Death is inevitable, by accident, on purpose -through murder. Every thing that lives, dies in-turn.

Where do the dead go? Right after we place their vacant corpses into an en-trapped piece of neatly carved and vanished brown wood. Keeping them somewhat suffocated by the stench of their own rotting flesh as they wither away and become engulfed completely by the earth that they so undeservingly treated with no respect.

What can the dead see? Why do the dead know? From their newly found habitats, wherever that might be. Where they frolic and dance-I assume they sing as well-feeling none of the above. No sadness, no terror, no regret. Nothing.

Those of us who stay behind, continue to scream out the mantra, as loud as we can, as sincerely as humanly possible-Rest. In. Peace.-

Rest In Peace.
Rest In Peace!
Rest In Peace?

Who came up with this shit?

"Kelsie?"

My focus is torn from the empty space and switched to the source of my name being called out. Miss Nadia

"Yeah", I respond

"Are you okay?", she asks me, "You haven't said a word in the last hour"

The question is unnecessary. Is anyone ever really okay?

"Yeah", I say, trying to get her off my back

"We haven't seen each other in quite a long time and I was hoping you'd be abit more eager to speak with me. You usually are much more open during our sessions"

"Yeah"

The frustration on her face was noticeable. It's not exactly like I'm trying to make her work more difficult, I'm just, not sure who to trust or what to feel or how to comprehend all of the information I just discovered. Everything is just...too much and I'm still trying to figure it all out.

"Would you like to call it a day?", she asks me

"Yeah"

When I leave Miss Nadia's office I walk to Sophia's house. She's hosting a small party tonight and insisted that every girl on the soccer team attended said party. Otherwise, I never would have shown my face at an event like this. I'm not the party going type. Kylie was.

That rug, that stupid old filthy rug, had seen more of Kylie than I did. It's funny, these days everything I see is a faint meme pry of my dead sister.

The music made my skin tingle as I entered the house. Not long after, I sunk into the party. The night was a blur, a lot of inconsequent small talk and, "I'm so sorry for your loss" was enough for me to call it a night.

Fighting through the crowd, I walked out front to say my goodbyes to Sophia. Mostly just so she knows that I actually attended the dreadful party.

"Kelsie Burklin! Number 3! Look at you!", Sophia insistently yelled over the sound of the music

"Hey Sophia. I just came to say bye", I said

"Oh. Are you okay?",she asks. Again, with this goddamn question

Before I respond, Mason Kendall walks up to us with two solo cups in his hand. One for him and one for Sophia.

"Oh. Kelsie, how are you?", Mason asks, "it's been a minute"

"It has", I try, "how've you been?"

"I Uh-I've been alright I guess. As good as you can be after losing someone you love. I'm sure you understand"

I scoff internally. The fact that he things his loss of my sister was somewhat equal to mine is a genuine joke. But, I can pretend I'm unbothered.

"Yeah",is all I can say

"Do you guys get asked weird questions about the day she died too?", Sophia asks while taking a sip of her drink, "it's like, I'd be on my way to biology class and some random asks me if I killed my own best friend. It's just so insane that people would think that"

"Aw, same here. Especially since I was like, the last person to see her alive. Everyone's just on my ass!", Mason whines

"What?", I ask almost immediately after I realize what he just said , "I didn't know you were the last person to see her alive"

Do we have a new suspect? How could I have missed this? Could Mason have been the killer?

"Yeah. I- I was", he says

"What happened exactly? When...when you saw her last"

"She had told me she got a urgent text. I didn't ask who from, she wouldn't have told me anyway. She asked me to drive her home", he says

"Same way she asked me right before", Sophia added

"... I told her I'd drop her off but I had to go get my car keys. So I went up to my room and that's when the power went out", Mason continued

"Hold up! The power went out? Is that something that happens at your house often?" I ask

"No. It went out the entire neighborhood for like, 15 to 20 minutes. I had pulled out my phones flashlight after getting my keys then went back outside", he continues, "then I found her....just...floating in there"

"That's when I called the cops", Sophia adds, "a bunch of guys pulled her out, we tried to do some like, CPR shit but, she was just gone"

"Did anyone ever figure out why the power went out? Like, maybe someone tampered with the main power source?", I ask

"No. The whole entire investigation was just kinda, straight forward. Like, they sort of just jumped into the conclusion that she tripped and drowned", Mason says

"That's crazy", I add

"But hey, how're you holding up? are you okay?", he asks me

Gosh! What is in the water these people are drinking that they keep asking me if I'm okay! I'm fine! Damn it!

"I uh-I gotta go. I'll see you guys later", I say, avoiding any further conversation and then leaving

These past few days, I've been staying over at Ryder's house. I'm too on edge to live with my mom after what I just found out. For all we know, she might be plotting to kill me next.

"How was the party?", Ryder asks me while I flop on the bed next to to her

"Exhausting"

She chuckles.

"Although, I did find out something kind of interesting", I say and expand on my sentence by telling her what I found out from Mason Kendall

"You know what this means right?" Ryder asks rhetorically

"Mason might be the killer?"

"Mason might be the killer"

"But what motive would he have?", I ask

"Maybe he found out about Noah?"

"Kylie did say she kept having arguments with him over her going to Echo Creek every summer", I say

"Could've been a crime of passion", Ryder says, "I have an idea. Let's make a list of all the main suspects"

I sit up and watch Ryder grab a pice of paper and a red ball pen. When she joins me back on the bed, she starts by writing the number '1.' On the top left corner of the paper

"Okay, so, number 1 would be?", she asks

"Rosetta Parker", I reply nonchalantly

"You sure?"

"I'm sure", I say and Ryder writes down the name.

We end up composing our list and in the end, this is what we come up with;

Suspect List.
1. Rosetta Parker (hid sensitive evidence") (Motive: not sure yet)
2. Mason Kendall (last person to see her alive) (Motive: a crime of passion?)
3. Sophia Leon (sleeping with Kylie's boyfriend) (Motive: wanted Mason all to herself)
4. Kiara Burklin (Her boyfriend and Kylie were having an affair) (Motive: revenge)

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Alright y'all, hope you enjoyed this sweet little chapter! But get ready, Because the next chapter is coming at you with the cliffhanger of a lifetime, with drama after drama!

Also, what do you think about the suspect list? Who would you add or remove?

Don't forget to vote, comment and share! Love y'all

-xoxo, Lakish'a

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