She Deserved to Know

Author bio : My name is Natalee Wells. I'm a seventh grader on Prodigy at CBMS. I like to read books about drama and romance. I really enjoy playing basketball, softball and listening to music. My favorite subject in school is science but I also really enjoy writing.

Blurb: Two sixteen year old girls - Brooklynn James and her best friend Aubrey Miller were walking down the sidewalk when a secret Aubrey was trying to keep slipped out. Brooklynn was boiling mad when she watched Aubrey run down the darkest alley in their town. Nothing was ever the same Brooklynn James.

“Buzz buzz buzz.”

It was three o'clock in the morning when I heard my phone go off. I had been tossing and turning since ten o’clock that night so my first thought was, Oh, yay! Someone else is awake and

they want to talk to me! And then I read the message that I got from Aubrey's brother, I wiped my eyes and reread it, hoping to see something different.

Hey Brooklynn, I know you’re probably asleep right now but I need to tell you something right now. Aubrey got murdered. We got the call about an hour ago and of course, we went right there to see what had happened. She was killed in that alley you guys used to call The Devils Palace. We found her in a pool of blood and she still had tears in her eyes. Call me.

My stomach dropped to the floor like it was filled with rocks. I tried to scream for my family but no sound came out. I felt the heat from the tears run down my face like a rushing river. With each tear, I could taste more and more salt which made me cry harder because it reminded me of all the trips to the beach we went on together. I had never been in so much mental and physical pain in my entire life.

A few hours before, my best friend Aubrey Miller and I were strolling down the cracked sidewalks of Chicago for our weekly Wednesday walk. The sound of sirens rushing past us and in the distance, it made me feel like I was getting my ears pierced for the third time. Aubrey seemed to be distant and not very talkative today. I asked her if there was anything that she needed to tell me or talk about. “Ummm. No, I’m fine,” she claimed. I didn’t believe it but I just knew she wasn’t in the mood to be pushed. Nearly 10 minutes had gone by before either one of us said anything until we saw my twin brother, Mason, coming towards us. I looked at Aubrey. She had that look in her eyes, she was smiling that smile, and she looked like a lightbulb. I assumed the worst but I waited until he walked away after he wrapped his long arms around her in a way that I had never seen between the two of them.

“ What was that all about,?” I asked trying not to sound to upset.

“ What do you mean”

“ You know exactly what I mean Aubrey!”

“NO, I DON’T!”

“You’re dating my brother aren’t you?”

“Ummmmm.”

“That’s what I thought! What about the rule we have had since we started middle school?”

“Yup. I broke the rule but you can’t stand here and tell me that you’ve never wanted to break it”

“Actually I can because I care about our friendship and if you don’t then you can get out of my life!” I continued to yell but I think she’d stopped listening.

I stood there in shock as I watched my best friend run for her life away from me. As I started jogging back to my house I turned around and saw Aubrey running down the darkest alley in our city. That’s odd. She’s terrified of alleys. She thinks that if she runs down one a clown is going to jump out and kill her, I thought. That was the last time I ever saw Aubrey Cameron Miller. Ever.

When I got home I walked up my stairs and felt the carpet squish under my feet as I went to my oldest brother's room. He moved out about three months ago but I still slept on his carpeted floor like I would if he was here. As I lay there I picked up the scent of old, sweaty, unwashed gym socks mixed with Axe and faint lilac Febreze that my mom tried to knock the odor out with. I only did this if I was upset and having a hard time because he would comfort me more than either of my parents or my other two siblings would. I miss him so much.

When I got that text message a few hours later everything inside me collapsed. I had a million questions racing through my mind like the Daytona 500. I didn’t have time to answer them all. Most of them couldn’t answer them for myself anyway. So I tried my best to forget about them and get them off my mind.

At six o’clock the morning Aubrey was killed, my brother Mason, came into my room and he looked like he just got punched in both eyes. They were both red, puffy and crusty from the dried up tears in the corners. I immediately knew that he found out that Aubrey was gone too. I felt bad but if he hadn’t dated my best friend then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. He wrapped his muscular arms around me and apologized too many times to count. I had to forgive him. He’s the only brother I have left that I see and talk to every day.

When I got in my mom's car later to go to school everything hit me like a baseball bat to the head. I was alone. Aubrey was gone. My oldest brother, Lucas was gone. My stomach started to tie up in a knot. Then a double knot. Then a triple. Until I cried so hard I thought I was going to flood my mom's car.

When my mom came out to the car she took one look at me and said “ Oh honey, you don’t need to go to school today. At this point taking care of yourself is more important than school right now. Mason is going to stay home too so you can talk to him if you need to. Okay?”

Obviously, I didn’t disagree with her at all. I felt the squish, squish, squish of the rich, earthy mud underneath my feet as I padded back to the house.

As I was lying on the couch watching a movie to try to get my mind off everything my home phone rang. Mason sprinted down the stairs and answered it without me even having to ask. I was trying not to fully listen to what he was saying just in case it was personal but before I could try to listen to Mason yelled “ Brooke! It’s for you!” Ugh! I had to move. When I got on the phone I was expecting something sympathetic and nice. That’s not what happened.

“ Brooklyn speaking”

“ Hello, Brooklyn. This is Detective Robert Johnson.”

“ Okay... Is everything all right?”

“ Actually no. That’s why I called. We are aware that your dear friend Aubrey Miller was killed early in this morning. Are you aware that you were the last person to be seen with her?”

“ No.” I was confused and scared. My heart was pounding so loud I thought he might be able to hear it.

“ Well we know she got murdered and we know that you two got into an argument right before she was killed”

“First of all, how do you know that? Second of all, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Be honest with me Brooklyn, did you kill Aubrey?”

“She was my best friend! Why would I do that?” I was shocked and angry,

“We’ll see you in court on Sunday at 3:45 pm.”

“Wait -- what?!”

“Bye, Brooklyn.”

I pinched myself. ‘Ouch!” Definitely not a dream. Even my worst nightmares weren’t this bad. I had just been accused of killing my best friend. The one I knew since I was three. The one that knew all my deepest and darkest secrets and would never tell anyone. The one reason I was still in school. I had to figure out a way to dodge this bullet that could change my life forever. Not for the better either.

Later that night I called Lucas who now lives with his girlfriend nearly an hour away. I told him everything that has happened since the walk yesterday. I could hear the pain in his voice. He and I were the ones that saved Aubrey’s life when she tried to take it. They were so close. I definitely knew that out of my three siblings he was her favorite, and out of all my friends, she was his favorite.

“ Can you please help me? You know I would never kill her. Ever.”

“ I know you wouldn’t. I will see what I can do.” His voice was so calm and comforting.

“ I’m sorry but that’s not good enough. I need you to come home and be here. Mason won’t help me. He thinks he’s in too much pain to help me.”

“ I’ll come home tomorrow and we can talk more then. Right now I need to go to the grocery store to buy you some salted caramel gelato and Ghiradelli dark chocolate. Okay?”

“Okay. I love you so much.”

“ I love you too.”

It almost felt like she was right there with me. The moment I heard the other end of the phone go silent I could feel her encouragement and her hugs. I would give anything to have another one of those hugs right now.

When Lucas got to our house the next morning, nearly twenty-nine hours after Aubrey was killed, he gave me one of the best hugs I have ever felt from a family member. We went right to the living room where sympathy cards flooded three of the five shelves. None of my family was home at the moment except for Mason. He and Lucas could have their brother time later, right then was about me and Aubrey.

“ What should we do first?” I asked Lucas.

“ Well, first you need to tell me what the argument was about.”

“ It was about Mason. She was dating Mason and we had this rule where we weren’t allowed to date each other's siblings.”

“ Well, if you left it up to me neither one of you would be able to date anyone until you’re over twenty-five!”

“ Wow.” I knew he was just trying to lighten the mood but it wasn’t the time.

“Okay, back to the point. Where did the argument take place?”

“ In front of the gas station. We had just stopped to get water and snacks when Mason walked right over and gave her a huge hug and didn’t even acknowledge me!” I said in a angry voice even though now looking back it wasn’t worth my anger.

“Where was she killed?”

“ In the alley that we always called The Devil’s Palace.”

“Let's go to that same gas station and then go into the alley to see if we can look at surveillance form both.” I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous but away we went.

We arrived at the gas station and got the surveillance super easily. The alley was not as easy. I refused to go in it, so Lucas did it for me but getting the surveillance wasn't as easy as going up to someone and asking them if we could have it, but we eventually got it. We looked at the gas station first. Of course, it was really hard for me to have to relive what I wanted so badly to forget. As we sat at my desk in my room watching the surveillance the argument scene flashed across the screen. My body froze. I gasped in disbelief. I watched myself yelling out of control saying that Aubrey would be better off dead. I looked at Lucas waiting for his reaction. Within a few seconds, I could see it in his eyes. He was scared for me. He was stunned. All he could manage to say was “Whoa.” It took us both a long minute of silence to recover.

“Let’s check out the footage from the alley,” Suggested Lucas. I really couldn’t watch my best friend get murdered so I left the room while Lucas stayed and watched it.

He came down the stairs a little while later. He had taken a picture of the man that did it so we could really hone in on what he looked like. He had a hoodie on that was as black as the night sky. He was wearing baggy black jeans. What we could see of his hair was messy and dark. I immediately hated this man. Not only because he was wearing baggy jeans but because he killed my best friend. I had the right to hate him.

Later that afternoon when all my family was home, I desperately needed to get outside and feel the fresh April air so I told everyone that I was going for a walk in that park. Lucas and Mason both chose to come with me. Before we went to the park Lucas drove us to Scoops ‘n Smiles Ice cream shop. With each lick, I could taste the memories of Aubrey and I going there on a hot summer day or after softball games or even right smack dab in the middle of the winter. As we all sat there eating our creamies Mason apologized to me about dating Aubrey for the fifteen - millionth time in the past day and a half.

“Brooke, I’m really, really, sorry. I shouldn’t have dated her and I know it.”

“ Look, I know you’re sorry and I forgive you,” I responded

“ I feel terrible! It’s all my fault!” He had to stop talking because he was getting choked up and because I interrupted him.

“ Mason! Stop that right now! It’s not your fault. I said I forgive you. Can we just get through this together please?”

“Yeah. It’s just-”

“ Mason!” I yelled while he was still mid-sentence.

“Okay, Okay. Calm down. It’s all going to be okay,” he said reassuringly.

When we got to the park we went to the nearest bench and sat down to soak up the sun. we hadn’t been there ten silent minutes when another man sat at the other end of the long, wooden bench. I looked at Lucas, scared. It was the man that had killed Aubrey. I felt my face get tense from anger and because I was trying to hold back the tears. The man looked depressed and scared. Lucas gently greeted him with a simple “Hello.” The man just looked at him and smiled a broken smile.

“How are you?” asked Lucas.

“I’m okay,” answered the man “I could be better though. How about you?”

“If I’m going, to be honest, I’m not that great. You look familiar.”

“You don’t,” Stated the man very abruptly.

“I have a question”

“Yes?”

Lucas started out with a dumb question about relationship advice while I filled Mason in on everything that we had discovered from the surveillance footage. I could see the rage in his eyes and I could feel the tension. All the sudden he jumped up and ran over to the killer whose name we figured out was Tyler Austin, and aggressively asked him,“ You killed my girlfriend didn’t you?! You killed my sister’s best friend! You MONSTER!!”

“What are you talking about? I’m so sorry your girlfriend died. I can promise you I didn’t do it.” He scurried off like a little mouse running from a cat. I was frustrated at Mason but it was a waste of our time to avoid talking to him. After all, it was a miracle that he even got off the couch to come with us in the first place.

When we got home we sat at the first full family meal since Lucas left, which was about three months ago. To most families, it may not seem like a lot but it is. For us. We’re all always away. Emma is either at friends’ houses or basketball practice. Emma’s my fourteen-year-old sister by the way. Mason has football practice five nights a week and on the weekends he always spends the night away with friends. I have softball four nights a week and my weekends consist of hanging out at Aubrey's doing basically whatever we want to do. So my parents were always running around bringing us here and there and everywhere. I am so thankful for my parents.

After dinner, I went to my lavender purple-colored room and lay on my bed staring blankly at my ceiling thinking about everything that had happened since Wednesday afternoon. I hadn’t laid there for fifteen minutes when Lucas came in and started talking to me. Well, yelling actually.

“Yo yo yo! Cheer up! Your big bro Lucas is here!”

“I need to be alone or I need you to listen to what I have to say about the man we saw today.”

“I’ll listen,” he said, sounding a lot calmer than he did before.

“I think that tomorrow you, Mason and I should walk around the city and see if we run into him again. We need to get him. He can’t just be roaming around a city like this after killing somebody! ”

“I don’t know about that, Brooke.”

“Whatever. Get out of my room,” I said in an irritated tone.

I was irritated but not just at Lucas. I was very thankful that he even came back to help me. I was just trying to help my situation. I get that he was too but putting my ideas down doesn’t help.

****

Tyler Austin

I didn’t know what to do. I had just told those poor teenagers a lie - I did kill the girl. It was an accident, I promise. I would never purposely kill an innocent teenage girl. I will admit that I was trying to kill someone else but I feel terrible.

My mind raced back to when I was about seventeen years old and my first friend that I ever had got killed in a mass shooting in his hometown. His name was Elijah Smith. I miss him a lot. We were so close. I was always at his house or he was always at mine. Whatever he did, I had to do. We were inseparable. Then one day he just left me here alone.

After I realized that I killed the wrong girl I looked down and saw a bloody, unmoving figure staring back at me endlessly. It was a staring contest but I couldn’t look at the horror movie scene I had caused for much longer. I had to let her win.

I debated on trying to find the girl again and telling her. I knew that if I did that I would go to jail, or if I didn’t, I’d have to live with that for the rest of my life when I remembered how I felt when Elijah died and how mad I was at the man who did it. I needed to tell her. Soon. I didn’t care if it was going to get me in jail for the rest of my life. She deserved to know.

The next day I went for a walk hoping I would see her. I sat on that same park bench for about an hour before I decided to get up and go home. I had no more than got up and taken two steps away when I saw her, and her brothers. At least I think they were her brothers from what I’ve gathered, They were closing the door of their car with a loud SLAM when I decided to walk over and talk to the three of them.

“ Hello. We sort of met yesterday,” I said trying not to make eye contact with the younger looking boy.

“ Oh yes. In case you didn’t get our names, I'm Brooklyn. That’s Mason and that’s Lucas. Can I help you?”

“Actually -” I couldn’t finish the sentence when the same younger looking boy who jumped at me yesterday interrupted me.

“What do you want? Haven’t you done enough already!?”

“ If you would let me finish,” I said trying not to sound too agitated “ that’s what I wanted to talk about.”

“Keep going then,” said the boy that was really getting on my nerves.

“I did it. I killed her.”