TASK 001 : THE INTERROGATION
location: hemlock police station
time: ten oh-four am, december sixteenth twenty-nineteen
mentioned: @ofaurclia, @edcns, @heartofgolds, @ofreligion, @covingtonhqs
sometimes it annoyed ella, how obviously threadbare she looked. she knew she was a mess, willowy and pale, like a strong breeze could blow her over. when she was a little girl, all silent and trembling and wide grey eyes, people treated her like she might be sickly, asked her if she was cold or hungry or needed anything. she looked like someone you should take care of, even now. and it annoyed her, especially because she knew it wasn’t out of genuine care for her, but out of pity.
somehow, though, she didn’t think detective watson pitied her, and when he offered her a blanket, ella took it without question, wrapping it around her shoulders, clutching her old, plastic crows water bottle she got during frosh week in her skeletal hands. besides, she kind of needed the comfort right now; ever since melanie- well, a pit had opened in her stomach that was impossible to fill. she’d thought being turned down made her feel e m p t y, but now… on the best of days, ella always felt in the back of her head, but now it was like she’d fully pulled away. she could barely feel the cold of her water bottle against the tips of her fingers. and when she returned into her body even slightly, everything hurt so thoroughly, in a way she couldn’t describe.
she managed to shoot the nice old man a smile as he settled himself down, getting himself ready to ask her a few questions. the hemlock police chief stood stoically behind him, and ella tried to forget he was there. the detective twirled the pen in his fingers, and shot her a smile in turn. “let’s begin.”
“ can you tell me, to the best of your memory, what happened on the night of december 13, 2019? ”
ella swallowed, blinking down to her feet, before looking back up at the detective. “well, um… my, my roommate, rosemary. rosemary keegan, i mean. she, uh, she told me that the debate team was having a party that night and… and i don’t usually go to parties so i didn’t think anything of it. she was going, so i decided i was gonna read wuthering heights that night- i read it every christmas, it helps me get into the holiday spirit.”
“but,” ella said with a sigh, “i’d barely gotten started before my friend eden, um, lennox-montgomery, texted me at about…” she bit her lip, “hold on, could i please check the timestamp on my phone?” she didn’t know why she felt the need to ask, but she did. this was a detective, after all. when detective watson gave her the go-ahead, ella said, “thank you,” and pulled her phone out of the purse at her feet, scrolling through the texts. “um, at six-seventeen pm. she texted me asking if i was going to the debate team party at the estate, and she…” ella trailed off, sliding her phone under her thigh, and one hand with it. “eden is my friend, and she wants me to, like… get out more.” she manages a weak smile. “she’s way cooler than me. anyways, she… she offered to do my makeup and stuff so i went to her place. we had dinner and… and went to the party together.”
“i spent most of my time ghosting eden, and sat on the couch when she danced. i mean, she made me dance a couple times, but…” she trailed off, biting her lip. she could feel the hurt stabbing at her stomach, and it was stupid that this still hurt, even with melanie… being gone. “something, uh, something upset her after a little while, and we left the main area at like… ten thirty-ish? but, um…” she swallowed, looking away, remembering how eden had asked her to leave, the way her gut twisted, the hurt plain on her face, “she asked me to go, and i,” she laughed, “i went back to the party, trying not to cry, though i… i did, eventually. i cried in the bathroom for, like, forty-five minutes, and, um, one of melanie’s roommates gave me a handkerchief, it was really nice of her. uh, michal… something. her name’s michal.”
she shrugged, “and by the time i left the bathroom… or, like, a few minutes later, apparently something was on fire, and everyone was leaving. i was back home by twelve-thirty.” in finishing, she nodded, watching detective watson make his notes with some nerves, sucking at her teeth. she’d sucked her thumb until she was four years old.
“ did you see anything unusual that night? was anyone acting out of the ordinary? ”
“um.” it niggled at the back of her brain, what she’d left out, but she… she still didn’t have a good feeling about it. still… melanie was- gone. no, dead. melanie was dead, she might have been murdered, and… tears pooled in ella’s eyes, and she brought the heel of her hand up to wipe at them. “sorry, i… i did see something. when, when eden…” she took a deep breath, “when i followed eden out the house, um,” when her friend was ranting about melanie, melanie, melanie, “aurelia choi came out after her and… and eden asked me to leave, so i left.” ella shrugged, wiping at her eyes again, the color rising in her cheeks. “i didn’t know… why. i still don’t, but… yeah.”
she looked down at her lap, and realized she’d been opening and closing the water bottle spout the entire time she’s been speaking. she shut it one final time, before sliding her other hand under her thigh, both of them pinned under her legs, ella curled in over herself. “i didn’t… i didn’t see eden for the rest of the night, but i saw aurelia again at… i don’t know, i went to the bathroom to cry right after i talked to her. it was less than an hour later, probably half an hour after i left eden. anyways, i- when i saw her, i had to ask where eden was, if she’d gone home or something but aurelia didn’t… didn’t answer me.” aurelia was an expert at brushing ella off. she paused for a moment, adding, “and then, of course, the fire happened, but. i didn’t really see it. everyone just ran out of the estate and i was trying not to get trampled, y’know?”
ella reached for the tissues, patting under her eyes and wiping at her nose. melanie was dead, and she was too scared to ask eden about that night, and… and ella just felt useless, useless. what more could she do with for the detective?
“ can you tell me more about your relationship with melanie? ”
she laughed wetly, “i… i think you know too much about my relationship with melanie, detective watson.” she blew her nose into the tissue, before primly folding it up, looking around the room for a moment before she stood up a little bit, just to reach the waste paper basket.
“well, um… we took, uh, phil 101 together. and she sat next to me and… and asked me for notes and stuff.” looking back on it, it seemed silly, that ella would ever think that was flirting. but nobody talked to ella, especially not in first year. especially not bright, beautiful girls like melanie.
“and i… i saw her more and more and i… i had, or, um,” she cleared her throat, face bright red at the confession but… well, the detective already knew, didn’t he? “still have a massive crush on her. i… i’m-,” obsessed with her, “i guess infatuated with her, is the best term.” ella didn’t even dare say l o v e, because then that… felt too much. she couldn’t call something so silly, so pointless, so greedy love. “even today, i...” her voice shook, her throat tightening, “i still have those feelings for her.”
she grabbed at her water bottle, snapping it open and taking a few long sips, just to calm herself. just to have a point of focus so she didn’t feel like she was spiraling out of control like an unspooling sweater. “i’m sorry, i’m fine, i just…” the look in detectie watson’s eyes killed her, and finally, a sob burst out. “it’s just… she’s gone, and she…” she shook her head, burying her face in her hands. her water bottle fell to the floor, and she scrambled for it with trembling hands as it spilled upon the ground. “i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m-.” she snapped it shut, putting it back on the table between them. “i’m just… i don’t know what to do. i feel so empty and like…”
ella took a gasping breath. “she had… she had so much- she was gonna do so much.” melanie was going to save the world, ella had been sure of it. “she was so much, everyone- everyone loved her and i…” she gasped and whimpered, and she realized how close she was to hyperventilating. what use could she possibly be? “i just want to help, but i don’t know how, but i… whoever did this, if someone did this,” because it didn’t make sense to her, melanie being murdered. “i just… i want to know why. if there is a why.”
for a long while, the room was just filled with the sound of ella’s sobs.
“ do you have any reason to believe that someone would want to hurt melanie? ”
ella shook her head, feeling worn out, rung out, an old dish towel where her brain should be. “i… i don’t think so.” even eden wouldn’t have it in her, ella thought. she didn’t think she knew anyone capable of murder. “everyone loves her, she’s…” the sun of the solar system, the light at the end of the tunnel, brilliant and beautiful and unreachable and life-giving and every pretty metaphor you could ever imagine. almost calmly, so quiet, ella admitted with eyes faraway, “she’s everything.”
“ do you have any questions about how the case will proceed? ”
ella’s gaze flickered back to the detective. she had questions, so many questions, but… but they crumbled like ashes in her mouth, like they always did. useless, she was u s e l e s s. “my… my mom wants to know why we have to stay, but…” ella shrugs, going shy. “i don’t know, could you please call her or something? because she doesn’t believe me.” she’d texted her mom she wouldn’t be coming home for christmas the night before, and her mother called, chewing her out for nearly two hours. she had thought to beg the detective if she could leave, but… she had a duty here. as a citizen, as someone who loved melanie. she had to do all she could to solve this mystery.