Charlie Woodlands is my best friend. We do anything and everything together. We share everything with each other. Telling one of us a secret is like telling both of us. But when I was 13, I had to relay on Charlie more than I ever had. The memory is etched into my brain. It was a cloudy day and my small town was quiet. I was walking along a trail that curved around the woods next to my town.

As I was half through the woods, I hear shouting. I could makeout that there was two voices, a man and a woman’s. My nosy being couldn’t resist listening in on what they were saying. Threats were being thrown down. Their shouting was echoing off of the trees. It got to the point where the guy took a gun out of his pocket. As I see him it holding up to the woman, she was begging him to not shoot her. She was crying and sobbing and fell to her knees. In a raspy voice, she was pleading and apologizing to him. I will never forget the look in the man’s eyes. Hatred and anger were boiling in his peircing brown eyes. My brain was screaming at my legs to run but I didn’t. My body wasn’t moving. I was frozen with fear, shock, and nausea. The gun went off, right into the heart of the woman. Her body hit the ground with a thump. I finally decided to run. I sprinted silently out of the woods, crying and sobbing. Thoughts were going a million miles a minute through my head. I finally get into town. I was shaking as I reached for my phone to call charlie. I needed to tell someone, anyone. He answered in a wink and when he heard my crying and sobbing, he biked over to my location. As soon as he got there, he threw his bike down and rapped his arms around me. I melt into his arms, screaming and crying. He rubs my back and holds me tightly. He doesn’t ask me what’s wrong. All he cared about was making sure that I was alright. 10 min later, we get on his bike and we ride over to his house. I’m silently crying as we make our way to his room.

“Bri, it’s ok. What happened?” Charlie asked with his deep green eyes looking worried.

“Oh Char…”I say shaking my head over and over again. I take a deep breath and tell him everything. He was shocked. He rapped me in a hug again and said “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but we need to take this to the police.”

“No, charlie, no” I say twisting out of his arms.

“Bri, we have to. Someone was killed!” Charlie said getting up.

“We can’t just sit around and do nothing” he says.

“Char, I can’t tell anyone else. It’s to much. I had a hard enough time telling you. I just don’t get why I have to be the one to see that”

“Oh bri, i’m sorry. If you want to keep it a secret we can, ok?” he says, with a hint of doubt in his voice.

“Pinky-swear?” I sniffle.

“Pinky-swear” Charlie says.

The next morning, the woman was reported missing, then dead.

It’s been 8 years since Lisa Morgan was declared missing, then dead. I tried so hard to forget that day, tried to forget what I saw. Tried to forget that feeling. Charlie and me don’t talk about anymore. We pinky-sweared not to tell anyone.

“Hey bri!” Charlie says as he walks into my backyard.

“Hey char!” I say, sitting up in my pool chair. Charlie takes of his his shirt and runs to the pool.

“Bellyflop!!” He shouts as he lands stomach first into the water.

“Charlie, that got all over me!” I say laughing and shaking the water off.

“Sorry” He says shrugging as he goes to the pool wall and reaches for his phone.

“Shit” he says scrolling through his phone super quick.

“What?” I say absentmindedly.

“Bri, I need you to take a deep breath” Charlie says, pulling himself out of the pool.

“Char, your scaring me” I say, taking quick short breaths.

“Bri, they reopened the Lisa Morgan case”

At first, I had to process it. I grab his phone and look at the post on instagram.

“No, no, no, no ,no” I say, refusing to belive it.

I start to shake. I felt like I couldn’t breath, like there wasn’t any air left in the world. I couldn’t see. White blind spots filled my vision, then I blackout.

“Bri? Bri??” Charlie says. I flutter my eyes open and see charlie hovering over me, cupping my face with his hands.

“Are you ok? You wouldn’t wake up for 2 minute and I got worried” He says, fairly close to my face.

“They reopened the case?” I croaked, putting my hand on my head.

“Yeah because they found some recent evidence” Charlie says as he hands me a glass of water and tylenol.

“Thanks” I say, taking it.

“Let’s dry you off and go to your room” he says, helping me up.

Charlie comes over the next day to talk.

“How are you feeling bri?” he says as he plops on to my bed.

“What was the evidence?” I say, dodging the welfare question. As soon as I ask him that, he looks extremely uncomfortable.

“Bri, they think that there was someone that was watching Lisa Morgan get shot because someone testified that they saw a girl sprint past them the day that lisa was shot.”

“That was me. I was the one who was sprinting” I say, breathing short, choppy breaths.

“Bri, we might need to tell someone. We can’t keep this a secret forever. You are a eyewitness. You can put this man in jail. The man that killed and took the life of a innocent woman” Charlie says staring deeply in my eyes.

“You made a promise, you said that we wouldn’t tell anyone” I say, grabbing his hands.

“We were in the 7th grade briana, this is getting serious.” Charlie says. He never says my full name.

“Look Bri, if you aren’t going to the police, then I am.” Charlie says getting up. “It’s not fair that a innocent woman died and still hasn’t been sereved justice.”

“Charlie, wait!” I say, as I reach for him. But he was already out the door.

Part 2??