Never Did I Ever...

• Samantha McMeekin, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2016

Penny was a terrible person. Everyone agrees, but no matter how bad, no one deserved what she got. I guess I should tell you what happened. All started on Thursday in the cafeteria. “Rose! You’re taking forever. We need to go to see Mr Wilson” Lynette said, sounding very irritated. “I’m trying, I’m just not in the mood for apricot pie” I replied. I’d just got in huge trouble from Ms Thistle, our headmistress, and I didn’t feel like eating. “Fine, I’ll eat it” replied Lynette, snatching it off me. That was when we heard a high pitched scream as chilling as cats finger nails down a blackboard. Everyone in the room froze.
Emmi jumped out from behind the cafeteria bench and darted down the hall. Everyone filed out to follow her. Lynette got up and dragged me with her. We followed Emmi until she stopped in her tracks outside the music room. She stood there for a moment, then let out a screech. Lynette and I raced over to the door to see what had happened, and there lying on the floor, was Penny Lie. Anyone could’ve thought she was unconscious, but I knew by how pale she was, and how her body was lying that it was more than that. She was murdered.
Amber Sparks, an eighth grader came to the door and created a dramatic scene. “Good heavens. Penny!” she cried. She walked over and knelt down beside her. “She’s dead! A murder at Wimberley?! I shall solve this murder and be the hero of the school”. She walked out of the door and trotted down the hall. Then Lynette said “Rose, I think we’d benefit from a nice long sleep” and with a wink she dragged me upstairs to our dorm room.
When we arrived Lynette rushed me inside and slammed the door behind her. “Did you see that?! Rose, this is huge! We must investigate. Amber thinks she can, but we have brains! Let’s start tonight. I’ve already figured out the suspects. Ms Thistle, Mr Wilson, and Mr Roper, no student would be capable of something like this. We’ll leave at 10:00”. When the time came, we were creeping around the school when everyone was asleep. We walked to the scene of the crime. I heard something in the music room, someone moving around. Immediately I stopped. I poked my head around the door, and I saw a figure dressed in black, and when they turned around I stood frozen in surprise at what I saw.
What I saw was Amber. She was fussing about when she saw us. She threatened us about telling and told us her motive, but I was the one who woke Miss Sparrow, our sweet English teacher and Amber was taken away to recover. No one except Miss Sparrow knew that we caught Amber, and that’s the way it’ll stay. I never expected her to have a secret, but that’s another story.