Two hours later (or what felt like two hours) Jessica’s mom came in. The front door was to the far right of the apartment and the stairs were covered with a wall that separated the dining room and the stairs.I heard her feet trudge to the kitchen by the dining room. Judging from her steps she was carrying something heavy, like groceries.
I guess she noticed me because she asked, “Sky, what are you doing on the floor? Shouldn’t you girls be upstairs practicing for the talent show?”
I looked at her and stared, then pointed to the body. I didn’t dare look at it again because I felt the urge to vomit.
“What did you guys do?” she said accusingly as she turned the corner.
I heard the bags drop, then a scream. She ran upstairs and just looked at her daughter's body. I didn’t look past that, I got up, realizing my legs where aching from crouching, and dialed 911.
Before the woman could talk I spilled everything. My eyes were like waterfalls as I told the operator that my friend was hanging from a railing. She tried to tell me everything was alright but she had never experienced this pain; this sadness. She had only heard of it.
When the police arrived I had run out of tears to shed. As I passed a mirror in the hall I noticed my blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy. My straight brown hair was a mess and my straight bangs-which usually covered my eyes- were pushed to the side.
“This way,” I said in a squeaky voice I had never heard; was it mine?
I pointed to the body and heard a policeman gasp at the sight. In a normal suicide (one that you could simply imagine) it would just be a dead body hanging from someplace high. But this was different from what you could call a normal suicide. Jessica’s blonde hair was a mess; it looked as if someone had pulled at her hair. Her pale face was covered with bruises and her sweatshirt had a large gash in it revealing giant cuts all over her body. Blood covered her favorite blue sweatshirt. I didn’t look past that. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to look at it again. Seeing it one time was enough for me to handle.
As the policemen lowered the body, a note came out of the sweatshirt pocket. I looked around to see if any one had seen it but everybody was too busy to notice. I decided that I would leave it alone, but my curiosity got the best of me.

My hands trembled as I reached down to grab the folded paper. I tried to calm my hands down but they wouldn’t stop shaking. I opened the note and tears filled my eyes again. Using my sleeve I wiped my eyes and tried to read the note.

By the time you have read this I will be dead. My death would look like a suicide, right? Wrong. This is not my suicide note but a note to catch my killer. I can’t give you the name but I will give you hints. That is all. This is not to test your ability to catch a murderer but I never want to see the name of the tormenter before it comes. Oh, and Sky, please keep my flute clean. It is very important. It is in my backpack in my closet. I wish you luck Sky.

Love Jessica
P.S. Mother, please don’t cry

I knew it, I thought, she wouldn’t kill herself. It just didn’t seem right for her to commit suicide but why didn’t she give us details on the killer? It doesn’t make sense. I was wondering who could have killed her and why when I felt something on my shoulder.
I screamed. I know it sounds childish for me to scream. But it scared me. I am going to be honest here, I thought that it was Jessica. I thought that this was just a joke. But only for a second did I believe that.
“Woah! Sorry Sky,” Mrs. Jackson said as she took a step back.
Her curly brown hair was in a low ponytail and she was wearing a shirt that said, “I love music.”
“I-It’s alright,” I tried to calm myself but my heart wouldn’t slow down.
“Hmmm, what are you reading?”
“Um, its nothing, just some music sheets.”
“Really? I doesn’t look like that to me.”
“It’s nothing. What are you doing here?” I quickly put the paper in my back pocket and looked back at Mrs. Jackson.
“I saw the police cars, and I knew where she lived because of her mother. Sky, I am so sorry! I know you two were close. I never expected she would,” her sentence trailed off.
“It’s alright. I need to go home.”
“Ok, have a safe trip home.”
I walked awkwardly out of the house. I remember stumbling, then, nothing.

Where am I? I looked around the room but I couldn’t see straight. The walls were white and, well, everything was white. I couldn’t make out anything in the room and it all seemed so fake.
“She’s awake,” I quickly turned my head to the direction of the sound.
“Where am I?”
I quickly surveyed the room once again (now that my eyes had cleared up). It was a simple room with a large window and a small TV in front of the bed. To my right was a curtain separating the room.
“You’re in the hospital,” I turned to a nurse with flaming red hair in a bun. “You fainted from emotional stress. Some policemen found you by an apartment door.”
“I.... fainted?”
“Yes.”
I felt fine so why would I have fainted. Then the memories hit me. Every last detail. I bent over and covered my mouth. I could feel the vomit rise in my throat.
The nurse quickly realized what was happening and handed me a trash can. She then sat next to me and rubbed my back in small circles as I threw up. Once I finished I finally bursted into tears. At that point the nurse had me in her arms and rocked me back and forth.
Once I ran out of tears my classmates came in. Nora Chang was the first to come up to me. She was in a cheerleader outfit and her long black hair was in a ponytail.
“Omg, are you alright? I heard everything. I am so sorry!”
Ya right, I thought, you couldn’t care if we got run over by a car. You were always there to make fun of us. I’m surprised she came to see me and why would she bother.
“I’m fine,” I gave a weak smile to my classmates.
Then all of my classmates surrounded me and asked me questions. Most of them I gave weak answers or lied to the questions.
“I heard her body was covered in cuts.”
We all turned to the speaker. It was Nora.
“How did you know?”
“Someone told me.”
She hesitated, I thought, she’s lying. How could she know? Jessica’s mother told the reporters to not take any pictures or describe her body. How could she have known? Unless she was there. But, wouldn’t I have seen her? Jessica’s estimated time of death was 3 minutes before I came in. I would have at least seen her leave.

After all of my classmates left I was discharged from the hospital. I walked home to my small apartment. As I let myself in I said a small voice, “I’m home.” I knew no one was there to answer but it made me feel as if I wasn’t alone. My mother was always travelling and doing odd jobs. Unlike Jessica, my father left us when I was 3 years old. Since then my mother had to work hard to earn enough money to pay for the apartment. I often stayed at Jessica’s apartment to keep myself from being lonely but now I had no reason to go back.
As I heated up instant noodles I opened Jessica’s letter and reread it. I realized that I had to keep her flute clean, my only reason to go back to her house. But what could be so important about her flute?

The next day I didn’t go to school. I didn’t want Jake to make me feel worse than I already did. Jake Doberman was the bully of the school. It didn’t matter what the situation was, he would find a way to make fun of you. I simply couldn’t handle that after my best friend’s death.

After breakfast I took the note to the police station. I didn’t want to give it to them but it was the only way to get the case started. I walked through the front doors to the desk.
“Hello there. What can I do for you?” the lady barely looked up from the computer.
“You heard about the suicide that happened to the Smith family, right?”
“If you are trying to get information I can’t give you any.”
“No, I was the one who called about it so I know basically everything but I don’t think it was a suicide.”
“What do you mean?” The lady look interested.
“She left a note saying she wasn’t killed. That she was murdered. It doesn’t say who but it is enough to start an investigation, right?”
“We’ll need the note first. Do you have it?”
I hesitated. I didn’t want to hand over the note but in the end I took the note out of my back pocket and handed it to the lady. She read it, then got up and went to the back of the room. I waited there eagerly for the investigation to start. When the woman got back she told me that they couldn’t start an investigation and that there wasn’t enough information to start one.

I left the police station unsatisfied. I stood out there for a minute before taking a cab to Jessica’s apartment. Her mother wasn’t home so I let myself in. I went straight to her room and found her flute. I opened it but the flute pieces weren’t there. Instead there was another note.

If you have found this Sky then that means you have found my flute case. The hints that I will give you may not make any sense but you need to think about it. The person you are looking for is very obvious but you couldn’t tell just by looking at them. When you narrow it down to three people you will have a hard time choosing who it is. Then it will all make sense.

After I read this I ran downstairs and grabbed my phone. I took a picture of the note and put it back in the case. I then took a piece of paper and wrote my two suspects; Nora Chan and Jake Doberman. Those were the two I thought were obvious. Nora always was there to make fun of us as well as Jake. What if they were working together?
Before I could think about this any longer, Jessica’s mom came in.
“Mrs. Smith! I’m sorry for intruding but Jessica wanted me to clean her flute and...”
“It’s alright Sky, but shouldn’t you be going to school?”
“Ya, but I just wasn’t feeling well to go to school.”
“Well then, you should go back home then.”
“Ok.”

I grabbed my stuff and ran out the door. I called a cab and went to school. The school was large and made out of gray stones. It was one of the older schools in Manhattan and was said to be haunted by the first principal. The school was made for the rich but some students got in with a scholarship. I had received a letter five years ago requesting to enroll me for my guitar playing and math skills. I was 12 then and was painfully shy. I couldn’t make any friends until Jessica came up to me. I smiled at the memory as I went up the steps to the front door.
The last bell rang as I opened the door. My immediate reaction was to run. I ran to the spot where Nora and Jake hung out with their followers. They both had a record for getting arrested and getting drunk. Not to mention they were always found together. It was like they were glued to each other and had to do everything together.
As the group approached I got nervous. I had never confronted them like this before and was terrified.
“Oh, look, it’s the suicide girls friend! I thought you weren’t coming to school.” Jake and his side of the gang slowly surrounded me.
“I-I need to talk to you about something.” I tried to sound defiant but instead I sounded small and distant.
“What, did Jessica say in her suicide note that she regretted turning me down.”
“What! No! When did you ask her out?” I never would have thought that he would ask her out.
“Oh, last week. She turned me down and I was kinda mad. I went to her house two days ago. She yelled at me and told me to leave.”
“Ok,” I was very confused. “Um, I need to go.”
I turned around and ran. As I ran to get a cab I bumped into Nora. I muttered sorry under my breath and continued running.

Once I got home I wrote down beside Jake’s name: Motive- getting turned down by Jessica. He did say he was mad but, would he kill over it? He could have gotten drunk and killed her. It seems like something he is capable of. I tapped my pencil trying to find other scenarios that could have caused it.
I heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. It was Nora. She was wearing her hair down and was wearing a baby blue strapless dress.
“What are you doing here?” I didn’t know she knew where I lived.
“I have to talk to you about something.”
I let her in and quickly hid the paper with the suspects names on it.
“What do you need to talk to me about?”
“I heard from my father that a girl walked into the police station saying that Jessica’s suicide was a murder and that there was a note to prove it. It was you. Is this true?”
I forgot that Nora’s father was the chief police officer.
“Yes.” I had no idea why I was telling her this.
“If you are looking for suspects I think I can help you. Jake was very mad when she turned him down. You and I both know how bad his temper can get but he wouldn’t do anything like that. But he had liked her for a long time and got desperate. I’m not saying he did this but I just don’t know anymore.”
I had no idea what to say. I looked down, then looked back at Nora. Her dark brown eyes were on the verge of tears.
“I need to go,” she said, getting up.
“Ok, have a safe trip home.”
“One thing, was Mrs. Jackson there?”
“Yes...” I answered slowly.
“Don’t trust her. You may not know it but she seemed too close to Jessica last week. Way too close. Last Wednesday when you had to go to guitar practice she took Jessica home. And she took Jessica home yesterday.”
With that Nora left.

Nora left me with three suspects instead of two. Now there was Mrs. Jackson. I would have never suspected my music teacher. She was always so nice to both of us. She couldn’t have done it but just in case I put her name by Nora and Jake’s name.

Jake Doberman- Motive: Getting turned down by Jessica.
Nora Chan-
Mrs. Jackson- Last seen taking Jessica home.

I thought of something, something that I seemed to have missed. I remembered anger and complaints. I remembered unrequited love and something that was stolen. I knew the answer to Jessica’s murder. I circled the name to the person who killed her. I ran to the police station.
“I know who murdered Jessica Smith, its was-”

This year there were more people at Jessica’s assembly. For the past two years Nora and I meet up at our school for the assembly. Nora went on to become patisserie and went to a college in France. I would never have known that if it weren’t for Jessica. I looked up at the sky. went onto America’s Got Talent with my band The Angelic Hearts. We were an immediate hit. I had four albums out.
“Hello, Sky, Nora. What a pleasure to see you all again.”
We both looked to Mrs. Jackson. She was in her prison jumpsuit and she was here every year too.
Two years ago tomorrow I had put the puzzle pieces together. Mrs. Jackson had murdered Jessica. Jessica’s mother married Mrs. Jackson’s highschool love and I remembered her saying how lucky Mrs. Smith was. I had always thought it was weird but I dismissed it. Apparently her jealousy got the best of her. She didn’t want to kill Mr. Smith or Mrs. Smith but she wanted to kill what they had made. She had carefully planned it out so when I had guitar lessons and couldn’t walk home with Jessica, she would. She killed Jessica then hung her to make it look like a suicide.
Once I had gotten to the police station I talked to Nora. I insisted that her father should interrogate Mrs. Jackson. Without asking why Nora got her father to question Mrs. Jackson. After about twenty minutes Mrs. Jackson broke. After her court sentence she went insane and now she was forced to come to the assembly every year. Nora and I pleaded to keep her away but we were ignored. It isn’t all that bad anymore.
I knelt down beside Jessica’s grave like I have for the past two years and had another conversation with my best friend Jessica.