THE CONFESSION

Caitland tapped her fingers lightly on the flat table, beating out the rhythm to one of her favorite songs. She hummed softly as she rapped out the song over and over. Her mind was buzzing furiously as she tried to think of a story that would be credible and get her and Ashley off at the same time. The minutes flew by as she rapped out the song again.

“Would you pleeeease?” Ashley asked sharply as she fidgeted yet again in her chair. “These chairs are some version of ancient torture props.” She said, looking to Caitland for confirmation. “It’s bad enough to have to sit on these things without having to listen to you beat out the same tune over and over and over and over!

Caitland stopped tapping her fingers and the two girls glared at each other for a long stretch of minutes. Caitland turned in her chair positioning her body to face away from Ashley and returned to tapping her fingers. “Bitch”! Ashley yelled. Caitland didn’t even really hear Ashley as she concentrated on how she was going to get out of this mess. It was bad enough that she was going to have to face her parents, but the idea of ending up in jail scared her so bad she felt like vomiting! What if they just denied having anything to do with Shannon? Could the police prove it was her and Ashley? Yes, she thought, they would talk to the other girls and find out that she and Ashley had been bragging about dumping Shannon and making her walk back to town. If Shannon lived, she would tell the police herself.

That’s the last time I do anything with Ashley, she thought angrily. As though it was all Ashley’s fault! The door opened and in walked a tall woman and an even taller man. They wore badges on chains around their necks. Both looked like they were as old as Caitland and Ashley’s parents. The door closed, and the two officers pulled out the other two chairs from the table and sat down on them.

The woman spoke, “Who wants to go first?” Ashley spoke quickly, her words tumbling over one another in her need to get them out. “We didn’t mean any harm, we thought it would be a good joke, that’s all! It was Caitland’s idea anyway so it’s really not my fault!” “That’s a lie!” Caitland shouted, face red with anger. “You skank bitch!” she shouted at Ashley.

“Shut up! I don’t care who thought it up. What matters is that it nearly killed and innocent girl and someone’s got to pay for that! What I want to know is why? By the way, I’m Detective Lisa Johnson and this is Seargent Talsoe. Your parents have given us permission to talk to you about the incident with Shannon Harding. So tell us, why? Why did you girls want to do this to Shannon Harding?” Detective Johnson pulled back in her chair until the two front legs were off the ground. She stared hard at first one and then the other as she waited to hear their answer.

“We thought she would be able to call and get someone to drive out to get her! We didn’t think that she would get so cold so quickly! We didn’t mean her any harm. We just wanted to play a joke on her that she wouldn’t forget. I thought if we just taught her a lesson, she would leave us alone, stop making fun of us and bullying us all the time! She could have called anytime you know!” Ashley’s voice quivered and ground to a halt.

“Really! Is that why you took her phone with you when you left her out there in the middle of nowhere in 0 degree weather with a snow storm coming in, and no coat?” Detective Johnson asked. “I thought she had the cell phone on her. I didn’t realize that Caitland took her phone!” Ashley whined.

“That’s not true!” Caitland spit out! “They didn’t find the phone on me! They found it on you, bitch!” “So who threw the coat out of the car?” asked Seargent Talsoe, speaking for the first time since entering the room. “No one threw the coat out of the car. The window was down and we were going kind of fast. The coat was hanging partly out of the window because Caitland threw the coat into the back seat and it didn’t go all the way in. It just kind of flew out of the car when the wind pulled at it. We didn’t realize it was gone until later.” Ashley said.

“I am not the one who took the coat from her. I’m not the one who took the phone either! You know you wanted her to die out there! I just wanted to teach her a lesson she wouldn’t forget!” shouted Caitland. “Enough!” ground out Detective Johnson. Johnson reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring. “Whose ring is this?” She gently tossed the ring on the table and it bounced before coming to a halt in the middle of the table. Ashley gasped, “Mine! I didn’t realize I had lost it!” She said looking up at the two police officers. “Where did you find it?” she asked suspicion growing in her countenance.

Seargant Talsoe leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and folding his hands together. Softly he said, “You know, girls, I believe you when you say that you started out just wanting to teach Shannon a lesson. I believe you Caitland when you say that you did not realize that Shannon did not have her phone on her. Shannon tells us that you were in the car and did not see Ashley take the phone from her. However, you both were a part of taking the coat. Ashley, we found the ring in the pocket of Shannon’s coat which we found in the ditch on Highway 3. Shannon and her parents have identified that coat as hers. The ring must have slipped off your finger when you were what…checking through the pockets before throwing it out of the car?”
“Is that how it was?” asked Dectective Johnson as she set her chair legs back on the floor. “Well?”

Caitland knew that she was not going to be able to spin her way out of this story. Perhaps she had known all along this was going to turn out badly. “Yes, we knew when we took her coat, both of us, that she could die. I got into the car and did not realize Ashley had taken the coat until she threw it into the back seat. I did not know about the phone and thought she would call her friends or someone and they would come and get her. I thought she would be miserable, but I did not really think she could die. Not until Ashley took her coat and threw it into the car. I knew then she could die and I did not do anything about it.” She said softly.

“I want a lawyer.” Ashley said. Ashley’s face had turned to stone. She seemed to fold in on herself and refused to look at either of the two officers directly. Detective Johnson turned to Talsoe and said, “She’s lawyered up. There’s no way we can help her now.” She turned to Caitland, “Caitland, if you will give us a full statement, it is likely that the judge will consider your cooperation when sentencing your case.”

Caitland felt for the first time, shame at what she and Ashley had done. She knew that she was going to pay for a long time for this. She had not thought about her parents and what they would think. She had not considered getting caught or even the reality of letting someone die, no matter how much she hated her! The whole time they had been sitting in that little room, she had been trying to think of how she could get out of this without paying for it! Now, she just wanted to get the whole thing over with. “I’ll give you a full statement. I am guilty of all but the phone.” She said quietly. Now she had to face her parents. And what about school, and her friends?  (This writing technique utilizes telling an anecdote in the voice and character who is not the author.  As the character tells his/her story he/she unknowingly undercuts or discredits his explanation.)