, is found dead in Stawford, MA on December 21, 2012.

"Oh my god!" I yelled, everyone turned around and looked at me. "Marissa is dead. Marissa is dead!" I looked around the room at the shocked faces. Everyone was full of disbelief and fear. I was completely shocked, because I had always been told that this was an extremely safe place to live. It seemed as if all of my childhood beliefs were false, and I no longer had that feeling of safety that I had always felt in this town. Everyone was hustling and bustling around, everyone except for Kathy. I, naturally, ignored it because she explained to me that she was having an off day. 

But I couldn't help but wonder.

I couldn't help but think of the unthinkable. I knew that Kathy hated Marissa, maybe even more than me, but she didn't hate her to that extent. Or did she? 

I was just overthinking things, of course. 

Because my best friend, Kathy Rite, is not a murderer.