Theo
After convincing Layla to go out on a stroll with me, she didn't want to go back to the house so we both came to my house. Layla was downstairs sitting down on the stool close to the kitchen counter, drinking a cup of coffee. I was searching my drawers for Liam's notebook. I know he kept it somewhere here. I search but I couldn't find it. I haven't bothered to search for that notebook ever since Liam had dropped it off somewhere in my room. I sat down on my bed thinking about where the notebook could be. But I couldn't remember. Tired. I look at my mess-up room. I didn't want Layla to see my room like this. So I started cleaning up. I bend down to pick up my shirt that was under my bed then I saw a certain blue notebook. Liam Notebook. I picked up the notebook and ran downstairs to show Layla.
"Layla," I said. She was staring at an old family photo I took with Liam dragging my hair, smiling while I glare at him.
"Hmmm," she said.
"Take it. It's for you." I said. stretching out my hands to give her the notebook while she just stares at it.
"Okay..." She took the notebook carefully, looking unsure of what to do about it.
"It's for Liam." I said, "he told me to give it to you if something ever happened to him."
Layla was shocked and then angry.
"So you know what happened to Liam." She said, "where's Liam?"
"I think... I think he's Dead. I think Richard, your Dad killed him."
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, "I said. "I didn't know how to tell you and I was afraid you were going to think that I was just wrongly accusing him. I'm sorry Layla."
"Still..." She hit me on the chest with her fist, as tears poured out from her eyes "you should have said something to me."
"I'm sorry," I said as I took her into my arms. We stayed like that for a while until she calmed down.
"Let's read the notebook," I said.
We both sat down on the couch in the living room and read Liam's notebook. Layla couldn't believe it. All these years, she had thought that she was responsible for her Mom Harper's death. She couldn't believe that all this while it was her Dad. Liam had also written about the death of his Mom Zoe and how he had evidence to prove it. Liam had burial his mom's phone he found the day his mom was sent to the hospital in my backyard inside a box. He could have used it himself to turn Richard over to the police but Liam wanted to kill him and get himself arrested instead.
"I never should have forced him to celebrate his birthday," Layla said. "I never knew he had nightmares during that night. I never knew Liam went through all that." Layla said. looking apologetic.
"It's okay. See." I said. Pointing to Liam Note. "Liam knows you so well. He even said that you might want to blame yourself and be stupid about it." Smiling. "Don't be stupid. Hey, it's not my words it's Liam."
Layla look at the note and frown while I laughed at her. That's so like Liam, scolding Layla even in his afterlife. I thought sadly. Liam had talked about the secret of Harper's death, what he went through that night. How he felt and how he started disliking people the more he got to know them. He told Layla to guard her heart against her dad and always be free about her feelings towards people. He told her to be true to herself. He also wrote about what had truly happened to his Mom Zoe. how she was beaten and killed by Richard because she knew the truth about Harper.
"But you know," she said.
"Hmmm," I said.
"I'm curious on one thing though."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Why didn't you read this the first time Liam gave it to you," Layla ask. She was resting her head against my shoulders.
"He didn't exactly give it to me, He just showed me and said that I should give it to you if something ever happened to him." I said "at first I thought he was joking until he told me about his mom's death and the evidence he had to prove it. But he didn't tell me that he had hidden it in my backyard. He also scared me off, saying that if I read the notebook I would end up Dead. He was dead serious when he said that so I wasn't interested in the notebook, I had even forgotten about it. all this was before he came back to the house after his Mom's death."
"So you thought of the notebook after Liam went missing?" She asked.
"No. I thought of the notebook after reading the last text Liam send to me. I felt like something was going to happen to him. Like I won't see him again."
"What text?"
"Liam had sent me a text a day before he disappear." I said, "anyway I don't want to talk about it should we go dig out the box?"
"No. Let's finish reading."
"Okay."
We kept reading. When we got to the last page of Liam Note, Layla kept looking at me while I avoided her eyes. She kept smirking as she read on. If I knew this was what Liam had written on the last page. I wouldn't have listened to Layla's suggestions to continue reading Liam's Note. Liam had written about my feelings for Layla. He had asked Layla to ask me out because I will never have the courage to do it. He told her I have been in love with her for years but I had low self-esteem so I couldn't tell her anything. At that moment I wish Liam was here so that I could kill him with my own hands.
"Okay let's stop reading," I close the note, hiding it behind my back. "I'm sure we both know what the rest is about."
"No. I want to finish reading it, bring out Notebook." She push my back as she tried to collect Liam's Note.
"And anyway it's not like I don't know anything that I don't already know." She said.
"But Liam made it seem like I'm some sort of obsessive stalker," I said. While she chuckles.
"Okay." She said. "Let me just read it. I won't talk about it, after this, we both look at Mom Zoe's phone."
"Okay." I agreed reluctantly.
Layla kept to her word. She was fast and she didn't say a thing about it. Now we were both in my backyard looking for the box Liam had hidden. He wrote that it was close to the little grass that was around the fence. I dig out the ground until I found it the box. In it was his mother's phone. On the phone, we found out the true reason why his mother was killed.
Richard had gotten drunk when he and Zoe went out to celebrate their marriage anniversary together. He confesses the truth about the death of Layla's mom Harper to Zoe while she recorded him without him knowing. Richard was angry when she confronted him about it and beat her up. That was when Liam's Mom had lost her phone. There was something off about the recording. Richard was talking to someone about what to do with Zoe. It was a Man, his voice sounded rough. It was a voice neither of us have ever heard of before. After listening to the recording. And reading the last messages Liam's Mom has sent to him. I turn and look at Layla, there were tears in her eyes. With this, the notebook and the last messages Liam had given to us, we could arrest Richard. I wonder what Layla was going to do. Even in the means of all her tears, I could still see it. Even if she still tries to deny it and be strong. Layla's heart couldn't lie. She still couldn't deny the fact that she still love her Dad.