No Witnesses

It was almost midnight, when our lives changed forever. When everything we knew, everyone we trusted and loved, could no longer be trusted. It was July Fourth, when I buried my first body.

"What do we do?" The youngest of our four person group, Alissa, was only 16. Just a kid, and panicking about the murder. Her short dark brown hair was sticking to her sweaty forehead as she paced the wooden floor of the barn.

"Just try and calm down. Nobody's gonna find her." The oldest, at nineteen, was the calmest. Spine chillingly calm, as if he knew how to hide a body. Jason had been calm all night. Almost no emotion showing on his face. When he did show emotion, it was as small as a sigh and a hand running through his shaggy hair.

"Calm down? Calm down!? There is a dead body underneath our feet! And you want us to just "stay calm"!" The other girl, Crystal, was seventeen, only a few months younger then me. She was also panicking, her body visibly shaking as tears streaked her already dirt-stained face.

"Yes, Crystal. Calm down, and shut up before someone hears you. You're being stupid." I, the second oldest at eighteen, also wasnt being very calm. Although I'd tried to act it, I'm sure my facial expressions weren't doing me any justice. I was chewing on my finger nails, and rapidly tapping my foot against the creaking wood.

"Shut up Darren what do you know? We're in the middle of nowhere, nobody can hear us, that's why we chose this place, remember idiot?" I flinched as she hissed out the word 'idiot', sounding like poison. If words could kill. I shot Crystal a death glare before I stomped up to her. Filling my words with all of my frustration and anger.

"Yeah. I remember. I'm the one who had to figure out where to dump the body. Need I remind you who got us into the situation? Need I remind you why any of us are here in the first damned place!? Do I really have to remind you about who hit her in the first place? Do I have to remind you who was holding the bat?" By the time I'd finished my rant, I was standing directly in front of her, jamming my finger into her face.

She opened her mouth to argue when Alyssa practically screamed.

"SHUT UP!" Jason and I both turned to look at her, Crystal peeking at her over my shoulder.

Now I was focused on her.

"Wow. Look who has something to say. What, are you gonna tell us we need to call the cops? Should turn ourselves in?" I started toward her, but Jason grabbed me by my shoulder, turning my attention to him. I was prepared to yell at im next, but when I turned my head to look up at him, I stopped. A shiver ran through my body when I looked into his icy blue eyes. They were full of an almost animalistic rage, and something told me if I didn't shut up, I was gonna regret it.

So I did just that. I sealed my mouth as tight as I could, earning a nod of approval from Jason, who turned back to Alyssa.

"Did you want to say something?" She shook her head no. "Just wanted them to shut up?" She nodded. She was always so quiet. Jason nodded after her, releasing my shoulder from his grip. I quickly stepped away from him, looking down in between the wooden floorboards.

I turned around again.

"Um, guys, where's Crystal?" She wasn't where I'd just left her. Directly behind me. I looked around, wondering how nobody noticed she'd left. We all walked around the bottom of the barn, we even had Jason check around the outside of the barn to make sure. We couldnt find her.

Until we heard a quiet beeping from above us, like a phone. And a small whisper that sounded like a curse word. Why didnt we check the second floor? We couldn't tell ya. But we all rushed up there as soon as we heard it.

"What are you doing?" Jason had reached the top of the stairs before Alyssa and I. It was only about the size of a kid's bedroom. We barely all fit on it, but it somehow seemed more sturdy than the first floor.

"I-I wasn't doing anything, really." Crystal stuttered out her words and she was standing with her back agaisnt the railing, her hands behind her back. A nervous look was painted on her face like a masterpiece as she glanced around, probably looking for a way out.

"What's in youre hand?" Alyssa had side-stepped me, and was in front of me. She knew what it was. We all did. Crystal was the kind of person to tell on us, turn us in.

"Nothing. I dont have anything." She had taken another step back, not as far from us as she could be. But the phone in her hand gave her away when it started to ring and a quiet '911, whats youre emergency.' Crystals eyes got wide.

Jason jumped at her, and she yelped. Screaming for help into the phone. Jason grabbed her arm and yanked the phone away from her, smashing it onto the ground. The first emotion he's shown on his face all night, unmistakable rage.

"What the fuck do you think youre doing, are you crazy? You're gonna get us all thrown in prison!" He had her wrist so tight in his hand she dropped her phone and she whined.

"I'll take the blame! Like Darren said. It was my fault, I hit her! I'll tell the cops I buried her. That it was just me. Please Jason I can't live with this guilt please I can't." She had tears streaming down her cheeks again and her voice was cracking. Her entire body was back to the visible shakiness of when we'd first dragged the blood stained girl into the barn and torn up the floorboards.

"See the only problem with that, is all of our fingerprints are on the body. All of our DNA is all over this place." His grip was tightening so much his knuckles had turned white and Crystal had started to recoil and grab at his hand, pleading with him to let her go. "I am not letting This be what ends my life, you hear me, bitch?" He practically spit the last words into her face.

Alyssa and I both gasped and covered our mouths, almost in unisen, as Crystal screamed and we heard a deafening crack. He had snapped her wrist with terrifying ease. Her fingers twitched and she dropped as he let go. Holding onto her forearm and still screaming, he kicked her in the side, forcing her back into the railing.

"You can't live with the guilt?" He crouched down and grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her face toward him. She was gasping for air, looking over at me, silently pleading.

I wanted to help, I wanted to pull him off of her and kick his ass. But I was frozen in my spot, I didn't know what to do. I couldn't move. All I coud do was watch as he kept beating her. Over and over, kick after kick to her torso and face. By the time he was done, she wasn't moving either. There was blood pooled around her head where she laid limp, not even her chest raising for air. He'd killed her.

When he turned to us, I stiffened. He was twice my size and I wouldn't be able to do a damn thing if he attacked us. I was able to glance over at Alyssa, who was shaking and crying silently. She looked up at Jason, with rage and fear mixed onto her face.

"What the hell was that!? You didn't have to kill her! What is wrong with you!" She took a step toward him and slammed her fist against his chest. He simply swung one hand up into her jaw with enough force to knock her over the railing.

"Oops. Didn't mean to do that." His voice was smooth, and it shook me to my core. He looked over the railing and sighed. "Just more of a mess to clean up." He looked over at me and I instantly ran. I didnt know what else to do.

So I ran, I ran down the stairs. I merely glanced at Alyssa's body, but it was enough for me to see that the fall had clearly broken her neck. I ran straight through the doors of the secluded barn and ran around the corner.

I ran into the woods behind the barn, I ran as fast and far as I could until my lungs felt like they were on fire. That's when I decided I should hide. If I kept running, I would just tire myself out more and not be able to fight if it came down to it.

I looked around, wishing I had the eyes of a cat to adjust ot the darkness. I almost sighed in relief when I saw a hole under a tree. I dove for it, shoving my body as far into the back of the hole as I could - until I felt something on my back.

It wasn't a bug, or even an animal. It was a hand. I could feel all five fingers pressed against my back. I hesitantly turned my head, almost screaming as I looked into the open eyes of a blonde girl. She was dead. her eyes were blank and her skin was pasty white, almost looking like paint.

I turned my attention back to the psycho chasing me when I heard his voice echo through the woods.

"Darren. Come out come out. You didnt think I'd let you of all of us live to tell this tale right?" I sinister chuckle rang through my ears as I heard the sound of leaves and twigs crunching, coming closer to the hole I was in until the stopped directly in front of it.

I held my breath and reached behind me, digging around through the pockets of the dead girl, ignoring the sticky feeling of what had to be blood until my hand wrapped around something cool. Metal. I pulled it out of its spot, which was carved into her hip. I looked at it. It was a knife. Jason's knife. I was right, that wasn't the first time he'd killed.

I yelled when I heard a familiar voice say "Found you" And his hand reached into the hole. I struggled, never letting go of the knife. Stabbing and slicing into his hand. He grunted, but that was the only sign it fased the mad man.

He'd succesfully dragged me out of my hidng spot and pulled me to my feet. He had his arm around my throut, my back to his chest. He tried to grab the knife from my hand as his grip tightened around my throat and I couldnt breathe. I somehow managed to swing the knife up, bringing into his eye. earning a yell and release from his grip.

I started to run again, back toward the barn. The cops were called, they had to have traced the call by now, right? I was right. I smiled and pushed my legs to go even faster when I saw the red and blue lights flashing through the tree's. I could hear Jason close behind me though, so I yelled. I mustered all of the rest of my strength and yelled and screamed as loud as I could.

Before I could finish my animalistic howl, I felt a hand clamp down around my mouthand nose, and I felt myself being dragged back into the woods. My hope had run out. I was a goner, there was no chance. I had no strength, I couldn't fight, I couldn't even yell anymore my throat hurt so bad.

So I gave in to the black. I let my body go limp as my vision blurred. My lungs were still on fire. But I ignored it, I gave up. I didn't care anymore. I'd only hoped I had grabbed the cops attention enough to get them to follow us. I was right. Because the last thing I heard before losing consciousness was a loud BANG, and a thump on the ground.

I woke up in the hospital. I was cuffed to the bed and in pain. When I woke up, I was thirsty. It felt like I hadnt had a drop of water in a year.

After I gave my statement to the cops, and said goodbye to my family. I went to prison. I was found guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, the disposal of a body, chelping with the murders of Alyssa and Crystal, and a few more I can't think of. I was only given 25 years despite all of the charges. It was part of a plea deal for pleading guilty to murdering Alyssa and Crystal.

It's now been 20 years, and I'm about to get out in a week for good behaviour. I still have nightmares about that night, and when anyone asks me what happened, I break. I cry, there was nothing else to do. How could I explain to people I murdered three people? That I was a murderer?

I am publishing this so I can tell everyone, secrets can't be kept. Someone will open there mouth, someone will tell. Don't give them the chance. Don't let them destroy you. Do whatever you have to do to keep all of youre secrets. Even murder. Just don't get caught.