23. Whatever it takes

I lay in my bed and came to the conclusion that it was the most obvious thing to do. I already had the ability; I knew the victim—isn't that enough reason to act?

Additionally, I became a suspect, and I wanted to know who was fucked up enough to use me as a scapegoat.

"Fuck." Placing my hands on my face, I tried to convince myself that I could do it. Breaking all my rules and starting to voluntarily dig deeper.

****

The next day, I woke up with a message from my ex-girlfriend on my phone.

Elli:[Don't give my number away randomly.]

Damn it, he acted fast, and I forgot to warn her or even ask her.

Kenny: [Sorry, won't happen again.]

It seemed she was on her phone because she messaged me immediately.

Elli: [I read about everything in the schoolforum. Wtf is going on on your side? Now this guy messages me and wants to talk to me about you?!]

Why is she even reading the fucking school forum, when she doesn't go to our school anyway?

Kenny: [Shit hit the fan. If you want to talk to him, talk to him; if you don't want to, I get you a new number and buy you a bag of your choice.]

Elli:[I want the bag anyway, I send you a link later.]

[What does he want to talk about?]

Kenny: [Don't hold back; I get it and let it be delivered to you. He thinks I killed her, and he knows about you being my ex-girlfriend, and I guess he wants to know if I ever hit you.]

Elli:[AHAHAHHHAAHAHHAHHA you hitting me xDD]

I chuckled and got to brush my teeth. Elli was proficient in Krav Maga. She could send me flying before I could even get any ideas. She was also the one helping me learn how to fight.

Sitting on the closed toilet, I texted her back with my toothbrush in my mouth.

Kenny:[Just be honest with him.]

Elli:[Fine! https.shop.valent.....]

There was a link attached, and I laughed. Opening it, the bag I saw was just a glittering square, but the price was... that was daylight robbery. But it was the easiest way to apologize, and I went for it. At the time we were together, she didn't let me buy her anything. 

Now that we aren't together anymore, she seemed to completely let loose. Maybe it was because she was on the other side of the world now anyway. Her family moved away, but that wasn't the reason for her dumping me. It was because she said I wasn't in love with her—that women can feel that—that her love for me wasn't enough anymore to keep the relationship going. And because she moved to the other side of the country.

So yes, that was that.

Finishing to wash up, I opened the door and found Henry before me.

"Fuck, why are you everywhere?"

He was engulfed in silence, not answering me, and I locked the door. The lock was acting up again, and I didn't get the key out. Getting impatient, I pulled with force, getting the key out, but also grazing Henry's face, as he still stood behind me.

I saw my hands in my imagination; I saw myself flipping the coin, the woman in gold, the hands uncovering her eyes, her ears, and her heart. No, I don't want this.

The young man lies in the bed of his sister, crying for what seemed to be an entirety. When he is exhausted, he goes for a shower before sitting down and emptying a paper bag. A keychain falls out; on it was a little mascot he hadn't seen before. Playing with it, he finds a USB stick hidden inside.

He takes the USB stick and puts it in his laptop. His eyes are calm again as he follows the traces his dead sister left behind. 

On the USB stick, he finds pictures of his sister with somebody by her side. He finds videos of them joking around; he finds videos of them kissing. He looks through everything, still calm and tranquil. 

He finds her diary. He reads everything and knows he has found the culprit.

He walks to the police station; he shows them the diary—they make copies, but they say this isn't a 'smoking gun.'

He asks about the phone the police had taken from his sister's body. They say they are still investigating it. He shows them the pictures and the videos. They say only because they were together; it isn't said that he is the murderer. How could a seventeen-year-old dismember someone that easily? 

Is it because he is attractive that they hesitate? 

Never seen a good-looking murderer?

He leaves. They won't do anything.

He finds Kennith Howard himself. An underclassman of his sister. He follows him. He watches him.

Slowly, a plan forms in his mind.

He goes back to the police and asks how far they were and if they had interviewed Kennith.

They say they would soon question him informally. 

Too slow.

He asked about the DNA findings. There was no DNA found on his sister's body.

They don't even update him on their own. Nobody tells him if he doesn't insist on being informed.

He has to get closer to the culprit. Book a first row ticket to the show while at the same time getting his trust so that he could gather evidence. 

How to get close to Kennith, how to gain his trust?

He looked like his twin sister; Kennith would become suspicious instantly.

There was still this bulletproof plan; he knew it would work after watching him for so long.

On the day he has his college entrance exam, he fails so that he can repeat the class and change the school.

First, he would start with the obvious; he would confront him as the murderer.

A confrontation with anger, with sadness, with desperation.

Then he would wait and let Kennith 'convince' him. He would slowly 'believe' in Kennith's innocence.

They would get closer, and he would wait until Kennith Howard made a mistake.

He would do whatever it takes to let the world know that Kennith Howard is a murderer.