I’m what you would call a typical teenager. I have two wonderful friends, Julianne Hutchinson and Jackson McGee. Jackson is my best friend. I guess that is because of how much we have in common. We both like the same food, hobbies, and types of girls. We both are about the same height; he’s 5”4 and I’m 5”5. We both have black hair and love to fool around with it and see what style looks best on us. It is the same with Julianne; I’ve known her for only a few weeks but it seems like we connected in every single way. She’s awesome, fun, rich and in the drama club. Plus, I think I might be falling for her. We all go to Polk High School. At school, we would all sit at a table for lunch and discuss about our day so far and sometimes our problems at home. Yep, just like any typical teenager’s life.

“Hey, I’m going to my dad’s beach house for spring break. Ya’ll want to come with?” asked Julianne.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I replied.

“Sure, I got no where else to go anyways,” Jackson followed.

“Great! Meet me at my house at 2 o’clock on Sunday, and we will head out.”

“Just one question, where exactly is you dad’s beach house?” I curiously asked.

“On a little island a bit out in the Pacific Ocean.”

“Cool, then we will be taking a boat, right?” Jackson asked eagerly.

“You bet.”

We met exactly at 2 o’clock on Sunday; ate lunch and was on our way.

“I’m so excited,” I said “partly because I haven’t seen your dad in a while. How is he?”

“Great, much healthier than I thought he would be at that age.” This comment kind of surprised me because of the way Julianne said it. She said those words as though she hated the fact her father was still healthy.

“Glad to hear it; I’m looking forward to meeting him again,” I replied as happily as I could. The ride toward the little island was filled with conversations between me, Julianne, and Jackson.
“Wow! This is your dad’s beach house? It is huge!” This was my response when we arrived. It was the only house on the whole island; then again, the island isn’t that big. The house was even more amazing on the inside. Old paintings and priceless antiques filled the rooms. I knew Julianne’s family was rich but never this rich. We were greeted by the family butler upon arrival. He brought our bags to our rooms.
“Hey kids, how’s it going? Let me introduce you guys to my brother, Harley. He’ll be staying here for spring break as well.”
“It’s nice to meet you all. So who’s up for some swimming on the beach?” With that said, we went out for an afternoon on the beach. That night, a storm came to the island. The thunder and lightning woke me up. When I woke up, I heard arguments in another room. I recognized one of the voices; it was Julianne’s dad’s voice. The other voice; I couldn’t identify. However, I had no doubt in mind that the other voice is Harley’s voice; Julianne’s uncle. I eventually fell back to sleep.

I was awakened by a harsh tone; it was the butler. “Master Shawn, please wake up. The door to Master Hutchinson’s room won’t open, and he is not responding to my calls.”

“What! Wake up Julianne and Jackson and notify them of this.”

“I already have and they’re trying to get the door open.”

“Okay, I’ll go help too.” I put on my clothes and rushed toward Mr. Hutchinson’s room. I meet with Jackson and Julianne.

“Shawn, please help. Daddy won’t respond to the door.”

“All right, don’t panic. Jackson, you and I will break the door open.” We got into position. “All right, on the count of three, we run and break through the door.”

“Got it,” Jackson nervously replied.

“One……two……three……go!” We both rushed towards the door as fast as possible with all our strength. Bang, the door broke through along with Jackson and me.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.” That was Julianne’s response when the door was broken, and the body of her father was revealed on the floor with a knife stabbed through his shirt pocket, dead. The butler quickly rushed toward his master and attempted to feel for his pulse.
“As I feared, no pulse; but his body was still warm. This meant he died not too long ago. There was also a knife stuck in his chest which indicates he was stabbed in the heart.” Silence fell upon us, and for what seem like hours, no one spoke.

“I can’t believe this, who could have done this,” Jackson finally said. This, of course is what everyone is wondering. Who killed Mr. Hutchinson? Why? When? The joyful and fun spring break we had been looking forward to had turned into a living nightmare. After the butler escorted Julianne back to her room, only Jackson and I were left at the crime scene. “I can’t believe this is happening. This place seems so peaceful, who would have guessed this would happen; right Shawn.” I heard Jackson but didn’t reply; I was already deep in thought. Who killed Mr. Hutchinson and why? These thoughts ran through my mind again. That’s when it hit me; Harley, the uncle: The two of them were heard arguing last night. I quickly stared running around the house trying to find the uncle.
“Hey, where are you going?” shouted Jackson.

“The uncle, we got to find the uncle,” I shouted back at him. It wasn’t long until we ran into the butler.

“Master Shawn, Master Jackson, what is happening?”

“Where is Harley? We have to find him.”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Master Harley at all since last night.”

“Do you think he could have made a run for it?” asked Jackson

“In this storm; I don’t think so.” I answered.

“We should check the port anyway,” Jackson proposed.

“Are you crazy? It is still storming outside. You could barely see a thing.” Julianne replied after hearing the commotion outside her room.

“We have to; there’s no other way.”

“Then I’ll come with you Shawn,” Julianne said.

“Fine, but we are going to need rain coats.”

“There are some in the living room. I’ll fetch them for you,” said the butler.

After we were dressed, Julianne and I went out into the storm. Getting to the port was a challenge due to the harsh rain and wind. When we got there, we were shocked to find one of the boats missing. “That idiot, even if he killed your dad, he still shouldn’t have made a run for it in this storm. He’ll be killed.”

“If he did kill father, then I couldn’t be happier if he gets killed in the storm.” I had nothing to say to Julianne on the way back because I couldn’t think of anything to comfort her. I couldn’t possibly imagine the suffering she was going through. When we returned, Jackson eagerly asked us questions about what we found; we told him.

“I can’t believe this; Harley seems like such a nice guy. Why would he do this,” Jackson said in a weak tone.

“Most likely for the money,” Julianne replied; we all gave her our full attention, “Harley knew that if dad died, then the money would be transferred into his account because mom died a few years before. The only problem is that if Harley killed my dad last night, then why would his body still be warm when we found him?” We said nothing. This was, in fact, puzzling. We all stood where we were. No one said a word. Then suddenly, “Oh my god!” the expression on Julianne’s face frightened us all.

“What?”

“I figured it out; Shawn, you said you heard my uncle and dad arguing last night. What if, out of rage, my uncle grabbed the fruit knife and stabbed my dad in the chest. This stab couldn’t have killed my dad because he had a booklet in his shirt pocket which absorbed the blow. However, due to the shock of all that had happened, he fainted. My uncle, seeing this, thinks he killed father and make a run for it. In the morning, when we called out to father to open the door; he woke up and tried to let us in with the knife still stuck in the booklet. That is when Jackson and Shawn broke through the door. The door hit my dad and pushed the knife through the booklet and into his heart, killing him.” We were speechless. After a minute or so of silence, I spoke.

“Then that means Jackson and I killed Mr. Hutchinson.”

“No, no it can’t be; what about the door, why was it locked? I mean for Harley to run for it, he has to go through the door, right?”

“This is an old house Jackson; there are secret passageways throughout the house. Harley could have easily used one of those passageways to make his escape.” Julianne said; her tone is now completely deferent from before. She sounds as though she wasn’t talking to her friends anymore but to cold hard criminals who had just murdered her father. “I will contact the police; they should be here after the storm passes and arrest you guys.”

“It was an accident Julianne……come on…… you can’t arrest us for that right?” said Jackson trying to convince Julianne not to do what she was about to do; unfortunately, it was no use.

“Jenkins, grab the two and tie them up until the police arrive.”

“Yes, master.” With that, we were wrestled into the ground.


Two years has passed since then. Jackson is at a federal prison in Texas, and I’m in California’s state prison. What we predicted happened; Harley did die in the storm; his body was found a few days after Jackson and I were convicted. We were both sentenced to 5 years in prison.
“Peterson! You got a visitor.”

“Julianne, it’s you! What are you doing here? I thought you never wanted to see me or Jackson again.”

“Don’t get too emotional. I’m just here to tell you Jackson died a week ago.”

“What! Oh man, I knew he wouldn’t last, he was always too weak.” Julianne didn’t say anything. “Hey Jul, I never got a chance to tell you I’m sorry. You know it was an accident right?” Once again Julianne said nothing. “You know, I feel like that whole incident was too coincidental. It seemed planned out; I mean come on, what are the chances of that happening?” Julianne grinned when I said this. The grin she gave off wasn’t a comic grin but a sinister grin; a grin of pure evil. “Wait a minute……oh my god, it was planned, wasn’t it?!?”

“It took you long enough Shawn. My God you’re so stupid. Yes, it was planned out.”

“Then that means…..”

“Yes, I did it, I killed my father. I planned to kill him the whole time. You guys were invited so I could use you guys as a scapegoat.” I didn’t say a thing. I was too shocked. “That night, I went into my father’s room and had an argument with him, so conflict could be heard by others. Then I stabbed him in the heart. My uncle, afraid that I would kill him, saw this and ran for it.”

“But then what about the butler? He said your father was still warm.”

“Idiot, the butler was working for me the whole time. I promised him a share if he worked for me.” I’m stuck in disbelieve

“Why did you do it?”

“The money of course; that idiot father of mine decided to give all his money to my uncle if he died, not me, his only daughter. So I had to kill them both. Tell you the truth, my uncle dying at sea wasn’t part of the plan; I just got lucky.” Rage rushed through my body, I wanted to kill Julianne. She not only killed his dad and uncle but framed me and Jackson. “Oh, by the way, Jackson’s death wasn’t caused by an inmate or suicide; it was caused by me.” I jumped out my seat and banged on the glass window trying to break through. It was the only thing that separated me from her. Julianne calmly got up. “Look on the bright side; now we share something, a secret.” There was another moment of silence. “I’ll be leaving now……say hi to Jackson for me”
“What!?! What do you mean by that; hey, wait. Get back here!!!!!” The guard grabbed and restrained me. While the guard is dragging me out of the room, I could see Julianne’s face. I remembered the grin until my last breath.