Nothing made sense. Not one bit. Dawson had seemed so nice throughout the school week, but when it came to Saturday, there was something that had seemed so off about him.

Then there was also Ryder. He had come across as arrogant and opinionated during the week, but on Saturday, Erica had caught a glimpse of something else beneath that exterior.

It was something that had intrigued her too, left her wanting to know more, and if there was one thing about Erica, it was that if she was determined about something then there was no stopping her.

Sundays were always so boring. There was absolutely nothing to do and time always dragged by painfully slow. Right now, she was just laid on her bed, with headphones in listening to Take On Me by A-ha on her walkman. She hoped that with each song that started and finished, time would have moved a lot.

After a while it got boring though, and with a sigh she dragged herself up off the bed. Noticing one box in the corner of her room that still remained unpacked, she went to pick up and put it on the bed.

Grabbing her keys which were atop her bed side unit, she dragged the sharp end through the centre where it was taped and then opened the flaps while tossing the keys aside.

There was a reason why she hadn't opened this box. It was the one with all the reminders of her simple but happy life back in Montana. She didn't have much there, but she had one friend at least. What she missed was the peacefulness of only having one friend.

Her one friend. Shane Wallman. The friend who had lived next door to her since they were in diapers, and who had been by her side through thick and thin. The hardest part about leaving was having to say goodbye to the one person who she knew she could count on, and who could count on her.

The friends she had made here were nice for sure, but at the same time they were the type who liked to gossip, and do girly things and that just wasn't who she was. Having a boy best friend was actually a blessing since she didn't have to worry about gossip spreading, and if any boys tried their luck on her then she would resort to pretending to date him.

It just wasn't the same here in California. Miles away from her real home and with friends that she wasn't sure that she could trust. Life felt boring, silent and empty other than the little slice of drama with Dawson yesterday, the interesting conversations with Ryder and some idiot always acting out in class.

Having had enough of the emptiness, she pulled out a notebook and pen from the drawer and began scribbling a letter to Shane. At first, she crossed out several lines, unsure of what to say, but after a few tries, she got the hang of it.

Dear Shane,
        
         How's it going back in Conrad? Here in California things are quite different. Scratch that. What I meant was that things are extremely different.

I somehow managed to make a small group of friends, but I can't help but feel like I don't really fit in here. They're all about make up, gossip and boys, which you know very well isn't my idea of fun.

Sometimes I spend time just thinking about how everything used to be. Just you and me against the world, and I miss that.

Maybe one day when things have settled more, I could come visit or you could. That would be just perfect. I hope nothing has changed because of the distance between us.

Oh and I almost forgot, along with this group of friends, I have also managed to find myself being bothered by boys. One of them seems nice, but yesterday when I met up with him, it was strange. The other one is a total jerk and yet seems to be hiding something.

Anyways, so that's life here in Cali. Hope to hear from you soon.

Yours truly,
         Erica

As she finished writing the last line, she felt an ache in her heart. She longed to go back to Conrad and have everything be so simple again. But she knew that would never happen as long as her dad still lived there.

She took the piece of paper out of the notebook and folded it before placing it in an envelope and sealing it shut. Then she scribbled Shane's address on the front and headed downstairs.

If anything, a little walk to find a post box would get her out at the very least. Of course it wasn't much, but it would most definitely pass some time.

Calling out to her mother and letting her know where she was going, she quickly left the house.

The streets were empty as expected for a Sunday. Only one or two people out and about, most likely headed for the beach. Now was for the hard part though...finding a post box when she was unfamiliar with the area.

She looked around her carefully as she walked with the letter in her hand, taking in all the sights.

On her right was many posh looking houses. All were two or three times the size of hers and had massive drive ways and garages with multiple cars in. Even just seeing the neighbourhood made her feel out of place and wish that she could just go back to Conrad.

Finally, after turning a few corners and going down a few paths, she found a post box and slipped the letter inside. She hoped that it would reach him, since she had never sent a letter that far away before and didn't know how it worked. Her fingers would be crossed until she knew whether or not it was sent.

Turning around, she realised that she had forgotten the way back home. What an absolute disaster! She stood frozen for a moment, trying to recall the route she had taken. However she was unsuccessful in doing so.

"Need a hand?" Asked a familiar voice.

As the person got closer, her heart sunk. Stood before her was the one she had been trying to avoid seeing. Dawson Faye.

"Uhh...no. I can umm..." She stammered, unable to pronounce her words correctly.

"Really?...Because you look pretty lost to me." He replied, then added "Come on, I'll walk you home." He finished.

"I don't know..." She began to protest.

"Aw...c'mon, it's not like I'm a stranger who is gonna turn out to be a serial killer." He attempted to persuade.

Not knowing how else to get herself out of the situation, she reluctantly agreed and began to walk alongside him. Unable to hold back, she finally gathered the courage to ask what she had been wanting to.

"Dawson..I...I've heard some things and I...well I wanna know the truth. Someone at school told me that you...let's just say you had a rough time around a year ago." She stammered, struggling to find the right words.

"Ah..I see...you're talking about the rumours going around that I killed my ex girlfriend Monica..." He stated, picking up exactly what she was talking about.

"Hmm...I uh..please don't get me wrong, I didn't believe the rumours, I'm just curious.." She rambled.

It soon became clear to her that asking him this was a mistake. Firstly because she was too busy tripping over herself to even clarify to him what she meant, and secondly because now he was probably offended and would never wanna speak to her again.

Maybe Ryder was wrong about him, and yesterday was just a bit of and off day for Dawson. Until Ryder provided evidence, it would be extremely judgemental of her to believe anything about him.

"No worries. It's okay to be curious, and now that you know, I wouldn't want you to think that I'm some kind of sadistic psycho...I can explain." He assured her.

"Alright, that would be good." She agreed.

For a moment, things fell silent. She was wondering if maybe he had changed his mind about opening up, although she hoped that he hadn't. Finally, he began to try and explain.

"So it was about a year ago, things were going great between the two of us...anyways, one summer, a common classmate of ours decided to throw a party to mark the beginning of the season. It was one of the usual, under age drinking and...and well the usual stuff that high school students get up to when adults aren't around. Along with many of our friends, we attended." He began to explain as they walked along.

She had her full attention focused on what he was telling her, and had tuned out every other noise around them, like the traffic.

"Did something happen at the party?" She asked delicately, noticing his struggle to continue.

"When we got there...everything was as it should be. The party was held at a massive beach house, the students who attended were scattered all over the place doing many different things. There were people on the front lawn, people in the halls and in every room of the house as well as out back. After we had gotten ourselves something to drink, our mutual friends called us over to them and a game of truth or dare started. I knew it was a mistake. Those kind of games never end well." He continued to explain.

So far he had gone through the events of the evening and somehow managed to avoid the point of the explanation, she sure hoped that he was being truthful.

"Anyways after a few stupid dares, the intrusive truth questions were fired. I was asked one in particular and since it was a truth, I had no choice but to answer. Unfortunately, Monica didn't like the answer and she stormed out. Her group of girl friends then started ganging up on me, questioning me as though I was a suspect in a murder case. So I walked out too, and went to go find Monica to make things right. That's when things started going a little bit wrong...well actually, a lot wrong." He continued, stopping them in their tracks to finish what he was saying.

"What happened?" She asked curiously.

"I searched and searched and I couldn't find her...then I finally spot her out back, and she wasn't alone. Instead she was hanging around with Ryder Griffin. More than hanging actually...my guess is that she did it to get back at me for what I did previously, that she found out about during the truth or dare game. Once I saw them together, I completely lost it and was seeing nothing but red. Then I made the worst mistake ever....I confronted them. She and I got into a screaming fight, Ryder kept butting in, trying to defend her. Eventually he backed off when Monica told him to...which left the two of us. She didn't want to fight in public, so she took me off to the host's pool house." He stated, getting closer to the part that she was dying to hear about.

"And?....What happened?" Erica quizzed, encouraging him to finish.

"I wish I never let her drag me in there. She came at me, tried attacking me. So I defended myself. Though I never meant to hurt her...we were by the little kitchen area of the pool house and when she came at me, I threw her back, and I guess I didn't realise my own strength. She staggered back, smashed her head on the marble counter top and  when she went to grip onto something to stop herself from falling, she accidentally pulled the knife wrack down with her. One of the bigger ones ended up landing in her throat. After that, I tried everything I could to save her...but I couldn't, her wounds were too bad. Knowing what would happen if anyone found out, I decided not to call for help. They would pin it on me as a murder, and I couldn't have that...so I locked the door with the keys that were already inside it and waited until the party ended, once it did....I made my way deep into the woods with her body, making sure that no one saw me, and I buried her there." He concluded with a sorrowful look in his eyes.

Erica's eyes widened. In a way, he was a killer, but not by choice. He hadn't meant to hurt her, never mind end her life....but then he had hid it rather than facing the consequences of his mistakes. In a way, Ryder was telling the truth after all...especially if he was there that night.