You're the Reason - J. Nathan Page 0,63

grabbed my shoes and slipped them on. “I think I might know where Val went. You stay here and wait in case she comes back.”

Tina nodded. “I knew something was wrong with her. I just didn’t know how to help her.”

“I know. I’m sure she knows too.” I slipped out of my room and headed to the stairwell. Instead of going down, I climbed my way to the top floor and to the emergency exit.

Here goes nothing.

I pushed open the door which led to the roof. I’d never been out there before, but similarly to the roof Chase and I had been on, this one was flat with a ledge wrapping around the perimeter.

I squinted, struggling to see anything in the darkness. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it around the dark space. Big vents, air ducts, and utility boxes filled different areas on the roof.

“Val?” I called out softly as I switched off my light. I didn’t want to startle her, knowing how something like that ends. I moved around the vast area slowly, my legs trembling with each step. “Are you out here?” I called.

“Sophia?”

I spun around, searching for her voice. “I’m here. Where are you?”

“Up here.”

Up? My legs almost gave out beneath me as I found her standing on the ledge. “Oh, dear God.”

“Don’t come any closer,” she warned.

“Val? I need you to come down. Nothing good could come from you being up there.”

“I can’t take it anymore.”

“What can’t you take?” I asked.

“I feel like I’m cracking. I’ve got so much weighing me down.”

“Like what, honey? What’s weighing you down? I can help.”

“Valerie?” Chantel’s voice said from behind me.

I froze to my spot, my limbs turning numb.

“What are you doing?” she asked Valerie, anger coloring her tone.

“I can’t take it anymore,” Valerie said.

“Be smart, Valerie,” Chantel warned.

“This is the first smart move I’ve made in a long time,” Valerie assured her.

“Val, please come down. We can help you,” I said.

“There’s no helping me,” she said. Even in the darkness the tears falling from her eyes were impossible to miss.

“You’re scaring me. Please come down,” I said.

“I need to do this. I need to be free,” she said. “It’s the only way.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Chantel knows.”

My eyes shot to Chantel. “What do you know?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Well, you need to do something because apparently this has something to do with you,” I said.

“You know what we did, Chantel. You know we were up here when Sydney fell,” Valerie said.

“She’s out of her mind,” Chantel said.

“Don’t you dare say that about her when she’s up there,” I spat. “Help her, God dammit!”

“Come down, Valerie,” Chantel said. “We can get you help.”

“Help?” Valerie scoffed. “You’re the one who’s gonna need help. You’re the one who’s going to have two dead bodies on your conscience—if you even have one.”

“What happened to Sydney was an accident, and you know it,” Chantel said.

“Then why did you force me to hide the truth? Why wouldn’t you let me tell the police?” Valerie asked, the desperation in her voice heartbreaking.

“You know why we couldn’t tell. We’d be pulled out of school or worse put in jail,” Chantel said.

“Her parents needed to know the truth,” Valerie said. “It was an accident. An accident I should’ve never allowed you to make me stay quiet about.”

“How do you sleep at night?” I asked Chantel.

Her eyes cut to mine. “Don’t go getting all self-righteous now, Sophia. Especially after you stole my boyfriend right out from under me.”

“I was never your boyfriend,” Chase said as he stepped out from behind one of the utility boxes.

“What the hell?” Chantel said, her head whipping around.

“Please come down from there, Valerie,” Chase said, speaking for both of us.

Valerie hopped down and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. So many things could have gone wrong causing her to meet the same fate as Sydney. She slipped her phone from her pocket and recorded Chase as he moved toward Chantel.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Chase began, pulling out his handcuffs. Chantel’s eyes grew wild with fear as he approached. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

Chantel backed away from him. “You can’t do this.”

“I can and I will,” he assured her as he grasped her by the shoulders and turned her around, cuffing her hands behind her back.

“Just in case,” Valerie said as she continued to record the whole scene on her phone. “You never know