Fresh Start

~43~

Tyler's POV;

"Yes dad. Jonathan get's A's in everything. He promised to help me."

"Fine. But if I don't see any improvement. I'm taking your car keys and your Xbox! You need to spend more time studying than playing silly games."

"Alright!" I huffed.

"Now. Your mother and I are going out for our anniversary. If you're hungry you know where the food is. Try not to stay up too late. And we're staying at a motel tonight, so make sure to feed the dog in the morning."

"I think I might just go to bed now. I've had a long day." I yawned. "Have fun."

"Okay. Goodnight."

I made my way upstairs and into the shower, the water was somewhat soothing and after today it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of me. We didn't have to worry about anything anymore... apart from finals and maybe what was to come of college. But this definitely was the first time I had felt close to relaxation. The thought of going back to how things were before was actually pretty comforting. Although I'll have to say that I'm not sure Evan feels the same and I do feel sorry for him. Maybe he will never forget what he did, heck how would anyone? but then I stop and think about how it was for the best and maybe he'll never forget the joy of doing it... Could murder really be like that? I pushed these thoughts aside and ditched the shower and headed into my room, where I was greeted by my dalmatian laying on my bed, drying myself off I grabbed my pants from the chair to reveal the bloodstained shirt underneath them. I stopped and stared at the red for a while, sort of shocked that it was someone's blood on my shirt. I had thought about burning it sooner for myself so that it was one less thing to worry about... But the bonfire night was set and planned ready for tomorrow so I turned off the light and climbed into bed, feeling content with the fresh sheets below. And finally fell asleep.

It was still dark when I had heard a loud sound coming from downstairs. My phone was the first thing I reached for, aswell as my bedside light. It was three in the morning according to my phone. I figured it couldn't be my parents unless they decided to come home, or found a motel that was too dirty to stay in.

I climbed out of bed, my dog - Kino - not far behind as the sound had woke him too, and opened my bedroom door which I could've swore I left open. Kino rushed downstairs and started barking so that was my cue to follow. I rushed into my parents room to grab my dads baseball bat before tiptoeing downstairs. Kino stood frozen by the front door. It was wide open and the lock was broken off and laying on the floor.

I made my way over, setting my phone down on the kitchen counter as I passed it. I picked the lock up from the cold floor and stared out into the road. It was silent apart from the loud crickets in the bushes opposite and the muffled sound of cars further into the city. I closed the door and checked if anything had been stolen. My TV was still there aswell as my gaming systems. My car was still in one piece and nothing seemed to be missing. I found it odd that none of the most expensive stuff was gone. I didn't really have a motive to call the police either. So I called Craig instead. I didn't want to wake him but I was afraid that someone had been in my house while I was sleeping and to hear his voice settled me.

"Hello?" He croaked, voice still thick with sleep.

"Hey. Sorry to wake you." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Don't worry about it. Is something wrong?"

"Yeah actually." I collapsed onto my couch. "Someone broke into my house."

There was shuffling on the other end of the phone. "What? Are you okay? What did they take? Did Kino get 'em?"

"I'm fine. I woke up to a bang and went downstairs to find my front door wide open. Nothing has been stolen, well nothing expensive anyhow."

"That's weird..." He hummed in thought. "Have you called the police?"

I shook my head but then realised he couldn't see me. "No. I didn't see the point."

"Tyler. You should've called them. Infact. I'm sending my dad to you. He's on shift. I'll be there soon. See you later."

"Craig, hold on-" The phone cut out leaving me in silence again.

I didn't really want Craig's dad coming over here. I'd been on edge with every cop I saw when walking down the street or driving around town. The fact that I was currently keeping my mouth shut about murder, trespassing onto a water tower, and paying for a bag of drugs wasn't making anything easier. And now I had a cop coming to my house.

It hadn't even passed 5 minutes before I heard sirens from down the street. I was sort of angry that they thought sirens were necessary. I heard a knock on the door and told them to come in. Craig rushed inside the house and ran straight towards me. He held onto me for a while before checking me over for bruises or anything.

"Craig. I'm fine! They left before I was even awake."

"Okay. I was just making sure that's all." He smiled. "So dad. What'cha think?"

His dad walked around the room asking me obvious questions. What time did I hear the bang? Was I hurt? What did they take? Did I see anything? Blah blah blah. But then he asked me a question, a question that was purposely meant for a joke. However, it made a lot of sense and made me think more than twice.

"Do you have any enemies at school that might have done this as a prank or something." He chuckled.

I lied and said; probably. He left with Craig after that and told me to stay safe and that if anything happened again to give him a call straight away.

I ran upstairs and turned on my bedroom light. There was only one person I thought of when he asked me that. And I knew what he had taken. The blood-stained shirt, that was meant to be burned tomorrow, was gone and I knew exactly who took it.