The Notebook Murder

If there was anything Millie Scotch expected to see on the eve of her birthday, watching her classmate plot a murder was certainly not on the agenda.

From across the room, Millie squinted at Laura Sanders. The girl sported a mischievous grin, one she could have sworn belonged to evil, not the body of a seventeen year old obediently fulfilling her studies. As though she sensed the weight of a heavy stare, Laura's eyes snapped up, narrowing when Millie refused to look away. There was no point, when she had already been caught looking. Laura's smirk intensified, locking the two of them in a deadly secret only they shared.

But Millie had a secret of her own. If it wasn't for the extraordinary way she could hop into another's body, she wouldn't have suspected Laura at all. There were, however, limitations to this supernatural ability, for while she could peer through the eyes of those around her without second thought, hearing the workings of the mind was where the line was drawn. If she could only dive into Laura's inner thoughts, perhaps she would have an inkling as to who her classmate planned to target.

The countless sketches were not enough anymore. The numerous drawings of dark, fuzzy rooms where only tragedy occurred, the weapons she dared not think about being put to use, and the frantic, crazed way Laura would not stop scribbling lines into her notebook. It looked eerily like a countdown, and unwillingly set the hairs on Millie's arms on edge.

Laura was the first to look away, glancing down at the pages before her, contemplation heavy on her face. Millie wondered what was running through her mind. Guilt? Regret? Excitement? The latter would not surprise her, but it tightened her stomach nonetheless. Before Laura had a chance to slam the notebook shut, Millie silently slipped into her body. It was a simple procedure, her body was able to jump quicker and quicker since she had discovered this phenomenon.

She cast a quick glance around the room once settled, but nothing had changed, so she dropped her gaze. As soon as her eyes latched onto the page, it became clear Laura has settled on a target. If Millie had thought the sketches were unsettling before, it was nothing compared to the horror of looking at her face drawn disturbingly accurately on the paper in front of her. The force of her shock threw her out of Laura's body and across the room to her own.

Her hands were trembling, so she hid them beneath her thighs. Her heart was thumping out of control, so she took three measured deep breaths in an attempt to settle it. Millie dared not look towards Laura, dread at what she might find settled low in her gut. Though all the people she had jumped into were none the wiser at her invasion, something didn't sit right.

As soon as the bell rang, she sprung out of her seat and launched herself towards the door. She had never hurried home as urgently as she did now, forcing herself to not accelerate into a run. The door shut behind her, and she hurried up to her room. Her parents had not yet returned home, and she frantically threw some of her belongings into a bag. Emotion clogged her throat at the thought of leaving, but if she valued her life, running was for the better.

As soon as she was ready, she scanned her room again, sadness coursing through her at the prospect of leaving her childhood behind. A door slammed downstairs, a parent returning home from work. She cursed, knowing this made her escape more difficult, but she shook the thought off and turned towards the door.

The breath stole from Millie's lungs, caught in her throat somewhere as she found Laura in the entrance to her room. Her arms were crossed, a small smile playing across her lips. Millie took a step back, another, to put some distance between them. She could see no weapon on Laura, but that didn't mean she wasn't carrying something.

"Please," Millie begged, hating the desperation in her voice. Her eyes swooped around, searching for anything to defend herself. "You don't have to do this."

Laura frowned, eyebrows furrowing as she studied Millie's panicked expression, the fright coursing through her trembling limbs. "Do what?"

There was a note of confusion to her words, but Millie would not fall for her distractions. "You're planning to kill me," she blurted.

Laura's mouth dropped open slightly. When she took a step into the room, Millie took one back. "Are you crazy?"

"Are you?" Millie exclaimed. "I've seen your notebook. The-the drawings. Dark rooms, weapons, and those weird lines you keep making. Then I saw me. You drew me. Whatever you're planning to do, it involves me."

Millie had never been more certain, yet when Laura tilted her head back and a humorous sigh escaped her lips, she doubted her accusations for a moment. Laura returned her gaze to Millie. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not going to kill you, Millie, that's absurd."

"But... how else can you explain all those things? They seem pretty murderous to me," she scoffed, but a slither of tension annoying eased from her body when she realized Laura was perhaps telling the truth. "How did you get in the house?"

"Your dad is here, he let me in."

Millie turned her head a fraction and noticed the car in the drive, her dad must have slipped in during her hurried packing. "Oh."

"Yes, oh," Laura said, a smile gracing her lips. "There is a reason I drew all of those things, but I promise you I never intend to murder someone."

With a heavy sigh, Millie cautiously sat on her bed, eyeing Laura as she perched beside her. She pulled the notebook out of her jacket, handing it to Millie, who accepted it skeptically. "Go on, then. What's the real reason I assumed you were becoming a crazed murderer."

Laura's smirk was back, but Millie realized there was no malice to it. "Can you keep a secret?"