Win Me Over
         15 is a young age. You’re too young to drink, make your own decisions, and too young to drive. 15 is also too young of an age to lose your bestfriend. My brother was Dan Smith. He was a jock in school, the starting quarterback on the football team, and the captain of the hockey team. Everyone loved him, at least that’s what we thought. Dan was nice to everyone. Girls were attracted to him, and guys wanted to be him; however, on October 31st, that all changed.
My name is Abigail Smith, also known as Dan’s twin. Dan and I were in a haunted house the night the murder happened. He had his dirty blonde hair in a quiff and was wearing a varsity jacket with our school initials on it. Dan was wearing khaki shorts with a belt and black mid calf Nike socks. He had his high top Jordans on his feet. They were worn out because they were his workout shoes. His sneakers were white and black, and his name was inscribed in the back. “Dan Smith,” they said. His blue eyes were shining bright in the moonlight on our way to the haunted house. He was my best friend, the only one I could trust, as I was for him.
I remember walking out the door as he said, “Goodbye Mom! I love you!” and she replied with “I love you too.” Then we walked a mile to go to the haunted house. He was telling me about the girl that he had met. He said that her name was Aria, Aria Kerr. She had brown hair, brown eyes and pearly white teeth. He said that he thought he loved her. She meant everything to him. Once we finally arrived at the haunted house, we walked in together. We walked past ghosts and zombies. Dan just laughed, revealing his perfect teeth. We kept on walking, talking, and having fun. When we were about halfway through, I needed to go to the bathroom. I told Dan, and he said, “Be careful. I’ll be waiting here when you get back.” I jogged to go find the bathroom. However, about 30 seconds after I left Dan, I heard him yell, “Abby!” I sprinted back to him. He had been running. His hair was sweaty and no longer in a quiff. One of his shoes was missing. His varsity jacket was unbuckled, revealing a large blood stain in the center of his chest. He had been stabbed. I left his body in the haunted house and went home without notifying anyone about the murder.
I walked home trying to find his shoe. Whoever had killed Dan took his shoe. When I was almost home, I ran into a tall man wearing a detective coat. I had mascara running down my cheeks, and no one could see me like this. I backed up and kept moving without saying sorry. I was sorry for myself. Ever since I was little, I was taught not to be selfish. I was taught to be selfless and care about others. I was taught to never be rude or impolite. Nevertheless, I was never taught what to do in the scenario that I was in right now. The man shouted at me, “Wait up, miss!” I turned around and looked at him. He was a detective. I didn’t say anything to him; I just glared. He finally spoke, “What’s wrong, ma’am?” He had a fairly deep voice and a British accent. “Oh I don’t know. I’m just having a bad day is all,” I said. He closely observed my body and then said, “I’m afraid you’re lying to me. I know exactly what happened. Your brother was murdered, I suppose”.  How did this man know this? “Was it you?” I asked with anger raging throughout my body. My stomach was on fire. It was this man that I do not know. He had killed my brother. I was so mad. I just sprinted in the opposite direction of my house, so he did not know where I lived. I ran around the block until I got home. I bolted through the door into my mothers arms. “Honey what’s wrong?” she asked me. I couldn’t speak. She asked me at least five times about what happened. Then finally she asked the one question that made me cry harder. “Where is Danny?” She finally got a hint about why I was crying. “Mommy,” I said stuttering. “Mom. H-h-he’s dead,” I got it out of me. I hated how the words rolled off my tongue. They made my mouth feel numb and bitter.
“I shouldn't have gone to the bathroom, mom. If I didn’t go, then everything would be okay right now.”
“Sweetie, this isn’t your fault.”
“Mom… it is my fault. I should’ve died. It shouldn’t have been Dan! What will people say when they found out? They will surely accuse me! I’m too young to go to jail, mom.”
“Honey, let’s go to the station right now and tell them everything.”
While we were on our way to the station, I explained to my mom everything that happened. I told her about the suspicious, tall man that I had ran into. She agreed with me that it must have been him. I kept on having flashbacks of me and Dan. I remember when we were four and we got matching Spongebob pajamas. I remembered the card he gave me for my 7th birthday. I will miss him.
We pulled into the station and told them that there was a murder. They had immediately brought me in for questioning. We walked into a dark, dull room with one lamp. There were three seats. I sat in the one on the far side by itself. It was uncomfortable and squeaky. “What’s your name?”they asked. “My name is Abigail Smith. I’m Dan’s twin sister,” I said. They asked me more questions, and I answered all of them appropriately. Finally, we began to talk about the suspicious man.
“Did he say his name?” they questioned.
“No, he just told me exactly what I told you” I answered.
“Will you point him out if we find him?” they asked.
“Definitely” I said.
After that, I went home and laid down in my bed. My life has changed. My best friend passed away. I remember when we moved to New York from Kansas. Dan’s old friend didn’t come to say goodbye. His name was Ty Greenfield. I grabbed my scrapbook from Kansas and looked back through all the photos. Ty was glaring at Dan in all of them. Ty didn’t like Dan. I raced into Dan’s room to look through his phone contacts. After about a million names, I came across “Ty Greenfield.” I sent the contact information to my phone and stayed in my room. I couldn’t fall asleep, so I just laid there trying to put together the puzzle pieces of this mystery.
When I heard my mom making coffee at about 6, I told her what I found out. She looked at me and thought about it for a moment.
“Honey… Ty lives in Kansas,” my Mom said.
“Mom, maybe he made a visit,” I said.
“How about we take it to the station?”she asked.
With that, we were on our way to the police station. When we arrived, they got Ty’s number and looked through the recent messages. There were many under the name of “Molly,” and there was a suspicious unknown number. They opened the messages to see that the most recent messages were:
Ty: 1 down, 2 to go.
Unknown: Perfect, did you leave any evidence?
Ty: None.
The police and my family were all in shock. We tracked his phone and found the hotel that he was staying in. When we showed up at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel, the police found the room number. We went up to his room. We knocked on the door, and I held my breath. The door swung open and standing there was a drowsy looking Ty; however, when he saw us he woke up. The police held up the search warrant and said, “Police. We have full permission to view this property.”  He stepped back and looked down. I looked down, and I saw something that made me want to throw up. Sitting there on its side was Dan’s shoe. I showed the police, and off we went.
Four Months Later
I went to go see Ty in his jail cell. I never found out why he did it.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he looked me in the eyes.
“Ty, take a plate and throw it on the ground. Then say sorry. Will it get better? No, it’ll still be broken,” I said.
“Okay,” he said.
“Why’d you do it?” I asked.
“Dan had everything. He had all the ladies, the phenomenal grades, and he was captain of all the sports teams. I was always just his shadow. It was always Dan and Ty, instead of Ty and Dan. He was always one step ahead of me” he said.
“Yes, but we moved to New York. We’re 21 hours away” I said.
“Dan never told you?” he asked.
“Told me what?” I asked.
“Before he left I told him my biggest secret. I had a crush on you. I asked Dan if you guys could come back and visit, then maybe I could make a move. Dan said no. I got really mad, and here I am now,” he said.
“I’m sorry, but if you thought you could win me over by killing my brother, you’re wrong,” I said.
I then left the tense prison and stepped out into the cold, winter day. I was going to begin a new life now. I had to start living on my own. Dan and Abigail, was now history. Dan will always be remembered; however, he’s still here in my heart.