As she walks down the sidewalk to class, many people approach her. She seemed to be confused as to why they were asking many questions. Many news reporters wondered, “Andrea Cliff, did you murder Lily Moore?” “Why do people come to believe you murdered her?” “Is it true that you are a highly dishonest person?” “Were you and Lily best friends?” “Did you have something against her?” Andrea, on the other hand, carried on with her way. She did not seem bothered by the fact that these people were stopping her on the street until she got to class and was greeted by seven police officers.

One of them questioned, “Are you, Andrea Cliff?”

“Um yes?” 

“We need you to come with us,” one stated. The other, who was handcuffing her, said, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.”

Everyone was staring at her, puzzled. What was happening? She did not say anything at all, but was getting nervous and worried. She had gotten into the cop's car and had no idea what was going on. She knows that she did not murder Lily Moore. She only knows one thing about this girl and that was that she was at a party. Andrea had been invited to the party by Lily, but she is not a party person, so she told Lily no. She knows that nothing good happens at parties, so she did not go.

One of them asked, “Do you know why we are taking you to jail?” “You do not have to speak if you do not want to,” another remarked. Andrea sat in silence, unable to answer. She sat there terrified and unsure of what might happen next, but she knew she was not to blame. 

As they approached the Clifford County Jail, Andrea fell into tears. She was in such a state of shock and anxiety that she had no idea what to do. As she was led into the jail; everyone looked and stared. She was then stripped of everything she owned and given a bright orange jumpsuit to wear. She was escorted to her prison cell, which had only a mattress for her to sleep on and a bucket for her to use to go to the bathroom. She began to cry and begged to be released to go home. 

In what seemed like the distance, Andrea heard someone or something say,“In fifteen minutes, we will take you to the courtroom, where you can tell the judge and Lily Moore's family everything you know about their deceased family member. Your parents have appointed an attorney for you, and he or she is waiting for you there. You will be able to plead guilty or not guilty, and you will also be allowed to request extra time to speak with your attorney at a later date,” stated one of the police officers, whose badge had many numbers on it.

Andrea's voice was unsteady, and all she could say was “okay.”

When they arrived at the courthouse, Andrea noticed her mother, who was sobbing, and her father, who looked disappointed and seemed to be in disbelief. As she proceeded down the middle of the courtroom, she was escorted by two police officers. She had taken a seat next to her attorney, who she had never met before. The judge then questioned her about her relationship with Lily, and Andrea's only response was, “I did not truly know Lily. All I know about her is that she enjoys partying and staying out late. She had invited me to the party she was going to the night she was murdered, but I said no since I am not a party person and have never been.”

Lily's mother, who was in tears, remarked, “My daughter Lily considered her to be more than simply a friend. She was like a close friend to her, and they did everything together. Lily would send me pictures of them hanging out all the time. When she says she does not like to party, she is lying. I have seen her in a lot of photos with my daughter at parties. She is well-known for being dishonest and fabricating information. She is deceiving you and attempting to escape the loss of my beloved daughter, Lily.” 

They then summoned Andrea's roommate, Jen, to the stand to tell them what she believed had happened. “What did you witness the night Lily Morre was murdered?” asked the lawyer. “Andrea had spent the entire night in our dorm room. She said Lily invited her to the party, but I know Andrea is not a party person. We do not know Lily personally, but we see her around campus. We ate mac and cheese and watched a movie. Andrea went to bed before I did. So I do not think Andrea murdered Lily Moore because she was with me all night.” Jen, Andrea's roommate, had said.

The judge had only glanced at her and was at a loss for words. But then she said, “From what we have heard from other people who were at the party, you were not there. Lily was murdered in the same house where the party was taking place. Your roommate had reported that you had spent the entire night in your dorm room. We confirmed this with the security cameras and discovered that you had never left your room. With all of the evidence I have seen and heard, I conclude that Andrea Cliff is not guilty of the murder of Lily Moore and that this matter is closed.”

Lily Moore's mother was uncontrollably sobbing, believing Andrea had murdered her daughter and was lying to the court. Andrea's mother went up to her and hugged her tightly. Her father was still in disbelief and had plenty of questions to ask his daughter at a different time. 

***

Many weeks after, Andrea’s dad, Ryan, had asked many questions. “Why would people think that you killed her?” 

“I don’t understand why people think that I would have killed her. I have only hung out with her like three times and I was always with other people when I was with her. She posted many things on her Snapchat saying how she needs a friend to go to the party with her because one of her friends said no, which was me. Everyone must have known that it was me that said no, and thought that I was trying to get revenge on her for posting something about me saying how I didn’t want to go. I wasn’t even offended by her posting that, but people must have thought it was me because of the post. But I still don’t understand why people would think it is me, dad. I have good grades and I am a good student. I have never got into trouble and I have never caused harm to anyone. It just doesn’t make sense to me why they would think that I did this to someone that I barely even know. People these days are crazy.”

“Well, who do you think could have possibly killed Lily?” her dad asked. 

Andrea began to explain to her dad, “I feel like her mom could have killed her. Both of her parents came back into town to visit her right before she was killed, but Lily had mentioned before that she doesn’t really like her parents and that her parents don’t really like her either. She had never mentioned to me before that her parents have ever hurt her, but I don’t know what to think about her mom. All she did while we were at court was cry. Maybe she was crying because she knew what had happened and was feeling the regret that she killed her daughter.”

“That could be possible, but who would want to kill their own daughter? I know that as a father I could never do that to my own child. It is so disgusting to even think that she could ever kill her own child, and if it is true that she killed her own daughter, that is terrible. I wonder what Lily’s father is thinking about all of this?”

“Her dad wasn’t even at the courthouse. Maybe he knows what happened to Lily, or maybe he just couldn't bear looking at his daughter's killer, but who knows who he blames, me or his ex-wife. Lily has told me before that her parents are divorced, but she said that she stays with her dad more than her mom and that her dad has a bigger role in her life than her mom. Maybe her mom is just mad that Lily is closer to her dad and she wanted to be closer to her.” Andrea replied.

“That could be why, but I think it is very strange that Lily’s dad was not there. Has she ever really talked about her parents being at special or important events?” Ryan asked Andrea, he was starting to believe that maybe Lily’s parents did have something to do with her sudden and unexpected death. 

“No, but she did say that they split up when she only lived with her dad and that her mom came to no school events or other events. Her dad was her main support and her only real parent. He never remarried, but her mom did. Maybe her mom did something to her dad. Lily mentioned how her step-dad was very mean and abusive. He always said mean things to her and was never very nice to her. He would never let her hang out with her mom unless he was with them. That is very strange to me. He didn’t even know her and wouldn’t let her hang out with her mother alone. Her step-dad died in a car accident about three months ago and she didn’t seem sad about it all. She never really seemed to like him at all.”

“Do they know who killed him or who was in the car when he was killed? Was it her mother or someone that is on her mom's side of the family that didn’t like him?”

“No, but I do know that Lily was in the car when it happened. Lily said her mother didn’t seem upset about the fact that her husband was just killed. It was just a drunk driver that killed him. The other person ran a red light and hit him right on the driver's side and he hit his head on the steering wheel and died from a head bleed.” 

“Oh well, we will find out when they find more in a few weeks when they find more information during their investigation. I am just glad that it was not you. I knew that it couldn’t be you because you usually tell me about all of your really close friends and I never knew about her. So she must not have been a really close friend.” Her dad replied.

***

Many days later, Lily’s mother ended up in court for drunk driving. The judge looked at her long and extensive record and asked “Why, after your daughter's death, have you been pulled over, arrested, and brought to court almost eight times?” 

Lily’s mother looked scared, she looked like she had just been caught doing something wrong, very wrong, but she answered simply, saying “I’ve been upset about my daughter and late husband’s death.” 

The judge felt for the mother, he knew how death could affect people, he himself knew how losing a child could sometimes make people snap, but he also knew that when the woman in his courtroom decided to drink and drive, she was putting someone's son, someone's daughter, someones loved one, someone's mother, or someone's father in danger.

 He knew something needed to be done, and for all he knew she was just a grieving mother, that's why he simply told her, “I am sentencing you to six months in a local drug and alcohol treatment facility, if you fail to stay for the whole six months, then you will end up back in my courtroom, and you will end up in jail.”

Lily’s mother felt weak, she felt her knees begin to give out under her and all she could see was the floor begin to get closer and closer to her until she felt nothing. All the judge saw was Lily’s mother falling to the floor.

Several minutes went by, and the courtroom officer and the judge were kneeling around the mother, they were considering going and getting someone, but soon the mother began to wake up. She was quietly fluttering her eyes open, but then she just began to scream at the top of her lungs she was just yelling, but then she just started saying, “I’m so sorry my baby, I'm so sorry for everything I ever did to you.” 

The officer and judge sat back in a confused state. They had no idea what was really going on, it all happened so fast. The mother was screaming about how sorry she was, but then she just broke down crying. 

She looked up at the judge, tears streaming down her face, but with a blank expression, and just said, “I killed my daughter Lily, I blamed Lily for the death of my late husband, then I blamed Andrea for the death of my daughter.” 

All the judge could say was, “I think it's time you get your lawyer involved.”

***

Lily’s mom sat quietly in the room with her lawyer, he looked at her and just said, “You have to tell me everything that happened if you want me to be able to defend you in court.” 

She looked up and all she said was, “I should have never been caught, I don't regret killing Lily or my husband, I only regret being caught.” 

The lawyer looked up, he knew she stood no chance in court, but it was still his job to try to defend her to the best of his ability. He decided to just get the entire story from her and he started by just simply asking her to tell him what actually happened. She looked at him and just simply stated, “I killed her.'' The lawyer looked at her and told her to continue, she sighed and went on, “Lily called me that evening and told me that she was going to go to a friend's house and then go stay with her dad for the evening. Lily and I had started to grow closer, she was my daughter and I wanted a relationship with her, but after her step-father was killed in the crash that I caused, she started drawing away from me. I felt so angry that her father was keeping her from me, he may have been saying that he wanted us to develop a relationship, but I know that man, I know that he was talking bad about me to his daughter, it's his fault that she is dead.” 

The lawyer looked at her in the eyes and looked confused saying, “Lily’s dad had something to do with her death?” 

Lily’s mother looked at him almost confused, and said, “No!”

Then looking him in the eyes, almost challenging him, said, “He kept her from me, meaning she chose him over me, so I had to make sure she was mine forever. I do miss her, but I know I'll see her again, but I should have killed her father.” She sighed, looking instantly tired, and just said, “If I would have just killed that man none of this would be happening right now. I was angry at Lily for going to that party, so I tracked her phone and killed her. As I was trying to figure out what to do next her phone lit up with a message from some girl named Andrea telling her to dive safe, little did she know that driving wouldn't be what finally killed her best friend.” 

The lawyer knew that no matter how well the lawyer tried, the mother wouldn't get away with her crimes. He knew that she felt nothing except hatred, hatred for her ex-husband, her late husband, and her daughter. Hate would be the end of this mother, it ended relationships, and it ultimately ended lives.