"𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓" 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅

When Michelle woke up, it was like a normal day… The only thing to make it different was the party she had gone to the night before. She had refused to go to parties in the past. She had been afraid she would get drunk and get arrested or have a wreck, but Jeremy, her best friend, had a party at his house. She had stayed many nights there, the two of them talking for hours, so she knew she was safe.

She decided to take a shower before leaving for her house. She got out and dried off, putting her clothes on, she realized she hadn't heard anything from Jeremy. "Boy, he must have been tired. He's usually up at the crack of dawn." She chuckled to herself.  

Leaving out the door, she decided to let him know so he wouldn't worry. "Jeremy!" She yelled. "I'm off to my house. You threw a great party! I will talk to you later. You must have a hangover so I will wait until you call me!" She waited at the door for a moment. She didn't hear anything from him. She shrugged and chuckled. "Dang. I've never known him to go overboard before. He must have had a lot of fun."

She took it easy at her house all day, cleaning here and there, lounging on the sofa here and there. Finally, she decided to binge-watch her and Jeremy's favorite show, Sons Of Anarchy. Jeremy had gotten her into it last year. They had made a deal when Once Upon A Time was out if he watched it with her, she had to watch what he wanted with him. So she grabbed some ice cream and settled in for a long day. 

"Omg! I'm gonna be late!" She said in a rush. "I forgot to set the alarm!" She scrambled to get dressed and grabbed her backpack and was out the door. As she came upon her college, she was relieved. People were standing around talking. "Whew! I'm not late." She said as she found a parking spot. 

As she rolled her window up, a girl was passing. "Hope you had a great night at the party, Michelle." 

She looked at the girl in shock. The way she said, Michelle was so, well, filled with anger, sarcasm, and hostility. "Maybe I'm just thinking too much about it. Maybe I just took it wrong." 

She shrugged it off and started the, what was a usually short walk to the front door of her classroom, which now seemed as if it was taking forever. All eyes were on her. "Omg. Creepy." She thought to herself, singing the word creepy. 

"Michelle. Seen Jeremy this morning?" Lucas asked her. Thank God he wasn't being a jerk. But he did seem quite worried. 

"Well, no, I haven't. It is a bit unusual. He didn't even call me yesterday. And he wasn't up at the crack of dawn yesterday either." She replied to Lucas.

Jamie Rider walked up to them. "Hi, Lucas." She said in a flirting manner. "Hi, Michelle." She said, then rolled her eyes. The hate was dripping from that one word. 

Michelle just stood there glaring at Jamie with a "Wtf" look on her face. 

"Jamie, please. I'm talking to Michelle. I told you, we are not going on a date."

"Oh, so now Jeremy is out of the way and now you're making moves on Michelle?"

"What the hell Jamie? Jeremy and I have never dated. Lucas isn't making any moves on me and frankly, no one likes you. And Jeremy isn't out of the way. He's my best friend, freak." Michelle turned and looked at Jamie with an "as if" look. "When I hear from Jeremy, you'll be the first to know." She said to Lucas, then walked off.

"Hey, Michelle," Andrew said as he passed. "Where's Jeremy? Did you use him in one of your witch rituals?" 

"What in the hell? What do you mean?!" She yelled at him as he kept walking. As she walked, it seemed like her classroom door got further and further away. People were bumping into her. Some mumbling "murderer" some asking with disgust, "where's Jeremy?" A few even going so far as to say, "you know you're going to hell, right?!" 

She did everything she could to keep from crying. "What is going on?" She thought. Finally, she got to her classroom door and she decided to keep going back out to her car. 

"Miss Moore! Miss Moore!" She heard behind her, but she just kept going. When she got out to the front, she started running for her car. She stumbled and almost fell once, but that didn't stop her. She had to get away from this insanity. She slipped on the wet grass and hit her car hard, twisting her ankle as it hit the curb and then off onto the street. She leaned onto her door and just started crying. "What is happening? I don't know why people are doing this to me? Jeremy was at the party, everyone knows that. It was his party at his house. So what is going on that everyone knows but me?"

She opened the door and sank slowly into the seat. She laid her head on the steering wheel for a moment. "Miss Moore! I've been trying to catch up with you." She heard in a not so far off distance. When she looked up, a man in a black jacket, blue jeans, and a badge on his waist was walking up.

"I…" her words wavered. "I need to go." She started the car. "I-I'm sorry." She drove away.

"I just need to talk…" is all she heard from the man as she kept driving. He was waving big, trying to get her attention to stop.

Michelle was in a state of shock. She wasn't sure if she should just stay in her car in the carport or try to walk in. She was confused, worried, distraught, shocked, angry and her ankle hurt. She thought she was going to hyperventilate. She gasped a few times, trying to control her breathing, but it was a lost cause. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed Jeremy's number. 

"Hey, this is Jeremy, I'm not home right now so leave a message, but you know this is my cell, so I really can't answer at the moment. Please leave a message and if I decide to, I will call you back unless you're a bill collector." 

Not letting it reach the beep, she hung the phone up and wondered why it didn't even ring as she shook her head. His ADD phone message always made her laugh.

She heard a muffled, "Miss Moore." She looked at the window to see the same man from earlier at her window motioning for her to roll the window down. "Miss Moore, please. I have some questions for you. Come to the station with me." 

"What for?" She asked. "I don't even know what is going on." 

"We can go over that at the station. I will let you know before I ask questions."

"Ok," she said crying. "I have never been in trouble or even been to a police station. I just don't know what's happening?" she sobbed, then stumbled. The man caught her. "How did I go from having a great life to everything falling apart in 2 days?"

"I don't know ma'am." He steadied her. "Please come with me." He actually sounded caring.

At the station in one of the interrogation rooms, she was asked. "Now Miss Moore, when was the last time you saw Jeremy Wheeler?"

"Why? What in the hell is going on?"

"Answer the question, Miss Moore."

A different officer was asking many questions.

"That other man said he would let me know what was going in before asking me anything. Because I have no clue!" She yelled, mascara streaking her red tear-soaked face. "Because at this moment, I'm about to lose my shit!"

"Is that what happened with Jeremy? Did you lose your shit?" He motioned his fingers in quotations. 

"What do you mean?"

The man threw pictures of a pretty well mutilated and burned man that she wasn't sure was human or not. Bending to her side, she threw up. It was so horrifying. 

"Are you saying this is Jeremy? That can't be. He was safe when I left his house. I'm sure of it."

"Did you see him when you left Miss Moore?"

Confusion rolled across her face. "Well, no. I yelled to him that I would talk to him later and when he got over his hangover to call me." She replied, worry in her voice.

"Well Miss Moore, he is obviously not ok. The DNA proves that it is most likely him. It's not 100%, but very close. Miss Moore, you are under arrest for the murder of Jeremy Wheeler."

Michelle started struggling. "But I didn't do anything. Jeremy is alive! I didn't do anything! Please let me go! I didn't do anything." She couldn't help the sobs that came after that.

2 men stood behind the glass. "Do you believe her John?" Gary stood with his arms crossed over his chest 

"Well with her reactions at the College, and that she seems to be sincere about not knowing what's going on… Yeah, I do." John said matter of factly.

"Well, John, then we are in a very strange place. We have Mr. Wheeler's twin saying she killed him and she doesn't know what's going on. Let's bring in Jacob Wheeler. And Lucas Whitmore." His disdain was apparent. 

"Why Mr. Whitmore?" John asked.

"Because he knew Miss Moore and Mr. Wheeler the best. He was like their third. He would know if she was into witchcraft as some of those on campus are saying. I just think he made her mad and she killed him." Gary said glaring at John. 

"Look at her Gary, she is tiny. There's no way she could have taken that man out. She doesn't have the strength to pull him anywhere and there were drag marks on the ground from his feet."

"That's why I want Lucas Whitmore here. I think he was involved." Gary deadpanned. 

"There's no way. He's too nice a young man and he really speaks highly of Jeremy Wheeler." John disagreed in earnest. 

Lucas was cooking dinner to take to his mom. She had been sick with covid. So he was making sure to do the cooking for her. Someone knocked on the door. "Oh my God. Jeremy?! They're saying you're dead." His surprise was understandable.

"I know. The son of a bitch attacked me." Jeremy stumbled into Lucas's apartment.

"Well, what happened?" Lucas asked with intensity. "I mean, Michelle is getting accused of your murder. She has been arrested." 

Another knock on the door was heard. Lucas started to walk to the door when he was knocked out. "I can't have you talking to the police. No one can know until I figure this out." Jeremy whispered to Lucas. 

The knocking continued. "Grayson County P.D. open up Mr. Whitmore!" 

The knocking continued more.

"He's in there." A voice from across the hall hit Gary's ears. He turned to look and all he could see was a cracked door shut. 

"Come on Mr. Whitmore. We need to speak to you." A tussling noise was heard from the apartment. "I have a warrant to bring you in, Mr. Whitmore."

Gary stepped back then kicked in the door in time to see someone jump out the window to the fire escape. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Lucas on the floor, bleeding from the head.

He picked up his radio mike and called in for an ambulance. 

After Lucas was found to be alright, he was taken to the police station. Gary asked questions. "Was Jacob wheeler with you?" Not letting Lucas answer, he kept asking questions. "Do you know why Michelle Moore killed Jeremy Wheeler? Did you help her? She's too small to have done it alone."

"Who's Jacob Wheeler? Michelle killed no one because Jeremy isn't dead. And again, I couldn't have helped her because she killed no one and Jeremy isn't dead." Lucas said in frustration.

Detective Garry Stenbeck started the book-in process for Lucas. 

"Gary, you have to stop." Detective John Evenson ran into the office. "There's a man out here claiming to be Jeremy Wheeler. He has his mother and a lawyer here. The lawyer is for Miss Moore and Mr. Whitmore."

"What? That's not possible. Mr. Wheeler is dead." Gary deadpanned.

"According to his mother, he is not." John declared.

Gary walked up to Jeremy and his mom. "Hello. I'm Detective Gary Stenbeck and this is Detective John Evenson. How can we help you?"

"I am Tamara Wheeler. This is my son…" an uncomfortable silence went by for a moment. "Jeremy Wheeler."

Jeremy straightened up. His head held high. "Yes. The man you have is apparently." Jeremy paused and glared at his mother.

"His twin brother." Tamara softly said. Her voice was full of remorse and regret.

"Twins?" Gary and John asked.

"Yes. Michelle and Lucas had nothing to do with this." Jeremy explained. "I killed him."

"But why? If he was your brother, why would you kill him.?" John asked.

"You see, when Jeremy and Jacob were born, my husband and I were going through a divorce. Instead of going through a long-drawn-out process of child court, we decided to take one of the boys each." Tamara said. She was very distraught.

"Which my brother knew about me, but Mom never said anything about Jacob. She told me my father was dead and I grew up thinking I was an only child." Jeremy was still glaring at his mother.

"I know why she did it. After doing some digging, Ray Wheeler was not a good man. But that doesn't excuse it."

"So how did you end up killing your brother?" Gary wanted answers.

"I'm going to get Miss Moore releases." The lawyer said. 

Lucas walked up wanting to know himself. 

"When I started college here, I met Michelle and Lucas. We all hit it off. It was the end of our first semester, and I wanted to ask Michelle to go out with me." 

Michelle walked up behind Jeremy. He never saw her. She just listened intently.

"I was on my way to meet her, and I was attacked. It was Jacob. He took me and tortured me. He wanted to know who I knew. He wanted to be me. Our father abused him his whole life. So he wanted what I had." Jeremy's head fell in shame. "He kept me locked up. Even tho he did this, I still did all of the work for my classes. Since everyone thought he was me, he turned it in as me. So I worked my way through college as a prisoner." 

Michelle gasped. 

"I found out his plans for the party." Year's we're in his eyes. He turned to Michelle. "I had to. I couldn't let him do anything to you. I love you, Michelle." He looked at Michelle, love in his eyes. 

"What was he going to do to me?" Michelle gasped.

Jeremy lowered his head, he didn't want to look her in the eye. It hurt too much. "He was going to rape you."

He looked at the detectives. "You see. That's why I killed him. He kept me, prisoner, then wanted to hurt her. I had tried to escape many times. I don't know what was different that night, but I was able to. I made my way back to my house. Michelle was asleep. Jacob was walking toward her door. I lured him outside and took him and beat him. I know I went overboard but I then lit him on fire."

Michelle walked up to him. "Thank you. I had no idea. I'm sorry this happened to you." She raised on her toes and kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly.

As the weeks went on, Jeremy went to court. Michelle, Lucas, and his mom were all there in support. Jeremy was found not guilty.

Lucas stayed and became a detective and now works with Detective John Evenson since Detective Gary Stenbeck retired.

Jeremy's mom decided to tell him everything about his history and how he and Jacob found their ways to not knowing each other. 

As for the town and college. Everyone apologized to Michelle for believing she could kill Jeremy. 

Michelle and Jeremy decided to take their relationship to the next level. They moved in with each other. 

She felt like she was so lucky. It took a few days of suffering and wondering what was happening to see what she had and what she could lose. She was happy that most everyone knew she didn't do the evil they thought she did.

Jeremy would never be able to forget how the town had treated Michelle. But he had his whole life to make up for it.