I honestly thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. So I took his hand.
The second he led me onto the dance floor, people stared. I caught girls whispering. A few guys looked completely shocked. Caleb ignored all of them.
We danced all night. Somewhere along the way, I stopped feeling invisible. Caleb made me laugh and treated me normally. By the end of the night, I didn’t even want prom to end anymore.
Afterward, Caleb walked me home instead of leaving with his friends. “You had fun tonight?” he asked. “Yeah,” I admitted. “More than I expected!”
He smiled, but something about him seemed distracted, as if there were something he wanted to say but couldn’t quite get out.
The Knock at My Door
The following morning, loud banging shook the front door. My mom answered, and I saw her talking to the police. Beside them on our porch were Caleb’s parents.
One of the officers stepped forward. “Cindy, when was the last time you saw Caleb?” “Last night after prom.” “Did he say where he was going afterward?” I shook my head slowly. “No. Why? Officer, did something happen?”
The officers exchanged glances. Then one of them asked, “Miss, do you really not know what Caleb has done?”
I stared at him. “What?”
The officer spoke carefully. “Our department recently reopened several old reports connected to incidents from years ago to get resolutions. During that process, Caleb admitted he was near your house the night of the fire almost 10 years ago.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I tracked Caleb down at Taylor’s house.
The moment he saw me, his face went pale. “Cindy…” I folded my arms tightly. “You were there the night of the fire?” “Yeah,” he admitted.
He explained: “When I was nine, I saw Mason sneak out of our house late at night. I followed him on my bike. Eventually, I spotted him climbing out of a window at your house. Then, a few minutes later, I noticed smoke coming from the kitchen. I got scared and rode home.”
He confessed he had carried guilt for years. “I didn’t ask you to dance because I felt sorry for you. I did it because I was tired of pretending I didn’t care about you.”
Then he said, “Maybe it’s time we asked Mason ourselves.”
For illustrative purposes only
Facing Mason
At the correctional facility, Mason confessed.
