Gary and I have been best friends for a really long time. We grew up in the same neighborhood and attended grade, middle, and part of high school together. When we weren't in school, we played Nintendo, rode bikes, and later on worked on cars together. We were pretty much inseparable and hung out 24/7. We were together so much that, when we were little people used to ask us if we were brothers. We'd just look at each other, laugh, and nod. The only difference between us was that Gary was confident, outgoing and popular, where I was more introverted and shy. When we were sophomores in high school, Gary got a girlfriend…Sarah. Nothing changed at first and we were still close buddies, but Gary started spending more and more time with her instead of me. He started blowing me off quite a bit, saying he didn't feel good or had to do something for his parents, but I really knew he was with her. It really hurt that he preferred hanging out with her instead of me. I confronted him about it once, but he told me things were still the same, we'd be best friends forever, but he wanted to see her too.

Eventually things changed for the better. Sarah dumped Gary and we started hanging out all the time again! The breakup was pretty rough on him though, because unlike before when he had been happy go lucky and fun to be around, he was more quiet and morose. The things we used to do just didn't seem to appeal to him anymore. Like we'd be gaming and he would just drop his controller right in the middle of a mission like he didn't even care. I hoped he would eventually pull out of his funk, but instead he seemed to get worse. Even his hygiene began to go downhill. I made subtle remarks about it, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but at the same time hoping he'd notice how bad his complexion and hair looked, or how he smelled. My attempts went ignored.

After awhile I got tired of his constant 'Debbie Downer' mood. I just wanted him to be happy again, so if losing Sarah made him so sad, I figured I'd help him get her back. We spent a lot of time working to boost his confidence, strategized about what he would do and say. He even started coming around on the idea of cleaning himself back up. We combed his hair, got him some cologne, and ditched his stained clothing in favor of some new threads. He looked like a new man and I thought had the confidence to match. We planned it all out. I would drive him over to her house, they would sit on the front steps and he would tell her how much he loved her and missed her. On 'the day' we did exactly that, only when I walked Gary up to the steps and rang the bell, Sarah screamed when she opened the door. She actually collapsed to the floor screaming. When her mother came to the door, she screamed too, then rudely shoved Sarah back in the house and slammed the door.

I was genuinely lost for words. So was Gary, he didn't say a thing. We both sat down on the steps to give it some thought. We were still pondering when several police cars showed up, lights flashing and sirens blaring. I told them Gary was my best friend, but they still took him away from me and took me to the police station. That's where I am now.

A detective looks through a two-way window at a thin, pale 16 year old hand-cuffed to a stainless steel table. A colleague approaches. "OK what's your big news? I've been hearing buzz around the water cooler for an hour now."

"You remember that missing kid report back in December? The Nelson kid?"

"Yeah, just up and disappeared? Why did something turn up?"

"You could say that…See that little freak show in interrogation?"

"Yeah…that ain't him though."

"Right. That's his 'best friend'. Kid has been chattering for 40 minutes about the Nelson kid. Get this…he killed the Nelson kid…jealousy about a girlfriend. Stashed the body in a crawlspace under the house and let it sit for 3 months. Then out of the blue today decides to douse the corpse in cologne, gel it's hair and dress it up, then haul it over to the girlfriend's house."

"Jesus fuck…you can't make this shit up!"