A life without Leah

''We can't let her out,'' you finally find your voice, though it sounds more like a croak.

''I agree with you,'' Jimmy nods, ''Wait, what?!'' Jimmy catches himself and glance at you. ''You're not serious. What about her family?''

''I'm dead serious,'' you look at your best friend, square in the eyes, ''I'm making this choice for both of us, unless you want to decide what we're going to do with her.''

''Shit dude,'' Jimmy paces around his room, before slumping on the bed, ''Fuck, it wasn't to be like this.''

''Well, it did, because you fucked up,'' the tone in your voice start to rise, ''Who's going to say she's not going to tell the cops or the government? These pens, they're not normal dude. Do you want some FBI on your front door tomorrow?!''

''Who's going to believe her?'' Jimmy gets up, ''I mean, a pen that turns people into skins?'', he gives a nervous laugh that doesn't seem to do anything. Except only to aggravate you more.

''Who says no one will?'' you're half-shouting by now, but you don't care, ''Can you?!''

There is a palpable tension in the room that accompanies the silence that ensues not long after. You and Jimmy just stand facing each other, not uttering another word.

''What are we going to do with her?'' Jimmy's whisper is the one that finally breaks the silence.

***

The following few weeks took its toll on you as a widespread appeal from Leah's family spread through the town after a few days of Leah's disappearance. Her mother appeared on the local news, her eyes were red as she wept throughout the coverage. So was her sister. Her father keep up the strong front. It was one of the biggest news in your town for a few weeks. There were appeals everywhere, even in your school of Leah's disappearance and your stomach turned every time you walk past a poster or a badge. Your life was hell for the first couple of weeks from the guilt, but they lessen as the appeal subsequently began to subside slowly and people resume their normal lives. Except of course, for the McBride family.

The cops never found anything. There were zero leads, even after investigating the last known whereabouts of the junior year cheerleader. A few of the cheerleaders were questioned, but there was nothing for the cops to gain. It was as if Leah had vanished from the earth in a single day.