Angel and Lyndsee walked back home in silence. It was still early and the students were probably in their third period by now. The city's streets where crammed with people trying to get to work. It seemed like everyone had a busy day ahead of them, but when they walked down their street, it was silent, dull, and sad. It made everything seem so alone and empty. And that was what Lyndsee was feeling in her heart.
"Do you want to go to school, I mean we are going to miss like four classes. It's better that sitting here and feeling sorry for ourselves all day." Angel finally spoke up.
"No. I think I want to stay home right now. You should probably go home. Your mom's probably worried about you." She looked at him.
"You're right. I'm going to give you some time to yourself. I'll see you." he said as he walked out.
The second he walked out the door, she ran upstairs to her room and cried. She hated herself. She had a panic attack and she couldn't stop crying. The memories kept rushing back to her. Her parents. Jenesia. The boys. Karina. Stephanie and her friends. Mr. Johnson. It was impossible to start over.
After an hour of trying to calm her breathing down, she grabbed Marie's laptop and went to work. She got into Marie's twitter, since she never logged off. She was going to figure this out herself. She saw people from her school, talking harshly about her. Her breathing increased when she saw the comments about starting school again.
One girl said: Eww cant you believe the girl down the street went to our school, like she deserves to rot in jail.
Stephanie's was far the worst: That little shit doesn't deserve to get released. She's a murderer!
This was a month ago before school started. When the "news" leaked about her getting released. There were more more tweets from parents saying how they wouldn't want their kid at the same school as her.
This one was strange. User 237.
I've moved neighborhoods for the same reason that I don't want my kids to experience any negativity from these crimes. Kids spread it like wildfire. All kids talk about is what Lyndsee did and some make up what she did to her parents. I don't want my kids near that...
Lyndsee stopped reading. There was something off about how bizarre she described what the other kids were saying. She clicked on the profile to see who it was. It didn't have the profile information or even a profile picture. Lyndsee sighed and knew she had to figure this out sooner or later.
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"Lyndsee. Lyndsee honey." She heard whispering and she felt a hand in her forehead. For a split second she thought she was dreaming. The feeling was comforting, she hadn't felt it in a long time. She opened her eyes to see Marie kneeling down besides her. Oh shit.
Lyndsee quickly sprang up. She had fallen asleep and Marie's laptop was in her hands.
"Lyndsee, I saw what you were looking at." Her face was sad. Lyndsee opened her mouth to say something but no words came out.
"Detective Johnson also told me you paid a little visit. Do you want to tell me what that's about?"
Lyndsee gulped. "It was a stupid idea Marie. Angel thought he owed me one. I told him not to but we ended up asking about you know." She closed her eyes and plopped back onto her bed. "I'm sorry about taking your computer."
Marie sat on the floor of her bed. "Lyndsee, I don't know much about you, nor do I care or want to know who you were back then. But I do know the type of person you are now. I know you're trying and reading those comments aren't going to help. Maybe it's for the best you move one."
Lyndsee sat up. "The thing is, I have. I have moved on, but everything's just happening too fast."
Marie tucked Lyndsee's hair behind her ear. Lyndsee could tell she was trying to help. She felt weird opening up to her, but at this point she had to let it out.
"Two days ago, I didn't know I had a best friend and now I'm what? Trying to solve crimes with him? I'm supposed to act like I've known this guy my whole life? I've moved to a house, going to school all of a sudden. It's all so dumb and I can't keep up with everything at the same time."
She felt the tears start form in her eyes. She quickly put her sleeve up to her eyes. "And now I'm opening up to a woman I just met."
Marie got up. "Maybe it's happening for a reason. Change is hard Lyndsee. Maybe it's happening as a way to show you you deserve a change this fast. Please give it a chance. I'm always here to talk honey."
With that she walked out. Lyndsee groaned and flopped back onto her pillow. She messed up. Bad. Knowing Jenesia was burried near the house frightened her. It guilted her. Nobody's finding out. Nobody.
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A few hours passed and she heard the front door open and close. Marie had left for her shift which meant Mr. Johnson would be there any minute. She paced back and forth in her room. She didn't want to him anymore, but she knew he'd bring it up.
The front door opened and Lyndsee slowly made her was down the stairs.
"How are you feeling Lyndsee. Marie said she found you sleeping for quite sometime."
Lyndsee didn't look at him. Instead she went into the kitchen to put herself a bowl of cereal.
"I'm fine. Better." She couldn't disregard the topic. "Robert, I'm sorry. I don't want to talk about it anymore."
Mr. Johnson walked up to her and sat down at the table with her. "You're a smart girl Lyndsee. I owe you for sticking up for yourself like that. I'm sorry things happened the way they did, and that's why I always wanted you and I to forget about it." He fiddled with a pen that was already there on the table.
"You know when I found you, you were tiny. You didn't look eleven. You were clever, and tried to make all these excuses. I felt bad. I felt like I needed to mentor you, make you a better person."
"I, I don't remember doing it, Robert." She whispered. "I want to know if I did, why I did."
" I don't know. I knew for sure it wasn't attempted, but the jury didn't see that. I wish I had fought for you longer."
Lyndsee looked down. She had to accept it. She had for six years and it was stupid of her to bring it up again. She had to deal with the fact that she in fact, did murder her parents.