Chapter One: the day my life changed
Skyler had always been close with Rachel. They grew up together for they knew each other since they were seven. They hit it off as soon as they met. They found out they lived only a block away so Skyler and Rachel would always go to each other’s houses and play video games and explore the woods. But now Rachel was 15 and Skyler was 14 because he had a late birthday. They had a great friendship. But on a cold day in November, everything changed.
It started like every other day. Skyler woke up early and got dressed in a gray hoodie and his favourite beige pants that cost more than his shoes before heading downstairs and helping himself to a slice of toast.
As he was eating his toast scrolling on his phone watching dumb TikToks, his mum came into the kitchen wearing a concerned look on her face. “Skyler, Have you seen Rachel today? Her mom called to say Rachel wasn’t home when she woke up and hasn’t been answering her phone, her mom is super worried”
Skyler felt a knot in his stomach. He hadn’t seen Rachel that day, but he hoped for the best and thought maybe she was just sick or something. So he shook his head no and his mom left the kitchen, as she was walking up the stairs she said “Love you, hun, call me if you see her!” and with that, he quickly finished his breakfast, no longer in the mood to watch TikTok and headed out the door with a quick “Bye mom I’m leaving now.”
He met up with his friends Ella and Lucas on the way to school, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. Skyler asked Ella and Lucas if they had seen Rachel but they both said no. Skyler decided to call Rachel’s phone, hoping with all his heart she or anyone would answer. But it rang 6 times before it went to voicemail.
When they got to school, Skyler’s unease turned to panic and fear. As he walked down the hallway, he saw police officers outside the principal’s office. He knew something was wrong. He walked up to one of the officers and asked what was going on. The officer looked at him sympathetically before saying, “There’s been a murder; Rachel Hill. We need to speak with anyone who may have information.”
Skyler felt like the ground just fell from beneath him and the ceiling collapsed on him. He just knew it was Rachel, he just knew, just like how you know the sun will rise in the morning, he felt it deep down in his bones. Tears now streaming down his face, he told the police how they went to the woods the day before, after school they just talked about things like current world events and talked smack about their teacher and how they hated how many tests there were and how their teacher gave them no time to study.
For the next few weeks, Skyler was questioned by the police multiple times. For a brief period of time, he was considered a suspect but that was dropped considering the time of Rachels’s untimely demise and where Skyler was during the time of her death didn’t match up and he had a strong alibi with his mom and dad both confirming he was were he said he was during Rachel’s death. Skyler couldn’t think about anything else but Rachel, he missed her so much, he didn’t know how he’d get through this; Rachel had always been there for him, and now she was gone.
Skyler tried to lean on his other friends for support, but he couldn’t help but feel all alone. Ella and Lucas were great, but they didn’t know Rachel like he did. Skyler felt like they didn’t understand the depth of his grief.
As the investigation continued Skyler felt as if he was living in a bad dream that he couldn’t wake up from. He couldn’t escape the memories that he and Rachel had together, it felt like a part of him was missing. And he couldn’t help the thought he could have prevented Rachel’s death, he felt as if it was all his fault, he needed to bring justice to the monster that took his best friend’s life.
He was determined to do it. For his sake, for Rachel’s sake. Skyler couldn’t let her death go unpunished. So he and Rachel’s family worked with the police doing everything they could, Skyler hoped one day they would catch the person who took his best friend away from him and so many others.
Editor note: Hi, not sure if this belongs in nosleep, but I don’t know where to put it. Also there are 10 more chapter let me know if you’d like to read anymore