The Lie

CHAPTER 6 July 3rd 102 Dow St

Navy awoke to the alarm that she had set the night before. 102 Dow St. She stood up and got dressed as quickly as she could. She ran down stairs so fast that she fell down the last three steps.

“Navy, are you alright?” Richard said as he ran to her.

“Yeah, Yeah, I’m fine, really. I’m okay.” Navy replied. “Hey, so, can I borrow the car real quick?

“What do you need the car for?” Her dad asked.

“Well, to be honest with you, Alice left me an address and I want to see what is there.” Navy said. “Do you know where 102 Dow St. is?”

“I am coming with you. I know where it is I will take you there.” He said.

“Well, I wanted to go alone, but you know whatever. Let’s go.”Navy said.

They got to the car and he started to drive. They were oddly silent. Navy was scared, sad, and excited at the same time. He could tell and wasn’t sure what to say to her. Navy was excited there was something Alice left for her, maybe a way to save Alice, but she was scared because every time Navy found hope, someone was there to tear it down, that made her sad, she knew it was going to happen again, but she had to try.

“Okay, this is it. We’re here.” Said Richard.

“Thanks for taking me, can you stay out here please?” Navy asked.

He nodded and she got out and started to walk slowly down the sidewalk and up the steps. It was an old white house, two stories, with four cement steps leading straight to the door. Navy knocked, there was a silence. What would she do when they answered the door? Who would answer the door? She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t think this far ahead. She heard the door latch unlock. The door opened and there in the doorway stood a man about Landon’s age, he looked really familiar, but she didn’t know him.

“Can I help you?” He asked.

“Well, I, um, my friend she uh, ummm, well.” Navy stammered.

Just then a voice came from behind the man who answered the door.

 â€œNavy?”

“Landon?” She said.

“Navy, what the heck are you doing here? How did you find me?” Landon said as he came to the door. He was quite shocked really.

“Alice left me a note type thingy in the book jacket of the book she gave me when I turned sixteen. This was the address she mentioned.” Navy said.

“Well, get in here before they see you.” He said. Landon pulled her into the living room by her arm and shut the door.

“Who's they?” Navy asked.

“The people who arrested Alice.” Landon replied as he locked the door.

“How did you know she was arrested? You knew?” Navy said in disbelief. “You were there? You watched her get arrested and didn’t stop it?” Navy’s voice was getting louder as she went. “Alice can’t drive. You were there to pick her up. Did you know that they were going to ambush her?” 

“Well, I, I never intended for her to get hurt.” Landon said.

“What are you talking about ‘never intended for her to get hurt’? You set her up. How could you do this to her, your own sister?” Navy yelled at him.

“I knew, okay! I didn’t want to get caught.” He replied. “I knew what Laura was there for, but when I saw the cops jump out, I hid.”

“You knew Laura was your mom? Why didn’t you tell Alice that?” Navy was calmer now but she was still angry with him.

“Remember that email she sent?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Navy replied.

“Well I tempted my luck and opened it later that night. She told me who she was and that she was going to tell Alice later. She said that it was time she knew the truth.” said Landon. “I didn’t know that they were going to ambush her, you have to believe me.”

“Why should I…?” She said feeling betrayed. 

Landon looked at her hoping she would believe him, he knew she wouldn’t.

“I got to go.” Navy said as she walked towards the door, when she gripped the handle, Landon grabbed her arm.

“Navy you can’t.” he yelled.

She screamed. “Back off, let go of me!”

Navy broke free and swung open the door and ran, with Landon close behind her. She opened the car door, got in, and locked it immediately. 

“DRIVE!” She yelled at her dad. Richard slammed on the gas and took off down the street. 

“What are you doing?” He asked panicking.

“Calling the cops.” she replied as she dialed 911.

“Hello, I’m Navy Xavier and the suspect you are looking for, Landon Winters, is at 102 Dow St. If you hurry you can catch him.” She said frantically into the phone.

Just before she hung up she heard a girl on the other end yell at the cops. Navy hung up and they pulled into their driveway. He had driven 66 mph in a 35 mph zone all the way home.

“Navy London Xavier what on earth just happened?” He said angrily.

“Landon was there and he set Alice up and when I tried to leave, he grabbed my arm and I barely got away from him, you saw him running after me.” Navy said. There was a silent pause as they sat there in the car. “I’m sorry. I’m not even going to try anymore. I give up.”

“Navy look everything is going to-”

“I just need some time.” she said. Navy got out of the car and walked slowly to her room. When she got there, she sat down on her bed and picked up a picture frame that was sitting on her night stand. It was a picture of her and Alice, they were sitting in a tree at the park. They took the picture 15 minutes before Alice was hit by the car. When Navy looked at it she wasn’t angry at Alice and she wasn’t sad Alice was arrested. She was sad because it felt like she lost her best friend. In a strange way it felt like she was gone forever and they would never see each other again, like Alice was dead.

To Navy’s surprise, she didn’t cry, after about an hour she didn’t even feel sad, she didn’t feel anything… Just emptiness. She just wanted everything to end, to be normal again and go back to the way it was. It was now only 11a.m. but she was exhausted. Her last thoughts were, I wish Alice was here, I wish Alice was here. She fell asleep.

That same day Alice was taken into the interrogation room. She had never been in an interrogation room before. It scared her, she was going to admit to everything. Tony came into the room and Alice’s fear grew. 

“Alice, I want you to tell me everything that you remember from the night it happened.” he said. Alice could tell that he had done this before many times.

“I don’t remember that much.” Alice said, she knew she was telling the truth, she just didn’t think that anyone would believe her.

“Just tell me anything you can remember, okay?” Tony said.

“Okay, well, I walked in, and uh… I, um. I walked in and… I’m sorry, the only other thing I remember doing was waking up on the floor with a gun in my hand and Mayor Larson was just laying there, dead with a bullet hole in his chest. I want to tell you I didn’t do it but, I think I did and I will pay the price for it.” Alice said, hoping he would believe her and she could leave that awful room.

“You shot him?” He asked. 

“Yes, look I will write a confession for you, I’m pleading guilty right now, please just arrest me, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Tony let out a sigh, then he stood up and left the room. As soon as he left, Alice stood and looked to the one way glass. She was almost in tears.

“Okay, look. I am only going to say this once. I did it!” She screamed. She screamed bloody murder at the one way mirror. “I did it! I shot him! I did it! It was me! I don’t know what you want from me!” She backed into the wall and calmed down a little bit. She sounded like she was going crazy. She got quieter and quieter. “I don’t know what you want from me. I don’t know what you want from me… “ She slide her back down the wall. “Want do you want from me…?” She was crying so hard she couldn’t control herself. She was just in a little ball in the corner, sobbing. She felt like she had lost her sanity, and yet she had only been in this room for about 45 minutes.

After about 20 minutes Tony came back in and gave her a pillow and a blanket.

“We will continue this tomorrow morning, I have things to do.” He said.

Alice laid down under the table, she knew that it was only around noon, but she was mentally exhausted. She told herself that she would wake up at home, none of this happened and this was just a nightmare. She knew it wasn’t, but deep down, she knew it was all she had left to hope for. Her last thoughts were, I wish Navy were here. I wish Navy were here. She closed her eyes and let sleep overtake her. 

Alice’s sleep was riddled with nightmares. She dreamt of what happened that night she shot the Mayor. She still couldn’t remember all that had happened that night, even in her dreams, but she relived it all. She walked into the Mayor’s office, there was a man fighting with the Mayor. She never saw his face. His back was turned to her. Yelling. There was lots of yelling. The voices sounded so familiar. She came straight from school, she sat her book bag down on the floor and she turned around to look at the door she came through. She felt a sharp pain in her head, she woke up with the gun in her hand and Mayor shot dead in front of her. Alice relived it over and over. Dream after dream.