My eyes widened, I kept the phone up to my ear, running out of my room I decayed down the stairs and grabbed my skateboard by the door, "okay, Ali, listen to me, get away from the school, and call the police." I told her, my mother came out of the kitchen with Ryan and looked at me. I hung up the phone and placed it in my back pocket, "no time to describe, but I need a ride to the school, ill explain on the way." my mother gave me a curious look and grabbed her keys, "alright, let's go." she replied. I placed my skateboard back on the makeshift rack and ran to the automobile, "hurry up!" I yelled, getting into the back seat, not even bothering to put on my seat belt. Mother and Ryan got into the car, she started the car and pulled out of the driveway, she looked at me through the rearview mirror, "may I ask what's so important that you need to go back to school, Michael?" she asked. I held my phone in my hand in case Ali sent me a message or called me again, I looked up with fear in my eyes, I began biting my nails, "can you just, hurry up?!" I snapped. My mother winced and nodded. She pressed on the gas and began to drive faster, once we reach the school I didn't even wait for the car to come to a stop before opening the door and booking it to the front doors of the school. I watched as the paramedics brought out a body bag from the school, placing it inside of the ambulance and closing the doors, the sound of sirens filled my head, ringing pierced my head causing me to cover my ears. I held my hands up to my ears, but it didn't stop, I could block out the ringing. No matter how hard my hands pressed down on my ears, it just got louder and louder, until it stopped. When it stopped, I heard a familiar voice yell out. "Michael!" I turned around and saw Alisha running at me, her mascara still dripping down her face from her tears. I placed my phone in my back pocket before I felt the impact. Alisha engulfed me in a giant hug, crying onto my white polo shirt, getting mascara all over it. I embraced the crying girl in a hug. Alisha buried her head into my chest. I took my hands and grabbed both sides of her face making her looked at me, "Hey, hey! Are you okay? Did you see who did it?" I asked her gently, Alisha just shook her head and continued crying, "she was already dead when I got there" she replied. I nodded and wiped her tears with my thumbs," it's gonna be okay." I gave her a little smile. Alisha nodded and finally calmed down. Ryan and mother made their way over to us, "Michael? Alisha? What happened?" mother asked, taking the Alisha from my grip and into her own. Alisha once again broke down in tears, she could barely talk without it coming out in gibberish. I sighed, tears brimming my eyes, "she found Sophia Michaels dead in the basement." I told her. Mother covered her hand with her mouth, her own tears starting to form. Ryan stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. Alisha pushed away from my mother and hung onto my arm, mother took in a deep breath ahead of breaking the silence, ill go call Mrs. Michaels." was all she said before walking to the car and taking out her cellphone and dialing a number. I got out of my phone and hit Jacksons' contact. The phone rang twice before going to voicemail. I sighed and clicked hang up. I slipped my phone back into my back pocket. Alisha wiped her tears with a tissue Ryan had given her, I turned my attention to Alisha, "come on, ill buy us some coffee at our favorite cafe." I told her. Alisha nodded, walking beside me as we strolled down the street into the city square where all of the stores were. Opening the door to the cafe, I waited for Alisha to go in before I walked in myself, I walked into the cafe letting the door close by itself behind me. I trudged up to the counter and looked at Alisha, "the same thing you always get?" I questioned, she gave a little nod and I looked at the cashier and began to order, "can I get a Vanilla Frappuccino and a Carmel Frappuccino?" I asked, the cashier nodded and told me my total, I pulled out my credit card, sliding it into the pay machine and punching in my card number. The lady behind the counter gave me my receipt and told me to stand by the pickup station. I looked at Alisha, "do you want to go get us a seat outside?" I asked, she nodded and walked to the patio where the outside seats were. The lady finally came back with our drinks and set them on the counter giving me a big smile and walking off to take the next order.I grabbed the drinks and made my way to the patio. I sat Alisha's drink in front of her and sat down across from her, setting my drink in front of me. Alisha looked at e with a sympathetic smile, "are you okay?" she asked. I scrunched up my face, "what do you mean, am I okay? Are YOU okay? You were bawling back there."I told her, taking a sip of my coffee. Alisha took a deep breath and sighed, "I know, I've never cried like that since I was like eleven." she replied, "it was just really shocking, I guess? I've never really seen a deceased body, let alone a friend's dead figure. "she added. Alisha took a sip of her coffee. I nodded and looked at her, "yeah, I understand."I replied, breaking eye contact. "you don't have to hide it, Michael, I saw you tear up back there." She placed her hand on mine, "you don't have to keep acting all tough." she added. Did I act tough? I didn't even notice. This is just who I am. I usually don't cry unless something huge happens, I guess you can consider this big? But wait, when did Alisha actually care about what I felt? Sure, she was a nice girl, but she never really cared about what other people felt, at least I think. I sighed, "ill admit, I was crying a little back there, but it was appropriate I believe. After all, Sophia was found dead." I responded. Alisha nodded, "is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked. I found myself shaking my head, there's nothing to talk about, Sophia's dead and that's that. There's nothing we can do." I frowned at my own comment. I felt bad after saying that; I felt like a dick, but it's better than saying that I didn't care, right?Alisha frowned a bit before taking another sip of coffee; she looked down at her phone, "it's 5, I should probably get home." she said, she got up from the chair and grabbed her coffee, pushing in her seat, "ill see you at school tomorrow, okay?" she replied. I gave a slight smile and nodded, "ill see you tomorrow." I replied. I watched her leave, coffee in her left palm as the right hand scrolled through Instagram. I left my seat and pushed in the chair, grabbing my coffee, and beginning to walk in the opposite direction that Alisha went. I walked a few blocks before coming to my street. Looking down the road, I saw that my mother and Ryan had already gotten back home. I began making my way to my house, walking up the porch and inside the building. I closed the door and took off my shoes, "Michael? Is that you sweetie?" my mother's voice rang throughout the house, "yeah ma, it's me." I replied, mother, poked her head out of the kitchen door and nodded before going back to cooking dinner. Sighing, I walked into the kitchen and sat on the counter as mother cooked dinner, Ryan leaned against the counter and helped her with the little things. Like giving her the ingredients or utensils. In that location I was spacing out again, the ringing in my ears was there once more, My eyesight became blurry, blackness consumed my blurred vision and the only thing I can contemplate was a smack and pain rushing to my head and back. Big hands wrapped around Sophia's throat, she began to fight for breath, push the mysterious stranger off, but she couldn't, he was too heavy. Sophia proceeded to stop struggling, letting fate take over she stopped struggling and eventually stopped breathing. The man looked downwards as blood from the stab wound began to run down to his shoe. He kicked Sophia's limp arm and chuckled before picking up the knife and wiping it off with a tissue and throwing the tissue on the floor and walking up the basement stairs. I woke up breathing heavily, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stumbled out of bed, going into my bathroom and turning on the water letting it get warm a little. I stuck my hands under the warm water and proceeded to splash it on my face. I grabbed a hand towel and patted my face with it. Panting a bit, I looked at myself in the mirror, "that was an intense dream." I said to myself. I thought for a moment, why was I dreaming about killing Sophia? That's a little weird. Sure, I never exactly liked her, but I would never kill her. I was probably just so shocked by her death that I was having a dream about it. Yeah, that's it. Walking out of the bathroom I grabbed my phone from my pocket and looked at the time, 7 pm. 5 missed calls from Jackson and 2 missed calls from Lila. I sighed debating who to call up first, I scrolled through my contact list before coming upon Lila's contact, clicking call I put the phone up to my ear. Almost instantly the phone was picked up, "Mikey?" she asked, her smooth quiet voice slipping through his ears like a piece of music. I hummed, "yeah, what's up?" I asked."did you uh...hear about Sophia?" She asked, her voice was soft, almost as if she had been crying. I nodded and took in a deep breath, "yeah I did. Ali found her in the basement." I told her. Lila gasped, "that poor girl." she replied. I let out a soft hum, "Jackson called me like five times but I was sleeping, did you hear from him?" I asked her, Lila coughed, "yeah, when he couldn't get ahold of you he called me and got me to try and call you when you didn't pick up he said he would stop by your house, but that was like an hour ago, is he not there?" she asked.Shaking my head, I replied, "if he was he would have woken me up, knowing Jackson if he wanted to talk to me that bad I'm sure he would have jumped on me." Lila took in a deep breath," he told me that he left like twenty minutes ago, he should have been there by now." She informed me, I could hear the concern in her voice when she said that. Lila always had a little thing for Jackson she just never told him nor really told anyone. She couldn't, Jackson was with Sophia, she probably doesn't even care about Sophia's death. As long as she gets alone time with Jackson, that two haven't hung out in a little bit. I don't even want to think about Lila being the killer. She's too sweet to kill someone. But she was there ten minutes after school ended, what was she doing there?But I can't just rule her out, there were probably a dozen other kids in school when I left. Running a hand through my hair, I sighed deeply, "give me a few minutes, ill go find him." I told her. Lila's breathing became shakey, "please hurry, he's not answering." I nodded before hanging up. I clicked on Jackson's contact. It rang once before going to voicemail, which is weird because Jackson always picks up when I call. It made me think, what if the killer is after Jackson next? What if Jackson's dead? We could have a real problem with a killer in the town. Placing my phone in my pocket, I walked down the stairs and put my shoes on, grabbing my skateboard. My mother came out of the kitchen and looks at me, "Michael? Where are you off too?" she questioned. I grabbed my skateboard and looked at her, "Jackson won't answer my calls, I'm gonna go look for him." I replied. Mother nodded, "well, alright, be safe."Grabbing my skateboard, I start to Skate to wherever he could be. There isn't many places Jackson goes other than the cafe, school, and his place, maybe the bridge? No. I don't even want to think about Jackson killing himself. He's not stupid enough to throw his life away like that, is he? I have to pass the bridge on the way to the cafe, ill check then. Coming across the bridge, I stopped, I walked onto the bridge and looked around, nothing. Walking over to the railing I looked down into the water, something down there caught my eyes, it kind of looked like a floating rock from where I was until I saw a familiar figure in the water, the quiffed hair I knew all so well. My eyes widened, I rushed over to the end of the bridge sliding down the hill near the water before jumping into the lake. I grabbed ahold of the object and began dragging it to the surface, once on the land I called the police. That's when the tears came, Jackson had always been my friend through the hard times even when I was nothing but a dick to him. Running a hand through my hair I began to sob, "9-1-1 what if your emergency?" The girl's voice rang in my ears, "Sir?" she asked, the sobbing didn't stop, "sir?" she asked again, "what's wrong?" I sniffled, wiping my tears, "my friend, he just tried to kill himself. I found him in the lake." The lady began typing on her computer, "where are you?" she asked. I thought for a moment, "Pine Hill memorial bridge." I replied. the lady nodded, "stay right there, they're on their way."