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I heard them groan and complain loudly. A breaking news bulletin had just flashed across the screen, interrupting the adorable canine antics. I wasn’t paying attention until I heard the word “boardwalk.”
“Sh!” I told them, leaning closer to the television.
“I repeat, the body of an unidentified girl has just been found at Hargren Pier on the boardwalk. The police have stated that they will not release full details until the girl has been identified and the family contacted. They will not confirm a cause of death until the autopsy has been performed, but they have ruled out natural causes. There are no suspects at this time. If you have any information, please...”
My heart was thumping so heavily that I couldn’t hear the rest. The bowl of cereal went limp in my hand, sloshing milk all over the floor.
“Whoa, watch out!” dad said, scooting away from the puddle.
“Sorry...I’ll get that,” I said. My mouth was moving on auto-pilot. All I could hear was the news story, playing over and over like a scratched CD. No matter how many times I told myself that it was just coincidence, I couldn’t shake the chill that made my skin permanently goosebumped. By then, the dancing dog had returned and dad and Jake were chuckling again. Unable to finish my cereal, I threw it in the sink and ran upstairs to my room, heart pounding like I was being chased.
Not even twelve hours earlier, I was sitting on that boardwalk next to Tyler. Now the police were investigating a murder. They hadn’t exactly said “murder”, but the reporter had made it pretty damn obvious. The question that made my head throb as I sunk onto my bed was, how the hell did Tyler know this was going to happen?
I hadn’t jumped to that conclusion immediately. My first thought after hearing the announcement was how if I had just stayed at the boardwalk last night like I wanted, that could have been me. If mom knew I’d been there, she’d probably never let me out of the house again. Then slowly it dawned on me. Last night, when Tyler had demanded we leave, I had been so flustered that I’d assumed he was angry. However now I remembered him looking at the sky with that odd expression in his eyes, and I realized what it was. Tyler had been afraid. Somehow, he’d known this was going to happen. I had to talk to him.
I was about to storm out to the car but I stopped dead in my doorway when I realized that one, I was still wearing my duckie pajamas, and two, Tyler could be the murderer.
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