[Highest Ranks]
***2018 Watty's Shortlist***
***FEATURED STORY***
#1 in Novels
#5 in Murder Mysteries
#6 in Mystery / Thriller
Kathrine Woods was headed to Fayetteville, a small town in Tennessee where everybody knows everybody. This small town was...
Evelyn threw the Sour Patch Kids bag at Jasper. The sugar rattled in the plastic bag as he caught it.
"You hate the oranges or something?" he asked.
"Ew. They're disgusting," she told him.
"Well," he popped one into his mouth, "they're my favorite."
"I know you told me your parents were being a pain the other day. How are they? Is it still a mess at home?" she leaned back into the seat as she looked at the burning fireplace in her living room. The wood was bright brown, and the smoke was rolling up the chimney.
"I'm ready for school to start. I'm ready to get out of the house..." he told her, dropping the candy to the end table.
"It's that bad?"
"Yeah," he whispered.
"Well, my parents are back finally. They're so obsessed with themselves... it's so annoying--"
"Evelyn," the deep voice from the kitchen made her jump. "Come here."
She looked at Jasper, wide-eyed.
"Oops," Jasper whispered.
"This will be fun..."
"I'll let you handle that. I'm gonna roll out..." Jasper grabbed the Sour Patch Kids and ran for the door. He had enough issues with his parents, and he didn't want to see Evelyn get in trouble for talking about hers.
-----
It was Christmas Eve. It was unusually warm this winter, but still too cold to forget your jacket. But the warm weather wasn't enough to make the people of Fayetteville hide their holiday spirit. Christmas music still played in cars as they drove through town. The Christmas lights were still hanging from the doors of every business.
Just inside McDonald's stocking-stickered doors sat Kathrine, Zach, Evelyn, and Jasper. They hadn't been able to meet up as a group in a while, and it was finally time to meet up. But this time, someone was missing. They were all okay with it, too. Derrick was still dealing with whatever mess he was in now, and Natalie never wanted to see him again.
"He can stay away as far as I'm concerned," Jasper said.
"Yeah, he's honestly scary..." Evelyn added.
Natalie pulled her hat lower down her forehead, "I'd rather not talk about him right now."
"I get that," Kathrine said as she reached out to grab her hand.
Zach didn't know what to say, so he took a sip of his free water. He grabbed his phone and opened Facebook. He scrolled past the top post to find something everyone was talking about...
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"Guys... look at this..." he held his phone up to their view.
It was no longer a mystery... Genni was no longer "missing." She was murdered.
But by whom?
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