Ekemezie_Favour

In the quiet town of Stoneybrook, a haunting secret lies buried beneath the surface, waiting to resurface with chilling consequences. Five years ago, an 11-year-old boy named Jeremy committed an unfathomable act, taking the life of his best friend to protect someone he loved. The shocking event shook the community to its core, leaving scars that still linger.
Among the witnesses was young Arianna, whose innocent eyes beheld the unimaginable tragedy. Now, she's grown, but the nightmares and memories remain, forever intertwined with Jeremy's return to Stoneybrook. As he steps back into town, the shadows of the past loom larger, and an unsettling feeling grips the hearts of its residents.
Just two days after Jeremy's arrival, a fresh murder shatters the town's fragile peace, plunging it into turmoil once more. But this time, the suspects are not limited to one troubled boy; they are four teenagers—longtime best friends with a shared history. Three of them are innocent, but one conceals the truth, a truth that could tear their friendship apart forever.
As the investigation unfolds, alliances blur, and loyalties waver. Each of the four friends holds a piece of the puzzle, but unlocking the dark secret demands delving into the depths of their past and confronting the demons they thought they left behind. With time running out, the pressure to find the real killer intensifies, and the entire town becomes a web of secrets and lies.
In this gripping psychological thriller, Jeremy must confront his past and wrestle with guilt, while Arianna faces a moral dilemma: protect the boy she once knew, or unearth the horrifying truth? The truth that could bring justice to the fallen and restore peace to Stoneybrook, or unleash a storm of destruction that nobody could escape.
As the clock ticks, the boundaries between right and wrong blur, and the line between friend and foe fades away. The answers lie buried in the minds of these four friends, and only one question remains: who among them is the true murderer?

BL4M3 M3

Prologue. Her blood splattered on my face. I felt it, yet I felt nothing. I never thought anything could penetrate human skin that easily, and at such a rapid pace, not even a tiny, spiky knife.

He kept smashing the life out of her, and I watched it like a horror movie. I was petrified, but I felt like if I stopped watching, I'd realize that it was real. He came to a halt and slowly raised his head. A horror film was completed with his face and torso covered in a red stream of blood. I stopped breathing for a few seconds as the monster stared at me. I got a glimpse of him as the slimy blood trickled down his cheek. I started breathing again but way too fast. I took a step back and screamed, so loud that I heard my voice echo in my ears. Mr. Langford rushed in. He stood beside me. He was quiet. We were all quiet, but I was breathing way too loud.

"Go outside Ariana," Mr. Langford told me. His voice was sharp, filled with courage. I gulped and obeyed him. When I arrived outside, I saw my mom rushing towards me, not minding if there was any car passing by. She met me standing motionless on the front porch. Her sky-blue eyes had turned gray, like a cloud that's about to rain. I didn't know if she rushed to me because she heard me scream, or if Mr. Langford had already informed her about what had just happened. She squatted down on me, and gripped me tightly by the arm. I was numb.

"It's fine," she said and stroked my hair. I saw someone butchered to death, yet she was audible enough to say it was fine. Nothing seemed fine. I looked at her, unsure of what she meant by that. "Everything is fine," she repeated. Her voice was soothing enough to believe, so I nodded. She hugged me tightly, but I was still paralyzed by the horrifying image that I couldn't shake. I started to hear sirens wailing as police cars arrived at the Oscars. There was an ambulance too. I drew back from my mother's embrace as I observed how quickly the cops scurried inside, not even giving us two seconds of their attention and as if my mother and I were ghostly beings. I became tense again. He was still inside the house with Mr. Langford, and things looked really serious. Yes, I knew someone had died, but I still didn't understand what was going on. When I turned to face the wide-open-entrance door, curiosity moved my feet, but my mom pulled me back. "Let's go home, honey." Mom took me by the hand, with Kaela's book in the other.

As we marched across from the Oscars, I felt the urge to look behind me, and I did. That's when I saw him being handcuffed and held by an officer. We shared another terrifying gaze before Mr. Langford threw him into the backseat of the car. Mikaela Ayesha Johnson has been murdered by his eleven-year-old best friend, my best friend.

prologue.