An Invitation

Luke

I haven't slept. I'm going over and over and over in my mind what happened yesterday. I don't know what to do.

Funny. I've lived with the knowledge of what happened to Laney all these years and it's been awful. I've not handled it well. I'm still a young man but you can tell something's ravaged me. It's in the bags under my eyes and the worry of my lines. I see it every day in the mirror, the cost of keeping this secret.

And when I look back, I think, could there have been another way? Could we have just owned up? How would that have worked out for us? I remember being quizzed by the police and being terrified but their questions weren't "Did you kill her?" In fact, they were just gentle, just trying to find out if we'd seen her or if we knew where she'd go? Any other friends? We never mentioned the quarry. We all stuck to the same story. That Laney was meant to hang out with us that day. We had to say we went to her house to get her because her dad had seen us. But then she'd gone off on her own with her camera and we didn't know where she was. No phones in those days so no way of tracking us and besides, we were only tatting about locally, within running distance of home.

We knew it was risky but we stuck to it and eventually, days went by, still with no sign of her and then, we just got on with our lives, the guilt still there, hovering, but at a distance.

The need to drink is gnawing at me. I've rung in sick. What if she turns up there? I think about texting Matt but I know what he'd say:

Say nothing!

But I'm tired of saying nothing. I'm tired of living my life under this darkness all the time. It needs to come out, be exposed.

I know what to do.

I text her:

Hi. This is Luke. I remember Laney. Not sure what I can tell you but I'm happy to meet. Tomorrow? 4pm? The Fighting Cocks?

***

365 words

So Luke is prepared to confront it.

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