I walked back to town slowly from the woods I almost had died twice in now. But, only this time, one of us came out alive. The other, would stay in there for life. Rotting and decomposing down deep into the earth and dirt, although I knew she wouldn't get out like me, for I made sure she was truly dead before I buried and covered her up, not like the half ass job she did with me. I covered her with all that dirt I had dug up trying to find my father, although now I knew he was never in there to begin with.

  I felt relieved as I traveled more through these woods, hoping this would be the last time I entered them. Or, at least the last time surrounding this nightmare. A weight had been lifted, and as terrible as it may sound, I was glad that I killed her. That she couldn't hurt me anymore. That all of this was finally, completely over. And now I could enjoy my life once again, before she took all the happiness I once had away. Or at least some of it.

I took my time walking out of these woods, as I felt like I had just finished an exam or test that I had studied so hard for, only this feeling was much more intense than that. The situation followed as well, as this was much more intense than a stupid test. The wind pushed me further out of the forest as well, like it was helping me along. Sort of like it was saying "go Jaycee. Go and don't come back. This part of your life is over. You deserve to be happy, and not in these devastating woods where all bad things happened to you. Go along." And I did go along, as the exit of this dark forest was coming to a clearing, and I saw the bright lights of the city ahead. The bright street lanterns, and the stoned pathways and roads.

Trees rustled behind me, as the whole way home I continued to have that good feeling. The feeling of being free for once. And that's when I realized, I finally was free. All the time before, even when I was free from her, from my captor who turned out to be Tara, I was still a prisoner. A prisoner of fear. I was still weighed down by that. I was never completely free of her. Because she was still out there, lurking behind me. In the shadows. But now that was all over, since she was gone forever, and I no longer had to live in fear. I was no longer a prisoner. She was. A prisoner of death and hell, where I assumed she would go on after this place. If I truly believed in all of those things. Heaven and hell I mean, I'm still not quite sure I believe in those things. But maybe I'll figure it out some day.

As I now walked along the stoned path that was the sidewalk, I thought back and remembered my whole experience, and everything about Tara. She knew me years before I knew her. She never got the chance to meet me first, all she knew about me was the way I treated her sister, and others in our town and school. She only saw me as a bully, as a bitch. Which I was, I'm not saying I wasn't here. However, I still wasn't sure if I believed what she said. About Emily not knowing about the threats. About what she was doing to me. If anything I would have thought all of that was Emily's idea. Not her sisters. But yet again, maybe Emily wouldn't have agreed with that, or maybe she would be scared to see how I reacted. If I knew it was her sister threatening me. Maybe she was scared as to what I would do to her then. Or maybe she didn't agree with the whole, "let's kill her as a way of payback" type plan. Maybe that just wasn't her thing. It certainly would not have been mine.

I really hope what she said before was true though. About not having spoke to her family in years. That would be the only set back, if her family reported her missing. But she had lived in Jackville for awhile, and said they hadn't spoken for ages. Perhaps if they did want to speak to her again, they would only think she was angry with them, considering the absence and the missed calls from them. And if worse comes to worse, and the police did find her body and trace her back to me, I would just tell them the truth. That it was all self defence. It wasn't a lie. They could ask me any questions they wanted, and have me take millions of those lie detector tests, I would tell the truth each time, and the truth was I was protecting myself.

But I'm not sure if I should tell them now or not, the police I mean. Should I tell them everything now? No. Why should I, Detective Holden didn't even believe me a couple of hours ago when I actually told him the truth. He thinks I made the whole thing up, which is understandable. No. I won't tell him. I will never tell him. I will only confess it all again if they find her body. And if they ever find her, I will come forward first. I will not wait for them to connect me to her. Then it will look as if I'm guilty. No, I will clear my name if that ever comes up, which I don't think will ever happen. She's buried much deeper than I was, so there is no way someone, or an animal could dig her up. And I knew for a fact she was dead before hand. No chance of escape.

I was only a few blocks away from home now, as I passed by the restaurant that Hanna and I had been to earlier, along with the old antique shop beside it. The cool air now rushed to me even more as I was now out in the open, but I enjoyed it. I was awful hot from running a lot in that forest, that I didn't mind being chilled now. Man, was I ever wrong about Jake. I could have sworn it was him who was harassing me. The one who truly kidnapped me and tortured me all those years. I mean, the other night was so convincing, but perhaps he is only mad at me. Perhaps it's only that, anger, but he didn't act upon it. Maybe he isn't the type to act upon it. One of these days, soon, I will speak to him again and apologize. And maybe, we will rekindle our friendship we once had. Hell, I should really apologize to everyone. Everyone I hurt before, which was many. Maybe I should finally talk to my old friends, the clique, and cut things off. Maybe not completely, but a bit. Unless they have changed as well, just like me. If that's the case, then maybe we could become friends once more. It was nice, all the times we had group sleepovers and would hang out at the malls and walk around town. I enjoyed those times. When I felt like I had a lot of people surrounding me. Many people who loved me, and were in my corner. Who had my back. And as much as they were school friends, they weren't the type of friends who only went shopping with you and joked around. No, they were true friends, the type you can talk to about anything, like real life and important things. I remembered, I didn't share many things about my real feelings, that was mostly with Hanna, but I remembered when others in our group, like Sam or Ashley, when they would talk to us about real things going on in their life, we were always there to support them and cheer them back up. We were their shoulders to cry on, the people to catch them when they were falling, and you need those people in your life. The ones you can talk to. Talk to about anything, and you know won't judge. We didn't have many moments like that, but we did have some. And that's when I knew they were true. Maybe not like Hanna, but they were true in their own way. Just more on the mean side, the popular side.

I now began to walk down my front street, as I turned onto the road. There was no longer a sidewalk down our street, so we only had to walk on the road, close to others driveways. And as soon as I turned, I saw the bright lights of police cars as their sirens were turned off, but the red and blue lights still flashing on.
What the? I thought to myself, before I start to walk a bit faster. What was going on?
A bunch of officers and detective were outside on our lawn as the lights inside our house were all flicked on. Like something bad had happened. And my mind then thought to the worst. Oh no. Dad. What if she killed him first before meeting me in the woods? What if he's dead, lying in a body bag in the kitchen or the living room? What if?
No! Jaycee stop it! There is no courier van there, which means there is no body. Which means your dad is fine.
But what if he isn't? What if they just arrived there and the van is on its way? What if?
No! If they just got there you would have heard the sirens make their way over to your house. Relax. Everyone is just fine! I listened to the second voice as I calmed myself down a bit.

As I came closer to, I saw the front door was open, and people looking in our front window. It was my father and Hanna, both looking outside as police officers surrounded them. And right as I noticed them, they seemed to notice me as they both bolted away from the window and towards the door. I began to walk faster as I ran towards my lawn and the front door, and they both came running out of our warm house and wrapped their arms around me.

"Oh my god. Jayc! What happened? Where have you been?" my father was the first to ask as he looked down at my face, along with Hanna. And at that very moment, it was the first time I realized how dirty and muddy I looked. Forgetting all about the grave I had dug with my bare hands that night, as my clothes were filled with dirt. However, I wore mostly dark clothing on this night, which meant the dirt and mud stains weren't all that noticeable.
But thank god I didn't have any cuts on my face. That would have definitely made them more worried than just some dirt stains.

"I-I went for a walk. That's all," I explained it away to them as I tried to act as calm as possible. But they both gave me worried looks.

"But why are you all muddy?" my father asked as he looked further down at my clothes, as Hanna followed his gaze as well.

"Oh, I....I just fell when I was walking in the field by our house. No big deal," I tried to brush it off, as that seemed to settle them more, but not quite as more questions were shot my way.

"Well why didn't you answer our calls?" Hanna asked as she had the same worried look as my father bore. And I just stared at them from one to the other.

"Oh, sorry, I guess my signal was bad because I didn't get any calls," I assured them as I turned my phone on and showed them the call list quickly, but not long enough for them to see the 'unknown number' heading. As my dad's and Hanna's expressions calmed further, changing from overly worried back to slight, they both held my back as they led me inside. And right then, Detective Holden and a few more officers came hauling out of our house, all with determined and startled expressions.

"Jaycee! You're alright," Detective Holden exhaled, almost as if he was relieved to see me. That struck me as odd.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be, I only went out for a walk," I explained to him again, as my face frowned a bit. "And why are you guys here? Did Dad call you guys?" I asked another series of questions, as I only thought my dad probably called once I didn't return home.

"No. Well yes, your father did call us here but that's not the only reason. You see, we finally got a trace on the call you got the other day," he spoke in a happier tone as he showed me data that they had received from the phone call.

"What do you mean?" I asked him more, as I still was rather confused.

"When we traced the call the other day, it led us to that old ladies house, remember? Well, that same phone we traced before dinged again today. The caller must had used that phone and somehow linked it back to the old women's house, looking as if she made the calls. Well, after that phone was used again, we traced its actual location to somewhere around the abandoned buildings on the south side of town," Detective Holden explained what all of the data was on his device, as I tried to process all of it. Wait, so now does he believe me? Does he believe I was telling the truth?
No. Maybe not. Stick to your old story Jayc. If you tell him about everything before, and tell him your true story all over again, you're going to have to tell him about Tara. And what actually happened tonight. You're going to have to tell him everything. And who knows, maybe he won't believe all of it. Maybe he will think you actually meant to kill her. No, don't tell the truth. Stick to your plan. If they ever find her body, then you will come clean. But not here. Not now. And maybe, not ever.

I kept my head up high as I stuck to what I knew.

"I don't know what you're talking about. It's like you said before. I only imagined the call. It was only that old women who called me the other day. I was only scared the person who was threatening me would come back. I just imagined that call," I spoke in a rather defending yet calm tone as I then continued to walk towards my house with my father and Hanna by my side.

"But what about the call you got today? And that story you told me? The one about you being kidnapped?" Detective Holden asked some more questions and I only kept on walking towards our open front door.

"It never happened. Never existed. It was just that, a story...." I trailed off as my father, Hanna and I entered the house. I grabbed the front door as I turned around to face Detective Holden, who was still outside on our front steps along with all the other officers. "I made the whole thing up," I repeated his words he had told me in the police station earlier, as I spouted them in a mocking way towards him. And with that last note, I slammed the front door shut behind me as I headed back towards my old, but new life with my family and friend.

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The end! Thank you guys so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Please, I'd love to hear what you guys thought of this story, so feel free to send me some feedback! Thanks! Love you guys!