The world got to see everything.
They saw Mira coming to his office the day of her death. She’d gone there trying to throw, of all people, Royal under the bus because he hadn’t wanted to be with her. She’d decided to tell the Windsor Prep headmaster about the haze on my sister for not Paige’s well-being but her own. She wanted to hurt Royal, going to the one official she believed would care and help her. All that did was alert the true murderer of that night. It let Principal Hastings know someone else knew about something that went down at Route 80. It didn’t matter Mira probably knew nothing else, knew nothing about what he’d actually done in the end.
Always looking at me…
Mira became another set of eyes to him, a witness and another thread that needed to be closed. He’d strangled her, right in his office, and once that came to light, everything else fell into place. He’d broken into her house and staged her suicide, clear evidence of that after the video surveillance surfaced. He’d had all the means, her house keys, and the suicide letter even matched his own handwriting when analyzed. He’d even tried to set up Royal as the one who influenced her. It’d been him to plant Mira’s cellphone in Royal’s locker in the end.
Principal Hastings had been sloppy, careless and clearly unhinged, but no one had had reason to suspect him. That was the only reason he’d gotten away with things for as long as he had. He was sick, fucked up and twisted. He’d even kept Mira’s house keys in a treasure trove in his home…
That’s where they’d found my sister’s cell phone. It’d been there the whole time with the principal’s other tokens. He had locks of Daisy’s hair in there, underwear. It didn’t take the authorities long to find out what happened to her. She’d been found, dead like so many others, in her own home. She’d been strangled, another “suicide,” and how Principal Hastings had perfected the art. The sheriff’s office themselves even said they wouldn’t have known the difference. Principal Hastings had been skilled.
Swallowing hard, Lena read off my name on the stage, handing me my diploma in front of a gym full of my peers and our family and friends. As she handed it to me, a sheen coated her eyes, but I was sure it wasn’t for me. I had no idea how she’d handle things after all that had happened, but I hoped the best for her. She was so good, kind and didn’t deserve what had happened to her surrounding the people in her life. She shouldn’t have been married to a madman. She shouldn’t have had a sister betray her, and she shouldn’t have to do this today, but she’d at least chosen that.
“I want to make up for this,” she’d told me that night at the sheriff’s office. “Make up for him and her.”
And this was her trying, being strong. She handed my diploma to me, myself the last thread who Principal Hastings tried to shut up. I wouldn’t be shut up…
I had too many people in my corner.
I found them all out there in the audience, Aunt Celeste and my dad the biggest cheerers in the crowd. They both stood with cell phones, my dad actually smiling. He’d found me that day at the train tracks, saved me using what I’d later found out was an app. He’d snuck one onto my phone to keep tabs on me, something I couldn’t even be mad about for obvious reasons in the end. I guess Dad had been worried the days leading up to my assault, and it’d been for good reason. It turned out his employer, Mr. Prinze, had threatened him to leave town, but not overtly. There’d been flippant comments made here and there, ones that put my dad more than on edge, hence his heavy hand when it came to me and my safety. Dad later told me prior to the comments had been more threats, but in the beginning, only in nonconventional ways. Mr. Prinze had bribed him, given him gifts, bonuses, and even a car. These gifts came with conversations, ones that implied my dad could find better work and Mr. Prinze himself would give a personal recommendation if Dad ever did. The thing was, Dad hadn’t chosen to leave and that’s when Mr. Prinze got more aggressive. He cornered my dad more than a few times at work, enough to bother him. Dad had no idea why, but it all came out in court when Mr. Prinze had been forced to testify for his role in the murder of my sister. As it turned out, the man did have reasons to cover up a murder, but that had nothing to do with his son.
Mr. Prinze found out Royal and the other boys had been there out on Route 80 that night, and obviously, that didn’t look good. Mr. Prinze covered things up to protect only himself and
