Finley High Confessions

Part One

Connor stares down at the red plastic cup in his hand. He hates parties. The cup only has soda in it, and he only has it because he doesn’t need people looking at him like he’s some sort of freak. As if slurred speech and being imbalanced was the only way to have fun when you’re in high school.

It was Mark’s fault that he was even here in the first place. Saturday nights were usually spent at his house watching a movie with just a few friends, but of course once Mark found out Miranda might be at the party, he insisted that they come here instead.

A glossy eyed girl bumps into Connor and spills some of his drink onto his clothes. He raises his hands slightly with palms out and he gives her an unimpressed look. She tries to say something, but he can barely make out what she’s saying over the blaring music. Not that he would’ve cared anyway.

Connor ignores the girl and searches the room for Mark. Maybe Miranda won’t show, and they can get the hell out of here. His eyes catch Mark’s backwards green cap, and he sighs when he glimpses Miranda’s long dark hair next to him. I guess they won’t be leaving anytime soon.

Wandering through the house, Connor listens to all the drunken conversations and marvels at how much everyone loves to hear themselves talk. They only ever stop and listen to wait for their next chance to speak. Connor knows that the way he feels is a large part of the reason he doesn’t fit in.

Making his way upstairs, he finds a girl from his school, Beth, leaning up against a door in the hallway with her eyes half closed and a spilled cup still barely in her grasp. He steps over her and waves his hands in front of her face. She drunkenly acknowledges him, and then shuts her eyes all the way. Connor shrugs. At least she’s alive, he thinks. He finds the restroom and shuts the door behind him.

Just as he’s about to wash his hands, Connor hears a noise from somewhere outside in the hallway. It sounds like someone dragging something down the hallway away from the stairs. Once he can tell that the sound is past the bathroom door, he silently turns the knob and pulls the door in. He manages to peak his eye around the door frame just in time to see someone pull Beth into one of the bedrooms. His heart races. Connor knows he should do something, but all he can bring himself to do is close and lock the bathroom door. He sits down on the edge of the bathtub and for the first time, wishes he had something besides soda in his cup.

After what feels like hours, Connor gets a notification from his dad, letting him know that he’s outside to pick him and Mark up. He hurriedly exits the bathroom with his head intentionally turned away from the bedroom he saw Beth get dragged into. But as he gets to the stairs, he can’t help but turn his head back to look at the room. The door was ajar, and he could see Beth’s legs dangling off the side of the bed. The jeans that were on when he last saw her were lying on the floor. Connor nearly faints but catches himself just before falling down the stairs. He collects Mark quickly and tells him that it’s time to go.

In the car, Connor tries hard to convince himself that he’s jumping to conclusions. The person he saw was probably just trying to help Beth, he tries to reason with himself. But the rising guilt and ball rooted deep in his gut tell him he is wrong. He is about to dive deep into a full guilt spiral, until his dad interrupts him from the driver seat.

“You okay, bud? You weren’t drinking tonight, were you?”

Knowing that alcohol would be a plausible explanation for his behavior, Connor lies. “Uhm. Yeah. I had a couple drinks tonight. Sorry.”

Mark eyeballs him for a moment from the backseat, knowing that Connor doesn’t drink.

His dad gives Connor a little smile. “Hey, I’m glad you’re at least responsible enough to tell me the truth and to not drive. God knows I wasn’t that responsible when I was your age.” His smile turns to concern as he looks closer at Connor. “Are you sure you’re okay? You really don’t look too good.” He smiles and looks in the rearview mirror at Mark. “What did you do to him, Mark?”

Mark shrugs and smiles back. “I don’t know Mr.B. I guess he just can’t handle his alcohol like us adults.”

Connor’s dad gives Mark a scowl. “Maybe I should talk to your mother about your incredible ability, huh?” He gives a joking smile and turns the radio up slightly.

Keeping the drunk appearance alive, Connor closes his eyes. He squeezes his eyes so hard that he hopes it will erase his memory. But it doesn’t. Connor very much still sees Beth being dragged into that room. And still sees himself cowering behind a closed door. And he still sees the face of the person who dragged her.

Part Two

This was not the call that Jim wanted. Of course, no call that makes it to his cellphone in the earliest hours of the day is a call that he wants, but his daughter goes to that high school for Christ’s sake. Hell, she might’ve even been at the party where it happened. Jim hangs up the phone, leans over to kiss his wife’s forehead, and then rolls out of bed. It’s three in the morning when he arrives at the hospital. Hes looking over his notes at the front desk when a young nurse arrives at the counter.

“Can I help you, sir?”

Jim flips his badge out from his coat pocket. “Officer Karn. I’m looking for patient Beth Knight.”

The nurse nods and leads him down one of the corridors. Jim realizes he hasn’t been in this hospital since his daughter, Miranda, had been in that car accident last year. Just thinking of her driving around with that boy, Mark, makes his fists clench. Jim shakes his thoughts away as they approach an exam room.

Jim nods a thank you at the nurse before stepping into the room. “Hi, Beth? I’m officer Jim Karn; you can just call me Jim, though, okay?”

Beth gives a nod but continues to look at the floor.

He doesn’t recognize her as one of Miranda’s friends, but she looks about the same age. “You go to Finley High School?”

Beth nods again.

“My daughter goes there, too. You know Miranda Karn?”

Looking up for the first time, Beth asks, “You’re Miranda’s dad?”

“Yes. But I promise you, I won’t share anything you tell me with her.”

Beth likes Officer Karn. He seems trustworthy, so she nods again.

“Where are your parents?”

“My mom just stepped outside to call my dad. He’s out of town for work.”

“Do you want to wait for her to come back in before I ask you some questions?”

Beth’s mom bursts through the door before Beth can answer. Her eyes are wet and she looks exhausted.

Before Jim can introduce himself, Beth’s mom begins berating him. He tries numerous times to settle her down so he can continue talking with Beth, until she finally screams.

“My daughter has been raped! Do not tell me to calm down!” The tears are running down her face now and Beth is crying as well.

Beth’s mom composes herself momentarily before saying, “You are going to find out who did this to my girl.” It wasn’t a question.

Jim puts his hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eyes. “I promise, I will do everything I can to figure out who did this.”

They go through what Beth remembers about the night, which, to Jim’s dismay, does not include anything between her heading upstairs and waking up in bed. He collects a list of names of people she remembers being at the party that night, and leaves Beth to rest with her mother.

Part Three

Sleeping in on Sunday did little to help Connor process his memories of last night. His mom immediately senses something is wrong at breakfast. Connor’s dad chalks it up to hearing him play video games all night, covering for his admission of drinking at the party. His dad winks at him and Connor feels the pit in his stomach rising again. He knows he should say something, but how?

His mom admonishes Connor and makes some empty threat of taking his Xbox away. He is so lost in thought that he barely even hears it. He makes an excuse and hurries back to his room. With a pillow over his face, Connor bawls into it, so no one can hear.

Part Four

Jim grabs a stool and sets it near the front entrance inside Finley High School on Monday morning. He wants to be visible as all the students come in this morning. He’s found that the presence of law enforcement alone provides some additional pressure when he meets with students one on one.

With the list of names in hand, Jim watches the students trickle in throughout the morning. He recognizes a lot of them, including Mark, who purposefully avoids his gaze. Seeing Miranda arrive in a group of girls, he knows better than to acknowledge her when she’s with her friends. Besides, he’s there on duty, not as a parent. After the first bell rings, he heads towards Principal Baker’s office, which has been set up for the interrogations today.

Part Five

Connor can barely breathe by the time he makes it to first period. Any remaining hopes that he was overreacting were cut away at the sight of the officer sitting at the entrance of school. There was no doubt in his mind about why the officer was here. To make matters worse, it was Miranda Karn’s dad. Her dad has disliked him and Mark ever since they were in that car accident with Miranda last year.

Selfish thoughts begin to overwhelm Connor. Everybody was so drunk at that party, there’s a chance that no one even knew he was there; he never usually attends parties anyway. At the thought, Connor immediately pictures himself cowering in the bathroom and feels hot with shame. Why can’t he just be brave? He imagines himself standing up right now and marching up to the officer to tell him what happened. But then his heart starts racing and he can barely breathe, let alone find the strength to tell the truth.

Part Six

Mark already has an annoyed look on his face as he walks into the office and sees Jim at the desk. “Why am I here, Jim?”

“It’s Officer Karn, Mark. Sit down, please.”

Sighing, Mark takes a seat across from the officer.

“Were you at Louis Stanberg’s party Saturday night?”

Mark rolls his eyes. “You know I was.”

“Do you remember seeing anything unusual?”

“You mean did I see who assaulted Beth? No, I didn’t. I was with your daughter most of the night, you can even ask her.”

Jim widens his eyes a bit. “How do you know something happened to Beth?”

“Everybody knows. It doesn’t take a detective to know that.”

This boy has some nerve, thinks Jim. Mark had put his daughter in danger last year and then he acts this way towards him. Although, Jim admits in his head, the way he treated Mark after the accident wasn’t something he was proud of. Even after they proved that Mark had been sober, he couldn’t help but be angry at him. He had even forbidden Miranda to keep seeing him, though he knew they still were behind his back.

As much as Jim wants to believe Mark had something to do with Beth’s assault, he just can’t bring himself to believe it. Mark may be reckless and irresponsible, but he didn’t seem capable of this crime. Besides, he’ll be interviewing Miranda soon, and she’ll be able to corroborate Mark’s story if it’s true.

Jim leans back in his chair. “I’m going to ask you again. Do you remember seeing anything unusual on Saturday? Anybody that you noticed around Beth more than normal?”

“Have you talked with Louis Stanberg yet? I heard that he specifically invited Beth because he wanted to hook up with her. And that she rejected him.”

Jim takes note of this. He asks Mark a few more questions but gets no more useful information from him. He tells Mark to let him know if he thinks of anything else.

Part Seven

It’s lunch time and Connor has seen no less than a dozen people go into Principal Baker’s office to meet with Officer Karn. Even now, from the cafeteria, he can see Louis Stanberg heading in for his interview. Connor’s thoughts race as he wonders if anyone has brought up his name.

His stomach sinks even lower as he thinks about what he’ll say if they do call him in. He knows his face will give him away. And if he doesn’t tell them what he knows, the behavior will surely make them suspicious that he’s the one who assaulted her.

The waiting was killing him. Time seemed to be crawling by. He’s probably the only person – other than the assailant – that knows the truth. And Connor knows that if he never gets called into that office, there’s a chance that no one will find out who did it. And the worst part, the part that makes Connor want to puke, is that he really hopes he doesn’t get called into that office.

Part Eight

After 16 interviews, Jim is no closer to figuring out who assaulted Beth. Jim rubs his temples with his fingers and closes his eyes. He runs his hands through his hair and glances at his watch. It’s nearly three and school is about to let out. He has interviewed everyone on the list.

Jim has been a detective for a while now. He knows that most cases aren’t solved in a day, but he still can’t help but feel a little defeated after making no momentum throughout the day. Even the most promising suspect, Louis Stanberg, was ruled out as a suspect. As it turns out, Louis did try to hook up with Beth, but after being rejected, left his own party to go bar hopping for the remainder of the night. Time stamped photos and receipts backed up his alibi.

The last bell rings throughout the school. Jim sighs and packs up his stuff. Once he gets back to the station, he’ll think of where to take the case from here. He’s already missed several calls from Beth’s mom and was dreading the thought of giving her no update.

Jim opens the door and begins to walk out, but nearly knocks over a young man who is standing just outside the office. It takes a second, but Jim recognizes the young man as Mark’s friend, Connor. He was also in the car accident with Mark and Miranda. No one had mentioned him as being at Louis Stanberg’s party, so it hadn’t even occurred to Jim to call him in. But here he was.

Part Nine

Connor can’t even remember what brought him to this moment in time, standing in front of Office Karn. After school had ended. He had made it through the day without coming into this office. All day long, he had hoped that he wouldn’t have to face what he saw. But here he was. Standing in the one place he didn’t want to be. There was no turning back now.

Part Ten

Jim looks at the boy for a moment. He is shaking slightly and looks like he’s about to vomit.

“You’re Connor, right? You feeling okay?”

Connor nods. “I need to talk with you.”

Jim gives the boy an approving look and nods towards the room. “Come on in, Connor.”

Connor takes the empty seat and Jim reclaims his position across the desk.

“So, what is you want to talk about Connor?”

Connor’s heart is thudding so loudly that he’s certain Officer Karn can hear it. Hell, the people in the parking lot can probably hear it too. The next words that are spoken are in Connor’s voice, but Connor is certain that it’s someone else saying them.

“I saw what happened to Beth.”

Jim looks seriously at the boy. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

“I wandered upstairs because I was bored. I hate parties. When I got to the top of the stairs, I saw Beth in the hallway.”

Jim pulls out his notebook. “How did she seem when you saw her?”

“She was really drunk. I tried to get her attention and she barely acknowledged me. I went past her to use the restroom.”

Connor’s eyes start to well with water.

“Take your time, Connor.”

Attempting to reign the tears back in, Connor continues. “While I was in the bathroom, I heard some noises in the hallway. I managed to look out the door just in time to see- ”

This was a bad idea Connor tells himself. Why did he come here? Why didn’t he just walk out the stupid doors and go home.

Thinking of home reminds Connor of why he must continue.

Wiping his face with his sweater sleeve, Connor goes on. “I saw him pull Beth into the back bedroom. And when I left, the door was open, and I saw her on the bed with her clothes on the floor.” The floodgates were opened, and Connor couldn’t stop crying as he continued talking. “I was in the bathroom the whole time. I could’ve stopped it. I could’ve done something. But I didn’t. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Please tell Beth I’m so sorry.”

Jim put a hand on Connor’s shoulder to steady him. “Who pulled Beth into the bedroom, Connor?”

Connor looks up into Jim’s face. “He was just there to pick us up. I don’t understand what happened. I don’t understand why he came inside.” He begins crying heavily again.

Confused, Jim asks, “Connor, who was there to pick you up? I don’t understand what you mean.”

At almost a whisper, Connor says, “My dad. My dad came to pick us up that night. But he was there early. I saw him in the hallway. I saw him with Beth.”

Sitting back in the chair, Jim is bewildered. He doesn’t quite know what to say. He gets up from the desk and grabs Connor’s shoulders. “You did the right thing, Connor. I’m so sorry that you have to go through something like this. You’ve done a very good thing. Please excuse me for just a second.”

Connor watches Jim step outside the office and moments later, sees him on the phone from the office window. Connor is an emotional wreck. He is terrified of what’s to come. He is horrified of what this will do to his mother. And he fears how his father will look at him.

But the guilt.

That guilt that's been eating him alive for the past two days.

Well, it's still there, but it feels just a little lighter now.