Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning after hearing a loud piercing scream. What was happening? I immediately flung myself out of bed and ran to my parents' room, but no one was there. A terrible feeling grew inside my guts when I realised the scream had to do with Judy.

I ran to Judy's room where I met my mom crying terribly and my dad, with both hands on his head.

What I saw next made my heart skip two beats.

Judy was lying motionless in her bed, entirely soaked with blood. Her blood. My eyes caught some pills on her bedside table, all empty. Then I realised what Judy had done.

I involuntarily fell to my knees.

"Judy no! You shouldn't have done this to yourself! You shouldn't have. We were all going to take care of you and the baby. And now you've done this..." I trailed off. I didn't realise when tears started rolling down my cheeks like rocks down a hill.

My mom just kept on wailing.

My dad was devastated, and was sobbing quietly.

"Mom, please tell me this isn't real! Please tell me it's all a dream, please..." I cried, moving towards Judy, whose entire body was cold and stiff. I shook her, crying for her to wake up. But she didn't. She just lied there, dead.

Our crying and wailing brought neighbors rushing down to our place, and when they saw what had happened, they joined in the tears, some consoling us and some, just staring at Judy, shaking their heads.

The doctor was called later on, which was, literally to me, medicine after death.

He confirmed that Judy was dead and checked for the cause of her death, just to be sure.

He then explained to us what happened - Judy had tried to abort the baby all by herself, and the abortion would have been successful if she hadn't taking too many if the pills.

When the pills were checked, it was discovered that Judy had used the wrong abortion pills, which had in turn, killed both Judy and the baby.

Judy's body was taken away after approval by my parents, to be buried at the cemetery. Everyone had stopped crying, except my mom, who was being consoled by two of her friends. Very soon friends and families started trooping in, all surprised that Judy had been pregnant in the first place. I couldn't stand the noise by the crowd in the living room, so I went into my room, locked the door and laid on the bed, unable to stop thinking about Judy.

After a few minutes, I heard a knock on my door. Who the hell was it? I walked up to the door, half expecting my mom or dad, but it wasn't either of them.

It was Chloe, the daughter of the Andersons. They had just moved in weeks ago, and had come visiting the day after they moved in. Her mother baked the most delicious cookies I had ever eaten. And to my surprise, she and Judy had gotten along really well. Bit I didn't remember Chloe looking so pretty.

Shame on you, I thought, your sister's dead and you're here checking a girl out...

"Uhm, hi Daniel." She said.

"Hi, come in." As she moved in, I could perceive the scent of her perfume. But realising she had come on account of Judy, I stopped thinking about how pretty she was.

I shut the door behind me, and offered her a seat on my bed, since there was no other sitting option.

"Thanks." She said.

"I'm guessing you're here because... You know, Judy."

"Yes. I'm so sorry about that. When I heard, I couldn't believe it."

"I didn't believe my own eyes when I saw her." I sighed.

"I'm so sorry."

"You don't need to be. It's not your fault she tried aborting the baby and ended up killing herself too."

"Uhm... About the pregnancy, I kind of know a thing about who impregnated Judy."

My eyes involuntarily grew wide.

"Who is it? Please tell me, I'll do anything."

"Promise you won't let anyone know I told you this?"

"I won't. I promise. Just tell me who it is, please."

"You know who Adam Walker is, don't you?"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"Adam?" I gasped. There was no way it could be Adam. "No. It can't be Adam. You're mistaken. Adam already has a girlfriend, don't you know? It can't be- "

"Trust me, Daniel, it is Adam. I know it's kind of hard to believe but it's true. Judy had been dating him, and secretly seeing him. She told me everything about it, in case something like this ever happened."

I was dumbstruck.

"No. You're lying. How do I know you're saying the truth? Can you prove all you've said now? Can you?" I asked, hoping she couldn't.

"I can." She said, bringing out her phone from her pocket, "Emily recorded her conversation with Adam the last time they met." She said, clicking play on recording 140717.

I heard Judy talking to someone. The sound of her monotonous voice almost made me cry but I decided I wasn't going to. Not for Chloe to see.

Judy was telling whom she was talking to that she was pregnant, that no one could ever find out about it and she would do any think to get rid of the baby because she wasn't ready for pregnancy and that they needed to do something about it real quick.

When I heard the deep raspy voice, I knew it was Adam. He told Judy that he would give her some drugs to get rid of the baby, and that she would have to use the drugs at night for the drugs to have maximum effect.

Then I heard static, and the recording was over. Words failed me that moment.

"Don't despair Daniel, we'll think of a way to get back at that fucking- "

"No, no. I don't want to get back at him. He did this to get revenge, and I'll give him what he wants." I said, knowing he impregnated Judy and gave her the wrong pills because he knew Emily loved me, not him.

If it was Emily he wanted, he would get back Emily.

"What?! So you're just gonna do nothing about the guy that fucking killed your sister?" Chloe yelled.

"And why do you care?" I shot back. What was her problem? "Well, excuse me for wanting justice to be served!"

"I'm sorry, can I see your phone for a minute?" I asked.

She gave it to me. Bad idea for her.

"You better come up with a plan to get back at Adam, or everyone is going to know about this."

"Here, you can have your phone back now."

I returned her phone to her and when she checked it, she realized what I had just done.

"What the fuck, Daniel! Why did you delete the recording?!"

"So you wouldn't show it to anyone." I said. "And now you have to leave. Please, I need to think."

"Daniel... I know you're hurt, but this is not the way to go about it. I mean, we could have gotten Adam arrested with the recording, but now it's gone, all thanks to you."

"Look, Chloe, I need time to myself. If you could excuse- "

"It's okay. I'll leave." And she did.

I knew she meant well and was hurt with my actions, but I would go apologize later. I had much bigger issues at hand. Adam killed my sister, all because if Emily. Since this whole thing started with Emily, it was going to end with Emily.