Original Stories Fan Fiction / Realism Fan Fiction ❯ When Dreams Fade ❯ Lies ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's note: I love you, Dox-san, and I'm sorry to torture the character who is so much like you! Please forgive me, because you know this isn't the worst that will happen to her!

Also, I'm going to try to squeeze out (ew) two chapters in two hours. ^^ So I'll go to bed at…oh…3 AM? Hehe. ^^

When Dreams Fade

Chapter Six

I caught Nikolas as he was leaving his house and waved him over. He looked as troubled as I felt. He ran over to me, waving a newspaper. I nodded, indicating that I knew.

“Did you read the article?” he demanded, thrusting it in my face. “They didn't mention that he attacked Erik or the drugs or anything!”

“I didn't get a chance to read it. I couldn't,” I told him. I took the paper and sat on a lawn chair in front of his house to read it. Nikolas pulled a chair up beside me. “They make it sound like…like…”

“Almost like it was premeditated?” Nikolas suggested. “I know. They're also making it seem like Hana attacked Erik. Read this,” he said, pointing to a paragraph halfway down the page.

“A 17-year old boy was also found injured in the house. The girl is also a suspect in his case.” I stared at Nikolas. “How could they possibly think that?” I asked.

“I don't know.” Nikolas shook his head. “Maybe they're just getting their facts wrong…they didn't interview us or anything, so…”

“Wait, did you see this?” I asked. It almost made me want to laugh. Near the end of the article, it mentioned Hana's interest in video games and rock music. “Is that even partially relevant?”

“What do you expect?” Nikolas shrugged. “Everything else was a lie, after all.” He sighed. “I guess we can't celebrate Hana's birthday with her today, huh?”

I shook my head. “It doesn't appear so.” The prison wasn't allowing us to see her, and her bail hadn't been paid yet. It didn't make much sense, since Hana's parents were the richest in town, believe it or not. Apparently they didn't care enough about her to get her out of jail, though.

“Think we can see Erik yet?” Nikolas asked. I shrugged.

“Let's go see,” I said. Nikolas climbed into the driver's seat of his car and gestured for me to get in the passenger's seat. As we drove away, Nikolas asked me a question that made me laugh. It wasn't a laugh because of a joke. It was more of an ironic laugh.

“So, I guess you'll be postponing your party, right?”

We arrived at the hospital and were actually permitted to go to Erik's room. Apparently they didn't consider us accomplices to the murder and what everyone was calling “attempted murder.” Had they even bothered to ask Erik who hurt him? I wondered. We opened the door to Erik's room and peeked inside.

“Erik?” I asked softly.

“Alana?” he asked. “Get in here, now!” He sat up. “Is Niko with you?”

“I'm here,” Nikolas said as we entered the room. He closed the door behind us.

“Is what I'm hearing true?” Erik asked. “Are they really telling lies about what happened?”

Nikolas unfolded the newspaper, which he had slid into the pocket of his pants and covered up with his shirt. “Yeah. Did anyone ask you anything?” he asked.

“No, nothing. Did they really write this article without asking any of us?” He scanned the article for a few minutes, narrowing his eyes and frowning increasingly more often as he continued to the end. “Nothing in there was right,” he said finally. “Well, except that my brother is dead.”

“I know,” I said, taking the paper from Erik. “Don't worry, though. We'll have to testify in court, and there's no way a jury will convict her of murder. They'll understand.”

“Will they?” Erik seemed doubtful. “My brother was well-liked by a lot of people. A lot of marginally famous people, even…I don't know if the jury will believe us.”

“But we were there,” Nikolas said softly. “They have to.”

Erik shook his head. “I wish it were that simple. I really do.”