The Cookie Exchange!

Friday, December 22, 7:30 pm  

At 222 Bell St. North London. 

You are invited to a cookie exchange.  

Please make and bring your best Christmas cookies.  

Don’t forget to RSVP by Friday, December 15. Can't wait to see you there 

Page & Hannah. 

“Ok, so we send this to like 15 to 20 people,” Hannah said with worry in her voice. “That’s the plan and then on top of those 20 people we invite Jake?” Page questioned. "Yes, I'll invite Jake tomorrow at work, and you invite the rest. Ok? They have to be people that won't get suspicious if we aren't there the whole time.” Hannah said sounding like she knew exactly what she was talking about. "ok, but are we 100% sure we should do this. Jake is insane. Hannah what if he tries to kill us like he did Erin? ”Page said starting to rethink what they were going to do. “He won't. Not with all the people around.” Hannah said with certainty in her voice. “Hannah, he used to be your best friend and then he killed Erin because you said no to going on a date with him. Jake is obsessed with you.” Page panicked. “That’s why we are going to kill him on the 22nd. There is no way he won't come to this if he’s so obsessed with me.” Page new Hannah was right. There was no other way to deal with this. Although the girls had been on the phone with Erin when it happed the police say they don’t know who did it. This was the only way to get peace of mind. They had to do it. This was going to happen one way or another. Page knew that Hannah was going to do this with or without her. 

It was dark, Erin was walking to his mom’s house on the phone with his girlfriend Hanna and sister Page. The wind wiped around him as he exited the bus station whit his earbuds in. The girls were talking about what to get Hannah's brother for his birthday. There was no one around except for the shadow across the street. The shadow seemed to be following him, but Erin didn’t notice. The shadow had followed him down to a deserted, garbage-filled alleyway that smelt like rotten eggs. This is where the murder took place. On the other end of the line, Hannah and Page could hear it all as it was happing. They heard when Erin turned around and said “oh hey Jake you scared me. What are you doing down this way? Don’t you live up near dove park?” they heard when Jake responded with a cynical laugh. They heard when Jake said he'd only come down this way to have a good spot to kill Erin. The girls stayed on the line with Erin as they heard the gunshot, but not just one. It was never just like it is in the movies sometimes, Jake had emptied the whole clip into Erin. Jake then saw the phone and stomped on it. As the line went dead Page and Hannah were in tears. They hurriedly called the cops and told them what happened. Over the next few weeks, they were brought into the station to answer some questions. The cops never believed that it was Jake. Not once did they even look in his direction? No, they did not. Slowly but surely the police forgot about the case.  

By the time the girls had last been in the precinct, it had been 2 months since Erin had died. The 22 of December was special because it was the 6-month anniversary of the murder. Everyone had forgotten it by now. Everyone but Page and Hannah. They had been planning this since they realized the cops weren't going to do anything about it. They had planned every detail to a T. Hannah was still nice to Jake, as to not let him know what was going on. Page had been the one to suggest the idea of killing Jake. At first, it was just a joke, but it quickly turned into a plan. On December 22 at 8 o'clock Page was going to stay inside with the guests. Hannah was to tell Jake she wanted to take a walk and talk to him about something she’s been wanting to tell him for a while. Hannah would be taking the emergence handgun that Erin had with her and she would walk with Jake far into the woods. So far that no one would hear the gunshot and that’s where he would die. The plan after that was to let the snow bury him. It was going to snow a lot that weekend. When Hannah had got back to the house if anyone asked, she would tell them that she walked him a little bit down the street then they stopped and talked for a little, and that he went home. They would get away with it. 

The night had finally come. It was 20 minutes before everyone was due to start showing up. Paged had just taken her famous sugar cookies out of the oven and was decorating them. She had just finished as Hannah came down the stairs in a nice deep red dress. The gun was already in her coat pocket with her gloves. She was ready. Page was not ready not at all, but she keeps telling herself that she had the easy job of just sit and look pretty. She needed to avenge her brother even if she directly herself wasn’t killing Jake. Soon people had started arriving with their cookies. People were mingling and having a good time Page and Hannah were doing the same as everyone else. Then at 7:55 right on the button, the man of the night showed up. He went straight for Hannah interrupting her convocation and gave her a very unwanted kiss on the check. They mingled for a little. Then Hannah walked over to Page who was alone in the kitchen. “Page knows the time. I'll be back in a little. When it's done ok.” Hannah whispered. “ok de safe and if it starts to go bad don’t do it. … ok.” Page also whispered but you could tell she was nervous for her friend. Hannah gave a curt nod and walked over to Jake who was by the front door all by himself. “Hay want to go for a walk. I have something I need to tell you, but it can't be in here.” Hannah said biting her lip. With a big smile on his face, Jake agreed and they both got their coats on. When they got outside it was snowing and not just a little. Hannah put her gloves on then put her right hand in her pocket with the gun.  

They walked in silence for a little, Hannah making sure to keep her hand on the gun. Jake with a big smile on his face. Tonight, is the night Jake thought. Tonight she's going to tell me that she's loved me all along, that she never loved Erin and she's happy I got him out of the pitcher. As Jake thought this he didn’t realize they had started to walk into the woods. once they got deep enough into the woods Hannah stopped walking. As Jake continued for a few steps he realized that she had stopped. Jake went to turn around to see her standing there with a gun pointed at his back. Before he could even say anything the gun went off. One loud bang and that was it, one loud bang and he was dead. Only one problem Hannah hadn't pulled the trigger. Hannah spun around, once, twice a third time. No one was there. Not a sole. There were no footprints in the snow there was no shadow in the distance. There were only Hannah and the dead Jake in the woods. Hannah shoved the gun back in her pocket and quickly got back to the house as she was coming up to the house she saw someone in a black hoodie with their face covered. The person started walking over to Hannah. She was frozen not just in fear but god was the snow coming down. The person stopped beside her and said with the sweetest voice “ I know you didn't do it but that’s not what I'll tell the police. If I tell them. ... I might not tell them tomorrow or next week, but if you don’t want me to tell at all then when you get a letter, sign, text, email or anything signed with your move Zz you'll do what it says. Got it?” Their voice got more menacing as they talked. Then in a sweet voice of what can only be guessed the woman in the hoodie said “ and don’t tell anyone or they will die two.’” all Hannah could do was nod. When she finally got back inside she took off her coat and gave Page a look that said it's done. She then goes back to the party. She had fun the rest of the night and no one asked where Jake went.  

To Page, the murder had gone off without a hitch. Hannah seemed fine. If you looked close she looked a little shaken, but she has just killed someone. Little did Page know Hannah didn’t kill anyone and for the rest of her life she would be paranoid about what the woman in the hoodie would do to her. That night after the cookie exchange was over and they had cleaned up. The girls had said good night and went to their separate rooms to sleep, but they didn’t sleep peacefully they tossed and turned the whole night. Well across town by dove park, a woman in a black hoodie sat peacefully on her big comfortable couch thinking about the revenge she got on her boyfriend’s murderer. All she had to do was sit and wait for the right time to pin it on Hannah because even though she didn’t want to admit it Erin had cheated on her and Jake had dumped her for Hannah.  

 This would turn into urban legend as the years went by. The names of the people would be changed, the places would be too. But one thing that never changed would be that 2 men died because they didn’t understand what being a decent human being was all about. And the girl Hannah would go insane once she got to her 6os. It was quite sad really. And for me, I ended up with a loving family and a husband that knows to never cheat on me.