The darkness was normal.

  The cold and wind were normal at this time of year.
  The costumes and candy were normal.
  A murder happened, which is not normal.

  There are only four people who know about what happened on the night of October 31st, Halloween. One of them died, one of them disappeared, and the last two is my ex-best friend and me.

  Every time I think back to that day and I change the story somehow, like how Elisa was taken or what we were dressed like. I have been carrying this secret for three months. Today I finally turn sixteen. I think about Elisa and Emma and how they were supposed to turn sixteen today, too.

  There was a knock on the door which brought me out of my thoughts. As I walked towards the door I saw a black cat on the window sill of my neighbor's house. It looked just like the cat Emma owned. It brought back all these memories about how we used to dress it up when we were younger. Just the thought of Emma being lost somewhere in this world with no family or friends wants to make me cry. And the thought of Elisa being dead wants to make be curl in a ball and forget about the world.

  When I opened the door I was shocked to see Christina. I hadn’t faced her since that terrible night. Sure, we went to the same school, but I never really saw her, and, in fact, I avoided her at school. Even just having to say her name paralyzed me. It took me a second to realize she had four cupcakes in her hands.

  “I was um…just wondering if you wanted to drop these off at their graves for their 16th birthday, even though it is just your birthday today.” She looked like she was about to puke, like the thought of having to be in my house made her sick. It just made me sick to look at her.

  “Umm…Ya sure.” What?! Maybe this was her way of saying sorry for what she did. But I couldn’t be for sure. But I can’t be for sure I remember her pushing Elisa on purpose or it might have been an accident. Maybe if we had talked to each other about what happened I wouldn’t be so terrified of what happened. But I still can’t trust her fully. That will need more time.

  “Just give me a sec to get ready.” At this point, I was halfway up the stairs.

  I slowly changed into my jeans and T-shirt. I was putting on my shoes when she walked into my room. I didn’t say anything but my brain was yelling at me to get her out because of what she was capable of doing. But did she really do it? I started to freak out when she closed the door, blocking my way of escape.She silently sat on the bed and started to twist a blonde piece of hair around her finger.

  “Look,” she said, “It was an accident and not my fault.” Hearing her say this made my anger start to build up because it was her fault that Elisa is dead and Emma had been missing for three months now.

  “What do you mean it was not your fault?!?! If you had not pushed Elisa into a rock then she would not be dead and Emma would have still been here.”

  “What do you mean it was my fault?! If you had not encouraged me to push her then maybe she would still be here with us!” I felt her icy blue eyes penetrating me.

  “I didn’t make you push her, I never even said to push her.” I was starting to wonder if it was me who pushed Elisa or forced Christina to push her.

  “Fine, if that's what you want to believe. But if you tell anyone, then I will tell everyone at school that you pushed her out of rage.” She was looking straight at me, not even taking a second to blink.

  With that, I shut up. How could she blame me for what she did? We sat for thirty seconds of silence before she stood up and walked out of the room.

  Was it really me and my mind forced me to blame Christina? Or was it me who encouraged Christina to push her? Was it me who made Emma run away?

  Hot tears started to pour down my face. How was I supposed to not tell anyone about what happened when everyone at school keeps on asking me where Elise and Emma are? How was I supposed to keep this secret to myself for the rest of my life?

  Before I knew what I was doing I had my phone against my ear calling my other best friend Callie. “Hello? Cynthia are you there?” she said after a few minutes of silence on the line. After another minute of silence, she ended the call.

  Ten minutes later the door of my room opened and there stood Callie in the door frame. She stood there in her pink PJ’s and her brown hair hung over her shoulders.

  “What happened?!” She sat next to me for two minutes. In my mind, I was trying to figure out if I should tell Callie. My mind was arguing back and forth and before I made a decision my mouth started to step in and just tell the story anyway.

  “It all happened on last Halloween night-”

  “What wait is this about?” Callie was shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

   Just listen and you will understand,” I said. “It was the night of Halloween when it happened. The night started like a normal Halloween would. Christina, Elisa, Emma, and I were all at Christina's house getting ready-”

  “Wait like the Christina with blonde hair and icy blue eyes,” Callie said.

  I nodded my head in response and continued on with the story,”Like I said we were all at Christina's house and we were about to go trick or treating when I had to go to the bathroom. When I was about to come out I heard Elisa say my name so I stopped to lis-”

  “What did she say!” Callie had now jumped up and was walking towards me.

  “What I heard her say was that I was never going to find someone who will love me in life and that I was a snobby brat and the only reason she was my friend was because she felt bad for m-”

  “No, she didn’t! How could sh-”

  “Just stop talking and let me finish the story!” I took a shaky breath and continued,” After she said what she said I came out and pretended like I heard nothing. So, we went trick or treating and when we were done we were heading back to Christina's house. This is when Christina suggested that we take the shortcut through the woods. Originally I didn’t want to go through the woods at night but when Elisa said she did not want to go either I changed my mind on it.” I took a pause to see if Callie was keeping up with the story. I was not so surprised to see her bouncing in her seat ready to ask questions.

  “Through the walk through the woods Elisa tripped and she said she was in a lot of pain. I didn’t want her to hear that I said that she deserved to feel the pain but she, unfortunately, did hear it. Then she went on this whole rant about how rude I was and then out of nowhere Christina pushed her into a pile of rocks. The woods become so quiet without Elisa ranting. Emma instantly ran over to her side to she if she was still breathing and as unexpected she was not. At this point, Emma was screaming and freaking out. At some point, she got up and ran deeper and further away into the forest. Christina and I called for hours and searched for hours but in the end, we could not find her. So we slowly walk back to Christina’s house and when we got there she made me promise that I would tell no one or she will blame the whole thing on me.”

  Silence filled the whole room and we sat in the quiet thinking of what I just said. I took me a second to realize what I had done. I had told someone of what happened that night and Christina was going to ruin my life now. But there is no way that she can find out about this.

  Callie left in a few hours after sitting in silence on what I said.

  The next day at school I walked down the hall and everyone moved out of the way for me. All conversations stopped and all movements stopped. I looked around to see what was wrong but it took me a moment to realizes that everyone was staring at me. Even Callie walked away from me when I tried to talk to her.

  Later that day at school I passed Christina and she whispered in my ear,” Told you that you should not have messed with me and do the things I don’t want you to.”

  I stood there for a few seconds wondering how she knew. Did she leave a recording device in my room? Was she outside my window?

  I went to the bathroom and locked myself into the stall. I sat there all through lunch until it hit me, I don’t remember the front or back door of the house close. Which means that Christina was in the house the whole time when I said the story to Callie.

  I went to class where I found a cop waiting for me. When I saw them my heart started to beat faster, but when he started to walk towards me my heart stopped.

  “ Ma’am I need to see you for the murder of Elisa Mercedes and Emma Zing. We have a belief that you were the one to cause this.”