The sun was bright overhead when I heard the sirens. Saw the lights. Even watched the yellow police tape go up, but never once did I expect what actually happened.
I was still wearing my pink frilly dress from my piano recital earlier that morning, and my hair was still up in an intricate knot when I saw the lights. I ran over to the house next door, where my very best friend Brielle lived, watching as the policemen and detectives stomped in and out the doors. Medical personnel standing around, not knowing what to do. I searched frantically for Brielle. Where was she? Then I saw Mrs. Black come running out of the house, sobbing. Our eyes made contact and she ran to me, hugging me, she was hysterical. “She’s dead,” was all I heard between heaving breaths, “I’m sorry.”
Everything started spinning. No, that couldn’t be possible. Not Brielle, she was too careful. I let go of Mrs. Black and sat on the curb, not even trying to hold back the tears that flowed out in buckets. How could this have happened? Did she choke on something? Stick a fork in a toaster?
I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and looked up to see a policeman. “Can we ask you a few questions, Kristi?” I nodded and scooted over to make room for him on the curb. “How long have you known Brille?” He asked flipping out a notepad. Why were the police involved?
“What happened to her?” My voice came out a whisper.  I don’t think it would come out any louder than that.
“We don’t know yet, but we’ll tell you as soon as we find out.”
“If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t be asking me anything.” I snapped.
The officer looked at me sadly, before he gave in. “We think it was homicide.”
I looked down again, not wanting to meet his eyes. My best friend had died, and it wasn’t an accident. Someone had tried to kill her. “Six years. I’ve known her for six years.” We continued like that for about two hours, him asking questions, me answering. At the end he asked me something I hadn’t expected.
“It seems you know more about Brille than even her mom.”
I nodded, Brielle never told her mom anything.
“Would you know her enemies, anyone who could possibly kill her?”
I nodded my head, though no names came to mind.
“Then would you know who this belongs to?”  The officer held up a chain, and at the bottom was what looked like two angel wings. I gasped when I recognized it, I knew exactly who that belonged to. I had given her the necklace myself when we were still friends.
“That’s Dawn’s. Dawn Autumn Scouten.”
“Thank you, the officer grimaced and jotted down some notes. That will be all.”

For the next two weeks I hardly came out of my room. My mom would bring me food every few hours, and I’d occasionally get up to use the bathroom or to shower. But mostly I sat in my room, under my pink silk sheets and in my yellow lace nightgown watching Friends and Sherlock, always thinking of Brielle. The Police Department would call whenever they had any new information on the case, which wasn’t often enough.
By mid October I had finally had enough. I was going to go outside, and go to school, and enjoy myself. So I woke up at six that morning, and got ready for the day just like I used to. I even straightened my golden blonde hair and bundled up in a jacket and a scarf Brielle had given me. And I went to school without my best friend.
The first person to stop me was Dawn. We had been best friends in 6th grade, but haven’t talked since 7th, making this the first time we spoke in three years.
“The police came to my house last night and showed me this!” Dawn hissed holding up a phone to a picture of her necklace. “I’m a suspect for their investigation and it’s all your fault.”
Usually I would stand there silently, or even sympathize with Dawn. But I can’t quite say that I regret what I did. I smacked her. Hard. My hand stung, but I felt alive with what new energy this gave me. I started shouting at her.
“Oh! I’m so sorry that your life sucks because you’re under investigation when my best friend is the one that got murdered! So suck it up, or I’ll make you- I’ll-”
“Kristi Johnson! What is the meaning of this!” I pretended like I didn’t hear the voice, Kristi wasn’t here anyways.
“I swear if you talk to me one more time, I’ll kill you.” I stormed off to my next class.

“What do you remember from the night before.”
“I told you,” I was getting frustrated. I had been here over an hour, answering the same questions over and over. “It was my mom’s birthday and we went out to eat. When we got home we watched a movie and then I went straight to bed. I had a piano recital the next day I had to wake up early for.”
“And you said that this necklace belongs to Dawn Scouten?”
“That’s right, officer.” I sighed. It was late and I wanted to go home, I still had a test to study for in Chemistry.
“Okay Ms. Johnson, you can go home now.” I stood up and walked out to the parking lot, and was fishing in my purse for the keys when my phone rang. It was Dawn herself.
“Look, before you hang up I have something very important to tell you.” I grunted to let her know I was listening as I started my car. I sat there and listened to her, growing more and more angry with every word that came out of her mouth.
“Okay, Dawn,” I spit the words out “I’m sure you mean well, but I’m too tired to care right now.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. I hung up the phone and threw the car into reverse. I wanted to go home, skip over studying and just go to bed. While at the same time I wanted to go running, I wanted to hit something, I wanted to scream. I kept driving, gripping the steering wheel in my hands. When I finally got home I went up to my room, changed, and collapsed on my bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

I woke up in the middle of the night and tore off the yellow laced nightgown I was trapped in. I changed into my black leggings, a gray shirt with my black leather jacket, and threw my hair into a ponytail. Grabbing my keys, I went out to my car and drove to the nearby school. That’s where Dawn said she’d meet me. I pulled up in front of the school and parked my car. When I got out I saw Dawn’s red fiery hair, I just wanted to pull it out of her head. But I refrained myself and walked towards her.
“Thanks for meeting me, Kristi.” I looked at her, confused. Who’s Kristi? “Or is it Kelly now?”
“Kristi’s asleep. It’s Kelly.”
“Ah, gotcha, you’re harder to deal with than Kristi.” What was that supposed to mean? “You’re probably confused. Okay, Kelly, you are Kristi. You and Kristi are the same person.”
“What are you saying?” she knew. She wasn’t supposed to find out.
“Look Kri-Kelly. I know you did it. I know you killed Brielle and you’re trying to blame it on me. But it’s not going to work. I’m going to find a way to get myself off the suspect list and get you on.”
“No you’re not Dawn,” my voice was cold now,
I lunged at her, tackling her to the ground. The ear splitting shriek that escaped her throat made me smile. She scrambled away and ran around the school. I followed her, chasing her, she couldn’t tell anyone else. A loud crash resounded and I  raced over to see that Dawn had broken a window and was running inside the school. I followed her, smiling like a fool.
We were in a classroom, looked like a Science room, the door was locked and I walked slowly towards her, relishing the terrified look on her face. That’s when I saw her already bloodied fist slam into the small window. A chair came flying at me and knocked me down. When I finally got up she was gone, but I could hear her feet running down the hall. I followed her.
I heard the door to the gym slam and I bit back an angry yell. There was a test in Chemistry tomorrow I still needed to study for. I didn’t have time to chase her all over the school. If she would just die quietly that would be nice, like Brielle. She was asleep and it was so much easier then. The hard part was finding a necklace exactly like the one I had given Dawn.
I raced into the gym and saw her hiding on one of the bleachers. Wow, she has so much faith in my abilities. I leaped up next to her. Her eyes bulged out of her head when she saw me. Wow,  so much more entertaining when they’re awake.  I reached towards her throat, and held her down in place. She started gasping for air and I smiled and I squeezed harder. “How clever you are, Dawn.” I hissed in her ear. “I did kill Brielle, and now you’re going to die too.” Dawn stopped struggling against me and fell limp. I stopped smiling.
I left her body there to be found by an unexpected student or teacher, and walked out to my car, then I drove home. I had to get changed and fall back asleep before Kristi resurfaced. So now the cops have another victim to add to the list. They might catch Kristi. Everything is going to be pointing towards her now. But no one will know that I was the real monster who did it. That I never liked Kristi’s friends and they had it coming. I just hoped Kristi would be able to live with it.