The Almost Perfect Murder

I feel like I’m being watched every second, like someone knows I’m here and no one else is. Isaac, my dad, is at work, and my mother, Chloe, is at the hospital visiting my younger brother, Jaden. He somehow got a bad fall off his bike, I say he was pushed. My 14th birthday is today, and it is no ordinary birthday present. When I come down the stairs, Chloe is usually feeding my family. My friend, David, is sick, and there is a creepy principal in the neighborhood. He says his name is Jacob, but after his lies, like the time he told me I wouldn’t see my family or friends again if I told anyone that he threatened my life. I go to a private school now, and my teacher, Ms. Blake, keeps watching me like that’s her hobby or something. This is the story of the weirdest birthday ever.

When I came downstairs this morning, it’s usually just me and my older sister Stella, since Mom went to the hospital. Stella told me that she would drive me to my birthday present from her. I felt like I shouldn’t go, but I was really excited to see my birthday gifts. When we got into our SUV, we saw a dead body lying there. I said, “It looks like David! It seems like I was just talking to him a minute ago!” Stella had a stroke so she couldn’t tell me calming stuff like she did before. She stuttered, “It… ok… “ then she broke off. I called 911 and told them there has been a murder. When they arrived, they asked, “Where were you between 9:00 AM and 10:45 PM on October 4th??” I just thought to myself, I can’t believe this is happening. Why on my birthday and why my best friend? My face started turning red and I seemed like someone just ripped my heart out of my chest. I mean, what would you do if your best friend was killed on purpose and you feel like you’re their next target? My guess is that you would break down and cry. “Hey, this is the same bracelet that Mr. Jacob gave to Ms. Blake,” I said as I stared at a blue-green bracelet almost buried in the snow inside a footprint. “This isn’t Ms. Blake’s footprint. Perhaps she hired someone to murder David?” David knew that Ms. Blake was having an affair with Eli, my older brother. “Maybe she knew that David saw her with Eli and didn’t want the word getting out?”

When we answered all we knew (I spoke for Stella since she couldn’t) about the killing, Stella took me to my birthday present. “Wow!” I said as we pulled up to a farm that had a sign saying, Free horse riding lessons. She knew that I really wanted to learn how to ride a horse. “Thank you! Thank you!” I said, tears rolling down my cheeks. My necklace in the shape of a horse body (most necklaces have only a head of a horse on) tinkled when it hit my neck, since it doesn’t take much to make it ‘noisy.’ And when I went in, I saw what looked like thousands of horses and said, “this is the best birthday present yet” and then I remembered David and what happened to him.

Faith, my other older sister, made this trip possible because it was her that asked if Stella minded taking me. When we went home, I see that one of the windows was broken from the inside. “Stella! Shh! Someone’s probably in the house. Go around front and I’ll go around the back.” When I went in through the back, I saw a very disturbing note that read, ‘Go away or you’ll be sorry.’ I immediately called the police and when they looked at it, they looked shocked and they had a look around.

When they came back, they held a bat with blood on it and a piece of rope. One of them said, “Do either of you own either of these?” Stella and I looked at each other and I said at last, “I own the bat, but only to practice my baseball swings. Honestly, I didn’t do it!” They looked at each other and the other one looked like he wanted to, but couldn’t as he said, “You’re under arrest for the suspicion of the murder of David Howles.”

One day passed since I’ve been arrested and Faith obviously didn’t know where I am. I don’t blame her for not knowing. Stella couldn’t tell her, and she couldn’t write either because she never learned how to. When Faith asked where I am, Stella pretended to be in jail, since that is the only source of communication she could use.

When they arrived, the sheriff acted like I wasn’t here, even though he KNEW I was. “Here’s the bail money for Baptista Cheetah’s release. Please release her now.” An hour of arguing passed, but the sheriff still didn’t let me go.

When I’ve been here for a month, the sheriff finally told me, “Get out of here you little idiot. I don’t need or want you here anymore. One thousand murderers here is more than enough.” I felt hurt, confused, and like I could strangle him. I didn’t want to because I didn’t want to go back in there again.

When I go back to the murder scene, I look around and see a fingerprint on a piece of tape. I know police wouldn’t forget things. “Hmm. It looks like he put up a fight to his dying breath. And something’s in his fist” I say as I peer down to scan his body. There were marks on his neck like the ones a piece of rope would make. And in his fist, a picture of something, but I couldn’t make it out.

When my eyes focused on it, I noticed that it was the photo of his killer. “Oh my God, David! How did you manage to snap this?” Then I took the photo to Faith, who is an expert on pictures, who else was in it an received a shocking response.

“Baptista,” she said, “it’s… it’s , it’s Liam!” Liam’s my stepfather who has been involved in murder shows. I couldn’t believe what I’m hearing. I knew that he was crazy, but not this crazy. If you knew if one of your family members was a murderer, what would you do?

“What do you MEAN it’s Liam?” I asked. “I mean, he’s been kind to me ever since we met! Why would he kill David?”

“I know it’s shocking, but we have to face the facts, anyone is capable of murdering somebody, even Jaden.” She said. “The truth is that everyone is…”

“Innocent until proven guilty!” I interrupted. How could you accept the fact that the person you trusted with everything murdered someone? “Wait!” I yelled. “What about Ms. Blake’s necklace found at the murder scene?”

We paused as my question puzzled her. “Well,” She said at last, “that’s true. I almost forgot about that. But what about the photo of Liam and the rope?”

“Well, picture this. What if he was trying to stop whoever that was? He isn’t really mean. He’s laid- back, calm, peaceful, anything but a murderer. I have to prove that he’s innocent.” I waited for the answer of what happened to come to mind. After what seemed to be a week, I finally found out who murdered David and what I don’t get is why they did it.

When we arrived at Ms. Blake’s house, she pretended to be asleep, but I knew she wasn’t. When she finally answered the door, she was missing her bracelet, she never took it off before. We asked her, “Where were you between 9:00 AM and 10:45 PM on October 4th?”

She didn’t answer right away. When she did, she asked us, “Would you like a snack or perhaps some tea or hot chocolate?” She knew what we were talking about, but she was avoiding us. When she finally ‘got’ what we were asking, she told us, “Oh, David. He’s a nice boy. I would love to meet him sometime, if you’ll introduce us.”

“Ms. Blake, David’s… David’s.” Saying that he’s dead really hurts me. I still can’t believe that he’s gone.

“Well, where is he? What happened?”

I replied, “Someone murdered him. And I know exactly who murdered him and what I don’t get is why.”

She sounded surprised.”Why would anyone kill him?”

“You did, Ms. Blake. I knew it was you because I found your bracelet at the murder scene. The photo threw me for a while though. I thought David snapped it before he died. But you snapped it to make us believe that David snapped a picture of Liam, but you took 2 pictures. One of you on a timer, and the other of my grandfather when he was wrestling. But what I don’t get is why.”

She looked surprised at my accusation. “Well,” she said after 10 minutes, “he found out about Eli and me and even though I threatened him, he would still tell you. I got rid of him and then took the pictures and put them together to make you think he got killed by Liam. But my big slip up is that stupid bracelet. It has been to big on me for a while. In fact, ever since I got it from that idiot of a principal. I never loved him for him. I loved him for his money and his murder weapons. I thought there was no better place to hide David’s blood stained body than your SUV.”

When the police got there, turns out they were on patrol when they overheard our conversation, she broke down and confessed. When the principal heard about this, he fired her. We never heard from her again.



The end. Or is it?