1 3| . . . s o m e t h i n g d i f f e r e n t

H E R M I A

Sunday.

I didn’t know how long I’d been sitting on the hard bench outside the station. My fingers had long since gone cold, and my spine ached from the stiff plastic, but I couldn’t move. The walls of the place were thick, gray, indifferent. Like they’d absorbed every scream ever thrown at them and learned how to ignore them.

I was still trying to wrap my head around the call from the officer earlier that morning.

"Your friend is being held. Name’s Sally Whitmore Parker. You’re on her emergency contact list."

Of course I was. But how the hell did it come to this?

Footsteps. A creaking door. Then a voice:

"You here for Parker?"

I blinked up. Nodded slowly.

"Come on, then. Five minutes only. No touching."

_________

The air inside the holding room was damp and sour—like sweat and rust had gotten married and birthed this place. I stepped in and almost didn’t recognize her.

Sally looked wrecked. Her hair was pulled back sloppily, and her hoodie had smudges on it—blood or dirt, I couldn’t tell. Her wrists were handcuffed in front of her, raw red marks circling her skin. Her legs were shaking, barely tucked beneath her on the plastic seat.

Her hair was limp, her lips pale. She looked like a ghost wearing her own skin. I stood behind the glass for a second longer than necessary, trying to process it.

But when she looked up at me, her eyes were still Sally’s. Haunted. But hers.

"You came," she barely whispered.

"Of course I did." My voice cracked. "What happened?"

She didn’t speak for a second. She just looked at me, like she didn’t even know where to begin.

"They think I killed him," she finally said.

I didn’t need to ask who. The words hit like a slap to the chest.

"Mason?"

She nodded, barely.

My head reeled. Mason Whitmore Parker. Her brother. Gone? Murdered?

I leaned in. "Sally, no. No—this has to be some mistake."

"I didn’t do it." Her voice was sharp. Desperate. "But the way it looks, Hermia... God, it looks like I did."

"Tell me. Just tell me everything."

She hesitated. Her cuffs rattled lightly when she adjusted. "It started after... after you got Daniel suspended."

I flinched. That was almost a week ago now.

I remembered the look on Daniel’s face as he was dragged from the school office last Tuesday, the way he’d yelled, "You’ll regret this!" like we were in a damn soap opera.

I reported him to his school, bringing eye witnesses and evidence from the party that he had tried to have his way with Sally. The Principal was someone I knew even though I hate him. I had to take help from him. The matter was reported to the police but Daniel was only suspended pending investigation. They called it a “disciplinary measure.”

I called it not enough. But I thought that would reassure Sally that she was safe. But I was wrong.

"And then you disappeared," I said quietly. "You skipped classes and only appeared on Friday."

"I didn’t want you to see me like that," she whispered.

"Like what?"

"Hermia..." her voice broke and it compelled me to just listen to her. "He came to the house the day after he was suspended. Said I ruined his reputation. Threatened that his father was a powerful figure and he could do anything."

I clenched my jaw.

"I told him to leave, but he forced his way in. I was alone. He—he shoved me into the wall, grabbed my arm. I tried to scream but he was covering my mouth. I told him I would get him expelled if he tried anything funny. He said no one would believe me. That I was just a liar."

My stomach turned.

"Mason came home in the middle of it," she went on. Her voice broke again and there was a particular look of regret in her eyes. "He saw him grabbing me. And he—he just lost it. He threw Daniel off me and they started fighting. I screamed at them to stop, but they were both already bleeding."

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her cuffed hands, trembling.

"They were talking about something like a hang or something and I sensed it wasn't about me anymore. The fight got intense. I—I didn’t know what to do. I panicked. I ran to the kitchen. I just wanted to scare Daniel. So I grabbed the knife."

My breath hitched. I wanted to reach for her hand but the lady inspector behind me cleared her throat and I just retreated with a nod.

"But when I ran back in... Mason was already on the floor. Blood everywhere. Daniel looked at me, like he was going to charge me too. And then... I don’t know what happened. He grabbed something—hit me with it. Next thing I remember, I woke up to see Mason's dead body."

"And what did you do?"

She missed a beat before barely muttering, "I—I managed to clean up the mess and get his dead body buried under the wooden floor."

I got disappointed when she narrated the last part. Now no one could really have believed her after she tried to hide the corpse.

"And the knife?" I asked, voice hoarse.

"They found it. That’s all they needed. There was no sign Daniel came to our house."

"Of course there wasn’t," I muttered. "He’s a damn coward."

She looked up at me, eyes full of unshed tears. "I didn’t kill him, Hermia. I swear. But they think I did. And now they're saying I could face real time. Maybe even life."

I stood there, frozen, until the officer cleared her throat one more time. "Wrap it up."

“I’m gonna help you,” I said. “Whatever it takes.”

When I stepped outside the station, the sun had already dipped beneath the skyline. But I didn’t notice the colors or the wind or even the cars rushing by.

All I could think about was Sally.

And Mason. Dead.

I climbed into my car, barely registering that I was driving until the road turned familiar.

It hadn’t even been that long since I was last here. Before things went to hell. Before Daniel wormed his way into her life, before I filed the report that got him suspended.

I’d thought that would keep her safe. God, I was so stupid.

That’s when something else tugged at me—a different, subtle knot forming in the pit of my stomach.

Aaron.

He showedh up two days ago at my house. Said he "just wanted to check in and discuss school with me." We hadn’t talked like that in weeks, not since . He never explained why he came. Just hovered in that awkward, heavy way someone would when they were hiding something.

I hadn’t thought much of it at the time. But now?

Why now, Aaron? Why then?

The body was only discovered barely a day ago, but Aaron had looked off even then. Like he already knew something was wrong.

I blinked hard, shaking the thought away.

I needed to focus. I needed help.

I pulled up in front of her house, trying not to hyperventilate. The second I saw the crime scene tape—bright, jarring yellow, like a bad joke—my stomach flipped. Neighbors stood in clusters nearby, murmuring, staring from windows. Officers talking into radios.

I felt sick.

The place I’d spent so many sleepovers... taped off like some horror movie set.

I shouldn’t have come here. There was no one left to talk to. Sally’s mom wouldn’t even open the door if she could.

I called her.

No answer.

So I did the only thing I could do—I called Aaron.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled to his name. I didn’t want to call him. But I needed his mom. She was a lawyer. A good one, even if she wasn’t exactly warm from what I got on the internet.

He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" His voice was groggy. Probably just woke up.

"It’s me, Nerdy."

"Pimpo? You okay?"

"No. I need your mom." I said, skipping all preamble.

There was a pause. "What?"

I cut to the chase. "For Sally. She’s being charged. For murder."

Another pause. "Jesus Christ. Are you serious?"

There was no hint of surprise in his voice however which just proved my doubt. Nonetheless I needed his help so I rolled my eyes and continued to update him like he was oblivious to all of these before.

"Yes. Mason. Her brother. The body just got discovered. But it happened almost a week ago."

Aaron didn’t speak. I listened to the breath catch in his throat. I suddenly felt a need to defend my best friend.

"She didn’t do it," I said. "Daniel showed up at her house. After his suspension for the attempted rape. He attacked her. Mason stepped in and got—” My throat closed.

"...Killed," Aaron finished quietly.

I could hear the weight drop on him too.

"Your mom’s a defense lawyer" I said. "Can she help?"

"She might. I don’t know if she will." He sighed. "We don’t exactly talk much. But I’ll ask."

I paused a while before willing myself to say the most appropriate thing to say in this kind of situation.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Hermia?"

I was surprised he used my real name. I hesitated, "What?"

"Be careful... " He paused. "This thing... It's already a mess. If Daniel’s involved... he doesn’t go down easily."

"I’m not afraid of him." I sneered.

"I know."

And he chuckled.

Fuck him.

I rolled my eyes and just cut the call.