Jumping to Conclusions

Trigger warning: violence 

Sirens fill my ears as I stand, staring at the body bleeding out onto the street. The more I try to move, the more I could feel the urge to lay my eyes upon my once best friend.

Emotions of all sorts fill my body as I cannot find the power to leave her behind, I know I should leave while I still can as the sirens are getting louder. But I just can’t.

Guilt, sadness, scared and a tiny bit of relief cover me up like a blanket, keeping me warm through the cool winter air.

Crowds begin to gather like maggots as they sense a scene beginning to happen. People love drama, as if my friend is better to gossip about than sleeping in the middle of the night. 

Whispers swirl through the stale air as red and blue lights blink through the dark back lane. People come closer with eager faces as they watch the scene play out with smiles and pull out their fancy phones so they don’t want to miss a second.

Adrenaline begins to leave my veins as I begin to feel less neutral and more grief for my dearest friend.

Confusion hits me in the gut as the first responders shout out a time of death, I fall to my knees with tears down my face just as I feel someone grab me onto my feet, from behind me.

“Miss, you’re under arrest for the murder of Scarlet Grace.” I hear thundering through my ears. 

Unfortunately I panicked as they walked me towards the back of the police car, they had to teaser me as I wasn’t expecting to be arrested when I was the only witness to this horrible accident.

Is this how they treat witnesses now a-days?

Dim lights blaze through my eyes I sit in a cold, metal chair sipping stale coffee out of a styrofoam cup and act as if my friend hadn’t just past a few hours ago.

Finally, the door opens and two police officers enter the room, one of them holding a clipboard with papers of some sort.

The male officer sits directly in front of me, staring daggers, while the much younger female sits a little to the side.

Lovely, good cop, bad cop. I thought as I watched them take their seats.

“Lets get this over with. You murdered Miss Grace. You know it, I know it, so sign this paper saying you’re guilty so I could go home.” The older male, approximately in his late forties says gruffly as he forcefully pushes the clipboard towards me.

“I…I didn’t kill Scarlet! She was my friend.” I cry as I could feel the tears sting down my blotchy face.

“Theres absolutely no evidence that you didn’t kill your so called friend.” He barked back.

“But theres no proof that I did either!...Please. You have to believe me.”

“Miss Dale, please cut the nice act. You are not fooling anyone, I may be young but I’m not naïve enough to fall for this game.” The younger officer says with a smile, showing off her perfect white teeth and coffee breath.

“Please,…please let me tell you what happened!” I scream desperately as I cup my hands over my face, I just wanted this to be over.

“We know what had happened Miss. Dale and your testimony will not change the fact that you murdered your friend.” The gruff voice echoes through my head.

“All you need to do is tell us your motive, it’s the only thing we cannot figure out.” The young voice practically sings.

“How do you know what happened when I was the only person there!”

“Keep calm this instant Miss. Dale” The young officer says while showing the teaser in her side pocket.

“Security cameras from the local bank from across the street do not lie Miss. Dale. The better question is why did you push your friend off the twelfth floor of the apartment building in the middle of the night?” His eyes stared into mine as they were cold and filled with authority.

“I didn’t push her…she, she fell!” I cried as I felt the tears dripping down my face as the guilt split through my glands.

“We’ll make her crack” I heard him say to the younger officer.

“I’m telling the truth. I telling the truth.” I hear myself murmur as I begin to shake.

“Why were you two standing near the ledge?” The young women questions.

Finally a good question. I thought.

“Her dog was in the vet, she was worried about his condition as he had to stay overnight. She…she couldn’t sleep so she called me over-

“Then you lured her to the porch and pushed her off the ledge.” The older male falsely finishes the statement.

“What! No!” I panic as I feel my face grow red.

“Keep your voice down, or were done here. Your choice.” The eager voice says with his ice eyes piercing through mine.

I can’t help but gulp loudly and sink into my chair, it can’t be over. Theres no way, I’m getting charged for a murder that I did do.

I watch in confusion as the lead officer silently leaves the room, giving his partner a single nod before he closes the door shut behind him.

My breath gets caught in my throat as I know from watching many crime shows that the officer is about to play mind games so I can admit to the crime and plead guilty.

They actually think that I pushed my closest friend off that balcony.

“Miss. Dale, it’s only you and me now. This is a safe place.” She leads and follows with a wide smile.

“Call the vet.” I say desperately, it’s all that I have left to prove my innocence.

“Excuse me?”

“Scarlet had her dog at the vet overnight, she was worried about his condition so she called me over.”

“How is that relevant to you murdering her?”

“It’s all I have,”

“Proving that the dog is staying at the vet has no evidence on how Miss. Grace had been killed.”

“Please,…please, can you just call. I’m sure they can tell you how worried she was about Iver.”

“Iver?”

“Her puddle, he got hit by a car yesterday when she took him for a walk.”

“I’m sure Miss. Grace was distraught by that situation but, there will be no clear evidence on how she had died by the vet clerk.”

“All I’m asking is one-

The door opens showing a shadow entering the room. The male officer from earlier. This time, he’s walking with glee, triumph; he’s happy.

He walks past me with a large smile, he enthusiastically drops a sheet of paper on the table, directly in front of me.

“This is a report from the clerk at the apartment complex, saying that you and Miss. Grace were in fact having an argument as you walked past him last night.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” I panic as once again I feel as if my throat is closing in on me.

“You were angry at her for some reason, so you found an opportunity to push her off the balcony. Case closed.”

“What!No!” I scream as the female officer grabs my arm, pulling me onto my feet.

Three days have gone by since that terrible accident and everyone believes that I is to blame. Every time I close my eyes I can see the incident play out all over again.

One in the morning strikes past the clock as I angrily press the button to the apartment complex. I stand half asleep and bitter as I wait in the cold for Scarlet to come open the door.

“Finally!” I bark as I walk ahead of her, towards the stairs.

As we walk past the clerk at the counter, I turn facing Scarlet.

“Could you not have waited until tomorrow to call me!”

“I’m sorry Holly, but I’m worried about Iver what if-

“If you were really worried about him, you wouldn’t have allowed him to get hit by a car in the first place!”

“How dare you say that!”

“You know full well, that I have a huge job interview in the morning and need my rest.” I scream as I watch her turn the key into the door.

“Then go sleep!” She pouts as she walks directly to the side door, where the balcony is.

I stand still in silence as I watch her lean over the ledge, watching the crescent moon as it glows through the cloudy mist of the night.

“Hey, Scarlet. I’m sorry.” I say as I walk out onto the patio.

She turns facing me as, I notice tears clinging to her face.

“Iver is a tough dog, he’ll be back to normal in no time.” I say strongly as I fully believed it.

Tears down pour from chin as she holds up her phone. She begins to shake so hard, that she could barley stand up on her own.

I panic as I rush towards her so I can help her out.

Before I could reach her, she trips backwards.

The sounds of bones crushing as it smacks pavement will never leave my mind. The worse of all this is that everyone thinks that I pushed her off the balcony and all I wish is that I was able to reach her in time to stop the fall.

Seconds…I was only seconds away from saving her.

All anyone cares about is jumping to conclusions.