I've been thinking many things over in my head for the past few days. It was hard to accuse someone of something bad. Especially murder. And I had no idea how I would bring this up to Nick. After all, he had somewhat of a close relationship with this person.

People still avoided me like the plague in the hallways. I guess being a suspected crazy murderer has it's benefits.

Nick kept singing the Rocky theme song any time I walk the halls. It lowkey made me feel like a badass, yet at the same time kept my spirit up when people kept trying to bring me down.

And of course, Nick never failed to sing his rendition of Candy Girl at work. I sometimes found myself humming it's tune, much to my dismay.

Just last night I was dancing along to "Ghost" by Ella Henderson and singing into my hairbrush when Nick walked through my door. Instead of being embarrassed. I pulled him into my awkward dancing laughing at the irony of the song.

Moments like these, when we're just two kids in love, it made us forget everything. Then there are days where I need to face the ugly truth. Nick was still dead.

We went back to the lake, but this time we stayed on the road. We were looking at mailboxes hoping Nick can remember which one kept appearing in his mind.

"Nick, I've been thinking," I started hesitantly. "In most crimes, the first suspect is always the spouse or lover."

Nick stopped walking. "What are you trying to say?"

I bit my lip nervously. "Just something Amelia said the night of the game. Nick... it sounded like she was threatening my life."

She said she'd get her hands— more like nails— dirty if she had to.

Nick shook his head. "Listen, I know Amelia—"

"Nick! She literally said that it never ended well for people trying to come between her and Trey. That someone was you! What if she killed you so she could be with Trey?"

"That's absurd. Why would she kill me for Trey?"

"Think about it," I tried again. "Trey didn't want to go public with her. Even after you died, Amelia wanted to go pubic, but Trey did not want to yet. What if she thought the only way for Trey to finally be with her officially was if you were out of the picture?"

Nick clenched his jaw. "I don't want to believe it."

God, I knew he wasn't going to take it well. "I'm not saying it's her, well not yet at least. Shouldn't we at least look into it? Make sure?"

Nick looked anywhere but me.

I let out a heavy sigh dropping the matter. He didn't say another word, so neither did I. Instead, we kept driving slowly down the lake houses.

"A part of me wishes it was a stranger," Nick finally spoke. He finally looked at me. "The idea of someone actually hating me enough to kill me, I don't want to believe that."

"As much as it sucks, wouldn't you like to know the truth?" I asked.

Nick clenched his jaw. "I do, but a part of me doesn't want to rush it.... I feel like when the truth comes out, every good thing will vanish."

It scared me too. I didn't want this to end either, but Nick deserved to know the truth. His parents deserved the peace. The killer needed to be locked away and pay for their crimes.

Nick looked outside his window again. "You should turn around."

"What? We haven't been out here long, we could still—"

"Turn around. Go home. Someone's been following us," he said.

I looked through my rear view mirror and he was right. They were far enough that I couldn't read the license plate number.

"Do you recognize the car?" I asked him. Was it Amelia's?

"No," he shook his head. "Can't seem to remember."

I turned my car around and began driving home.

"Don't slow down and don't look at the driver," Nick instructed. He was right. I couldn't let them know they've been made.

I drove past the car, every part of me fighting to look over, but I didn't.

"Fuck," Nick swore as soon as we passed it.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked. Was it Amelia? Was I right?

"The windows are tinted. I couldn't see shit," he grunted.

Crap!

"At least we're know we're on the right track. Someone's making sure we don't find anything," I pointed out.

Nick let out a sound.

"If that's the case, then we're in bigger trouble then we thought," he said.

I took a moment and a shiver ran down my spine at the thought. If someone killed Nick, they could easily kill me too.

I drove home and locked all the doors to the house. I ran up feeling shaken.

I looked out my window feeling like I was being watched. I couldn't see the car, but the icky feeling remained.

I looked back at Nick and took a deep breath. "You know, maybe a murder board was not a bad idea."

"You know I was just joking—"

I pushed all the things off my desk.

"—clearly not."

I pulled out a pad of sticky notes.

I wrote mailbox on one and the possible digits. I printed out a map of the lake, I labeled where Nick's shoe was found, the areas we covered and the areas where we were being followed. "What are trigger words? Things that jog your memory?"

Nick bit his bottom lip in thought. "Write father? I don't know... when I saw Trey's father call him, it gave me a weird feeling."

No idea was a bad idea. We had to try every aspect.

I wrote Amelia's name on another with a question mark. Nick didn't say anything, but I didn't miss his frown.

"Add Trey's name," he said.

"You suspect him or just hate him?" I asked.

The corner of Nick's lips twitched. "Little of both? Nope, that's a lie. I just hate him."

I chuckled, but wrote it anyways to cheer him up.

Then I added mysterious follower. We needed to identify this man.

The next day I went to school and kept an eye on Amelia. I just got a bad feeling from her. Nick's death didn't make her want to become a better person. In fact, I think she's become worse. She's been extra mean to everyone. I swear she would kick a puppy.

I watched Amelia yell at one of her friends for the past minutes because she messed up the cheer routine during practice.

"Look at her!" I raved to Nick. "She's Godzilla!"

Nick only chuckled. "You only saying that because you mean it or because you hate her?"

He used my words from the night before on me.

"Very cute," I gave him a look.

Nick threw his head back in laughter before pulling me in for a hug and placing a kiss on top of my head.

"Okay, so I might hate her, but come on. She's evil!" I told him.

Nick scrunched his nose. "Not gonna lie, she's a little bit psycho. That girl looks like she's about to cry."

I let out a sigh before standing up. "Come on, I got work."

We walked to work, exchanging alternate endings to a tv series we were watching.

At work, I had to deal with all sort of crazy customers. Some days were very slow, and other days customers made me want to quit on the spot.

"What do you mean you don't sell beer at this location?" a man asked.

I had to hold back a groan.

"It's as simple as that, this is an alcohol free theatre. It's always been like this," I told him.

"But there are other theatres in different cities that have bars," he tried to argue.

"Sir, as I've said before. We have no bar. This is an alcohol free zone."

"This is outrageous! I want to talk to a manager!"

Here we go. There was always that customer that refused to believe you until a male employee or manager repeated the same thing you've been telling them.

I held back both an eye roll and a groan as I called my manager. My manager kindly just repeated what I've been saying. The man apologized for bothering him and went to watch the movie anyways.

"What a dick!" Nick commented. "If only I wasn't invisible, I'd beat him up for you."

I chuckled. "Aren't you sweet? This happens every once and then."

"People wanting beer or people being dense?"

"Both."

Nick tapped a finger to his chin. "Beer would be sick in the movies."

"Not like you'd be able to get anything. You and everyone in school in under age," I pointed out.

He made a face. "I'd use my fake ID."

"You have a fake ID?" I asked curiously. "This I have to see. Is your name something outrageous? How old are you?"

Nick rolled his eyes playfully. "My name is Kyle Sanders and I'm a 22 year old student in NYU, but I'm visiting my parents."

I let out a snort. "You have a whole cover made up for this Kyle Sanders."

"Kyle comes out for the wild nights," he winked.

This time I rolled my eyes.

Later that night, we cuddled on the couch watching a medical drama.

"That's so unrealistic!" Nick yelled at the screen! "Why would a man attach a bomb to him and then stab himself! Why would he give the doctors a time limit to save him or they all die? How does that even work?"

I couldn't help but giggle at his anger.

"They make up for the content with hot doctors," I quipped.

Nick made a face.

"Hey don't give me that look! I think we're both secure enough to admit that Dr. Adam Malone is one hot male and Dr. Alexa Cartier is one sexy lady."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not falling for that and calling another girl hot in front of you. You'll get angry, then tonight you'll get a dream that I somehow cheated on you and tomorrow you won't speak to me for the whole day. I know how this plays," he gave me a accusing look.

I couldn't hold back my laughter. "You're crazy, you know that?"

Nick shook his head. "Alright, laugh while you can. I'm not gonna become a victim in this."

"Speaking of being a victim— sorry, that's a little harsh. Um yeah, I wanna go back to the lake tomorrow. I want to see if our follower will be there- more like, I want you to get a closer look at them. Maybe you'll recognize him or her."

Nick's once teasing grin turned into a straight line. "I don't like this at all Eva. What if this time he hurts you?"

"Then I'll be with you in the after life. It'll fix our little dilemma."

Nick was not amused by that.

"It's not a joke Eva. What if he has a weapon? What if you're his next victim? We don't know who we're up against."

I bit my lip nervously. I never considered a serial killer.

"One last time. I just feel like we're so close," i clenched my hands. I could feel it.

"Eva, seriously—"

"Please Nick. If not for me, do it for your parents. I don't like the idea of not getting justice for your death. It's not fair," I said.

"Don't use my parents against me," he frowned.

"Nick—"

"No. I mean it Eva. Never will I be okay with you putting yourself in danger for me. I'm serious. This discussion is over," he raised his tone.

I bit my lip. Half to keep me from saying something else, half to keep me from crying. He was right, I couldn't deny it, but I couldn't just drop this when we were finally getting somewhere.

I needed answers.

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