The Girl From the Woods

06

Her face was all over the news. It was a photo of her from the lacrosse game last year; her brown hair was braided, her green eyes bright and happy.

I always liked that photo.

The low hum of the TV followed me into the bathroom, the reporter's voice a mumble in my ears as I looked in the mirror.

I didn't look like a killer, that's what they'd say. But they were wrong.

Rachel was foolish to trust me.

My hands were still stained with red; it seeped between the lines of my palms, and was embedded under my fingernails. I couldn't get it off.

I knew then that's how they would find me—the guilt was living under my skin for everyone to see.