forum need something that I can confess ('til all my sleeves are stained red) || OxO || Closed

Started April 14, 2021 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

(yeah of course!)

Steve had been in communication with Ayra for the past week, and they had talked back and forth about Lauren, and about the murder. Steve had been seeing more and more officers hanging around near his house. Watching him. But there hadn't been an arrest yet.

The wind in her hair made Ayra smile. She had been debating taking her bike or her car and was glad she chose the former one. It was a good day to bike too, the sun was shining and there was relatively no wind. Ayra was on her way to meet Steven. She stopped her bike by a food truck to get a bottle of water and to text him to let him know she was on her way.

Steven had just finished a shower when he got her text, and sent a quick reply before getting dressed, rubbing the towel over his hair in an attempt to dry it a bit more. This ended up making all his dark locks stick up all over the place, messy and untamed.

Steven's house came into view a couple minutes after she left the food truck. She sped up a little and reached his house quickly. Ayra locked her bike against his fence and knocked on the door, taking out her phone to browse whil she waited for him to open it for her.

Steven didn't exactly live in the nicest part of town, many of the houses in the neighborhood boarded up or run down. On his own house, the paint was peeling and the gutters leaky, though someone had made an effort to keep up a small garden. He answered the door after a minute, greeting her with a faint smile. "Hey." He greeted, glancing down the street and making a face at the sight of the cop car idling down the street. He flashed his middle finger at the patrol car before opening the door wider to let her in. The house was semi clean, like someone had at least made an effort to tidy up, and the paint on the walls was chipper and of a pleasant tone, if a bit old.

"Hey." She smiled back and walked into his house. It was the first time she had come to his house so she stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, waiting for him to lead her somewher. Ayra had noticed the cop car when she came in, she hoped that they didnt try to barge in and ruin their process.

"They're trying to get up enough evidence to arrest me. Otherwise all they can do is request that I come in for questioning. Which my parole officer has told me not to do unless they actually have a warrant or are arresting me." Steven said as he lead her into the living room, plopping down on the couch. "No one else is home, by the way. My mom's at work and my sister's at a friend's. And my dad is in jail, obviously."

(Completely forgot about this lmao)

Ayra sat down, a bit awkwardly at first, it was probably the first time she'd been to his house and ut was a little…strange. "That might be for the best. I think ita better if we keep our discussions and plans secret, at least for now. That way if we do know the actual killer, they can't know what we planned." She responded

(lmao)

He raised an eyebrow. "Unless the killer is me, don't forget about that." he thought for a moment. "Oh, uh, do you want water? Tea? Soda?" he was going to try to be a good host, even though he didn't often have people over.

"If you were the killer, I'd be gone by now. Besides, you don't seem like the killer type." She laughed. "Usually I just ask for water but im going to be adventurous and ask for tea."

"Oh, what kind of tea? We have some, uh, sun tea, hot tea, iced tea?" he headed over to the kitchen, waiting for an answer as he got himself a Dr Pepper, pouring it into a glass with ice.

"Hmmm." Said Ayra, someone who simply drank steeped tea at home and may have made a mistake asking for something she had no previous knowledge of. "Surprise me?" She said uncertainly, floding her legs onto the sofa and getting comfortable

He nodded, and made her some sun tea. Sun tea was basically just tea that had been brewed in a pitcher in the sun, and he poured it over ice, along with some mint, then brought it over to her. "Here. I uh, made it the way my mom does." He sat down, putting his own drink on the small side table.

"Thanks!" She smiled and took a hesitant sip. "That's refreshing." Ayra shifted her weight and got more comfortable, took a few more sips, then looked at him. "How are we going to do this? We can't exactly tell anyone what we're doing but people will get suspicious if they see us hanging together a lot. We also need a plan or a list to follow so we don't lose track of what he did and what we need to do, and lastly, we need a place to store evidence. Some place the cops can't get to if they get a warrant to search either of our houses."

Steve was quiet for a long moment, considering everything she had said. "Well, we should probably try and get a look at the crime scene, see if there's anything. Uhm, you're family of the victim, so you might be able to get ahold of police records. You might need parental permission, as a minor, but you should be able to." He ran his hands through his hair, thinking. "If you do that, I understand if you don't share the files. But the crime scene is probably the best place to start. And finding out who was at the party, and who left when. If anyone left with her or around the same time as her. I know a little bit about who was there, but like I said last time we talked, I left pretty early." He frowned a little. "I'm not sure where to store things, though. Sorry."

"I know my parents won't want me to do anything that would upset them. They lost a child and don't want to lose another one so I believe if I pretend that I want to know the details of her case for a class presentation, they may be willing to let me see the files."

He nodded a little. "Right. Makes sense. Although I'm not sure a class presentation is…realistic." he said slowly. "It's…the details of the case are classified. Like how exactly she was killed. Nobody knows but the police and the killer, and neither one of them is telling."

"Well, I could always get my…tech inclined…friend to…take the information from their computer." She said, biting her lip sheepishly. Though Ayra was the 'calmer' of the two, she definitely wasn't the naive, innocent girl everyone thought she was. She chose her friends based on skills, she was skilled in chemistry and liked puzzles. Her friends were people who liked things like computer science, physics, math/probability, and mechanics, people she would love to have by her side if she ever got into any kind of trouble.

He shook his head quickly. "Oh, fuck no Ayra." she replied. "Bad idea. You and your friend could and would get arrested for hacking and…shit, I don't know what exactly but it wouldn't be good." he looked at her. "Really. Try and get the files legally, okay? Illegally…you could go to jail for a long fucking time, Ayra." he took a sip of his drink, studying her carefully. "You'd probably get tried as an adult for that shit. Seriously. It's like…" he squinted. "A felony or something? I don't know. I've only ever been tried as a minor, but if I reoffend I'll get tried as an adult. If I committed a felony, I'd get tried as an adult. You would too."

"I mean he's done it before but whatever, I won't ask him for help." She finished her tea and set the cup on the table. Ayra reached in her bag and grabbed a green pen and a thick notepad. She flipped open the cover and put a few bullet points down and looked back at Steven. "What's first on the list?"

"Examine the crime scene." he replied with a faint laugh. "But, yeah, I don't know other than that. Talk to people from the party?" he sighed, rubbing his face with a hand for a moment. "I mean, we need a good sequence of events. Who left when, stuff like that."

"We can't ask too many questions because then people will get suspicious and won't respond truthfully. Should we head to the crime scene right now?"