He was my best
friend. My savior. My shoulder to cry on when I felt upset. My
helping hand when I was in need. He made me laugh every day.
(Sometimes so much that my ribs would hurt!)
I never doubted
him when he was having trouble. It’s such a shame that there was
someone out there who was so cruel as to kill him. He volunteered at
animal shelters, nursing homes, he bought an orphan a new bike, and
he even built a house in Nicaragua! He rarely had any enemies or
anyone who hated him, so who did it? How did it happen? All I know,
is that I will never have a brother as great as Eric.
Growing up, Eric and I were inseparable. We played together, laughed
together, ate together, sometimes we even shared our birthdays! I
would blame it on him. He would then blame it on the dog. We had so
much fun together! Our mother sometimes had to keep us away from each
other, by locking us in our rooms! We went to the same schools, had
the same first job, and we both had twin pet Bulldogs! Whenever I had
a problem, he was the first one I called. He would always tell me to
be strong, and to not worry about other people. Just worry about
yourself. I always had that quote in the back of my mind, whenever I
was faced with a sticky situation.
I was always the
baby in the family, and he was always the big tough as I call him,
“teddy bear.” Even though he was big, bad, tough and strong, he
was always by my side and he never let me fall or get caught off
track. I am now sixteen, and I
NEED my big
brother here with me, in my life. I have gone through everything for
two years without my brother. He died when he was seventeen. I am now
sixteen, so I am so close, that I could really use some brotherly
advice and love, but unfortunately, he will not be here to lend a
hand.
My mother just
keeps telling me to be strong, but it’s hard to stay strong when I
don’t have my shield of protection covering me. I have done
everything I can to keep moving on in my life, but I’m not strong
enough to forget about Eric’s death. My best friend Tanya, has been
with me as long as my brother has, and she is helping me get through
life without Eric. Tanya and I aren’t as close as my brother and I
are, but she is like a sister to me and she is providing me with all
the advice needed to make me stronger and believe that the angels are
watching over my brother and that he is safe up there.
My mother raised
Eric and me by herself, because my father left my mother when she was
pregnant with my brother. My mother has been cancer-free for almost
two years, and she is still raising me by herself. God bless my
mother’s heart. I’m so proud of her! I never knew my father, and
now I no longer have my brother. I am totally team mommy! Growing up
I didn’t have a lot of friends except Tanya, and I was bullied and
picked on, so my mother had to pack up and move from Connecticut, to
San Francisco. My brother once got in a fight with a kid who hit me,
and Eric sent him to the hospital! I always wondered about my father,
but my mother refused to tell me anything because she thought that I
would never understand and that there was no point on trying to make
me understand. My father, from what little information I know, was a
drug addict and never wanted children or a wife. It would be nice to
have a father in my life, but in the end, my mother is my biggest
support system, and I couldn’t imagine ever having a life without
her. (I never imagined a life without my brother either, but I am
staying strong and am pursuing my dream of becoming a biologist.)
Oh I forgot to
mention, growing up I have always wanted to work with animals and
study their way of life. Being a biologist, means dissecting animals
and animal parts, looking at different cells, and discovering new
species of animals, which may sound disturbing, weird, and gross, but
I think it’s fascinating! The children at the schools I went to,
had dreams of being a teacher, model, athlete, writer, engineer, etc.
There’s
nothing wrong with that, but I just have different hobbies and
interests which made me stick out as a weird awkward kid.
BUT
WHO CARES!!?? I love animals and I want to be a
well-known, experienced biologist, regardless of what other people
say and think. (Just like my brother told me!)
(My name kind of
sounds like a biologist name. Katherine Rose Greenburg.)
My mother wanted
me to be a dentist, but now my mother totally supports me and my
decision to become a biologist. My mother doesn’t really are that
much for snakes, alligators, rats, insects, etc.
I think that
these creatures are so fascinating and have so much life to live,
that I just have to learn more about them! My mother likes the cute,
chubby little furry puppies and kitties. My point is, that I have a
special love for animals and I want to continue showing my love
through my career!
Now, back to
Eric.
How did they do it? Why did they
do it? All of these questions were making a circle
in my brain. Eric wasn’t a popular kid, but he wasn’t hated by
many people. I can’t imagine someone from school being the
murderer. Maybe it was some gangster on the street. These images are
making my stomach twist and turn. All I know is that according to my
family, Eric was killed and the cops are trying to figure out who
killed him. My mother thinks that maybe it was one of those filthy
frat boys who live in those motels across the street. They’re
always sneaking girls in there and causing mischief in our
neighborhood. Troublemakers. I don’t think it was them because they
don’t even know Eric, and those guys don’t seem
THAT
dangerous, just a little bit of trouble here and there.
Also, Eric has never been around those motels, so how could they kill
him?
I think it was
Mr. Vere, the math teacher at Sparkle Stripes Middle School. Rumor
has it, last year he got mad at one of his students, so he tased him
and the student had to go to the hospital! That dude is dangerous!
Eric was driving out to his buddy’s house (I can’t remember his
name. I think it was Jim Bob or Jim Bo or something), and he said he
saw police cars at Mr. Vere’s house. He didn’t say whether or not
he was arrested, but if the po-po (police) are at your house, it’s
bad! It wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Vere found out where Eric was
and “took care of him.”
Eric wasn’t
just dead from being killed though. According to the police and my
family, Eric was shot once and stabbed once, then he was taken to a
hospital where he then died.
HOW
COULD SOMEONE HAVE NO SOUL AND KILL THE NICEST MAN IN THE
WORLD?????!!!!!!!! My grandmother says that maybe
Eric got in a fight with someone and the fight went too far. I don’t
believe that for a second. Eric
NEVER got in fights! He
always talked about any problems he had in order to solve the problem
in a mature manner. The rest of my family is still mourning about our
loss, and are just stunned that he was killed. Tanya says I should
get a boyfriend like her so that I can be happy, but realistically,
boys are gross, disgusting, aggressive, tough, stupid, dumb, and
smelly. No thanks. Tanya’s boyfriend AJ, has red hair, lots of
piercings, tattoos, wears chains and only the color black, listens to
scary loud heavy metal bands, and gets Ds in lunch. He’s a keeper.
(Not really.)
At Eric’s
funeral, it was a freak show. My family was all wearing black (I was
wearing a gold scarf to add a little flair to my outfit!), everyone
(including me) was crying and tearing up, when they were burying
Eric’s body, my mother was balling her eyes out and couldn’t stop
holding my hand and squeezing it, and when everyone left to go pray
and have dinner at Bertucci’s, I was the only one who actually ATE
because everybody else was to depressed to eat. (I didn’t have
lunch so I ate that Chicken Parmesan like my life depended on it!)
The last time I
saw Eric’s grave was 5 months ago. His grave has the baby blue and
purple lilies that I picked out of my grandmother’s garden resting
on it. I never gardened in my life until I had no choice but to try
something new for the sake of my deceased brother. Eric was allergic
to 4 different types of flowers! Daisies, dandelions, orchids, and
(oddly) only YELLOW roses! Wait. Forget the flowers, this is about my
big brother! My mother had a big brother that died of cancer, and a
younger brother that died because of pneumonia. (I had pneumonia when
I was 6, and I almost died!)
My mother told
me that when I was born I had sparkling blue eyes and light blonde
hair. Eric had brown hair and dark brown eyes. My mom has burnt,
pale, orange hair and brown eyes. My dad had dark blonde hair and
green eyes. We are a beautiful, colorful, loving, happy, family!
(Minus my father). Our family was so happy and we had family movie
and game night every Monday. When Eric passed away, my mother and I
had to learn to use all the extra empty space in our five-bedroom
home. Wasn’t easy. Eric had an American Flag painted bedroom and he
turned the basement into his “man-cave.” My mother and I decided
to turn his boy-filled basement into a place to have my mother’s
art classes. My mother teaches children art and she has her own
classes to make money. My mother and I really bonded during our big
house project. My favorite family memory was when my mother, brother
and I went to Dave & Buster’s and my mother couldn’t get
anything out of the claw machine, and the grabber kept missing by
like a centimeter. I took over and showed my mother how to use the
little nun chuck thingy properly and make sure that she was pushing
it in the right direction. I ended up grabbing a pig and a German
Shepard AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also grabbed a blowfish, a
dolphin, a tiger, and a snake. My mother laughed, because she thought
it was funny that she couldn’t get anything from the claw machine
but I could! My brother thought it was funny too! My mother said that
it’s the blonde hair that is my good luck charm, because nobody
except my 12th cousin Annie has blonde hair.
Another fun,
memorable event that happened, was when my brother and I hopped onto
two monster trucks, and had a race. Eric plays a lot more racing
games than I do, and he has actually ridden in a monster truck
before! That wasn’t enough to make me forfeit! I rode that truck
like it was my job! He started off pushing me off the track and
zooming ahead. I used a special power to slow him down, and then I
caught up with him. We were both neck and neck, going at the same
pace. I found my opportunity, and smashed into him, sending him WAY
back behind me off the track! I zoomed past him, and crossed the
finish line! I couldn’t believe that I beat ERIC at a RACING
game!!!! Maybe my hair was my good luck charm! Eric told me that I
was cheating, but he’s just a sore loser! Hahahaha! Till this day,
every time I go to Dave & Buster’s, people want to challenge me
to a race, because they saw a little blonde hair blue-eyed girl beat
a buff hardcore dude. (AJ challenges me all the time, and I beat him
EVERY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!)
Yesterday, Tanya
and I went to Claire’s for matching gummy bear earrings. They
didn’t have the blue ones that I wanted, but that was okay, because
we both got rainbow instead! Way better! Tanya and I have matching
pajamas, bff bracelets, monkey stuffed animals, pillows, cell phone
cases, and sometimes we even have matching outfits! Tanya is the
spender amongst the two of us. I am the saver. Every time she gets
money, she instantly drags me to the mall and spends every last dime
that she has. Then she later complains that she doesn’t have any
money and asks to borrow some. I am in 12th grade and so
is Tanya. Tanya works at Chick-Fil-A, and I work at Skater Fun Zone
to make money. I wanted to work at Claire’s because that is my
favorite store, but my mother gave me three options only: Skater Fun
Zone, Chick-Fil-A, or IHop. I hate IHop, and I didn’t want to work
at the same place that Tanya worked at because we would be down each
other’s throats arguing all the time and fighting for customers.
Not a good choice. I like to roller skate, but I don’t really like
to deal with whiney, snotty, bratty children. I had no other choice,
but to take the job. Working at Skater Fun Zone, IS NOT FUN! Last
week a women walked in with her five children. She asked for 6 pairs
of skates. Five had to be a size (I think) 13, and one had to be a
size 6. I handed the women her skates and she handed them back to me
with a disgusted look on her face. As politely as I could, I asked
her why she had returned them back to me. You know what that old hag
said?! She said that she hated the color red, so she refused to have
her children or herself wear them! What kind of sick world do we live
in!? I can’t control what color the freaking skates are! They just
happen to be yellow, red, and blue. That’s not my fault! On my
second day of work, this really cute Hispanic guy with Liam Payne
hair, came over to the front counter and asked for a 15 size men’s
pair of skates. We unfortunately did not have that size, so I had to
tell him that we did not have those, and I gave him his money back.
When I gave him his money back, he asked me to dig through the
register and find the EXACT money and change that he gave me. I spent
a good 20 minutes trying to figure out where the money was. How do
people do this?! How do they work with customers?! All they do is
complain and demand things from you. I wish I could quit, but I need
the money. Crap.
My mother aside
from teaching art classes every Monday and Wednesday, she works as a
pediatrician. I think a pediatrician is like an eye doctor, but I
really don’t know. My mother says that in order to overcome working
at a job that you hate, you have to just make it fun. I try to have
fun at my job, by skating after work, reading magazines while there
are no customers entering, and I even sometimes help children learn
how to skate. I just wish that the customers would shut their big,
complaining, annoying mouths, and just appreciate the fact that I
come to that torture chamber every day, just so I can make minimum
wage. Greedy, selfish little ********! My mother one time came into
work to bring me lunch, and this big bearded guy with a bandana on
cut in front of her in line! He was like 300 times my mother’s size
and he just cut right in front of her?! Rude. Now do you understand
why I hate my job?! Aside from the customers complaining, the guy
that I have a MAJOR crush on works there too! His name is Jacob
Asher. He has blonde hair, green eyes (which are so beautiful like a
field of perfectly mowed grass), he is about 6’2, he is on the
basketball team, and more importantly HE IS SINGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I
have had a crush on him for two years, but I always get nervous
around him and I start stuttering whenever he talks to me. Once when
we were in history class together, he asked to borrow my pencil three
times, and I was so nervous that I started crying! He felt so bad,
and so did I. I have no game when it comes to boys. I think boys are
gross, filthy, creatures, but with Jacob, there is an exception.
Tanya tries to help me practice talking to Jacob, by having me
role-play with AJ, but it’s not the same when I am standing face to
face with Jacob. Tanya likes to make jokes and has three different
couple names picked out for me and Jacob. I came up with TanJ for
Tanya and AJ. Tanya has decided on either Katob, Jacorine, or KatJac.
I’m not saying that they are all great names, but if I had to pick
one, I would pick KatJac, just because it sounds cute and different
than any other original couple name. Anyways, back to my brother.
He’s dead and I’m sad.
Today is
investigation day. Today on this normal spring afternoon on a
Thursday (it’s summer break so I spend a lot of my time uncracking
the mystery of the murderer instead of going to the mall or going out
to the pool), I am looking for the cruel, cod-hearted, jerk face,
monster who killed my brother! I made a list of all of the possible
suspects. They are: Mr. Vere, those motel dummies, that homeless guy
on Yellow Brick Rd. that always carries a gun with him for
protection, the girl that lives around the block that has always
wanted to kill someone and go to jail (don’t ask why), and Daniel.
Daniel has been
Eric’s friend since they were two years old. Daniel and Eric are
like me and Tanya. Eric’s peanut butter, Daniel’s the jelly.
Daniel is the hip, Eric’s the hop. Eric is the pencil, Daniel’s
the eraser. (That one was lame).
Daniel and Eric
were both on the basketball team at their middle school and high
school. They did everything together just like Tanya and I. Eric was
always riding his skateboard either to Domino’s to grab a bite to
eat with Daniel or he would just take a ride to Daniel’s house.
(Daniel lives 2 minutes away from us). My mom told me to add Daniel
to the murderer list because she was in her little soap box about how
you never know who a person and how Daniel might not be as nice and
innocent as we thought. (UGH). I personally think that my mother is
being a drama queen, but I just put his name on the list just so she
would stop bugging me.
News Flash: It’s
not Daniel. I know that for a fact. Daniel is such a good boy just
like Eric. Daniel goes to church to every Sunday with his mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother, Daniel volunteers at local animal
shelters and feeds and cares for abused animals, Daniel once even
bought a little kid ice-cream at a carnival once because the kid
couldn’t afford it. In fact, that was the first day that I met
Daniel! My mother invited Daniel to the carnival with her, Eric, and
me. Way to make a first impression right?!
I was planning on
going to interrogate Mr. Vere and ask him if he knew anything about
Eric’s death, (Fyi: I did plan an appointment to meet with everyone
on my list, but just like always my mother says that it’s not safe
and that my Uncle Vinny should be the interrogator). I can kind of
understand why my mother would say that Uncle Vinny should do it, I
mean after all, he is 250lbs., was a former wrestler, he’s 6’7,
he is EXTREMELY intimidating and tough, and he definitely knows how
to get people to tell the truth! He seems like he would be the one to
get all the juicy secrets from people, but I still don’t think that
any of them will tell him the truth. Uncle Vinny is actually on his
way over to Mr. Vere’s house right now! I already have out my Hello
Kitty notepad and my favorite pen that looks like a pretzel for when
Uncle Vinny gets back so that I can copy down what he says to see if
that matches the possible evidence that Mr. Vere killed my brother.
Its 30 minutes.
I’m really worried about Uncle Vinny.
Is he on his way back? Did
Uncle Vinny get in a fight with Mr. Vere? OMG! Did Mr. Vere kill
UNCLE VINNY??!!!! Right as I was about to scream my face off, the
doorbell rang.
I ran to the door
like a mad man and looked through the little peephole on the door,
and saw that it was Uncle Vinny. Well at least I knew he wasn’t
dead. “Katherine, Mr. Vere isn’t the murderer.”
“How do you
know?” I asked.
“Shawn (Mr.
Vere’s first name) said that he never knew that Eric was there, and
that he would never do that to such a (and I quote) “charming young
man.”
“I still don’t
believe it. How do we know that he didn’t kill him? Maybe he
punched him, but didn’t necessarily kill him. I’m still not
convinced.”
Uncle Vinny sat
next to me and took a deep breath. “Katherine, the police weren’t
at his house because he was in trouble or committed a crime. He said
that they were at his house, because Mr. Vere was making noise and
one of the neighbors had a noise complaint.”
“I can
understand that, but I really feel that he is the one who caused
Eric’s death.”
Uncle Vinny got
up and walked around with his hands behind his back. He opened the
back door and made a phone call. He seemed pretty happy while he was
speaking to whoever.
Uncle Vinny came
back in, ran and sat down next to me smiling.
“What up with
you?” I asked scooting away from him.
“Do you really
think that Mr. Vere is the one who killed your brother?” Uncle
Vinny asked raising his left eyebrow.
I opened my eyes
wide and nodded my head up and down. “I really do Uncle Vinny.” I
said using my sad- guppy face.
“I was just
speaking to my buddy Joe. He is a lie detector operator. He sets up
an accurate and true lie detector for people. If you wanna know if
Mr. Vere killed Eric, let’s use Joe’s lie detector test and find
out for ourselves.”
Uncle Vinny then
smiled so big that I’m sure his jaws hurt! That lie detector test
wasn’t a bad idea. Could it work? Maybe. “Well it’s worth a
try.” I said smiling.
Two
Hours Later
“Were the cops
at your house because you committed a crime or got into legal
trouble?” Joe asked Mr. Vere with a serious tone in is voice.
Mr. Vere had
wires hanging all over him, clipped to the tip of his fingers, and
Joe was looking at a computer and saying things like “No deception
indicated.”, which I think means that he is telling the truth.
“No.” Mr.
Vere says sounding sure of himself.
Joe looks at
Uncle Vinny and nods. “There is no deception indicated.”
This was the
third question that was being asked, so at least he was telling the
truth about SOMETHING. I was really waiting to hear if he was telling
the truth about murdering my brother. I was biting my nails and my
legs were shaking up and down. If he killed my brother, OH LORD. You
better hop I don’t murder HIM!
“Finally Shawn,
did you have any part in the murder of Eric Miller?”
(Eric and I have
different fathers, so we don’t share the same last name.)
“No” Mr. Vere
said quickly.
Joe squinted his
eyes. “Is that your final answer?”
Mr. Vere took a
deep breath and looked at me. “Yes that is my final answer.”
Joe pulled his
finger back and forth, gesturing for Uncle Vinny to come over and see
the results on the computer. Joe then smiled. “There is no
deception indicated there either. With these results, you have proved
that you did not have any involvement in Eric’s death.”
Joe got up from
his seat, took all the weird looking stuff of Mr. Vere, closed down
his computer, and shook Mr. Vere’s hand. “Shawn, thank you for
coming and I hope you have fine evening.”
“Thank you
Joe.”
Mr. Vere then
turned to me and said scratching his head, “Katherine, I am so
sorry that you have to go through stress about your brother’s
death, but now you know it was not me.”
I didn’t
respond. I just stared at my worn-out black high tops and sighed. I
wouldn’t say that I was angry that Mr. Vere passed the lie detector
test, I just don’t know who else would do it. (At least my
investigation is one person down.)
Uncle Vinny put
his arm around me and sighed.
“I know you
thought he was the one who killed your brother” Uncle Vinny said
gently, “but your search will just have to keep on truckin’.”
I giggled a
little bit. (Due to him saying “Keep on truckin’.”)
Uncle Vinny
grabbed his keys, we jumped (literally) into his dark green pick-up
truck. As we were driving we stopped by a Taco Bell to get a bite to
eat. (I hadn’t eaten all day!).
My lunch: 3
soft tacos, a Dr. Pepper, and a bag of cinnamon twists. Uncle Vinny’s
lunch: 1 soft taco, 1 hard-shell volcano taco, 1 Cool Ranch taco, and
a Coke. As I was licking cinnamon off of my fingers, we drove
past a Smart Car with a guy with a snapback hat on, (I couldn’t
really tell) but it looked like old, ripped jeans driving the car,
and a girl wearing a teal tube top, booty shorts, and trashy bright
red lipstick in the passenger seat. (I’m guessing they were a
couple.). Anyway, as we were driving directly next to the car on the
road, the girl could not stop staring at me. She was just staring at
me like I just called her fat or something. Literally for like 10
minutes, her eyes were focused on me! Creepy. (I probably had sour
cream on my face. It’s still freaking creepy!).
When we got home,
my mother was making dinner. I could tell from the smell that she was
making my favorite dish: Chicken Stir Fry. (In case you didn’t
know, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ASIAN FOOD! I literally can’t live without
it! I always loved stir fry as a kid and I still love it till this
day! I eat it so much that within seconds of smelling it, I instantly
can tell that my mother is cooking up some Bomb.com Chicken Stir
Fry!).
When my mother
saw that we had arrived, she put down the spatula she was using and
walks over hugging me and smiling. “KATHERINE! You’re home! How
was your ride? Did you dig up the dirt?”
I put my hand
over my mother’s mouth and said “shhhhh”.
“Ma, let me
speak please” I commented.
“Okay sit honey
I’m sorry. I’m just so anxious to hear how your investigation
went!”
I sat down and my
mother went to go check on my chicken stir fry. (THAT’S RIGHT. I
CALLED DIBS!).
“So we went to
the little interrogation room where Joe had the lie detector set up.”
My mother came
back to her seat and nodded up and down, acknowledging that she was
listening to me.
“Did he pass
it?!” my mother asked not being able to hold anything in.
“MA! I’m
getting to it. Okay?”
My mother takes a
deep breath and gestures for me to continue speaking.
“Okay so Joe
put all the weird wires and stuff around Mr. Vere and Joe started
asking questions about Eric, and about the cops, and all those
goody-goodies. I really didn’t listen to all of the questions
except the question about if the cops were at his house because he
committed a crime, and then the big question that I was waiting to
hear: Did he have any part in the murder of Eric.”
I spoke about my
day in between large mouthfuls of rice, peppers, and chicken. My
mother must have added either cayenne pepper, paprika, chili powder,
or Sriacha to it, because it seemed a lot spicier than it usually is.
I have really “weak” taste buds, so it was a little too spicy for
me. I had already drank about three full glasses of milk already.
(Yes, I drink milk with my dinner. Don’t judge me!). My mother must
have noticed that I had something on my face, because she handed me a
napkin and chuckled. (In case you haven’t already noticed, I am a
VERY messy eater!!!!!!!).
“So what
happened? Did he kill Eric?!” my mother asked almost knocking over
her can of Pepsi. (Who drinks Pepsi with CHICKEN STIR FRY!!!!? UGH.).
“No ma. He
didn’t kill Eric. He passed every question. The cops weren’t at
his house because he committed a crime, and he said he didn’t even
know that Eric was there.”
My mom shook her
head in disbelief. “Well now we know it’s either the “I want to
kill a person” girl, the college frat boys, the ugly homeless guy,
or Daniel.”
When my mother
said “Daniel” I just rolled my eyes because Daniel is Eric’s
BFF and I know for a fact, that Daniel would never do that! Quite
frankly, I don’t even know why my mother had me put him on the
“Murderers List.” The question was too much for me to just remain
curious. I had to know what was going through my mother’s head.
“Ma?” I asked
using my little baby voice.
“Yes?” my
mother asked me with a mouthful of peppers.
“Why did you
tell me to put Daniel on the list? I mean we all know that he is
Eric’s best friend and that he wouldn’t ever in the right mind
KILL him!”
My mom smiled.
Why would she smile? There’s nothing funny about my question!
“Katherine, you
and I both know that it’s about friendships when it comes to a
murder investigation. Daniel has done some pretty wacky and crazy
things in the past that has gotten him in trouble. I’m not saying
that Daniel IS the murder, but we need to keep our options and minds
open, and we need all the people we can get.
I looked at my
mother with one of my EXTREMELY bushy eyebrows flared up and the
other flared down.
“What “crazy
wacky things” has Daniel done before?” I asked.
My mother took
the world’s largest gulp of Pepsi and then belched like a huge
truck driver.
“Well, I don’t
want to be rude because Daniel’s mother and I are friends, but
Daniel has ditched school, he has stolen money from his parents
before, and he even has vandalized and damaged property before!”
“How do you
know all of this ma? You can’t know that all of this is 100% true.”
My mother leaned
back in her chair and rubbed her stomach, indicating that she was
full and didn’t want to eat anymore.
“Charice
(Daniel’s mother) and I have very deep conversations, and one thing
that she told me, was that Daniel has not always had a good
reputation. He actually was held back in 7th grade, he has
had issues with police and breaking the law a few times, and he had
to go to therapy for 5 years for anger management. Daniel started to
change his behavior in 8th grade after he was held back He
started to focus more in school, he controlled his anger and his
feelings, he hasn’t (that I know of) had any legal issues with cops
or the law, and of course from what you can witness Kat, Daniel is
very caring and he works very hard at basketball. He actually got an
acceptance letter to one of the highest colleges that specialize in
basketball (I can’t remember the name of it), that Daniel
(according to his mother), has been DYING to get into! Daniel has
definitely cleaned up his act, but if we need to, we can question him
and see if he knows anything about what happened to Eric that may
lead us to who is the murderer.”
I took my plate
and my mother’s plate off of the table, and I threw them in the
sink. (Literally I threw them! I was too lazy to place them gently in
the sink). Uncle Vinny was now watching COPS on the TV. How ironic.
I then grabbed my Minnesota Vikings hoodie, and went upstairs. I just
needed to take everything and think about what my next step would be.
“What do you
think she’s going to do next Vin?” my mother asked letting out a
huge sigh.
Uncle Vinny did
not even move a muscle, and said back to my mother “She will
probably tell her friend Tawny that Eric’s best friend murdered
Eric.”
My mother
chuckled. “Ok first of all, IT’S TANYA! (My uncle always called
Tanya “Tawny”. He never remembers her name).
“Second of all,
I told Katherine not to tell anyone because we don’t want to have
to deal with kid’s parents saying that their children are scared
that there is a murderer at their school. Also, we don’t know for
sure if Daniel really did kill Eric, we are just weighing down our
options and we’re trying to dig deep for this investigation.”
Uncle Vinny
smiled and kept watching COPS as if he hadn’t heard a single thing
my mother said. Typical Uncle Vinny.
Two
Days later
“Oh my freakin’
GOD! It’s been like 45 minutes. Why isn’t Uncle Vinny back yet?!”
I said banging my fists onto the table.
My mother said
surprisingly calmly, “Honey, quit banging your hands on the d*mn
table! Uncle Vinny should be back any minute now. When he gets here
don’t harass him about whether or not he knows if the homeless guy
killed Eric.”
Today was the day
that the homeless guy who had like 6 teeth would be interrogated
about if he was involved with the murder of Eric. My mother thought
it was unsafe to have me go with Uncle Vinny, because he thought that
maybe the homeless guy had mental problems and so it would be safer
if he just went alone. I’m gonna like die if he isn’t back in the
next 5 minutes! How long does it take to ask someone “Did you
murder Eric Greenburg?”
The doorbell
rang, and I ran so fast to the door that I tripped over our dog Nemo,
and he ran downstairs in the basement. Never wear socks on hardwood
floors! It equals a slippery massacre
“Uncle Vinny!
Thank god you’re back! What happened? Did he kill Eric? How did it
go? Did he cry? Can we stop with our investigation?”
My Uncle Vinny
put his hand over my mouth, indicating in a nice way for me to shut
up. I know that I’m being annoying, but I just need to know if I
can stop my investigation, or if I need to keep moving on and
interrogating the crap out of people!
“Relax Katy. He
didn’t cry, he didn’t have any weapons on him, he didn’t go
insane, and more importantly, he didn’t kill your brother.”
“How can you be
so sure that he didn’t?” I asked looking pissed off.
“He says he has
no idea who Eric is, and that he would never murder anybody. He is
actually a really smart, nice guy. He had a daughter that died of
cancer, his name is Bradley, he actually was studying to become a
software engineer, and he loves (oddly) komodo dragons. He said that
when his wife kicked him out because of a divorce, he had no money
and became homeless on the streets for about two years. He said he is
trying to make some extra cash, but business in this town is hard.”
My mother walked
over and shook her head up and down. “Tell me about it! Business
nowadays is so jacked up. You can barely find a single well-paying,
non-snotty-rich-people-owned job, and when you do, you usually get
laid off! My friend Quinn is trying to find a teaching job for kids,
but all of the elementary schools around here are SUPER expensive and
she can’t find one that is close to where she lives.”
(I just kinda
zoned out from that point on, but they were talking for like 30
minutes about what seemed like jobs and businesses. Ugh adults these
days.)
“Ummm hello!
Are you two just gonna stand around a talk about business?! We need
to talk about my brother’s death! I want this investigation to end,
because I just need to know what low-life loser had the lack of heart
and love for my brother that they would kill him! You two can get
coffee some other day. Right now our number one priority is Eric.”
Both of them
looked at me and smiled. “Okay sweetie let’s sit and chat more
about Bradley and how we can cross him off of our list now.”
We all sat on the
couch and I was so eager to hear how the interrogation went that I
had my eyes wide open and my crystal, clear, blue pupils were staring
right at Uncle Mike.
“Okay here’s
how it went down” my Uncle said looking scared that I was staring
at him.
“So basically,
I came over to Bradley and I was very nice and shook his hand and I
introduced myself and we started talking about business and our
lives. He had mentioned that a lot of naughty teenagers are always on
the streets at night and he can never sleep. I asked him if he knew
any of the things, to make sure that at least I could find out if he
even KNEW Eric. He said that he had no idea, but he did mention
something about a boy who was always playing basketball who lived in
this neighborhood. I then decided to just get right down to the dirty
facts. I first started out easy. I asked him very calmly “Do you
know a young man named Eric Greenburg?”
“He said that
that name didn’t ring a bell and that it didn’t sound familiar.
So at least I knew that he didn’t (as far as I know) know Eric.
Then I got a little more serious. I said “Did you know that he was
murdered a few years ago?”
“He was like
“Oh my goodness! I had no idea! Who killed him?!”
We all just
looked at each other in silence for about 2 minutes before Uncle
Vinny started to continue on with his story.
“As soon as he
asked me that, I knew that I had to break the happy little circle and
just hit him with the big question. I asked as non-scary as I could
“Well you see that’s why I’m here actually. My niece was
actually his sister and she wants to know if maybe YOU were the one
who killed him.”
“He just looked
at me with the most puzzled look I have ever see someone have. He
actually looked like he was about to cry. He said in a little
monotone voice, “ABSOLUTELY NOT! I HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD OF THIS
“ERIC” THAT YOU SPEAK OF! I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE!
HOW DARE YOU TRY TO ACCUSE ME OF COMMITTING A CRIME! I HAVE NEVER
KILLED A SINGE PERSON IN MY LIFE AND I NEVER WILL!”
I interjected and
said “Dang. He sure was pissed off. But you weren’t accusing him.
You were just asking him a simple question. It’s kinda fishy to me
about why he got so defensive when you asked him that.”
My mother looked
at Uncle Vinny with a look that (to me) looked like she agreed with
me. Uncle Vinny just kept on talking. (And talking. And talking. And
talking. And talking.)
“Well that’s
true. But he probably just thought that it was a little rude. I mean
I wouldn’t like it if someone did that to me. But anyways, I just
let him go on his rant about how I needed to leave and how I was mean
and a whole bunch of some bull#@&$. I just tried to calm him down
so that I could further explain to him the situation and how we got
to him as a suspect. I just said “Sir, I didn’t meant to get you
all worked up, and nobody is accusing you of anything. My family and
I are just really heartbroken about the situation so we are just
doing whatever we can to dig up the dirt and find out who the
murderer is. My niece and my sister just made a list of different
people to interrogate and they for some reason chose you as one.”
“Bradley just
looked at me with a REALLY sad little puppy-dog-eye face and just
said to me “Why?”
My mother
interrupted and said “I have to pee. Keep talking to Katherine Vin
and I’ll be back.”
(OMG. I hate when
people announce that they’re going to the bathroom! Like if you’re
gonna piss, just go do it! You don’t have to make a public
announcement about it because nobody cares!)
Uncle Vinny
shifted his body towards me and kept speaking.
“I told him
that he was just a person that we were considering because maybe he
would give us some information about seeing Eric out and about so
that maybe he could actually HELP us crack the case.”
“Wow you sure
were nice to him. Because that’s really not at all why he was on
the
SUSPECTS list.” I said sounding kinda pissed off.
(I actually wasn’t I just hadn’t had my daily candy bar so I was
a little pissy. Chocolate calms me down.)
At this point my
mother had returned back to the couch and Uncle Vinny just kept
blabbing on and on.
“Yeah but I had
to be nice, because I already had upset him and I didn’t want to
upset him even more. So we just kept talking about some other things
and he was saying that he was glad to meet and we pretty much just
ended there. Anyways that is the story and now we can eliminate him
off the list and continue our search.”
I raced upstairs
and got my list and immediately after I found my leopard print fuzzy
pen, his name was gone. I went back downstairs for the rest because I
knew that my mother was gonna run her mouth too.
“So I guess
next on our list is that depressing girl that has always wanted to
kill someone.” my mother said clearly ready to just move on to the
next person.
“Wait mom.” I
said.
“I need a break
from this for a while It’s summer, I have a life, I have a job, I
still have to buy Tanya a birthday gift because her birthday s in 3
days, and I have to sleep at night and for once not have to worry
about who I’m gonna interrogate next.”
My mother put her
hand on my shoulder and said sounding sympathetic, “You’re right
honey. You shouldn’t have to go through this. You are still young
and have other things to do. Tell you what, we can hold off on the
investigation for 3 weeks that way you can have a little free time.
We have been making this list for almost 3 years and it was my fault
that we just now are starting to go through the investigation
process. You just take the car and go to Target to buy something nice
for Tanya.”
My mother handed
me $50 and handed me the keys. I am so happy to FINALLY be able to
just let go and live my life. I mean what girl doesn’t love
shopping! I got my jacket and hopped in my pink (yes my PINK) Jeep
and pulled out of the driveway. I took the super long way to get to
Target, because I hadn’t driven in like 2 months and I love the
feeling of it! I saw all of the pretty streetlights and the fact that
I was driving a hot pink Jeep, definitely turns some heads!
I was driving for about 20 minutes before I reached the Target. I
parked my car, locked it up, grabbed a shopping cart, and got into
Shopping Mode!
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