The next day, Mikki knocked her best friend's door. She'd been trying to call him all morning but he hadn't picked up, which was unusual. When he didn't reply to any of her messages, she decided to go to his apartment. She had a bad feeling in her gut which she could not ignore, however much she tried. When she knocked three times and received no answer, she turned the knob opening the door. She wondered why was his door unlocked if he wasn't in? Had he gone for a run?

"Ethan?" She called out, looking around the room. The only answer she received was stony silence. As she neared the door to his bedroom, she caught a faint smell of something unfamiliar. She frowned and walked on.

She opened the door and peered in. She let out an ear piercing scream when she saw a body on the floor with a smashed head. There was a pool of blood around it. Mikki wildly ran out of the room, screaming the whole time.

"D-dead," She muttered, holding onto a girl who was going to her room. People from surrounding rooms came out to find out what was going on. One of them called the police as they tried to reassure Mikki who was still trembling and crying. She'd never seen something like that before and it had left her extremely shaken.

The police discovered one body in the kitchen and another in the bedroom, which was smashed beyond recognition. Both teenagers had been bashed by a blunt object until he'd died. They had both been dead for a few hours, a policeman said. Judging from the intesity of injuries, it was clear that whoever did it was a very angry person.

Juliet Fetterman was reported missing that evening. She was also a wanted suspect to the horrible crime. Either the murderer had kidnapped and killed her or she was the murderer. According to media reports, there was a high possibility that it was a crime of passion as Ethan had been cheating on her with Kana. The media wouldn't stop talking about it.

For people who knew Juliet, it was hard to believe she killed them. To them, there was no way the Juliet they knew would kill someone. It was impossible. Unfortunately, they had no way of proving it. They had to live with the burden of not knowing what happened to her.

"I refuse to believe this," Tania told her brother Cooper who had yet again turned to alcohol because of his problems. "The truth is Juliet has been acting strange since we joined college but I don't think she'd turned into a murderer. No, someone must be framing her."

"It's all that idiot's fault," Cooper said, finishing a bottle beer and placing it on the table. "How could he cheat on her? She couldn't even tell us, probably because she felt embarrassed. My poor Juliet, she must have been so sad, that's if she's still alive."

"Of course she's alive, you idiot. That Octavio is the one to blame. I don't know what he told Juliet but I know it all goes back to him. I told Juliet not to be around him but she didn't listen to me. She thought she could save the world. Why is she too nice?"

"This is terrible," Cooper said, letting himself fall on to his sister's shoulder. Tania pushed him to the other side of the couch.

"I won't baby-sit you," she stood up. "I'm going out now. I need to think."

Juliet's family and friends had started a search for her and a few volunteers had joined them. If Ethan and Kana hadn't been killed, half the town would have volunteered to search since she was a sweetheart. With the crime in mind, very few people were interested in searching for a potential murderer.

As Tania walked, trying to decide whether to join the search, a man bumped into her.

"Sorry," she told him.

"Hi," he faced her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm Gavin."

"I'm Tania."

"What's wrong, Tania." He asked. "You don't look too well."

How could she be okay? Juliet was gone.

***

Mikki sat in her room, sobbing. Everything reminded her of Ethan, tell boy she had lived with all her heart. It was very unfortunate that he had seen her only as a good friend. She had tried to be patient but that did not pay off. They had so much fun together and she never told him anything because she did not want to ruin their friendship.

Now he was gone and could not fulfill the fantasies she had- had about him. She wished she had taken the risk. They might have gotten together. He would never have looked at that evil girl, Juliet Fetterman who deserved to rot in hell forever. She had been feeling so much pain since Ethan started dating Juliet and at some point it had become too much she almost committed suicide but hope had kept her alive. She'd never lost hope but now she was stuck and didn't know what to do.

She glanced at the Valium pills on he bedside table, recommended for the insomnia she battled each passing day of her life because of him. She had always known he cared about her. It had stung when he revealed he was playing two girls. He was never like that. Also, when did he start keeping things from her. She had felt like she was losing him but something had given her hope.

She thought he played them because he didn't love any of them. He probably loved her but hadn't realized. Why else wouldn't he fall for those two beautiful girls? Would things have been different if he knew that she loved him? Now, he'd never know that because his dear Juliet killed him.

Mikki looked at the band posters he had bought for her. Oh! How fun those days had been. When they sang out loud together, went to concerts and played music so loud all the neighbors complained. Mikki would do anything to go back to those wonderful times.