It was summertime in the quiet town of Lake Haven, but everything was about to change. On a scorching hot mid July afternoon, a group of soon to be freshman sat on a deck on Lake Smith. A tall blonde haired, blue eyed girl lay in the center with her limbs stretched out on a towel as she soaked up the sun.

“Hey Allie, can you pass me a towel?” Asked Jack as he pulled himself onto the deck. His dark wet hair was dripping on the deck.

Jack was tall and looked much older than he was. He has dark hair that laid messily across his forehead and curled slightly under his ears. He had icy blue eyes that everyone would get lost in. He was the athletic group in the group. Allie, the tall blonde, sat up handing him a gray towel.

“Thanks.” Jack said as he grabbed the towel from her.

Allie nodded and smiled at him. Then, another boy emerged from the water, pulling himself up onto the deck. He flings water on Allie playfully.

“Quit it Bobby!” Allie shouts at him.

Bobby is a tan, tall, light eyed guy who is always messing with the others in the group. He’s the prankster and he is always causing trouble, but he’s a real softie. He splashes Allie again and winks at her. She rolls her eyes and lays back down on her towel.

“Tay, can you hand me the water bottle please?” Bobby asks kindly.

“Of course.” She replies with a small smile.

Tay, who’s real name is Taylor, is a beautiful dark haired girl with bright green eyes and a great smile. Tay hands Bobby the blue water bottle and smiles at him. Another boy walks up from the woods.

“Hey Levi.” Allie says waving.

He waves and sits down with his feet dangling off the deck. Levi is Allie’s older brother. He’s a tall, dirty blonde waterpolo player with hazel colored eyes. He keeps to himself for the most part, but would sometimes hang out with the group even though he’s going to be a junior that year.

“Can you guys believe we are gonna be in high school next year? It sucks that we are going to split up though. At least I’ll have Tay with me at Lake Haven High.” Bobby says as he glances thoughtfully at Tay who smiles back.

“Yeah, it’s pretty insane.” Jack says as he stares out at the lake.

He has a puzzled look on his face and he tilts his head, as if trying to see something as the others continue the conversation. Levi watches as Jack squints his eyes then gasps.

“What is it bro?” Bobby asks confused.

Jack points out to the middle of the lake where something is floating.

“Is that... a person?” Tay says with wide eyes.

“Only one way to find out.” Bobby says as he hops down from the dock and starts running towards a kayak.

“Bobby! What are you doing? Are you crazy?” Allie screams at him.

Bobby shrugs. Jack runs over and gets in the kayak with Bobby.

“Guys if that is a dead body, we should call the Police.” Tay says with a worried look, but the boys don’t listen.

They quickly paddle out and then right back.

“Definitely a dead body.” Bobby nearly whispers in a troubled tone.

“Oh my god. What do we do?” Allie gasps as she paces back and forth with her hands on her head.

Jack calls the police and upon their arrival they realize the body is that of a man who was missing for over two weeks. The others realized Levi must’ve left at some point because he’s no longer in sight. The police question the teens but let them go pretty quickly.

“He was murdered. No doubt.” Jack says shaking his head as they walk home.

“I saw the bullet hole. There must’ve been foul play.” Bobby says softly.

When they arrive at Tay’s house there’s an unusual letter taped on the front door. The letter contained a picture of the teens on the dock from that very day and read: “choose your next moves VERY carefully”. Tay’s hand covered her mouth and everyone was speechless. The threats continued. Letters, videos, and phone calls terrorized the teens. All of them were too afraid to say anything to the police, so they kept quiet. What happened next is something none of them ever expected.

Tay and Bobby were eating lunch together at their favorite pizza place when the police came up to them.

“Bobby Shepherd and Taylor Johnson you are under arrest for the murder of Alex Williams.”

Bobby and Tay look at each other as they were pulled up and put into handcuffs. Jack was also arrested. Allie was shocked and confused on why her friends had gotten arrested and if it was because of the person who’d been threatening them. She wondered why she hadn’t been arrested. The trial was set for later that day.

The teens were questioned vigorously for hours at a time. They all claimed to be innocent and to have no information on the case.

“We didn’t do it! We found the body and called the police. None of us killed anyone. Especially not Tay, so please just let her go at the very least.” Bobby pleaded with no success.

Tay’s mascara ran down her face as she cried.

“We didn’t do it. We are just kids. We would never hurt anyone, let alone kill someone in cold blood!” Tay cried.

“I’m telling you officer, none of us killed him. I saw the body and called the police. We didn’t kill him!” Jack said.

Allie was looking for her keys when she came across a gun in Levi’s room. Her heart drops. She drives to the police station as fast as she can.

Her thoughts run wild and memories of her friends and brother flash before her. She pulls over as an attempt to gather herself. A tear runs down her face slowly as she blinks.

“It wasn’t them! They didn’t kill that man. They are innocent.” Allie’s voice cracked as she spoke through her tears.

“It was my brother, Levi.” She says as she collapses to the floor sobbing.