I don't even hear the ambulance, I just feel Guzman and Samu dragging me away from Polo's body and I don't hold them back, I let them do it. My eyes still concentrate on his face. Flashbacks come up in my mind. When Polo and I were children, playing, laughing, having fun. When we were talking about Carla and Ander a lot and helped each other through every crisis. When he apologized and entreated us to forgive him. All those little moments seem to be gone.
âEm", a voice pulls me out of my thoughts and when I turn around, I face Carla and Samuel. The others are right beside us. âI didn't want to hurt him, really", Lu cries. âWhat do you mean?", I ask her confused, everyone else seems to have understood but I don't understand what she's saying. âIt's been an accident", Nadia seems to try to comfort Lu.
âIt's my fault", Lu whispers and looks around but stops when she faces me. That's when I understand. Lu killed Polo. It happened again. My best friend killed someone. Someone who means a lot to me. I open my mouth to say something but the words don't come out. I swallow hard when I see the blood on my hands. Polo's blood.
âNo, we tell the police that she's had no intention." âNo one will believe that. Everyone has seen how she has spilt the drink over his face", Valerio holds against this idea. âBut it's the truth." âDo you think the police is interested in the truth?", Samu snaps, âThey want to close the case as soon as possible, find the accused and make him go to jail for twenty to thirty years." âWe don't have any other chance", Guzman worries.
âYes, we do. This nightmare has to come to an end finally. We've been through a lot of shit already and many lives have been ruined. Today, we all will go out of that door without a penalty and then we will let it all behind us", Carla declares. âShe's touched the bottle." âThen we have to break it." âNot here where everyone could hear it." âAre you being serious?", Cayetana questions them sceptically and for once and for all, it seems like we agree in that point.
âWhat if not only her fingerprints were on that bottle? What if all of our fingerprints were on it?" âIf they don't have sufficient evidence against one person, they cannot arrest one of us. It would be as if they didn't find the bottle at all", Carla continues, âPolo has done something bad but he wasn't a murder and the same goes for you, Lu. He wouldn't want you to atone your whole life for one mistake that you've done in one second."
âEm?", Lu looks at me as if she was waiting for me to allow them to put their plan into practice. I feel Guzman laying his hand on my shoulder. âI'm here, Em, all of us are." He doesn't even try to persuade me, he just assures me that I'm not alone and tries to make me feel better and strong. I see Ander looking at me as if he would tell me that everything's going to be better in the end, that's it's okay to do this. âCarla's right. Polo didn't want to hurt anyone or make us suffer", I give in and nod so Carla opens her bag to give each of us the bottle.
âWhat are you going to tell them?", I ask Ander while Guzman is talking to the others. âI was angry that he made me keep his promise and I thought he's the reason why I'm sick. The bottle laid there so I took it and-" âWhy are you saying that?", I whisper shocked. âI'm almost dead. It doesn't matter if I die here or-" âYou are not going to take the blame for this. I won't let you do it." âWho wants to take the blame?", Guzman asks us when comes back to sit down next to us. âWe need a bait to fool the police." âOne isn't enough, we need many more."
After I've been interrogated and only Rebe is left, I sit down next to Ander again because he looks more terrified than sad. âDuring all this time, I got less scared of being dead. Now that I've seen it, I'm fucking anxious", he admits. âCan I do something for you? What do you want and need?" âOnly you", he whispers to my surprise and lets his head rest on my shoulder.
âWhat about Alexis?", I wonder. âI lied to you." âWhy?" âI invented this story so you can get away from me. I'm sorry." I swallow hard again. All this time, I've felt relieved that Ander met someone behind my back as well and that he is happy at least, but now I find out that I was wrong and that he made me leave to be alone. And the worst part is that I wasn't there for him anymore. I shouldn't have listened to him and still been there for him.
âIt's alright, Em. I'm glad that Guzman could help you and is there for you." Guzman.. What if Ander hadn't pushed me away? Would Guzman still be the one who accompanied me to the party? All those questions seem so irrelevant to me after this night but they also seem to be quite important as Ander just showed me that he only had good intentions.
âCome on, let's go home", Guzman gives me his hand and helps me to stand up when the police is ready and lets us leave. As we leave the building, I see Carla and Samu talking and Rebe and Cayetana. My eyes land on Ander. âGo to him", Lu tells me softly but I can see that she's afraid of talking to me. âLu, you're still my best friend. I just.. need time and some rest. I'll call you later."
âIt hurts", Ander tells Guzman and I as we talk to him to say goodbye for now. âI never thought that we would lose him", Guzman agrees and looks just as sad as we do.