Everything Changed

Chapter Twenty-Five

     I get to the park and Kevin is already there. He is sitting on the old swing. It was the only one that Matt would swing on. Matt used to tell us that was the swing that had the most "power". In other words, he thought that this was the swing that went the highest. I walk over to Kevin and sit in the swing next to him. He looks up from his phone and turns his body towards me. 

     "Hey Shay." He smiles. 

     "Hey Kevin." I pause, I don't really know what to say to him. 

     "What did you want to talk about?" He asks. The confusion is evident on his face. I can tell that he is surprised that I wanted to talk to him. 

     "Kevin, I need to know anything that you haven't told me about... that night." I say.

     "Shay, I haven't kept anything from you. You know why I was there that night. You know that I didn't stay long. You know that I had nothing to do with this. We both know that your brother got mixed in with the wrong crowd. He got on the wrong side of the wrong person...." He pauses. "Shay, I wasn't part of what happened that night. I was just there to see you. You know this......"

     "It was my fault." I feel the tears begin to fall down my cheeks. "He and I weren't even supposed to be home that night. We were supposed to go to see a movie with you."

     "But since we broke up the day before you thought that it was a bad idea to go.... That doesn't make it your fault...... Shay, you never really told me why you broke up  with me that day though." 

     "Kevin, you need to know that I didn't want to end things with you. Jake was getting in with the wrong people, as you said and I didn't want for him to somehow drag you into it." I pause, as I realize why they thought that Kevin murdered my brother. "Kevin, they think that you killed him because I broke up with you. They think that you came there that night to change my mind and when I didn't, they think that you wanted to hurt one of us...... That's why they blamed you, isn't it? This is all my fault." I put my face in my hands and cry. I get off of the swing and sit on the ground, the knees against my chest. 

     "Shay, it's not your fault. You cannot blame yourself." Kevin moves down next to me and puts his arm around me. I lean into him and continue crying. "Shay.... I still love you."