For Nevermore Season 1

from her throat, past her tongue, and almost out of her mouth, but then Noella caught Randy staring at her from the corner of his eye and decided to swallow her honesty instead.
    Stick it out. Worse comes to worse, you blacked out. Maybe you hit your head, and you could say you didn’t remember. No matter what’s on the video, they weren’t there, and they can’t get in your head. They can never prove you don’t remember!
    She watched as Mets Hat pulled the pistol from his jacket.
    Josie squeezed Noella’s hand tighter, and a high-pitched cry slipped from her lips. “Oh God.”
    Randy and Detective Avery stared at the TV watching, waiting.
    Noella’s heart raced as the video continued. Mets Hat took Tony’s last breath as the gunshot sounded like a dull pop in the video. Noella heard herself scream, then plead with the man for her life.
    Josie’s face was soaking wet as her sobbing turned to a steady heave. She wrapped her arm around Noella and pulled her closer, “I’m so, SO sorry,” she whispered. “You are not going back to that place. I’d rather have you home, where you’re safe.”
    Noella leaned closer to her aunt, but her eyes never left the TV, glued in terror, waiting for the coffee shop door to swing open and let her guardian in.
    Is it really him? Is he real or did I imagine him?
    The video kept playing, but the door never opened.
    Suddenly, Mets Hat flew forward as though shoved from behind. His face was a broadcast of shock and terror, as some unseen force scooped his body inches off the ground, then shoved him violently forward into the counter.
    Noella’s eyes widened in disbelief, her heart a few hard beats from explosion.
    Detective Avery fixed his eyes on Noella, but she barely noticed. She was staring at the video, watching as her attacker fell to the floor, twitching and shaking, then burning to a whisper of ash in front of her, with no sign of another soul anywhere in the coffee shop.
    What the...?
    Noella’s mouth was a capital O, her breath barely there, eyes fastened to the video’s record of the impossible truth that had turned her memory to a mockery of reality.
    The video went grainy and static for a second, then crackled back to life and inched toward its ending. Noella drew slowly closer to Mets Hat, where Dante should have been, and still was in her memory.
    The video version of her whispered, “How?” Moments later, she dropped to the ground.
    Noella felt a tsunami of sick crash in her stomach, sloshing the impossible her mind had no way to reconcile. She continued to stare at the TV, eyes wide and unblinking, until the footage finally went dark.
    Oh my God, I’m crazy.
    I did that to him. I did it.
    I did that . . . just like two years ago.
    Detective Avery nodded to Randy, who pointed the remote at the player, and clicked ‘eject.’
    Detective Avery looked more sad than accusing, as he slowly approached Noella. He gestured at the corner of the coffee table, as though silently asking for permission to sit.
    Noella nodded and Avery sat, loosening the knot on his tie and placing his hands on his knees. He drew in his breath as though deciding on the best possible words, then said, “I’m sorry you had to watch that, Noella.”
    His face was as kind as his eyes. The detective looked down for a beat, then back at Noella. “Now, can you tell me what happened? Do you have anything to add to what you’ve already told me?”
    Noella battled the churning sickness in her stomach and waged war on her mounting tears, as Josie squeezed her hand and cried quietly beside her. Noella stared down at her aunt’s hand, wrapped around her own, then put her other hand on top, as though three hands together might protect her from the madness of the morning.
    “I don’t know,” Noella said, shaking her head. “I don’t . . . I can’t remember.”
    “Bullshit,” Randy said sharply, taking a step toward Noella and causing both she and Josie to flinch. “You just saw the video, same as we did. There was nobody there, Noella. So how did you do it?”
    “You think she did that to him?” Josie cried, her voice cracking. “Do you know how crazy that makes you sound?”
    Noella saw the curl in Randy’s lip and the burn in Josie’s eyes, making her think that this wasn’t the first argument they’d had about Noella’s sanity, or her threat.
    Detective Avery raised a hand to calm Randy, “Let’s everyone relax. I’m not accusing anyone of anything. Something weird