"Alana called me last night." Evan said over the phone.

"You too? Dang, I thought I got her off our backs."

"What?" Evan said confused, "No, she just asked if she could come to dinner with us at the Murphy's today."

Oh.

"Oh and she asked to go trick-or-treating." He said.

I nodded, "Yeah, me too."

"Are you going?"

He doesn't think I'll say yes, because "trick-or-treating is for kids."

"Yeah."

"Oh, but you-"

"I know what I said!" I said, cutting him off, "But it's been a while, hasn't it? Maybe I'll find some more joy in it now." Of course I wasn't gonna tell Evan that the actual reason I haven't gone trick-or-treating these last couple of years was because of him.

Evan sighed, "Yeah. Sure."

I looked over at my clock for a second before deciding to change the subject, "When do you want me to pick you up tonight? Or are we walking? I have Alana's address, too."

"Why not walk?" He answered, "Besides, Alana may want to have some time to talk to us before we get there."

"Fair enough." It was 4:43, "We probably should start now, then, if we wanna get there early. It's a long walk, you know."

Evan made a noise of agreement, "See in like... now."

I chucked, "Yep." And hung up, starting to walk to Evan's.

-

"I am so excited, guys!" Alana said as she jumped off her doorstep to join Evan and I in our walk to the Murphy's. "I mean, I know I've meant the Murphy's before, but I've never eaten there!"

"You're not missing much." I said. Mrs. Murphy definitely wasn't the best cook.

I was trying to remain casual during the walk, but inside, I was panicking. Alana was skeptical last night about the emails, and now she's walking with us to the very heart of the lie.

It doesn't help that Evan has no idea she's concerned. At least, if he does, he didn't tell me. He seemed pretty confused on the phone earlier when I brought it up.

"Are you guys bringing any more emails?"

The truth was, yes. I had two or three emails in my backpack that I'd wrote last night to try to prove that Connor was getting worse. But, honestly, Alana's kind of scary right now. If I gave her the emails, she'd totally find something off about them, right? That's what she's been doing for all the other emails.

"No." I said.

I looked over at Evan, and he was slightly pale. No, not slightly. "Something's up." I said quietly, so Alana couldn't hear.

He shook his head. "I always get anxious before Murphy visits." He said, "I thought you'd notice this by now."

That sounded kinda like an accusation, but I wasn't gonna take it personally. Well, I was gonna try not to, anyway.

"Oh. Sorry." I said, not really knowing what to say.

Alana was leading the group, and when we came to an intersection, she stooped. "Which way, again?"

"Left." I said, no hesitation.

She nodded and we continued in silence until we got to the Murphy's.

Alana rang the doorbell.

Zoe opened the door. "Oh hey!" She said cheerfully.

Alana smiled, "Evan said it wouldn't be a problem if I joined you today."

Zoe nodded, "Yep, my parents always love seeing new faces." She ushered us in. Zoe and I sat where we usually do - the chair and the floor. Evan sat beside me so Alana could sit in the chair across from Zoe.

For some reason, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were yet to arrive.

"Where are your parents?" Evan asked.

"We're right here!" Mr. Murphy said as they walked down the stairs into the living room. "Oh, who's this?"

"Alana Beck." Alana responded, "Co-president of the Connor Project. Evan said you wouldn't mind if I stayed for dinner?"

"No of course not!" Mrs. Murphy cut in. "It's nice to see you!"

Mr. Murphy sat on the couch while Mrs. Murphy got the emails from my backpack. Usually, Mrs. Murphy gets the new emails out of my bag every time we come here, so today was no exception. The only difference was I had lied to Alana 10 minutes ago about the emails.

"Jared you dirty liar!" Alana said playfully as Mrs. Murphy pulled the three emails out of my bag. Alana sounded playful, but I could hear the slightest bit of anger in her voice.

"Forgot those were there." I said, brushing it off.

Mrs. Murphy read through the emails as we talked.

"So how was the dance last night?" Zoe asked, "I would've been there if it wasn't for the jazz concert for the 5th graders."

Alana took over, "It was great! We raise a lot of money, and we only need like 12,000 dollars more! Ever since I put the emails up on the blog, people have been donating like crazy!"

"Y-you-" Evan stuttered, "You put the emails up?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Alana responded, "It's really inspiring to see the process of change play out before your eyes."

That was a pretty bitchy move on Alana's part. She didn't even ask us!

Evan started fidgeting with his hands, and I understood why he was nervous. If, like Alana, the public can find the inconsistencies of our emails, everything will come crumbling down.

Zoe, thankfully, changed the subject, "So what did you end up going as, Evan?"

Evan stuttered a bit before saying, "Myself."

"Bor-ing" I said.

Evan smiled the slightest bit and shook his head, "I didn't have time to prepare a costume."

Zoe nodded, "You should've came to us for help!"

Mrs. Murphy sat down the emails for a second and agreed, "Connor had a bunch of old Halloween costumes you'd probably fit into."

Oh yeah, like emo elmo and goth goliath.

"Well doesn't matter anymore, it's pass Halloween!" I said.

Mrs. Murphy nodded and continued reading the emails. "How many times did you guys go to the orchard?"

"Just that once." Evan quickly responded.

"Never with Jared?" Alana butt in.

And thus, the interrogation began.

"Only once with Connor." Evan stated.

"But," Alana started, and I suddenly felt a tad sweaty, "In one email in June Jared said something about enjoying the trip to the orchard?"

"Yeah..." Mrs. Murphy caught on. This isn't looking good. "And in this one Connor wrote he was excited to bring Jared back."

"Well maybe I forgot a couple of trips!" Evan tried to defend himself.

"Jared," Alana said. Shit, she was addressing me. I'm gonna screw it up, "Have you been to the orchard?"

I looked at Evan out of the corner of my eye, to see if he'd give me any sign. He didn't. "No." I said slowly.

Evan clenched his fists so obviously I did something wrong.

"That doesn't make any sense..." Alana said, grabbing an email from where they were sitting on the coffee table.

Both Zoe and Mr. Murphy grabbed an email, too, and just like that, they were all lawyers.

"Connor talks about going the the orchard with Jared a lot..." Mr. Murphy said, "Even once only with Jared. Because you were sick or something..."

"I- uh, Connor may have had memory problems! I don't know!"

Mrs. Murphy gasped, "Memory problems?" She shrieked.

"Connor was already messed up enough, I think." Zoe butted in.

"He was not!"

"Look!" Alana shouted. Everyone quieted. "I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything. I'm certain we're all trying to tell the truth here, but sometimes facts get jumbled."

She turned to Evan, "I think we should just recap the entire story, start-to-finish. Wouldn't that be the best option?"

Everyone nodded. Except us two.

"Great. Evan? Go ahead."

We had never made a concrete start to the story. There was never a "how we meant" or a "why we're secret". It's all just "we knew each other" and "it was secret."

Maybe that's why we're screwed. Maybe we shouldn't have written it like a timed writing test. And instead have gotten all the details right the first time. But, as any student should know, that's insanely hard to do, especially when you have no time for brainstorming before hand. You just write what comes to your mind, and if it doesn't all formulate correctly, then that's okay, because the teachers knew it was timed when they grade it.

But there is no teacher grading this, and they don't know it was timed. To them, it's just a bunch of letters exchanged through email. Friend-to-friend. A nice little friendship that means the world to the world, now.

Evan stuttered for a bit, before deciding to render himself speechless.

I probably should've put more thought into the next words that came out of my mouth, but considering all the circumstances, it seemed like the easiest thing to do.

"We never knew Connor."

-

Published: 4/7/20
Word Count: 1496