I don’t know how to explain this, or anything. I know what I saw, I know what I heard and I know what I smelt the night someone murdered Dalton Beam. He was basically everyone’s golden boy. I remember the night Dalton was murdered. I remember all the cries, all the women who wept until they threw up when they found his body lying under the Grayson Hughes Bridge. His body was beaten unrecognizable and head nearly decapitated. I saw the body and
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remembered what it looked like. I remember calling the police but hanging up instantly and going home, stunned at what I just saw. It was weird, almost shocking seeing someone who used to bully you for literally anything, someone who flirted with every girl possible. He would pick at me for the littlest things. He would call me “Danny Boy” when my name was Daniella or call me Prune Piss when my last name was Prunett. Dalton had the typical golden, good ol’ southern boy persona. He was smart but sneaky, got his way and he wasn’t worth two shits. He charmed nearly everyone, hell even me. I never dated him, nor talked to him. On occasion his mother would try and talk to me since she plays bridge with my mother on Wednesdays. Mrs. Beam, a short woman who always wore red lipstick(nothing too sluttish or whoreish), had blonde hair which flowed in the wind and always wore pearls and heels and dressed to the nines whenever she was out. Her husband, Jason T. Beam is an attorney who of course has whispers around town. He was a six-foot tall man who carried himself with icy blue eyes but when looking into his eyes they seemed…dark. They didn’t have any shine or twinkle like normal human beings and whenever you talked to him he seemed off like he knew everything about you. Everyone knew the Beam’s in Stanton County, South Carolina. Of course, it was a small town with a population of ten thousand people where everyone knew everyone. We had parades every season like the Miss Autumn Leaves or Miss Christmas that were being pulled by old tractors or trucks by their daddy or grandad while smiling all high and mighty.
“I’m gonna get a cake over there,” Ma says as she taps me lightly on the shoulder. “You alright, sweetie?”
I looked up at her and smiled nervously.
“Yeah Ma I’m fine,” I said and stood up. “I’m gonna be late for school.”
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“You don’t have to go today,” she says, stopping me. “Folks are not letting their kids go to school since Dalton passed away a few days ago.”
“Who cares?” my older sister, Riley, says, walking in with messy blonde hair and bags under her eyes like she hasn’t slept in days.“Y’all acting like this man was God when he wasn’t even Godly.”
“Watch it,” my mother says in a warning tone. “Don’t talk about someone who has died like that.”
“Yeah ok Ma,” Riley says. “He was a horrible person and his daddy would cover up shit for him because he’s some big time lawyer.”
“That's enough Riley Prunett,” Ma says in a serious tone while slamming her hand on the table. “Whatever,” Riley muttered. “I’m gonna go over to Stacy’s house.”
“You two are supposed to be in school right now,” Ma says.
“Oh bullshit, Ma,” Riley exclaimed. “You just told Daniella she doesn’t have to go today.” “Watch Riley,” Ma says, walking towards her. “This is your final warning.” “Whatever,” Riley scoffs as she grabs her bag. “I’m out.”
Riley grabs her bag and slams the front door so hard that she made some of the pictures hanging on the wall shake.
“Your sister’s just…” Ma chuckles and shakes her head. “A bastard child.” Over the years, Ma and Riley don’t have the best relationship with each other. Of course she had the typical mom-I-hate-you-your-ruining-my-life persona. They fought day and night which resulted in Riley leaving for days at a time and coming home with a bruised cheek or pale as if she ran off and got sick. I got up from the kitchen table and put my bowl in the sink.
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“Where are you going?’ Ma asked me.
“Out,” I said. “Maybe exploring.”
“Alright,” she mumbled as she placed a cigarette in his mouth. “Be careful.”
The weather was a little cloudy as I walked past abandoned houses in my neighborhood. The abandoned houses weren't empty as they were filled with horny, junkie teenagers or where local politicians hook up with lousy prostitutes since they didn’t want to be the talk of the town or spend not one dime on them in fancy hotels which were miles out.
I heard loud music coming from this one house which was boarded up and its only entrance was the front door. Out of curiosity, I walked up to the house and stood on the porch like I was waiting for something.
“Well just come on in, kid,” I heard someone say.
He looked familiar. I think his name was Issac or something. He was in my band class and was in Riley’s history class since they were in the same grade.
“What are you deaf or something?” Isaac says with an intimidating look. “Go in. Now.” His voice sounded more demanding.
I went in like he told me to with fear in my eyes. I looked around and there was no light except it was coming from the natural light seeping into the cracks of the boarded up windows. I looked around and there were teenagers everywhere and a makeshift candlelit memorial for Dalton in the corner.
“Jesus Dan,” Riley choked on her cigarette. “What are you doing here? You can’t scare me like that!”
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“I-I was bored,” I stammered. “And don’t call me Dan, that's not my name.” “Go home now,” she says as she shoves me out the door.
“I’ll go when I want,”I say, stopping her. “Why are you here?”
“Becayse I want to be here,” she says. “You-you can't just show up here it’s dangerous.” “Then why are you here? This isn’t your crowd-”
“This is my crowd,” Riley barks. “This is who I am.”
“Riley you’ve been acting weird, what's going on?” I asked her.
“None of your business Daniella!” she snapped. “Go home and I mean go home now.” I didn’t say anything else and went home like she told me. I didn’t pursue her further.
Later that night, I heard shuffling and muffling in Riley’s room. Our walls are paper thin and I can hear every single thing that goes on from a pin dropping to Riley snoring loudly. “I don’t know what to do Samantha,” I heard Riley’s quivering muffled voice. “Someone’s going to find out. And when someone finds out, we’re done for.”
I forgot her friend Samantha was spending the night or she just snuck in the house like all the other times.
What were the two even talking about? I wondered silently.
“Dalton’s gone and they’re going to question everyone. Everyone, including me!” Riley yells. “Shh keep your voice down,” Samantha whispered. “Do you want to wake everyone in this house?”
It went silent for a minute but I heard the sniffles and silent sobs.
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“Heres what we’re going to do,” Samantha says quietly. “The knife's going to hide out here for a few days.”
“No Sam-”
“Listen, then we’re going to get on the bus to the dump and find it there,” Samantha says. “Then it’ll all be over, okay? Trust me, okay?”
“Ok,” Riley says. “I trust you.”
I leaned back and was shocked about what I was hearing. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. Did I just hear my sister confess to murder? Did I just hear my sister and her best friend confess to a murder? A bunch of thoughts were running through my head. I hoped they were talking about something different.
“Look, Dalton's gone. We should be happy about it? Okay? He’s not harming us, threatening us or blackmailing us to have sex with him anymore. He’s in hell, rotting for the shit he’s done. What he did to us was wrong Riley and him dying was a relief to everyone,” Samantha says. “Him dying wasn’t a relief for me,” Riley says in a shaky tone.
I accidentally bumped into something and it hit the floor with a loud thud. The two went silent for a minute.
“What was that?” Samantha asked.
“I know what it is,” Riley muttered.
I could hear their footsteps running to my bedroom and I quickly scrambled to my bed and put the covers over my head to pretend I was asleep.
In a swift moment I heard my door swing open and I could feel their presence. I heard footsteps walking towards my bed and felt my sister's cold hands on my face.
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“She’s asleep,” Riley muttered.
“She heard us, Riley,” Samantha says, raising her voice. “She knows. She heard us. I know she did.”
“Quit bitching Samantha,” Riley hissed. “I’ll figure something out.”
“If she even squeaks or rats us out, you know what you have to do,” Samantha says in a warning tone.
“Don’t worry Sam,” Riley’s voice sounded low and dark like something sinister. “I’ll handle it.”
The next morning at the breakfast table, I could feel Riley’s eyes glaring at me. I felt uneasy under her gaze. She knows that I know what she has done and what she has committed. Taking someone’s life, son, nephew, grandson and worse taking the town’s “Golden Boy”. “You two get ready for school,” Ma says.
“Mom I don’t feel so good,” I lied quickly.
She put her hand on my forehead, flipping it occasionally.
“Huh,” she says. “You're burning up. Why don’t you go back down. You too, Riley. If you have something it may be contagious.”
“Thanks,” I said as I got up from my chair and went to my bedroom, unaware I was being followed.
“You know,” Riley says, slamming the door behind her.
“What-”
“You know!” she grits through her teeth.
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In a quick motion I felt her hands grab my throat and looked into her eyes. They were filled with rage, anger, pain and sadness.
“Please,” I managed to choke out. “R-Riley let me go.”
“I swear if you tell anyone or if I see you talking to the police about this,” she says angrily and tightens her grip on my throat. “You're going to end up just like him.”
She let go of my throat as I fell on my knees to catch my breath.
“You did it,” I said. “You did it Riley.”
“It had to be done,” she says in a nonchalant tone. “He did unspeakable things to me, Daniella-” “But he didn’t have to die,” I raised my voice. “You killed someone Riley. I know Dalton was a shitty person but he didn’t have to die.”
“Yes he did!” Her voice cracked as she tried not to cry. “H-he did things to me.” The room fell silent as she started to sob silently.
“A few months back,” she managed to say. “I really, really liked Dalton. So my friend threw a party for some reason to celebrate life because it has a meaning. Dalton was there of course and one of his stupid friends said that I liked him.”
She wiped her tears away from her eyes and sniffled.
“And so he said he’d only date me if I had sex with him,” she continued. “I did it. Multiple times and I felt so stupid and used. If I would say no he would treat me like I was nothing. It was like I was used and it was more of a force you know?”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked her softly.
“Because Daniella,” Riley sniffled. “Its not that easy. I went to the police multiple times and you know what that fat bastard Farwell said? ‘He’s a boy, you just don’t get it.’”
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She started sobbing uncontrollably. I tried pulling her into a hug but she turned away from me. “I hate him,” she says. “He was so evil Daniella, he was a sick boy. I can’t even call him a man because he doesn’t even deserve to be called one.”
“How is Samantha involved?” I asked her with concern.
“He was trying to have sex with both of us sometimes at the same time,” Riley says. “He was a sick person. So Samantha and I got fed up with it. He invited us over to his house after me and Samantha promised him we’ll blow him and whatever. But Samantha suggested that we can
have sex in the woods where no one would find us. So Samtnha thought of a plan to just scare him. That's what we were supposed to do.”
“So then what happened?” I asked softly but instantly regretted it.
“What do you think we did? We killed him with a knife. He tried grabbing me and forcing himself on me so Samantha and I stabbed him over and over again!” She says as her voice was growing louder by the second. “Who cares now? He’s gone. He’s gone…” “Hey you two get out here!” Ma called from the kitchen. “There’s something on the news. Riley Samantha ’s here.”
We both walked out and entered the kitchen where Ma was watching TV in the kitchen. She turned the volume on the television up and the voice of the local reporter’s voice filled the room. When I saw Samantha she looked like she wanted to kill someone, especially me. “On tonight's story in Eaton County,” Rick Marrson, the reporter, began to say. “Officials have reported that they have found a murder weapon that killed Dalton Beam. The forensic lab found blue fibers on his clothes, a bloody crowbar found two miles away and also found blonde and brown hair. We are waiting in the crime lab to see who the hairs belong to.”
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Ma threw the TV remote against the wall causing us to jump. The remote’s batteries popped out and scattered all over the floor.
“You two,” she says, pointing at Samantha and Riley. “You two killed him, I know it.” “It had to be done,” Samantha says casually. “He was wrong for what he did to me and your daughter. He was a horrible person, a sick one at that.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Ma says, raising her voice. “If he was a horrible person he will get his day! Taking his life was wrong! I-I’m calling 9-1-1.”
When Ma said that Samantha grabbed a kitchen knife near her and charged towards Ma. Ma screamed in horror as we saw blood come out from her wounds. Samantha continued stabbing her multiple times. I quickly grabbed the phone while Riley tackled Samantha and they wrestled each other trying to grab the knife.
I quickly dialed 9-1-1 and waited for them to pick up.
“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?” The operator asked.
“My mother’s been stabbed!” I said frantically on the phone.
I saw Ma drop to the floor and a pool of blood formed around her as she was gasping for air. “Please please hurry,” I cried into the phone.
I told the operator the address and felt a stinging sensation turn into pain. I looked down and saw that I had just been stabbed. I saw Samantha ’s sinister smile glancing up at me. I dropped the phone and I could hear the operator's voice calling out for an answer. Samantha managed to get up and pointed the knife that she had stabbed me with.
“You couldn’t just keep your mouth shut,” she gritted through her teeth. “Now I’m gonna shut it forever!”
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She charged towards me but I heard Riley grab a skillet from the rack and slammed it against Samamntha’s head with all her strength. I heard a sickening crack when the pan collided with her skull. Samantha froze in place, her eyes filled with horror and defeat before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped to the floor. Riley was holding the pan breathing hard. “Thanks,” I said.
“Yeah,” Riley says with a nod. “I had to do it.”
After twenty minutes, I was in the back of an ambulance on my front lawn. There were a lot of police officers and two ambulances.
“Your mother will be fine,” the EMT says. “They got her in surgery and she should be recovering quickly.
I was being treated for my stab wounds and saw my sister being taken in handcuffs. “Officer, wait,” I said, stopping the police officer. “Can I talk to her?”
“Two minutes,” he said as he rolled his eyes.
“I told them everything,” Riley says. “Everything’s going to be alright. Just be smart out here Daniella, it’s a cruel world.”
I nodded as tears were welding in my eyes.
“Don’t cry,” Riley said softly as she looked down. “Please not right now.” “Alright times up,” the officer says.
I quickly hugged Riley tightly but the officer quickly separated us.
“Love you,” she mouthed to me.
“Love you too,” I mouthed back.
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She disappeared into the back of the cop car and the officer closed the door. That was the last time I would ever see my sister again.
Bio:
I am currently a freshman in college and I am getting my bachelor's degree in Mass Communications in Journalism while getting another degree online for Creative Writing.