chapter 15

"That wasn't the plan," I let out. She shakes her head in disappointment.

"It wasn't the plan because Arianna got involved, or it wasn't the plan because Zack died?" 

I stay quiet for a few seconds. Maybe I'm not so bothered about Zack's death, I'm bothered that the necklace was found in Arianna's room. How did it get there? Is he trying to threaten me by using Arianna? Damn! How Arianna happens to be the only person I care about in this fucking world has left me vulnerable.

"Hey." Charity appears before me. She's putting on Kreamy's T-shirt, which is blue but Kreamy is written in white. A tray underneath her arm, and an apron tied around her waist. She grins at me. I won't say Charity and I are friends but neither are we enemies. She helps me out on certain occasions, but she also damned me on several occasions. Just like when she saw me sticking a knife from their kitchen cabinet into my pants. I remembered the look she gave me. It was as if, you're a monster, but a good type of monster. She said nothing to me. Now I'm starting to wish that she acted like the big sister she always posed around as.

"Do you want anything, big boy?" She asks Chirpily, peeping at Prishka. She's like that, huh? Poking her nose in other people's business. 

"Uhmm…do you sell Vodka?" I ask, and she glares at me.

"It's a coffee shop, not hoodlum shit," She fires at me and my chest raises. Prishka and I look at her with wide eyes.

"Haha," she chuckles, looking at Prishka. "You…" she draws as she punches my arm. I look at my arm, then at her face, utterly confused. "He is such a fine and responsible young man who has not! Kill anyone," She gushes, then suddenly flies her palm over her mouth. I shake my head. She's a piece of work. "I mean, not that he has ever killed—"

"I'll have chocolate ice cream with double fudge," I cut her off.

She grins. "Copy that," she throws a finger at me and finally walks away.

"Hoodlum shit, huh?" Prishka Singh mutters, and I shrug.

                                    ARIANNA.

I thought Zack was bad at hiding things, but I was wrong. How come we can't find any treasures? Was he playing around? No, that's unlike him, he doesn't play with anything that involves Money. 

"Argh!!" I scream as I fall on his messy bed.

"Don't be a whiny princess," Alisyn shoots at me. I sit up from the bed and glare at her. What is she doing here? Who invited her?

"Oh, look who's calling me a princess. You know, if you're going to help, shut up! And help, make yourself useful, Elsa." It's already annoying that she's here, and even more annoying because she isn't doing anything to help, just standing with her hands on her waist like a douchebag. She groans as she glares at me, and I roll my eyes.

"Girls! We didn't come here to exchange words, our freedom somehow lies in that treasure, so we need to think! Not fight," Matthew preaches stressfully. His gray shirt is soaked with sweat. He's not having any mercy for Zack's room. I think Jeremy is right, Matthew is terrified of going to prison, though we all are, but Matthew seems paranoid.

"They must be a clue or something," I say.

"Yeah, there is. It's heavy, full of what everyone has…Shampoo?" Alisyn says, and I stare at her for a few seconds. Nah, she's too dumb to be Elsa…she must be snow-white.

I let out a frustrated breath. "Something heavy, full of what everyone has." I ponder on it, but no matter how hard I try, nothing comes up. "I'm not good at riddles," I mumble, shaking my head. Zack expected us to find it in 30 minutes, but we weren't able to find it for 12 hours. What an illiterate defeat. We finally step out of Zack's room. When we emerge from the living room, I see Cassandra sitting on the couch, legs crossed, and a glass of wine wrapped around her hands. She seems to be having a good time keeping up with the Kardashians. I thought she just lost her only son. The three of us share a confusing gaze.

"Hey! Children." She raises the glass towards us. "Found what you were looking for?" She asks, smiling. Is she drunk? No, she seems fine. Well, not fine, she is drinking wine after losing her only son. Damn! Get yourself together, I shouldn't be all judgemental. 

"Uhmm…it's late, we'll head home," I say, and she nods vaguely, fully focused on the show. When we get outside, stars and the moon are the only things that lighten the environment. Then it hits me that I'll be walking home all by myself.

"Are you sure you don't need a ride home?" Matthew asks me, and I look at Alisyn and she turns her face away.

"No, I'm good," I tell him, and he reluctantly nods. Suddenly, a yellowish bright light blinds our eyes as it approaches us with intense sound. I shield my face with my arm. Gladly the sound quenches and the light turns off. I reluctantly put my hands down, and that's when I find Jeremy seated on his motorcycle, he's not wearing a helmet. The shock of his arrival makes us stare at him quietly.

"You coming?" He asks, and I look behind me to know if he's referring to someone else.

"M-me?" I point a finger at myself.

"What? You don't need a ride?" He asks. His boldness, his audacity, and the fact that he thinks he can do anything he wants provokes me, at the same time it amazes me. I look around, it's dark and my house is like a 20-minute walk from here. I inhale, then walk towards him.

"A,"  Matthew holds my arm and shakes his head. I know he cares about me, but not so much if he was going to let me walk alone in the middle of the night. I neglect him and proceed to Jeremy.

"Don't get cocky," I whisper to him.

He smiles. "I won't," he whispers back.

I roll my eyes and climb onto his motorcycle with the help of his arm. He marches the kickstands and turns on the ignition and the motorcycle starts by making a rough loud sound.

"You might wanna hold on to me," he says, and I crease my brows. What's that supposed to mean? As the motorcycle jerks, I jolt and fall onto him. I terrifyingly grip him tight around his torso, and he drives with grease lightning. I should at least get a helmet, it is as if the wind is going to blow me away, so I bury my face on his shoulder. All of a sudden, the motorcycle stops, and I gradually raise my head.He's parked at a corner, two meters away from my house.

"Are you going to come down, or do you need my help with that?" He asks.

"Huh?" I utter, then I exhale as I help myself out of his death trap motorcycle. "Thanks…for putting my life in grave danger," I tell him.

He smiles. "Ohh, you enjoyed every bit of it," he says and drives off. Hah! Hah! God! It's as if I should just strangle him for being him. I stroll to my house. Thanks to Jeremy I didn't have to go through the stress of a terrifying trek. No thanks to him, though, he doesn't deserve it. When I get inside the house, like always, I see my Mom in the kitchen preparing what smells like Fried Chicken, then I realize how hungry I am. Strange, Cassandra wasn't decent enough to show us any kind of hospitality knowing we were in his son's room all day. She didn't even care to know what we were looking for.

"Mom…" I drawl and wrap my hand around her from behind, then I rest my head on her back. "Today has been very stressful," I whine.

She turns to face me, while the chicken sizzles on the frying pan. "What happened? I thought you were at Cassandra's." Damn! I almost forgot that I didn't tell her my reasons for going there. I don't think I can tell her. I love her though, but I don't trust her and her husband.

"Yeah, but I was trying to solve this riddle all day…" I exhale.

"What riddle?" She asks as she goes back to stirring the chicken. 

"What is so heavy that everyone has?" I ask. I know Mom to be a smart woman, maybe she can help solve the riddle. She turns off the gas and carries the frying pan to the kitchen island, then she turns to me, resting her back on the counter. 

She smacks her lips and shakes her head as she cleans her wet hands with a towel. "That's the simplest riddle I've ever heard. Whoever came up with it must be dumb," she says, and I fold my lips. Zack had always been her favorite person. I'm glad though.

"So you know the answer huh?" I ask excitedly.

"Yeah, I do. Wait…" she creases her brows. "You don't?" She asks and I fake chuckle.

"It's not like that, I just don't want to mess up my brain," I say. The truth is, my brain is already messed up. I spent the whole day pondering on something and I couldn't even get a hint. "So what's the answer?" I can't wait to find Zack's killer. She stares at me for a few seconds, then sucks her teeth. 

"No," she utters.

"What?!" I exclaim.

"Who came up with such a riddle is dumb, and who can't solve it is more dumb, and I didn't give birth to a dumb kid," she says, then kisses me on the cheek. "Set the table for dinner," she adds, handing me some plates.

We, the Langford family have mastered the habit of not talking while eating. Not because it is good table manners, but because we are scared we might say something to provoke Mr. Langford.

"Charity?" He says as he slices his Chicken with cutlery, 

"Huh?" Charity startles.

"Turn on the TV," he commands and Charity immediately stands up and heads to the TV. She picks the remote from on top of the shelf and uses it to turn on the TV. It is the same old news, Zack's murder case.

                        JEREMY.

Mother:  Life isn't a bed of roses. You can have the biggest mansion in the world, tons of brand-new cars, trillion dollars, and even an Ak47. But there'll always be a bad day, and it's up to you to either go down with it or say fuck you to it. My mother is the most dangerous woman I Know. I keep telling myself that I'm nothing like her, but slowly, I think I'm becoming worse. I can't recall lying on a bed full of roses, I've always had it bad. It's as If I don't have a choice, or maybe it's because of Anna's sick friendship rules. 

I walk Prishka Singh to her car. "Hey, can I ask for a favor?" I say, stopping her from entering the car.

Standing across from me, she places her hand on top of the car. "I don't know, Jeremy, you've asked for a lot of favors," she says.

"Yeah, I know, but this is different. I need you to help me find someone."

She looks at me confusingly. "Who?" She asks as she removes her hands from the car and straightens.

"Mr Freeman."

She looks at me with squinted eyes. "Why?" She asks skeptically.

"He wasn't at his son's funeral so…" I shrug.

"So you just care so much about him," she says.

"No, I'm just concerned. How likely is it for a very healthy person to develop a stroke?" I ask.

"Uhmm, not very likely. Stroke, you see, comes from a long-time sickness," she says and I nod.

"Why? Does Mr. Freeman have a stroke?" She asks.

"Just help me find him. Cassandra said he's at a hospital, you can start from there," I tell her, and walk to my bike, pop on it, and drive as fast as it can go.

Alisyn texted me some minutes ago. God! We're dying from a riddle problem. Need help. So I head to the Freeman. Just as I get there, I see the three of them set to leave. Guess I arrive at the right time to help Anna, just like always, huh?

                     ARIANNA.

School isn't as fun as it used to be. I can barely understand a word my teachers are saying. Is it me, or is it that my teachers have suddenly developed bad teaching habits? The bell rings, and everyone including me starts heading to the door.

"Miss Langford?" Professor Sheldon calls me, and I frighteningly respond by striding to him.

I stand facing him, and he relaxes on his desk.He sighs. "Do you want to continue this class?" He asks.

I'm shocked by his questions, like where is this coming from? "Uhmm, yeah, of course, I do."

"If that's the case, you better start taking the class seriously," he says, then he picks up his briefcase and walks out of class, leaving me dumbstruck.

Professor Sheldon's class is practically the only class I take seriously. What the hell is he talking about? I weave it aside. Walking down the hallway, I bump into Jeremy, he strides past me like I'm a complete stranger. I scoff and scuttle to him. I stand beside him, quietly watching him unlock his locker. "Hey!" I finally say.

"We're Hey-ing each other now?" He looks at me surprisingly, then put a textbook inside his locker.

"Hey is like a greeting, like what's up?"

"Oh." He shuts his locker, then zips up his school bag. "Because I no longer know its meaning?" He asks sarcastically.

I smack my lips. "Whatever. I've got good news?" 

"Is my math teacher ill?" He asks, and I look at him dumbfoundedly.

"Uhmm…no," I say as I clap my palm together. "I solved the riddle."

"Wow, congratulations," he says sarcastically. He shouldn't act unconcerned, I know deep down he's scared of going back to prison.

"Can you just be serious for once? This isn't a joke, you know," I groan at him.

"Fine, what's the answer," he asks, and I smile.

"Secrets," I utter, and he looks at me with furrowed brows.

I open my arms and raise my brows. Don't you get it? "Zack gave us a hint that night. He said the treasure is something heavy, full of something everyone has," I explain.

"That's the dumbest riddle I've ever heard," he says, and I fake a smile. "That can't be all though,"  he says.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"We can't just find someone's secret," he says, and my eyes grow wide. Boohoo to me. I really thought I got it.

"So…what is it?" 

"Wait…don't tell me you still haven't figured it out," he says, and I fake a smile.

"If you know it, just say it."

He laughs. "I can't do that, 'cause whosoever can't figure this out would be the dumbest person ever, and I can't label that on you."

I nod. "You are beginning to sound like Elizabeth," I mumble.

"Okay, here's what I'll do, give you a hint," he says, and I smile genuinely.

"Uhmm. Where do people keep their secrets?" He asks.

Where? Where? Where?

"Uhmm, their hearts?" I say, and he let out a breath.

He sucks his teeth. "Okay, but we can't find someone's secret from their heart, right?" He says, and I reluctantly nod. "So where do people keep their secrets? It's something physical, something plain…"

Oh, God. Diary. He and Mom were right. Zack is the worst at making riddles. And I feel so ashamed that I couldn't get it easily. I put down my head, and cover my face with my palm. "He's so dumb, I'm so dumb," I whine.

During lunchtime, I go to the cafeteria alone, and I order chicken nuggets. I look around everywhere, unsure of where to sit, then I see Jeremy seated alone. I didn't think for a second before joining him at the table.

"I Know who killed Zack," I whisper as I seat 

                        JEREMY.

Every good thing comes to an end, and forever is not always what it seems. Sometimes you can tell when your world is about to crash and sometimes you can't, but either way, it's as painful as hell. There's no need to wish this would last forever when It might crash anytime soon. I did imagine us being this close again, but I also imagined it not happening. She's supposed to despise me so much to the extent that the mention of my name gives her a running stomach.

"I know who killed Zack," she startles me.