Blood stained her stunned form, her face was filled with pure horror from what she had seen, leaving her feeling sick and deprived of air.

Just forcing herself to breathe hurt her lungs as they pressed against her chest, she remained frozen from seeing the form of her best friend lay on the remains of her parent’s glass table.

She never knew how it happened or why, all she could understand was that it did.

She trusted him and yet maybe it was the beer he brought talking, but he had come on to her.

They had known each other since secondary school and now they finally graduated to achieve what they truly wanted, finally able to enter college in order to achieve their own dreams.

Dreams not many people knew of nor cared to ask, but now.

Now it had to be postponed indefinitely and all because of this.

It was odd though, she never did think that it would happen.

Maybe a little strongly for her liking but she did trust him, he would never hurt her but that didn’t stop the voices in her head.

“We told you he was dangerous” an eerie voice whispered in her ears.

“And yet… you never listened” another eerie voice added sounding as if it was scolding her as no voice left her lips, breathless still as reality of what happened continued to haunt her mind.

Staring at the body with no face, nor was it recognizable due to the fact that it looked like it had been torn to shreds by something she knew nothing about.

To think that what was once her imaginary friends- the voices would cause such a scene.

Some voices even as she grew up had left her shivering thanks to how eerie they were as they spoke.

Some voices sounded sinister leaving her almost screaming in fear at times, but refrained from doing so thanks to where she was.

Occasionally one voice due to how close they were would rarely pass through her, leaving her unable to tell when to avoid one or know where it was coming from.

Their thin hair like touch always left her shivering as one she assumed had gone through her body or had at least touched her somehow.

At times they were cold and rough leaving her uncomfortable of being alone, however it didn’t matter if she was alone or not she could always hear them.

Due to how they were it would often leave her uncomfortable and deprived of sleep.

Who were they she didn’t know but what she did know was that everywhere she went, she was in danger leaving her worried about what would happen next.

For she had no one to help her deal with something she cannot see, only hear.

Things would happen and now something happened, something that left her more shaken and traumatised.

This time her friend had paid the price for her ignorance, or should she ever call him that after what happened.

How could he assume that she wanted to become more than mates?

It was too much even for her to take, she wanted to move.

Help him even, but she just remained shaking despite the fact the house was warm.

The girl was left feeling as if she was living a nightmare, hoping that she would wake up and see her parents sighing at her overactive imagination.

However instead of ‘waking up’ her mind went back to what she saw.

Blood followed by death filled her eyes, frozen in disbelief she watched him cry out in pain while his hands covered his bloodied face.

Shooting up from the beige sofa quickly, he wailed in pain until his legs collided with the glass table.

This caused his front side to land on to the glass table resulting in a loud heart wrenching smash.

A loud gasp ripped from her lips as she stared in horror, forcing herself to stand up on her shaky legs.

“…Harry?” she croaked weakly as she stared at his now frozen form, he wasn’t moving as the broken table remained completely in pieces.

Not one part of the table was intact but that was the last thing on her list of concerns.

Her friend was lying in a pool of his blood and was no longer moving nor was he making any sounds.

“Harry… are you okay?” a panicked cry left her lips as she started to panic, her heart pounding harshly against her chest as tears formed in her eyes.

“Please answer me, why won’t you move?” she asked as she tried to stop herself from crying, feeling torn and on the verge of breaking down.

“This… it has to be a prank right? Harry this isn’t funny you can get up now” she said with a shaky laugh as she stared at his motionless body, blood still continued to stain the carpet and table pieces leaving her worried about what people would say.

“Harry come on why aren’t you answering me?” she asked as she knelt down and shook him slightly, she soon felt something warm touch her right hand causing her to move her hand back and look.

Crimson red stained her now trembling hand, tears now unable to hold themselves stained her face as she wept loudly.

“HARRY?!” Chloe screamed loudly as she moved her hands shakily towards him in order to shake him once more.

She stopped just near his back, instead she took a shaky step back and began to shake like a leaf.

Her tear stained eyes grew wide as nausea settled in as she covered her mouth.

“We did tell you he was dangerous” an eerie voice had said once again causing her to shiver violently.

“But why though? What made Harry so dangerous? Sure he picks fights but he’s behaving, he’s turning his life around so why?” The girl shivered and whimpered even more before the sounds of her house door opening finally entered her ears.

This caused Chloe to turn to the door, a broken sob left her trembling lips as she now saw the shocked faces of her parents.

“M-Mama! I-I don’t know what happened!” she cried weakly, her shaky voice forced to work.

Her parents who were frozen to the spot from seeing the body soon looked at her petrified face.

“Oh Chloe” The mother immediately rushed towards her and pulled her into a hug, that in turn left the girl breaking down as she hugged her mother tightly.

Not even her mother’s soothing tones could soothe her woes, how could it when her friend was now dead?

Bottles were on the sofa and floor leaving anyone who could see them with ideas that were no doubt unpleasant.

But it’s not like she attacked him, she would never attack him, he if he had been able to talk would no doubt vouch for that.

Especially since he would often call her a ‘frightened little mouse’ who wouldn’t lift a finger to hurt someone, even if the thought arose.

At times he would joke about it, but it was harmless and she would never hold it against him.

Only now… what could she say?

He was dead…

And it was her fault.

It had been two years since her friend’s death, the dreaded memories had never once left her mind.

With every dream she would see blood, see his disturbing face as it screamed in agony.

Just looking at where the scene had took place sent shivers down her spine, bile occasionally rose to her throat.

Threatening to make her throw up from the traumatising scene she witnessed.

At times she wanted to push those images, the sounds she heard from her mind.

To claw at the memories in hopes of scraping them out of her mind, but alas Chloe knew it would never go and no amounts of washing would ever help her feel clean ever again.

His blood would always remain on her no matter what.

Not that she could ever escape the scenes either, mostly thanks to the long hours at the police station only to be released due to the lack of evidence.

The media on the other hand always hounded at either her home, school or anywhere that she would decide to go.

Demanding answers to what happened that dreaded night, trying to find ways in order to sniff out a new version of the story in order to satisfy them and their viewers.

Not caring at how much this would affect her one bit.

As a result people started calling her names, making speculations and spreading rumours on what could have happened.

For example they mentioned about her dead friend being a crazy boyfriend, who had then suddenly killed himself in her house to make her feel guilty.

Another theory spoke about ugly fights that broke out that night in the house before he died.

Reporters had even went as far as to comment about how she had threatened her parents to keep quiet or else she’d kill them as well.

They even made tales or claimed to have received tips saying that her parents were at home to begin with, even though Chloe and her parents knew that it was false.

Unfortunately for Chloe the accusations spurred the police and the courts to get involved in order to search the house for the ‘evidence’ and tips.

This left the police doubting that Chloe was even innocent and had in fact threatened her parents.

It had also gotten to the point that they soon assumed that it was planned from the very start.

Hearing this though disgusted Chloe enough to the point that it left her having a mental break down, wondering what she had done to deserve such hateful lies.

She would never want to hurt her friend, the thought never once did cross her mind and what made her upset was that it all started because he tried to kiss her.

As expected, the alibis of Chloe’s parents had checked out, it had hardly made much of a difference to anyone in the area.

In the end the police and courts could not find anything that would bring them a step closer to the truth, but that still didn’t stop the rousing suspicion that grew every day.

Not even the autopsy report of her deceased friend who had died in such a painful horrific manner could shed any other details, no push indents on the clothes or injuries that could have been made by a person were present.

Only that he hit the glass table, but no one could not fully understand why his face was so disfigured.

Especially since there were no items in the house that contained any blood on them, only that contained spot in the living room.

What also frustrated them was that there was no blood at the doorstep or on the door or on any of the floors at all except for the spot he had been seen lying dead on.

The police even tried to find out possible ways and had begun to interrogate Chloe, who was shaking half to death thanks to their attitude towards her.

They had even tried to threaten or bribe her but still her story never changed leaving more frustration on all sides.

Sadly her statement didn’t satisfy anyone in the slightest leaving her and her family ridiculed and mocked for the incident.

Even though Chloe had wanted nothing more than to forget about the incident and move on since there was no way to fix things nor bring her friend back to life.

Despite the fact that she wanted answers as to why he had done what he did, they had been friends right?

Sure he was a bad boy who at times got into trouble but he was slowly maturing and becoming a better person, so why?

Why did things end up the way they did?

Why did she have to lose someone she cared about in such a horrific manner?

And without a warning either, this left Chloe wondering about who would also suffer next if she ever did get close to anyone else.

Harry had been her only true friend in this cruel world.

A friend who had been there for her and actually made an effort to be her friend.

There was no pretence, he didn’t use her or anything nor did he have any friends himself.

Instead they only had each other, it was them against the whole world and that was how she liked it even if people were against it for various reasons.

However now it was just her and at times Chloe was not even sure if she could cope without him anymore.

Even now Chloe had wanted to confess what happened but if her family, the people or the media.

Telling them that she was hearing whispered voices the night he died.

Voices that only she could only hear.

The distressed girl was sure they would no doubt just throw her in the nuthouse if she were to ever breathe a word about what truly happened.

Even her parents had ordered for her to see a counsellor and began distancing themselves from her at times once they moved to a new area.

Sadly thanks to the media, the police and gossip this only resulted in her moving into three different areas since new or old problems would keep arising, whether they wanted them to or not.

Everywhere was the same no matter where they went- they knew who she was and would often make comments about her even if she was in the room.

Most students even distanced themselves while adding crude speculated comments about what could have happened that night, each more appalling than the last.

While at the same time the rest of the students and the teachers would just avoid her like the plague since they didn’t want to be targeted.

Not that she would want them to suffer any ill but there was nothing she could do.

The worst part was that she could not stop them no matter what, even at one point she had stood up for herself and tried to declare her innocence.

This sadly was in vain since no one wanted to hear her point of view.

Unfortunately those who tried to listen to her honestly either were ridiculed and treated badly, causing them to avoid her to save themselves.

Not that she could ever blame them for it.

Unfortunately there was so much Chloe could tolerate and was slowly starting to get sick and tired of their cold words, so instead of allowing them to bother her.

Chloe would often put her large headphones on in order to drown out the noise.

Hoping to find some peace and quiet from the cruel world that wanted her to suffer for whatever reason.

Sadly that would hardly happen for the hushed voices would often still find their way into her ears despite turning the volume of her headphones to high.

However to thanks to the fact that her headphones were soundproof, it allowed her to enjoy her music at any level without upsetting anyone nearby.

Chloe at times often suppressed a shiver here and there thanks to the voices and how they managed to bother and invade her private space.

Just like the media who no doubt were often outside her house right now.

Now a days Chloe wore mostly black or dark colours, keeping to herself because according to the outside world- she was a monster.

A freak who had somehow killed her friend and somehow was able to cover up or ruined any evidence tied to the incident.

It was thanks to those words that encouraged Chloe’s parents to ban her from ever going near sharp objects.

Thus left Chloe feeling completely invalid and isolated, powerless.

In truth she hated it but there was nothing she could do, even her parents were starting to resent her for all this trouble that was being made over that one night.

Not that she could argue her case for they wouldn’t believe her, nor would they care anymore as it completely got to them.

After all, she allowed her friend to enter their house- a teenage boy of all things and now he was dead.

Maybe it was because of everyone’s words that had finally got to her parents and it was what encouraged them to slowly stop believing in her.

"Why you had to bring that boy here Chloe is beyond me! Now look his dead and you’re being branded as a murderer!" Her mother screamed at her.

The same day that the media started to spew new theories and comments about what happened that night causing her parent’s friends to stop talking, eventually distancing themselves from them.

This in turn made it very clear to them that even their friends wanted nothing to do with a suspected killer or her family.

"Rumours Chloe! They’re spreading rumours about us as well, saying we were in on it and it’s all your fault!” Chloe’s mother screamed at her angrily in the kitchen.

“Why did you have to be so stupid and let him in?!" Her mother’s shrill voice still continued to sting causing Chloe to fall into a state of depression.

To make it worse even Chloe’s counsellor, someone who was supposed to not be biased was also trying to make her doubt herself.

He even went as far as to say that if she would finally confess what she did, it would then be all over and done with so everyone could get on with their lives.

For she right now was being very selfish and unfair by hiding the truth.

This in turn shock the horrified girl who had started to slowly trust him, thinking that he was on her side only to realise that he was just like them.

Leaving her with the only option to leave and never go back to see him again.

Sadly this didn’t sit well with her parents who then started to get angry at her once more, that was until she explained the reason for her sudden ‘outburst’ towards her counsellor.

Her parents that day were shocked and horrified to see their own flesh and blood- their daughter crying without any means of stopping.

Screaming at them that she didn’t do it, yelling that she would never hurt her friend.

She had no idea know why his face got disfigured the moment he leaned close enough to kiss her, she couldn’t even explain to them why anything happened since she was also confused.

Plus who would believe her about the constant whispers that continued to plague her since she was a child.

At first she had assumed that it was because she had been lonely that time, that she had her own imaginary friends to keep her company when no one was around.

Back then it had caused her parents at that time to think that it was cute, that she had ‘friends’ to play with and left her be.

Only now the voices themselves terrified her for they never left her alone making her realise that they weren’t imaginary, that they were not in her head but if they were then there must be something wrong with her.

However what troubled Chloe more was that at times the voices occasionally spoke in a different language that she could not understand.

There had been one time when she did try to ask a language teacher about this strange language due to curiosity when she had developed in secondary school, only instead of a positive response she had received a funny look from the teacher.

“You dare mock me with such gibberish?! The nerve of you Chloe and I expected better from you!" The teacher had exclaimed in anger before giving her detention and then immediately sent her to the head teacher’s office.

Complaining about how Chloe was ‘mocking’ her and was making fun of the different languages.

This in turn earned her a disapproving look from her headteacher as he looked at her.

"I had expected better from you Miss Wilona” was the head teacher’s response before she was made to apologise to the language teacher for the distress she caused.

To Chloe’s dismay the language teacher refused to accept her apology and demanded that she received a severe punishment.

However to Chloe’s relief the headteacher, he had denied the language teacher’s request and instead just gave Chloe detention and forced her to write a letter to the language teacher.

Writing that she was sorry and would promise to never upset or mock her again.

To which the troubled girl did without complaint, even if she was scorned by said teacher and was made to endure the teacher’s anger in class.

Instead of complaining about how cruel the teacher was being, she had kept her nose down in her books until Harry had appeared out of the blue after class ended.

Immediately taking her out of her dismal mood by doing something that ended up making the girl smile, leaving her feeling more grateful to have such an invaluable friend.

He at times had listened to her woes and was there for her, even if he didn’t know about the voices.

~

What surprised the family was that their bosses, even though they listened to the news were in fact parents themselves had went to visit to their home one day.

Knowing Chloe for a while thanks to occasional gatherings, the families would vouch on the fact that she would never be capable of murder at all.

What surprised Chloe and her parents a lot, was that both bosses and their spouses had asked Chloe questions that were not relevant to her story.

“How are you fairing through all this though darling?” her mother’s boss’ wife asked as she could see how stressed and upset Chloe was as she looked distant, almost out of touch with everything when she was in the room with them.

All three women at that moment could see that Chloe was on the verge of falling apart.

It had gotten to the point that it was hard to watch her break down in such a manner, concern now etched on their faces as they looked at her.

However, Chloe remained grateful that someone was willing to lend her an ear by asking her how she was.

It wasn’t every day this happened and it left her unable to respond to the sudden question.

Just hearing that question had completely shocked Chloe to the point of tears, making both couples feel their hearts go out to her and her predicament.

Meanwhile her parents were left stunned and filled sick feeling in their stomachs.

Now realising that they had been oblivious to her pain the whole time and never thought to care about how she was taking the whole situation.

Instead of asking more questions as they could see that she was anything but alright, the couples had all came to a silent mutual agreement to help the troubled family out.

Even if other people who worked with them were not so keen to work with the parents of a suspect.

Sure things had been tough during those years but Chloe had hardly complained, even when her parents cracked a few times and had lashed out at her because of the media’s cruel words.

In truth they still loved her dearly enough to try and keep her safe.

Yes, they made an error by allowing Chloe to see a counsellor who had done anything but make things worse but it was something to learn from.

Yes, they didn’t like how the media and the people around them portrayed Chloe in the way that they saw fit.

But they knew that without a doubt Chloe had not murdered anyone.

In fact there was no blood on the teen’s fingers let alone her nails nor did she had a murder weapon on her when they arrived and according to the autopsy report he had died half an hour before they arrived.

So what happened was known and seen only by Chloe, and if their daughter said that she didn’t kill anyone then they believed her.

Even if though they were confused as to how he died.

All she knew was that her friend was leaning towards her and then his face was slashed multiple ties by something she could not see.

Witnessing him blindly land on the glass table resulting in the destroyed table they had come across the moment they entered the house.

Hearing her side of the story had shocked her parents a lot for it was something that they could not see happening, however despite all that they had agreed to keep the first part quiet.

Given that it sounded ludicrous and impossible but on the other hand, there was no explanation that they could come up given that they had not been there when it happened.

Chloe meanwhile was the sole witness to what had happened, so they all agreed to keep it to themselves to avoid backlash.