After Midnight

Chapter 8

"Oh, come on. You wouldn't sneak into a dead girls house after watching her die just for fun. You're gonna try and find who killed her, and I want in"

"Wha-", Dane started and she cut him off.

"It's not too late to go back and tell them the truth, you know?", She said. We all stayed quiet."Please", She sighed."Cynthia was my best friend, and I would kill to find out who hurt her...", She gulped."Killed her"

I sighed deeply."Okay-"

"Arin", Dane snapped at me.

"If I was murdered, wouldn't you want to know who did it and why?"

He sighed and closed his eyes."Fine.."

Rosie thanked us a few times and as she walked away, I heard her sob, and it made my heart sink. If I didn't watch her die, it could have been Rosie. And maybe that's why I was the one to watch her die.

*

I stared at the clock, tapping my fingers to the sound of the ticking.

After a week of calls, emails and searching, Dane and I finally found Barry Tread, and he agreed to meet with us after school.

When the bell finally rang, I packed my stuff quicker than I ever have and I glanced over at Cynthia's old seat. I saw her dead body laying there, staring at me. Her hand around the handle of the knife that was in her and she held her hand out to me.

"Not...safe", She said and plunged the knife in her chest. I looked away quickly and ran out of the classroom before I could scream, cry or throw up.

"Rain", Tom caught me by the shoulders before I could run into him.

"Hey", I smiled at him."Sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention"

"It's okay", He smiled."Where are you going?", He asked.

"Just trying to get to my brother before he leaves me here"

"Oh, I'll walk you out"

"You don't have to", I said. He shook his head.

"It's okay. I'm going the same way, anyways"

I nodded."Right"

"So..", He started."I was thinking...and maybe if you're not busy on Friday..", He bit his lip and looked down."Maybe we could go out or something"

I looked up at him."Are you trying to ask me out?"

"Maybe", He smiled back at me.

"I'll have to check my schedule", I said jokingly.

"You do that", He laughed and we walked our separate ways. Dane drove up to the front of the school and I got in his car. He drove away and I told him the directions to where we were meeting Barry. It was only ten minutes away.

When we go up to the building we're meeting Barry at, and I saw Rosie leaning against a red mustang. I got out of Dane's car and walked up to her with Dane following close behind.

"What are you doing here?", I asked quietly.

"I'm a part of this", She shrugged.

I nodded."But how'd you find out that we were coming here?"

"I have my resources", She shrugged.

I looked up and around, searching for Barry. I saw a man-who couldn't be older than twenty-leaning against the building, looking through a file. I walked over to him without consulting Rosie or Dane about it. I knew they were following though.