When Allen Marsh read the news of Jane’s death in the paper over a half-eaten bowl of cereal his heart began to race. He couldn't think straight. He read the article over and over and over. “Who murdered Jane Moore?” became a matra playing in Allen’s head. He stood up from the breakfast table and walked out without even putting on his shoes or closing the front door. He walked for a while down the deserted street, his mind was still racing with thoughts of Jane. He walked until he realized he was about three blocks away from his house and the soles of his feet were embedded with small pebbles from the sidewalk. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes were shut tightly.
The town of Fern was insignificant. Nothing ever happened there and no one ever thought anything ever would. Fern was surrounded by a large evergreen forest and was built near the side of a river. It was the type of town that when you were on a road trip, you wondered what type of people lived in the town, what they did for fun, why they would stay there. Allen felt insignificant. He had just graduated high school and he still didn't know where he wanted to go in life. He was just a pushover. He did what his father told him and he never asked questions. Allen’s father, James, was a bully to the people around him. He was extremely stubborn and thought his opinions were more important than others. He didn’t allow Allen to make a decision for himself. James believed Allen's life was his responsibility to control. Allen figured he just get a job with his father and see where life took him. It probably wouldn’t have taken him very far, that is until the summer after graduation when the body of Jane Moore was discovered.
Jane Moore was a simple but determined girl. Her father was the head of Ferns local construction firm but she worked as a waitress in a 24-hour diner. Jane felt that she had a responsibility to make a living for herself and she was saving up to leave Fern. She'd recently just graduated the same high school as Allen the year before. Jane and her friend Cindy had been planning to leave once they had saved up enough money. But on June 17th it was clear that Jane's dream would never come true. Her body was discovered on the bank of the river with obvious strangulation marks on her neck. The town was shocked. Who would do such a thing to such a nice girl? Most of them have seen her face rushing through the diner or maybe she'd served them coffee once or twice. How could someone in their humble little town do such a thing? Most of them suspected it was someone that from the outside, a traveler, who had entered the town, seen Jane and killed her. But that didn't make any sense. What's the reason for that? Where's the motive, just pure evil? No, there was something else.
His thoughts were racing. What was he going to do? How is it going to fix this? Why did this have to happen to him? Why did this have to happen to Jane? He had to get to his father. He had to do something about this. He felt too guilty to just let this go on any longer.
He remembered something his father had told him when he was in grade school. He had been sent home for shoving a kid on the black top. The other boy had been teasing Allen for a couple weeks now. He can’t remember why but that day Allen just snapped. The boy, Marcus Howard, had just sneered at Allen and was walking away with his group of friends when Allen walked up behind him and shoved Marcus face first into the concrete. The shove was so hard that Marcus broke his nose and Allen was sent home. When his father heard about what happened over the phone James simply said, “Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
Allen had felt ashamed for shoving Marcus. There was no excuse for Allen to break his nose. Allen was curled up in the corner of his bed. His father came into his room and sat down on the chair next to Allen’s desk. James’ dark eyes looked at Allen and he spoke in a low and gruff voice.
“Allen, the little punk had it coming to him but next time, face him head on and sock him in the jaw. You can’t let people stomp all over you, take action.” Then James stood up left. Allen looked after his father as he left. He didn’t feel proud of himself, he felt sick. He didn’t want to hurt anyone and the fact that his father didn’t even care made him feel even sicker. This is how Allen felt now. 
He remembered Jane from high school. She was nice and smart. Her father had a large influence on the town and was pretty wealthy so she was moderately popular at school. Allen always struggled with math so Jane would offer to tutor him. They’d sit in the library and go over worksheet from class a few times a week. They’d complain about the workload and how terrible the teachers could be. They developed inside jokes and when the teacher would say something annoying they’d look at each other from across the classroom and roll their eyes. It got to the point where Allen considered Jane a friend and he’s never really had a friend like her.
Near the end of senior year Jane and her boyfriend, Sam, got really close and she’d hang out with Sam more often. Jane would still help Allen when she could but it wasn’t like it used to be.
At graduation, Jane came over to Allen at the end of the ceremony.
“Hey, Allen!” She broke apart from a group of friends to catch up to him.
He stopped and turned to her; his father wasn’t there and he didn’t really have anything else to do so he was leaving. “Oh, h-hey Jane,” he said when she got to him.
“Hey,” she looked down then back up at him, “I’m gonna miss seeing you in class. I’m not gonna be in town much longer but you can stop by the diner and hang out anytime. I’ll probably be working.” She laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear, “I’ll see you around?”
Allen blinked but soon recovered and smiled, “Uh, yeah, totally.”
“Jane, come on! We’re heading to Rodney’s party!” Sam yelled from his red truck on the street.
“Oh! Uh,” Jane turned back to Allen, “Okay, well, bye!” She hugged him and ran toward the truck. She hopped in the passenger seat and waved out the window, a smile on her face.
“Bye,” Allen said under his breath, waving slowly.
Allen had always been jealous of Sam for taking away his only friend. If it had just been him and Jane…
He turned around and began walking the three blocks back to his house. Except this time, he didn't have a single thought in his mind. He didn't think of Jane, he didn't think of his father, he didn't think of Fern, he didn't think of how much his feet hurt and he didn't think of himself. He just walked.
The house was exactly how he left it. The door was still wide open and his cereal still left soaking in a bowl of milk on the breakfast table. He was about to turn into the hallway towards his father's room when he felt like he hit a wall. His thoughts were beginning the catch up with him. His feet wouldn’t it move even though he told himself to “Go! Just go! Keep walking! You have to tell him.” His guilt finally pushed him forward. He couldn’t just let this happen. He had to make it right.
“Dad,” Allen knocked on the door to his father’s room. “Dad?”
“It’s open,” his father’s voice came through from the other side of the down.
Allen opened the door and walked in. His father was at his desk filing an application for a promotion at his construction firm because Jane’s father had quit his position. He swiveled in his chair toward his son.
“Hey, boy. Whatcha ya need? I’m trying to fill out this application now that that sorry son-of-gun at the company is quitting. Can you believe that? Just ‘cause his kid got ‘murdered,’” he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Better for us though! Now that he’s gone I can finally get higher in the company.”
“Uh.” Allen looked away from his dad, focusing on a stain on the carpet. “Uh, well um,” Allen continued to stammer.
“Come on! Spit it out!” James barked.
How was he suppose to tell his dad? Why didn’t plan this before he knocked on the door? Could he just turn around and act like nothing happened? No, he had to do what was right. He took a deep breath.
Allen looked up again and into his father’s eyes. “Dad, I know you killed her.”