“My friend is dead and he was the last one with her” the woman said which as you can imagine caught me off guard I had no clue as to who she was talking about we went on to talk a little more

“Who is this?” I asked
“It’s Mara” she said snotty like I should know exactly who she was
I thought out loud “D.J. doesn’t even like you”
She began to raise her voice which made me do the same “I don’t care if he likes me or not my friend is dead and I’m trying to figure out why!” she yelled
“So why are you calling D.J.? He wouldn’t kill some girl” I asked little did I know.
She went on to tell me she was with a detective and he was standing right next to her and that they needed to speak with D.J.
I hung up the phone still sitting in bed I smelled Coffee which meant my mom was awake I began to stand up looking at my off brown carpet slowly walking towards my wooden door a million questions running through my head, Who was dead? Why were they dead? How did they die? Was D.J. involved? I went into the living room and told my mom about the strange phone call.
“D.J. was here around 2 in the morning looking for a hammer” My mom said sitting in her favorite big brown chair with a warm cup of coffee sitting in front of her
“Why did he want a hammer?” I asked standing in front of her.
“He hit something and wanted to get the dent out of the front of his car” my mom said picking up her cup of coffee
I sat down on a hard wooden chair and began to picture his silver Saturn that I adored with an ugly dent in the front of it. I stood up and went towards the white patio door and decided to finally call D.J. and ask him for myself. The first time I tried calling he didn’t answer which was normal for him so I tried again *Ring* *ring* *ring* and then he answered,
“Hello?” D.J. said I could hear some music in the back ground I pictured him in his car driving with his bright blue eyes on the road.
I looked up at the trees outside my door “Why did you need a hammer last night?”
“Me and Sam wanted to hang some pictures up” D.J. said
Still looking at the blooming trees I decided to tell him “Mara called an told me one of your friends died last night”
“I know” D.J. said
I thought it was weird that that’s all he had to say “Who was it?”
“Emily” D.J. said
I got a surprised look on my face “The pretty Indian one you brought over?”
“Yeah she died from an overdose I think” D.J. said
Nodding my head “Well Mara said you were the last one with her”
D.J.s voice changed a little more frantic now “I was with her last night but she was fine when me and Sam left”
I decided to push a little more “I think Mara and the detective think you had something to do with it because there looking for you”
“The detective called me I have to call him back when I’m back in town” D.J. said
I thought it was weird he was out of town so early in the morning “Where the hell are you?”
“We went to Amberg” D.J. said
I got a little mad “Why didn’t you take me? You know I love the cabin!”
“Because we were just dropping something off for Jenny and Lonny” D.J. said
That’s when I knew he was lying because Jenny and Lonny both worked almost every week day Lonny was a prison guard and Jenny was a counselor at the Winnebago Asylum “Well just call the detective and tell him that”
“I will right now” he hung up sounding even more frantic than before.
I walked into my room and decided to try and fall back asleep it didn’t work. I went back into the living room and I told my mom about the conversation with my brother she didn’t seem to think anything weird about it. An hour had passed so I decided to call my brother and see if things were okay his phone was shut off. I walked outside and sat down in my driveway running my foot along a crack in the pavement I decided it was time to call my brother Tyler.
As I was calling him I pictured him sitting at home on his brown couch with his red slightly curly hair and then he answered “Hello?”
I rambled off the whole conversation to him “I think D.J. is in trouble!”
“Was he acting like he didn’t care or was he kind of freaking out about it?” Tyler asked.
I thought to myself well obviously he was freaking out wouldn’t anyone? “Freaking out….”
“Lyd, D.J. never gets worried about it if he didn’t do anything you need to find him right now” Tyler said.
I thought to myself that’s right D.J. never cares if he knows he did nothing wrong “You don’t think he would kill someone do you?”
“He has been doing a lot of horrible things to everyone you know that better than anyone” Tyler said
He was right D.J. told me almost everything, so why didn’t I know what was going on with my brother?
“Lydia go find him now if he did this he’s going to need you” Tyler said again.
I remembered a part of the conversation I left out “He’s not in town him and Sam went to the cabin”
That’s when Tyler’s voice got more serious “Why would they go all the way up there on a Monday?”
I thought good question “Your guess is as good as mine bro”
“I’m going to try and give him a call you need to do the same stay strong I love you” and then he was gone.
My mom asked me what was going on I decided to lie and tell her that everything was okay she believed me. I sat down on our tan couch and picked up my grey kitten Malory and grabbed my mom’s phone my hands were shaking a little bit so it was hard to dial.
“Hello?”
I was happy he answered “Travis? Are you with D.J.?”
“Yea we’re coming back now” Travis said.
I was relieved they hadn’t been arrested “What’s going on what did the detective say?”
“We didn’t talk to any detective” Travis said.
I got mad than because I knew they were thinking about running “You guys can’t run from this and you know it” and then Travis hung up. I tried calling back; his phone was off too now so I tried D.J.s his was still off. I began to worry more and I tried getting ahold of them for hours as I sat on my bed staring at the white walls I began to feel very alone because D.J. has always been the person I looked up to and needed and the thought of him being taken away from me didn’t sit well with me at all. It was about 8P.M. now and then the phone rang, I jumped up and snatched it off my green and tan dresser “Hello?”
“Hey” It was Travis
I was suddenly panicky “All you’re going to say is hey!? Where have you guys been?”
“I was talking to a detective down town” Travis said.
I was now growing more and more impatient “And?!”
“They arrested D.J. and Sam for Emily’s murder” He said.
Suddenly my knees felt weak and I needed to sit down “What? Why?”
“Lydia they beat her with a hammer” He said.
My eyes began to tear up “What did you just say?” He didn’t say anything. I began to deny it all “That’s not possible they wouldn’t ever do that she was their friend”
“D.J. told me they did it hun” He said.
I still wasn’t trying to believe any of it “What exactly did he tell you”?
“He told me this morning he had killed Emily the night before and how he did it it was bad” He said.
I was mad at him for how he said it “Don’t start talking down about him now; it’s still D.J. we’re talking about!”
“I know that Lydia but he killed somebody” his voice was calm and sympathetic and I hated that.
“Don’t talk down about him to me Travis” I wasn’t about to give up on standing up for him or about to have Travis of all people feeling bad for me. I hung up the phone and decided to tell my mom everything. I walked out into the living room she was sitting in her favorite chair messing with her blonde curly hair watching some television I grabbed the remote and turned the T.V. off she gave me a questioning look probably wondering why I did that I think that’s when she realized something happened probably from the look on my face.
“What’s wrong?” my mom asked
I didn’t know how to say it so I just came out with it “D.J. killed Emily”
At first she just stared at me like I just slapped her across the face all she had to say was “What?”
I sat on the coffee table in front of her and repeated myself “Mom D.J. killed her”
She began to cry “He’s not my son anymore”

I was hurt by what she had just said how could she say that so easily? She said it just as easily as my brother had taken a life the night before. My mom then turned the T.V. back on as if nothing had ever happened I’m not sure how she just brushed it off at first but she somehow managed to do so. I stood up and walked into my room and laid down onto my single bed and I must have fallen asleep because I woke up the next morning to my cousins Liz who is two years older and Chris who is two years younger my mom must have called them and told them because at first they just stared at me with their big brown eyes with sympathy. I sat up and Liz handed me some assorted candy to this day I’m not sure why she did that.

“How are you feeling?” Liz asked as she was reaching for my right hand.

I let her take my hand and I just looked at her not sure as to what I should say because I didn’t even know how I was feeling. Chris then stood up and gave me a hug and then sat down next to me on my bed I then grabbed his phone to check the time it was already the afternoon I didn’t know how I managed to sleep that long but I did. My bedroom door began to open and my mom poked her head in and asked if we wanted to go with to my Aunt Mel’s house we all looked at each other and nodded and stood up all at the same time I walked over to my green and black Ecko shoes and slipped my feet into them and we all walked through the living room and out the patio doors and my Aunt and uncle where already outside waiting so we all climbed into their green minivan and drove to their house over by South Park. They pulled into the driveway to their two story house I liked their house it was big and the inside always made me feel welcomed and cozy. As I was walking up the front stairs my Aunt stopped me

“Come here” she said as pulling me in for a hug.
I stumbled towards her and fell into her and the tears started rolling down my cheeks. She grabbed my face and told me “Every things going to be alright” her arm still around me we began to walk inside as we entered the living room I noticed the news was on and I sat down onto their brown suede couches and started to listen to what the reporter was saying. They were showing a big white house and at the top of the screen was a caption that said “Women found dead in apartment” the reporter was saying that they didn’t have the victim’s name and that they had two suspects in custody. I then stood up and walked outside and sat down then my Aunt came outside I could hear her walking up behind me on the creaky porch.
“If you need anything let me know” she sat down next to me.
“I’m fine” I kept my eyes on the ground staring at a crack in the pavement. Within an hour or two later we had went home and I went to bed I didn’t want to think about what was going to happen to my brother. For the next two years the same questions ran through my head because whenever I asked D.J. he never gave me a straight answer.

I had little information to go on until the trial that’s when it all came out that D.J. had killed this woman he was there the night her life was taken then it seemed like with a blink of an eye these past two years of wonder where finally over everything was finally coming to an end we no longer where wondering what his sentence would be we now knew we finally had closure and so did he. He was sentenced to life without parole on May 10th 2012, hearing those words come from the judges mouth where heart breaking. They stood D.J. up since he was in shackles he needed some help and the guards brought him out to the elevator and before he stepped into the elevator he looked back eyes red and watery with a look as if he wanted my approval of something.

I walked up to him and told him that no matter what I will always love him and nothing he could do would ever change that. I then realized I will never be able to walk down the street with him go to the park with him do anything with him besides sit in a visiting room I then learned you shouldn’t take time with people for granted because you will never know when they will be taken from you.