No, I don't really think we're going to find this killer. Sure, we found the phone they were using, but I don't think we'll actually get them. They've gotten this far without being caught. Why screw it up with some high school kid's phone? 

 I pull into my driveway, lock my car, and enter my house. "I'm home," I call into the house, heading into my room. 

 "Hey, Kell," my dad says from his room, which is more of a storage unit with bike parts. He's a mechanic who specializes in motorcycles. "Mom is still working. She'll be home in an hour or two."

 "Alright-y," I respond. 

 "Also," he says, coming out from the back of the house, wiping his greasy hands with a dirty rag. "The school called and said there was no class for the rest of the week. Did something happen? There was a threat?" 

 "Yeah. Apparently, the killer was in our school. He threatened to kill a whole classroom if Reyna didn't speak at the gymnasium." 

 "And did she show?" Dad inquires, worry plastered on his sun-tanned face. 

 "Yes, but she didn't have to say anything. The killer forced a firewall around the school, and our own local Solaris hacker found the phone communicating with the killer. It's all really complicated," I admit. "But it's over."

Dad shakes his head. "Poor Reyna. Her mom died, she was in the lockdown, she was attacked, her friends are dying...it's terrible." My father takes a tremendous breadth. 

"Kellin, I want you to be careful, okay? I don't want you to end up like her." 

 "Of course."

 Dad wrings his hands together. "Your mother isn't home yet, but I'm sure she would agree with what I'm about to say kiddo. I don't want you to hang out with Reyna. Now, I know you've barely talked to her, but it only took one encounter to put you in danger at the church." 

 I laugh – not out of disrespect, but out of amusement. "I put myself in that situation. Not Reyna. Our own actions call for our own consequences." 

 "Yes, I know, Plato. But with your actions veering from Reyna, your consequences won't include death. Do you want to die?" 

 "No, Dad. That's an unnecessary question. Look, Reyna's a good kid," I protest, grabbing an apple from our fruit rack. "She just happens to be the target of a serial killer. It's not her fault."

"Kellin, you're smart. If you were being targeted by a murderer, do you think you would be totally innocent? Do you think you would be targeted 'just because?'" 

 My father had a point. Action calls for consequence. The consequence of being targeted calls for action. What action could've provoked Reyna's consequence? For the first time, I start to question her victimization; her innocence. 

"Think about it," my father tells me before turning away. "I'm going to work on some things in the garage. Let me know if you need anything, and there are leftovers in the fridge." 

 "Thank you," I gratify, opening the fridge in the daily hunt for food. As my eyes bestow upon some classic chicken and rice, my phone buzzes with a text message. 

Unknown: Hey, it's Adriano on my backup phone. Before you ask why I have one, you know my punishment track record...anyways, I told you I'd get your number. 

You: I'm hardly impressed. 

I enter the unknown number in as Adriano's and shovel some food onto a plate before throwing it into the microwave. 

Adriano: When are we going to hang out? 

You: Idk 

Adriano: So hard to please, yet so pleasing...how about tomorrow night? There's a secret party going on in some secret place. 

I put the perfect ratio of chicken to rice on my fork before primally shoving it down my throat. I'm starving. Who isn't by the time school ends?

You: What time? 

Adriano: Idk 

You: Really? -_- 

Adriano: No. It starts at @10. I'll pick you up around 9? 

After finishing my plate, I wash it off and place it in the dishwasher. I work around the middle counter and into Dad's garage, where rock music blares through the speakers and grease ruins his clothes. "Dad," I call. Then, when he doesn't hear me, "Dad!"

"What?" he yells over the music.

"Can I go out tomorrow night?"

"Sure," he shouts, nodding furiously. "Be safe!"

"Will do," Dad responds, returning his attention to the fixer-upper motorcycle.

You: Sounds good. 

Adriano: How about we kick-start tonight? There's this sight I wanted to scope out for a possible party location...if you're brave enough ;)

Me? Scared? That's a total joke. 

You: Game on. When and where? 

Adriano: Tonight around 11 at an old address of 4512. 

4512 sounds vaguely familiar. I can't pinpoint its meaning or importance, so it must not be that important. 

You: What's so great about 4512? 

Adriano: Some famous doctor guy lived there as a retreat. I think it was Aereo's uncle? Idk but he killed himself somewhere after his twins died and people say it's haunted...also, it's secluded and no one would mind noise when there's no one to hear it, so.

 You: I'm in. 

Now, I go to my room to finish homework while texting Aero. Not about his claim about anything being romantic between us, but about something Adriano said.

You: Do you have an uncle? 

Aero: I did. He killed himself a while back. Why?

You: Did he have twins?

Aero: Not that I know of. Kellin, why?

You: Adriano just said something about a possible party location where your uncle had a retreat. It's abandoned now, but I was just wondering.

Aero: Idk much about him...so you and Adriano, huh?

You: It's nothing.

Aero: It always starts out as nothing.

You: So your brother stealing your girl, huh?

Aero: No? I don't like Reyna like that.

You: It wasn't always that way. I see the way you look at her. She liked you too, you know.

Aero: Well if it starts out as nothing: it's something. If it starts out as something: it's nothing. Wrap your head around that one, Aristotle.

You: Plato.

Sighing and regretting upsetting Aero, I set an alarm for 10:00 PM and get a nap. 

That'll give me enough time to get ready for tonight. But not enough time to figure out the complexities of those involved in the Solaris serial killer cases. 

 As for who I think the killer is: it's me...just kidding. But really, I think it's Maren. No one would suspect her. She's the sheriff's daughter; shielded by the law. She has access to everyone's phone numbers, social security, address...everything.

 To add to that, she's always been a sort of outsider. Not like me: I was more lone wolf, comfortable with isolation, an outsider. Maren was more of: she's kind of weird, but not totally cool, an outsider. She barely misses the mark on all social levels. 

 Her motive could be exactly that: she never fit in anywhere besides places with other so-called "freaks." Personally, I think Maren's cool. But that's probably why I haven't been attacked...yet. Anyways, she would fit in with the other psychopaths and axe-murderers and body mutilators. She accepts her fate as a weirdo and decides to be accepted by them. 

 But see, the thing about finding a suspect, is that everyone is. When it comes to seeing who could even think about murder, things get complicated. People tend to assume things.

Oh, it can't be Reyna: she's a victim.

Aero? He's too new to hate anyone.

Makai? He was taken and tortured. No way!

Kellin? Now there's a possibility.

And that Ozzy is pretty sketchy.

But the thing about people is this: everyone has a killer in them.