EVAN SAT IN the questioning room, the silence making him want to rip his hair out as Deputy Howard sat across from him.

"Evan," Deputy Howard snapped, grabbing his attention, "Did you kill Keira Walters?"

"No," Evan growled, "Why would I? She was my best friend."

Deputy Howard shook his head, taking notes, "It could be anybody, kid."

"I wouldn't kill her," Evan repeated, staring at the Deputy.

"Did you see or hear anyone plotting to kill her?" Deputy Howard questioned, changing the conversation.

"No."

"Any evidence that could lead someone to kill her?"

Evan sighed, "A week before she died, there were these posters put up."

"Posters?" The Deputy asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the table.

He was interested.

"Posters," Evan continued, "Describing that Keira was part of the LGBTQ+ community. That was her biggest secret. It got exposed."

"Was there anything on the posters that was derogatory towards Keira or any others in that community in any way?"

"Yes," Evan told him, repeating every word that was on the posters, even if it made him shudder.

He just wanted to get out of the room.

Deputy Howard clicked a pen on the table repetitively, "Do you know who put the posters up?"

Evan wanted to lie, but this was serious stuff, so he told the truth, "My sister did. Stephanie."

"Do you know why?"

"Stephanie's not going to want you to tell me this, but she's bisexual. She sought out to expose Keira for something she can't accept herself for."

"So she intentionally hurt Keira."

"In a way, yes."

Deputy Howard nodded, "Okay. You are dismissed. Can you grab Angelica for me please?"

Evan nodded on the way out, and less than a minute later, Angelica walked through the door. She sat in the seat, fidgeting with her hands. The two in the room sat in silence for a moment, and before Deputy Howard could break it, Angelica spoke.

"I didn't kill her," She told the Deputy, "I didn't."

"Okay," Deputy Howard nodded, "Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to?"

Angelica sighed, shifting in her seat, "Maybe Stephanie. She was extremely homophobic and belittling towards Keira... maybe she could have done it."

"Alrighty," Deputy Howard commented, then he changed the subject, diving into the next topic of question.

This cycle went on with the rest of Angelica's interview and also with Jen's. The last people left after were Stephanie and Tyler, and Deputy Howard took Stephanie first.

Instead of sitting in silence, he cut right to the chase.

"From some of the evidence that the others gave me, it's apparent that there is a high chance that you killed Keira," The Deputy informed Stephanie, causing her eyes to widen.

She shook her head, "I may have been a jerk, but I'd never kill anyone."

This went on for her whole interview, and after the lengthy chat, Deputy Howard wasn't convinced that she hadn't done it, but she let her go. As she walked through the main part of the office, she saw Tyler still sitting, looking at his hands through her teary gaze. She was surprised he stayed - there was almost no chance that he could have done it.

Stephanie paused by the door, turning back to speak, catching Tyler's attention, "It's your turn."

<<<<<<<

Tyler walked through the woods, the cold air biting at the exposed parts of his body. He was dressed in a t-shirt, jeans, and work sneakers - no coat, hat, gloves or anything of the sort to keep him warm. It was something his mother was strongly against - "stay warm, Tyler, you'll get sick out there" - but Tyler didn't care at the moment. His hands were shaking as he grasped the gun in his hands, the voices in his head sounding like a cacophony as they told him to kill.

Keira was the perfect target. She had been running while crying, not paying attention to her surroundings. She was on the run from something, but it was an essence, not a person, making it the perfect opportunity for Tyler to jump into the scene.

He followed her through the woods, careful of his path. When he reached the clearing she was in, he smiled, satisfied with himself. He raised the gun, aiming at her head, and shot, the noise causing a few birds to scatter from nearby trees. As with every time he'd killed someone before, Tyler felt a sense of power while walking over to the girl's body. He looked over the edge of the dock, seeing her lying in the creek, the blood from the wound in her head mixing with the steady stream of water. To avoid getting caught, Tyler jumped off of the dock and into the creek, washing off his gun before placing it in Keira's hands. This already made the scene look like a suicide, and to further that point, Tyler dragged Keira's body upstream until he reached where the creek became a river. He watched her body drift away after pushing it forward, smiling all the while.

This was a successful killing in Tyler's eyes, and with that, he fled the scene.

>>>>>>>

Tyler sat across from the Deputy, his expression blank and emotionless. Deputy Howard looked up once he sensed the movement, watching the boy's every move. He seemed strange - a dangerous vibe seemed to radiate off of him.

Dismissing his feelings toward Tyler, Deputy Howard asked the question of interest, "Did you kill Keira Walters?"

He surely wasn't expecting the answer he got.

Tyler responded without missing a beat, "Yes, sir. I killed Keira Walters."

Deputy Howard was taken back by Tyler's honesty, but he also felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders at the same time. He had found the killer.

"Why?" He inquired after recollecting himself, finding it odd that Tyler was apparently unfazed by what he just said.

Tyler shrugged, "I just wanted to kill someone."

The nonchalant manner of Tyler scared Deputy Howard, his eyes widening as Tyler confessed. His hand slowly moved to his gun, ready to attack if Tyler tried anything. It was enough being in the same room as him. He leaned back in his chair, his heart rate hastening as Tyler continued.

"All the voices in my head, all of them besides my own, the voices of everyone I have killed... they were screaming at me. Kill," He paused, letting the emphasis on the word kill ring about the room, "I know I sound crazy," Tyler thought aloud slowly, tilting his head to the side, "But trust me," He looked into Deputy Howard's eyes with a sick smile, "I do this all the time."

"Alright, kid," Deputy Howard commented, dismissing the chills that coursed through him as the result of being in the same room as Tyler at the moment, "How'd you do it?"

As Tyler spoke, the Deputy took notes.

"I took my dad's pistol, followed her through the woods, and killed her," Tyler explained calmly, "After I killed her, I put the gun in her hands and dragged her upstream."

Deputy Howard nodded, sighing as he stood, "Alrighty."

<<<<<<<

Days earlier, Tyler sat on his bed, holding the pistol he used to kill Keira in his hands. He turned the safety off, transferring it between his hands as he listened to the noises that it made. The small clicks filled the quiet room as Tyler thought about everything that had happened since he arrived in Moorwood.

He had killed someone a day after he arrived, hoping to shrug it off like every time before, but it didn't quite work out like that. He had somehow befriended the group of people that was closest to the victim of his killing, and keeping himself detached turned out to be an uphill battle. Angelica was very sweet, as well as good looking, but he refrained himself from getting too attached to the girl. He would have to confess then, and that wouldn't end well. Seeing their reactions to everything ate away at him - usually, he killed someone and never heard of anything again, but it seemed that everything followed him like a cold shadow here in Moorwood.

Tyler took a long inhale, steadying his mind as his hands started to shake. He was being eaten away from the inside out - he was weak, his father's voice in his head repeating that over and over drove him mad - all because he confined with the right people at the wrong time. The voices started again then, a cacophony of them that surrounded him from all angles, making his head hurt. Getting up off the bed, Tyler walked over to his dresser and set the gun in his sock drawer, trying to distract himself, but the voices only grew louder. He clawed at his skull, clenching his teeth as he wished the voices would go away, that they would all stop repeating the same word again and again.

Weak.

>>>>>>>

Tyler was pushed out of the interview room, Deputy Howard shoving him as he walked away in cuffs. He stared at the floor, his mind elsewhere as him and the Deputy passed the officer in the main part of the office. Deputy Howard shook his head as the officer looked at the scene in front of him with surprise.

"Well, I found the culprit."