Chapter 8

"Is there anyone who would have a vendetta against you Ms Johnson ?" The detective asked me.

I glanced at him, he looked tired after a really long day, maybe in his forties, divorced, has two kids maybe even a pet, medium built with salt and black pepper hair.

"There are a lot of people who would like to see me dead, detective if you must know, but the only one I could think of is my ex-boyfriend, Nuca but his alibi checks out, so I'm sorry to be of little help," I told him, my tone void of emotion, my face stiff.

His shoulders sagged as he let out a frustrated breath. 

"Are you sure Ms?" He asked, I just nodded my head.

"Well until we get information from analysis, there isn't much I could do except have a squad car post outside your house and follow you and your family in case of any danger." He told me standing up, I stood up also and shook his hand.

"Thank you, detective, that's more than enough," I told him before leaving the interview room.

"What did he say?" Raiden questioned me as I walked out the door.

"He's assigning a squad car to watch the house and follow us for security," I told him while we walked out of the station.

"That's all?" He sounded disappointed.

"They can't do much Raiden, they don't have enough evidence or information to make any accusations," I stated before getting into the car.

"But the culprit is Nuca! Why aren't they arresting him?" He questioned again sounding upset.

I took some deep breaths before facing him, I was tired, fed up of everything that's stopping me from moving forward, I just want to put everything behind me and move on with my family but it just seems that I can't.

"Hey, Wick look at me, I'm sorry for shouting, I didn't mean to make you cry," He told me, I touched my face feeling the wetness from my tears and the salty taste in my mouth.

"I know that you want justice Raiden, but these things take time okay, they don't have enough evidence to arrest Nuca and he also has an alibi, as well as, they searched his and the boys' rooms for anything suspicious," Taking a deep breath I continued.

 "I'm just really tired, emotionally and physically, I just lost Midnight, it's just too much to deal with, Nuca coming back into my life and this is just too overwhelming, so can we please just drop it until the police gets information," I told him, my voice dry, trembling as I felt to cry.

"Sure, of course, Kris," He said while wiping away my tears.

I gave him a small smile, "Thanks, Rai."

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Three weeks passed and still nothing from the police, the analysis didn't give much evidence to convict someone, just that Midnight's neck was snapped before her organs were removed and placed into the box.

Teague hasn't said a word since the incident, he's been affected really bad by this and we've tried everything to cheer him up even saying that we could adopt another cat but we got nothing so mom decided to give him some space until he's ready.

I was on my way back to class when Luke stopped me in the halls. Crap, my mind totally slipped about the date, oh my gosh, I'm such a witch.

"Hey Kris, how are you?" He asked before stopping in front of me.

"Hi Luke, I'm good and totally sorry for not getting back to you about the date," I apologized to him.

"Oh no it's okay, I understand that you had some family emergency to deal with," He said.

I smiled at him widely, "Thanks so much for understanding Luke."

"No problem Kris. So are you free tonight?" He asked me, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes, I'm free tonight," I told him while walking a bit closer to him.

"Oh wow, that's awesome, so I'll pick you up around eight, wear something formal," He told me, rocking back and forth on his feet.

"Okay, where are we going?" I asked stepping a bit closer, glancing at him from beneath my eyelashes.

He blushed a bit before stuttering, "I...It's a....a su...susprise, I....I'll s..see you later," he said before running off.

I chuckled at his shyness before getting back to my class.

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"Hey Wick, your aunt... ah I mean your mom says that the shoes you asked for are in her closet on the second shelf," Raiden told me as he walked into my room.

"Thanks," I told him, not really focusing on what he said but at the sheet in front of me.

"I didn't know you got back into art," He said as he realized that my attention was elsewhere.

"Yeah, I started back when I moved here, it helped with relieving my stress, depression and guilt, all the emotions I felt when my parents died," I told him before closing my art book.

"Wick, you didn't cause your parents' death, it's not your fault," he told me.

I faced him chuckling darkly, "it's partly my fault Rai, I knew that Nuca was bad news but I didn't care, I didn't do anything and I reaped my reward for it, the death of my parents, that's the consequences I faced for just wanting love and affection from a boy," I told him before walking over to my mom's room to get the shoes.

"Okay, I understand what you're saying but you don't have to beat yourself up about it, I know you feel guilty but it gets better as time goes by, I pro......" I stopped him there.

"No, don't you dare say "I promise" because that's all a bunch of crap okay, it doesn't get better, how can it get better when I see my brother every day grow up without his real parents, that my aunt can never see her brother or sister-in-law again, that we had to move from our childhood home because it wasn't safe for us anymore, so please tell me Raiden, when does it get better," I questioned him but he remained silent.

I scoffed at him, "Thought so, if you'll excuse me I have a date that I really need to get ready for, hopefully, this can add some normality back into my life," I told him before leaving the room, shoes in my hand.

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"Wow, Kris you look beautiful, I mean you're already a beauty but this dress, wow," Cindy said as she stared at me from my bed.

"Thanks, Cindy," I told her before getting slapped on my shoulder.

"Ouch!" I screamed.

"Stopped moving," Stacey replied, she was curling my hair while Kelly was doing my makeup.

"Yes, stop before I take your eyeball," She said.

"Alright," I said before sitting very still.

"So where is he taking you?" Ally asked, I wanted to shrug but I would just get slapped again so I decided against it.

"I don't know really, he said it was a surprise," I told her causing her to roll her eyes.

"You hate surprises," Cindy stated.

"No, I don't," I said.

She scoffed, "Please you've repeated it many times to Raiden whenever he surprised you, remember the time that you punched him in the face when he jumped in front of you for your birthday party, or the time when you flipped him over when he came to hug you from behind," Cindy said.

"Okay, I remember, I hate surprises but there's one that I loved though," I told her, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Ohhhh, this sounds juicy, spill girl spill," Stacey said.

" It has something  to do with your necklace, right?" Cindy asked.

"What necklace?" Ally asked confusion in her tone.

"The gold heart pendant necklace that she wears dumbo, she always wears it," Kelly said.

"Wait Raiden gave that to you, it looks expensive," Ally said sitting up on the bed.

"Oh it was, he worked for four years just to buy it," Cindy said, luckily Kelly and Stacey were finished before I turned around to face her.

"What? He told me that your parents gave him the money to buy it for me as a birthday present from all of you," I told her confused and a bit hurt by the fact he lied to me about the necklace.

"Nope, he worked for it, four years of working at the diner, animal clinic even as a document filer or something so at the police station, all to buy you that necklace," she said.

"Wait, four years, we've only known each other for three, I've never spoken to him until that day," I told her.

"Well, technically we've known each other all our lives being family friends, and Raiden actually had liked you a lot when he was fourteen and it soon developed into a crush when you guys became friends," she stated.

"A crush on me? That's ridiculous, he was dating Tina," I told her while slipping on my shoes.

"Yeah, he dated Tina because he knew that having a crush on your was wrong, you'd just turn sixteen and he was nineteen, so it wasn't looking good," she told me.

"Wait so why is he here anyway? Didn't he get in to do Criminology at your parents' alumni?" I asked a long overdue question.

"Oh he took a semester off, to come with me since no other parent volunteered to be chaperones and none of the teachers wanted to come with Nuca," she told us.

Huh, this was a lot to take in. I thanked the girls for their helped before they left for a girls night out, took up my clutch and made my way downstairs to wait for Luke. 

He told me to wear something formal so I was wearing off-white fit and flare dress, a pair of nude heels, the gold necklace Raiden gave me, a simple gold and pink charm bracelet, a rose gold watch and a white clutch. My makeup was natural and light thanks to Kelly and my blonde locks were semi-curled Stacey's speciality.

I saw Raiden watching tv and decided to wait for him.

"What are you watching?" I asked walking into the room.

"Oh just X-Men, it's was the only thing showing and I really was a bit lazy to get up and get my laptop to watch some Net....." he stopped when he saw me."Is it bad, should I change? I'm gonna change," I told him but he held me back.

"Nooo, you look beautiful....." He said but stopped at just looked at me.

I blushed under his gaze, "Thanks, Rai," I told him before sitting on the sofa.

"Luke is a lucky guy," He said, his eyes on my face.

Yeah, he is, but I wished it was you.

Author's Note

What do you think of the plot, writing style, characters? Point out grammatical errors or places where I need to show instead of telling, please and thanks. Anything that seems that needs to fix please let me know, I'm open to feedback and criticism.