"Please come with us."

"I'm not the person in that video!"

For a moment, everyone in the room froze.

"I have evidence. Someone is deliberately framing me!"

Grandma let out a mocking laugh. "There you go again, talking nonsense. I suggest you just confess properly and stop bringing shame to this family!"

"The officer just said the time of the crime was around 11 a.m. today. At that time, I was at a cafe nearly an hour’s drive from the scene. So there’s no way I could’ve appeared on a security camera at the crime scene at 11:10!"

The officers exchanged looks, their expressions complicated as they considered whether what I said could be true.

"Don’t listen to her," Grandma cut in quickly. "She’s been clever since she was a kid. Lying comes naturally to her. I guarantee what she just said is completely made up!"

Afraid the police might believe me, she hurried forward and grabbed Detective Reed’s arm, acting as if she were part of the victim’s family.

My parents had started to waver, but after hearing her words, their guard went right back up.

Of course. In their eyes, I was just saying anything I could to escape punishment.

Right now, though, I didn’t have the luxury of being hurt by that. I gave them the name of the establishment: Cinder & Oak Cafe.

The police quickly went to retrieve the surveillance footage.

Just like I said, at the time of the crime, I was there.

The forensic tech team examined the surveillance systems at both locations carefully, over and over again.

There were no signs of tampering, yet my DNA had undeniably been found at the crime scene.

The case suddenly hit a dead end. Even so, I was still the prime suspect.

After the police left, my parents didn’t say a single word to me. They locked their bedroom door and even hid their food separately.

Meanwhile, Grandma called relatives every single day, complaining nonstop. She went on about how our family had such terrible luck to have produced a murderer.

Before, in the eyes of those relatives, I had been the model "perfect child". Now, I had become the ultimate cautionary tale.

Every second at home felt suffocating. All I could do was wait desperately for news from the police.

Finally, two days later, the doorbell rang. I rushed to open it, heart full of hope, thinking there had been progress in the case.

But the moment I opened the door and saw who it was, I froze.

The narrow hallway was packed with people, every face twisted with barely contained rage.

I recognized them. I had seen them many times before at parent meetings for our class. They were the parents of the three students who had died.

"You shameless monster, how do you even have the nerve to still be alive?!"

"You should be in hell! Even the deepest level of hell would be too good for you!"

"Give us back our child’s life!"

...

Voices overlapped, shouting, surging forward as they tried to lunge at me.

"Please, just listen to me!" I kept my voice as steady as I could, trying to make them believe me. "I’m not the killer. If I were, the police would’ve arrested me already. I have an alibi for the time of the crime.

"They’ve already verified everything. You can ask them yourselves."

The anger on their faces didn’t fade in the slightest. If anything, they pressed closer.

"What alibi?! That was obviously something you staged ahead of time!"

"You might be able to fool the police, but you can’t fool us!"

"The evidence at the crime scene is rock solid. There’s no second person in this world identical to you!"

That was the biggest problem. No one knew who the person at the crime scene really was.

Sometimes, even I found myself wondering.

Could I really be the one who appeared there?

"Please, we’ve been classmates for years. I had no grudge against them. Why would I hurt them?"

Smack!

Without warning, a heavy slap struck my face. The sharp sound echoed through the hallway.

"And you still dare to say that?! Wasn’t this all just for the city’s top ranking this year?!"

"So young and already this vicious. People like you will only become a danger to society!"

"A monster like you should’ve been strangled at birth!"

I clutched my face as the metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth.

In that moment, I finally understood that there was no reasoning with them. They didn’t want the truth. They just wanted me to die in place of their children.

I turned and ran, sprinting toward the apartment.

However, what happened next sent a chill straight through my body.

Grandma was standing behind the door. At some point, she had appeared there silently.

With a strange, twisted smile, she slammed the door shut right in front of me. She wanted me dead at the hands of those parents.

I spun around and bolted for the stairwell, racing down as fast as I could. Behind me, they chased like a swarm, relentless.

Using the cover of darkness, I ducked into a cluster of bushes, my heart pounding violently.

A flood of headlines I’d seen before flashed through my mind: "Families of victims, enraged by verdicts, beat suspect to death."

If I couldn’t get away tonight, I might not live to see the sunrise. I refused to die like this.

Suddenly, something from earlier flashed across my mind. I pulled out my phone and dialed the police station.

"I know who the real killer is!"

In less than ten minutes, the sound of sirens grew louder and louder in the distance.

Just as the group of parents was about to find me, I seized the moment and sprinted straight toward the police.

"Officer, help! They’re trying to kill me!"

The officers moved quickly, pulling me behind them. The parents were furious, their teeth clenched in rage.

"You people in uniform, don’t think you can cover for her!"

"What did her family give you to protect her like this?!"

"Murder must be paid with a life! Even God himself couldn’t stop us today!"

The officers did their best to calm them, their tone as steady as possible. "Please, calm down. We will find the truth and give you justice. Tamsin’s alibi is still inconclusive. We cannot arrest someone without certainty."

Nevertheless, they weren’t listening at all.

"That alibi is fake. It's just a trick to fool you!"

"It has to be her. She has the strongest motive!"

"If you keep protecting her today, then we’ll get justice ourselves!"

One of the parents raised their arm and shouted, "Make her pay for our children’s lives!"

"Tamsin Wallace, didn’t you say you know who the real killer is?"

At the officer’s question, the crowd suddenly fell silent. All eyes turned to me, filled with suspicion and scrutiny.

"Yes. But I can’t say it here. I need to go back home first."

"I knew it! You’re just trying to stall!"

The parents clearly didn’t believe me, but I had to get back home.

"I have to go back to identify the killer. Because the killer is among them."

The officers were visibly stunned by my words.

Everyone in that house was my closest family.

"Tamsin, I need to remind you that false accusations carry consequences."

"See? This monster will say anything to get out of it, even accuse her own family!"

"Just execute her now! Letting her live will only make her a danger to society!"

I met the officers’ eyes steadily. Solving the case was their top priority.

"We can agree to that," Detective Reed said at last. "But you’d better not be wasting our time."

I walked between the officers as they escorted me. The parents glared, teeth grinding, but they couldn’t get close.

They didn’t give up. Instead, they followed us right up the stairs.

When the doorbell rang, Mom opened the door. The moment she saw me with the police, confusion flashed across her face, then anger.

"Who told you to run outside?!"

Before I could respond, Officer Riley Shaw spoke first, "According to Tamsin, the killer is inside your home."

Mom looked at both me and the police like we were insane. "You must be mistaken! You’re actually believing her nonsense?!"

"See? Even her own mother doesn’t believe her!" The parents behind us smirked, clearly enjoying the scene.

Just then, Dad and Grandma came out after hearing the commotion.

I raised my hand and pointed at someone.

"She's the killer!"