“ Hello, darling.” He spoke smoothly. Like freshly brewed coffee. I felt my whole body shiver.

“ You have been accused of the murder of Kyle Richards. Do you plead guilty or issue a trial?” His face turned into that of a disapproving frown.

“ I have the right to remain silent. Everything I say can and will be used against me in the court of law.” I furrowed my brow.

“ Sir, if you would like an attorney present I can contact my supervisor,” he smirked once again giving me a soft smile. Disgusting.

“ That's alright darling, I'm not very afraid of jail.”

 He tilted his head and analyzed me again. I wanted to put up a wall between us so he could not sear his eyes into me, so he could not know everything by only a look.

 ¨What's it to you?”  He murmured, focused on something else. He started again.

“ You and I used to be friends?” I wanted to puke. To run. Anything.

“ And now you are on trial for murder. People are stupid when they are young. Make friends with the wrong people.” 

“ Keep your friends close, Sunny.” I felt my body tense at the familiarity of the name. 

“ Do not call me that.” I was going to kill this man.

“ I will have you know assault is illegal, even for an officer.” I relaxed my muscles and took a breath.

“ I wasn't going to”

“ Uh-huh”

“  Did you kill Kyle Richards?”

“ Oh? No more sir?¨ 

“ Okay well let's be hypothetical then. Why would you hypothetically of course kill him?”

“ You.” 

“ What”

“ This was all hypothetical darling, but if I did kill the vile man it would be because of you.” I didn't speak

“ I mean shouldn't you be on trial? You're the one with the sketchy past.” 

 I stood up from my chair walking out of the room hearing the laughter behind me.

“ Officer! ” I heard the startled man yell at me.

“ No.”  I wanted to cry. I felt heavy with the pressure of a million moons. There was no way Konean would kill a man there all so stupid. I closed my eyes thinking back to the boy who once was. Who was not on trial for murder? My breathing was shaky. I sat there in silence for a while. I sat there thinking of any reason why I would want to do this job. I broke many rules today. Too many. I stood up from my chair walking back to the interrogation room. I looked through the one-sided glass. Looking at his brown hair leaving small thick lonely strands drifting in the wind of the fan looked at his typical bad boy attire which consisted of a leather coat black jeans and boots. And just across from him there was Dustin. With his gruffle of a beard screaming and yelling in his face. I watched as his eyes twitched, triggered I assumed. I watched his hands curl around his chair gripping for sanity. Felt bile and anger build up in my throat for the wrong man.

“ Not cooperating will only make your life harder, boy.”  I was going to kill this man. The moment he turned away I was going to kill him. I imagined what it would be like for him to lose his breath. To place his thick boney head on a stake. 

“ Dustin, what the hell are you doing to my suspect?” I looked up to see her anger-filled eyes staring down the poor excuse of a man. 

“ Get. Out,” She yelled louder this time. I watched as the man shriveled up into a sad ball of embarrassment and walked out. I loosened my grip on the chair trying to control my breathing before giving her a smile of approval.

“ Don't look at me like that.” Her voice was distorted. I laughed at the sound bouncing in the echoey room. She smiled only for a moment before sitting back down with another stern face.

“ Did you kill Kyle Richards?’ I closed my eyes.

`` Konean” She spoke again. 

“ I'm thinking Rae, give me a moment will you?” She pursed her lips before nodding her head. I hated making such important decisions. 

When faced with a decision with such potency it is difficult to comprehend what to do. Just like that decision, it tasted like asphalt. Like dirt caught in your mouth. And the wrong decision was the sun after the storm. Like a cold glass of liquid cure. Like the bottle that told you it would fix all your problems and actually worked. Always leaving that taste of contentment in your mouth. Desirable. I tightened my fist around the cool of the metal in my hand letting out a breath. Staring up into the night sky watching the beautiful girl look at me, without fear.

“ Did your mom ever tell you the story of the Sun and the Moon?” The quiet voice spoke. She was looking at me curiously. Trying to analyze me. She was failing.

“   You have known me for how long? And yet you still think I have a mom who told me bedtime stories?” I responded, speaking my words slowly, giving her a look that signified she was a complete idiot. I watched as her face registered my reaction. Watched as embarrassment mixed with guilt filled up her porcelain skin.

“ Sorry.” I felt a pang of guilt stabbing at me for making her feel bad.  Even though it was she who was in the wrong.

“ What is the story? ” I asked In an attempt to change the silence that filled the air.

“ The sun was in love with the moon.” She started.

 “ So after years of impatient waiting one day, she asked the moon to marry her. But the moon knew that if he said yes the sun would burst into flames of light until evidently leading to her death.  and if the moon said no the sun would wallow and turn into darkness… and so... He never said anything at all, and to this day Saturn still holds the rings.” I wondered for a moment why she would tell me a story so vulnerable. Maybe she was just naive or an idiot. Or more likely she trusted me? Either way, it did not matter she will be the reason someone dies tonight. I spook again more comfortably this time.

“ Are you trying to insinuate that you are the Sun and I am the Moon?” I watched as shock and horror filled her face.

“ What? No! That is not what I meant... Just thought of the story just now because the moon is out and you know ....” I laughed as she tried to desperately reason with me about something that I would never let her live down.

“ Uh-huh.”

“ I mean it, Stop it!” She punched my arm with a weakness that was comical.

“ Oh come on Sunny you can do better than that.” She was embarrassed. Again.

“ Shut up.” She scowled.

“ You would hate that.” She punched my shoulder again this time a little harder.

“ I only speak the truth.” She rolled her eyes before starting again.

“ Lies.” I laughed again feeling a weight in my chest lift but filled with another. My fate slipped through my grasp. I am now a dead man.

His eyes were closed. Still thinking.

“ Konen hello?? Are you done thinking yet?” He opened his eyes to look at me again.

“ I do not know.” I felt more anger fill inside of me.

“ You do not know if you are done thinking?”

“ I do not know if I am responsible for the death of Kyle Richards.” His face turned into a pattern of sorrow.  I grabbed the notebook and pen beside me.

“ Where were you the night of November 7th?” 

“‘ I do not know, I don't remember anything.' ' he seemed on the verge of breaking down.

“ Okay, let's figure it out then shall we?” He raised a brow.

“ Field trip,” I said with a condescending smile plastered on my face. He stood up swiftly and I quickly remembered how tall he was. He placed a hand on my head, ruffled my hair, and walked out of the room. I followed behind him, having to speed walk to keep up. By the time he had gotten outside, I was still 3 feet behind

“ Wait for me, I've got little legs!” I yelled after him trying to lighten the mood. His laugh moved through the air as he turned to face me 

“ Jesus you are slow.” I rolled my eyes unlocking the car door.

“ get in.” 

I gripped my seat not completely trusting this woman's ability to ride a bike let alone a car.

“Hey! Slow down you are not that good a driver” I spoke through gritted teeth.

“Scared are we?”She hisses

“ Of dying in a car crash from an idiotic child? Yes. yes, I am” She laughs warmly.

“You do realize I am fully an adult now right?¨
I clasp my hand over my heart in an attempt to seem surprised. She rolled her eyes before looking away from me, her eyes back on the road. A few minutes passed before the awkward silence got to me.

“So?” I looked at her and saw her face.

“So what?¨

“Why did a small-town girl, afraid of conflict, become a cop?¨ Her face twisted and the force field around her heart grew thicker.

“ A boy went missing one day, and no one could find him. I never wanted that to happen. again.”I watched her eyes swell up, keeping her eyes fixed on the road.

“Why did a kind funny boy like you join a cult?” she glanced at me for the first time in several minutes.

“My mother passed died. I wanted a change in scenery.¨ she looked at me sorely.

“You could have said goodbye,” she choked.

“You would have begged me to stay” I retorted “and then I would have, I would have stayed for you.¨ I watched as a single tear slid down her cheek.

“And that would have been so terrible?” she pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse

I don't speak letting lingering tension fill the air

“Promise me this, if there is another life in the infinite universe, if we meet again, another time, another place, promise me you will let us love each other. The way we should now.¨ I felt a stabbing in my chest piercing through me.

“Okay.” she stayed silent before wiping her tears on the blue of her uniform.

I tucked her hair between her ear twisting fate between my fingers.

She stands up out of the car and abruptly walks up to the warehouse.

“ says on file you live here? Let's see if you have any alibis.”I shrugged, opening its heavy door.

“Lead the way officer.¨  As she walks in she looks around the building her eyes scanning over the chaos that erupted through here.

¨ let's split up, you go one way I go the other.¨ I nod again watching her disappear behind a door. I walk over to the painting on the walls looking for nothing in particular before hearing the sound of her walkie-talkie go off. 

¨ Officer Raelynn came in, we just found the weapon and have identified and confirmed that Konean gray killed Kyle Richards.¨ My heart sinks to the floor. There was no way. That is impossible. I wanted to burst into tears walking back out to the main entrance where I left him.

¨ Put your hands where I can see them.¨ I yell into nothing. He is gone. I ran to the steel door pushing my way out. I wait for a few long minutes with sweat dripping down my back before getting in my car hoping maybe he can get away. 

¨ we have a runaway suspect I repeat all people on service all people on service.¨

  It is not long in my drive before the sirens, it is not long before the surrounding area is blocked off. Not long before I got the call that they had found him. That he is surrounded. 

I put the cigarette to my lips tilting my head back to feel the cool of the air against my face.it has been approximately 20 minutes since they found the weapon. I sat there.

Waiting for the sound of sirens to scream over the curb covering the peaceful sounds of nightfall. I wait for them to aim their guns at me. Wait for them to take me in and question if I was framed or just deranged. I burn the cigarette out on the step beneath me, closing my eyes until hearing the sounds of sirens approaching. And then the doors closing and then the cops. Guns pointed at me.

“ Put your hands up!” I open my eyes. Immediately finding her face covered in a puddle of tears. Sadness for me. I watch her carefully. She knows it is not me who killed him. How? I watch as she holds her gun lower than the others. Keeping it held at a point that if fired would not cause my death. Watched as her eyes signaled for me to run. I thought it over for a moment. Thought that if I ran they would immediately fire their guns. Thought of the adrenaline rush it would bring.

“ You are under arrest for the murder of Kyle Richards.”I put my hands a little higher into the air feeling my fingers brush over the brick ledge. And then the cool metal of my fate. 

‘  Hey! keep moving.”  I dont move. 3 shots. I feel the pain pierce through my chest as I fall her eyes filled with terror and fear. Something that I used to enjoy. This is it. This is the end. Not satisfying, not happy. Just. Over.  

I felt my chest heave in as the other officers called for someone to pick up the dead man on the concrete.

¨ Peirce, you think you are capable of making sure our deadman doesn't run away.¨ he spits at me before chuckling with the others. As soon as they leave my vision I run to the lifeless body.  His eyes are closed, his hands gripping the blood leaking onto the concrete of the floor. I couldn't breathe covered in the blood of a man who did not deserve death nor one so cruel. I placed my hands over his eyes, closing them slowly. I watched as the chief walked over to me a smirk plastered on his face.

¨ Uh oh.¨ he spoke sarcastically.

¨ You killed him, you are the reason an innocent man is dead. You gave out the orders that he was found guilty, This was my case!¨ My tears pooled down my face like heavy rainfall.

¨ An innocent man that you took! For your own agenda. For their own stupid agenda.¨ My screams were engulfed in rage and anger I hoped my eyes would sink through his skin so deep that it would cause a wound. So deep that maybe then I would feel as though he was worth the pain I wished to cause. His eyes narrowed, staring at the blood encased between my fingers. He gripped the gun at his side, holding it tighter as a warning.

¨ I'm not going to hurt you.¨ I choked.

¨ Death would be too easy for a man such as yourself.¨  He looked at me as realization struck his face, I watched as horror filled his once bright eyes. I stood up from where the blood lay. And before he could point his gun at me I ran.  Farther and faster than I had ever run before. And it ended the same as it had started. Screaming and crying covered in blood. Always covered in blood.