October 2013

“I didn’t see Kara until I was done with rehab,” Lena finished, hugging herself tightly. “She came in my room after I was cleared to go home and said we were moving, smiling like nothing had ever happened.”

She leaned back, staring at the gap between them. The faded slats of wood were carved with initials and small pictures, a record of all the people who’d sat there before her. It was the first time she’d told the whole story, and it surprised her how light she felt, like half the world had fallen from her shoulders. Jason was silent beside her, his jaw slack as he tried to process it all.

“I-I’ve never heard anything like that,” he finally managed, looking up at her. “And they still haven’t found out who did it?”

She shook her head.

“I know exactly who did it,” she said bitterly. “But as far as the cops are concerned, it’s a cold case.”

He blinked.

“Do they at least have an idea why it happened?”

She shrugged, her fingers tightening on her arm.

“Probably money—I never knew what my dad did,” she continued. “But he made a hell of a lot doing it. The only reason we stayed in that house is because it was in the best school district in the state.”

The silence stretched on afterward. She bent down and picked up a twig, twirled it in her fingers, then tapped a short rhythm on her thigh.

“Michael wanted to be in a band, too,” she said absently. “He tried teaching all of us to play the drums, but I was the only one old enough to want to make more than noise.”

He chuckled; she glimpsed dark blue braces and moderately crooked, movie star white teeth.

“Sounds like he was a great guy.”

“He was,” she peeked at him through her bangs, hoping he didn’t notice the faint blush on her cheeks. “It’s funny, you’re a lot like him.”

His smile faded.

“Heh, yeah,” he rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost pensive. “Uh, hey, listen, I-I was wondering if you wanted to, uh—”

They jumped when her phone went off; she snatched it from her pocket and put it on vibrate.

“Oh, crap, I have to go,” she got up, smiling warmly at him. “And thanks for listening to all that, Jason, really.”

“O-Oh, yeah,” he brought his hand back to his side. “Yeah, sure.”

She hurried off, hating that her heart was beating so fast. It had only happened once before and had ended horribly for everyone involved.

I can’t let that happen again, she thought, barely remembering to head back inside to stop by her locker. The only thing Kara hated more than her being late was her forgetting anything at school. She nodded resolutely to herself. So I’ll just have to make sure it doesn’t.