Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A week later, Clara Winslow cornered me again in the neighborhood.

"If you keep this up, I'll call the police! Do you know you're acting like a creep?" Clara Winslow stood in front of me, carrying a huge shopping bag. She looked me up and down, her gaze sharp as if she were trying to see through me, to belittle me.

She scoffed, adding, "Looks like you're doing pretty well—you don't seem like someone who went through online violence at all. You won't be able to come to this neighborhood much longer, though. Thanks to you, Ethan Bennett is moving."

I ignored her, speaking to myself, "I had a dream. I dreamed Ethan Bennett was killed— a sharp knife stabbed him in the heart, and he lay in a pool of blood, motionless. I've been on edge ever since I woke up. I've had this dream several nights in a row. I just want to protect Ethan Bennett. I'm scared something bad will happen to him."

Clara Winslow let out a cold laugh and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, how disgusting. Meeting someone as weird as you was the worst thing that ever happened to him."

I shouted at Clara Winslow's retreating back, "You have to keep an eye on Ethan Bennett! Don't let him work overtime so late at night these days. Make sure he's careful these two days!"

I knew she wouldn't listen. I knew she would brush my words aside, ignoring Ethan Bennett's safety. And that's exactly what I wanted—so my plan could go smoothly.

It was pouring rain on Monday night, with thunder and lightning. Ethan Bennett never carried an umbrella, so I waited outside his company with one, waiting for him to finish work.

I waited until 11 PM before Ethan Bennett walked out of the building. But when I saw him, I lost the courage to step forward and give him the umbrella. The look of disgust he had given me that day made it clear how much he hated me. If I showed up now, wouldn't that just make him even angrier?

As I hesitated, Ethan Bennett got into a taxi. I thought to myself—he still wouldn't have an umbrella when he got out, and he'd end up getting soaked. So I hurried to follow the taxi.

I followed him all the way to his neighborhood, and just as we were approaching his apartment building, I saw Ethan Bennett collapse to the ground in a pool of blood. There was a huge gash in his chest, and blood soaked through his white shirt.

I dropped the umbrella in a panic, falling to my knees beside him. Trembling, I checked his breath—there was none. I cried so hard I could barely breathe, until a passerby called the police.

Soon after, the police and an ambulance arrived. As the first witness, I was taken to the police station for questioning. I was so traumatized that I could do nothing but cry. Seeing my state, the police asked me a few simple questions and then let me go home.

I stumbled back to my place, but as soon as I walked in, I suddenly remembered I had left something at Ethan Bennett's neighborhood. I was about to head back when I ran into Tyler Hayes, standing at my door, soaking wet.

Tyler Hayes asked, "It's so late and it's pouring rain—where are you going?"

"I..." Tyler Hayes noticed I was stammering, unable to explain. He handed me a backpack he had prepared by the door and stepped inside. When I opened the backpack, I found my black cloth bag inside—with all my clothes and shoes intact.

I stared at Tyler Hayes in shock. His face was expressionless, but that calmness only made me more anxious. Letting out a sigh, I asked, "You know everything, don't you?"

Tyler Hayes took a sharp breath, stepping forward to cup my face in his hands. His voice was low but filled with anger. "Do you know what you've done? You broke the law! This isn't some trivial fight you can brush off—you killed someone! Do you realize you could go to jail for this? You're still so young—have you thought about the consequences? Have you thought about the people around you?"

When Tyler Hayes said, "You killed someone—do you realize that?" his face was almost touching mine. I could clearly hear the fear in his trembling voice. His grip tightened involuntarily. The pain made me push him away with all my strength. I told him I knew what I had done and didn't need him to remind me.

"Come with me to turn yourself in. You might still get a lighter sentence," Tyler Hayes said, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the door. I panicked, struggling to break free. His hand felt like a pair of handcuffs, holding me tight. I grabbed onto anything I could to stop us from moving, throwing objects at him.

Finally, I broke free, shouting at him, "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do? What gives you the right? Get out! If you walk out that door today, we're done—forever."

"Are you crazy?! I'm trying to help you! Don't make this worse!"

I stepped back, putting distance between us. "I don't need your help. You have no idea what I've been through. The man I loved the most betrayed me, slandered me, stabbed me in the heart—and told me to disappear from his world. So I granted his wish! I made him disappear from everyone's world! If I can't have him, no one else can!"

Tyler Hayes tried to calm me down, saying, "Do you know what you've done? Come with me to turn yourself in!"

"I won't! I have one last thing to do, and then I'll know what to do." At the thought of that "last thing," Clara Winslow's face popped into my mind. This all started with her, so it would end with her.

"How many more people have to suffer because of you? I know this incident has made you miserable, but you can't keep making mistakes!"

I screamed at Tyler Hayes, "I didn't do anything wrong! They're the ones in the wrong! The guilty ones are living freely while I suffer for things I didn't do. If that's how it is, then I'll make them pay! I don't need you standing here judging me—get out! From now on, we're strangers! I want to end our friendship!"

Tyler Hayes froze, staring at me in disbelief. "You want to end our friendship?"

"Yes! I want to end it!" When I saw he still wasn't moving, I yelled at him, my voice sharp with cruelty, "Get out! Breaking into someone's house is a crime too!" As soon as the word "crime" left my mouth, it felt so empty, so meaningless—as if I were 玷污 ing the word itself.

I collapsed onto the sofa, listening to Tyler Hayes' footsteps fade away in the room. It wasn't until I heard the door close softly behind him that I finally realized what irreversible thing I had done. But I had no choice—Tyler Hayes was the closest person to me. I couldn't let him get dragged into this mess because of me.