A Joke That Went Too Far Chapter 09
Tara looked at me, scrambled for one last lie. “I didn’t steal anything. She’s lying.”
I did not feel like talking to her. I pulled up the news clip about her expulsion on my phone and handed it to the homeowner.
The homeowner squinted at it for two seconds. Her face went hard.
“You shameless piece of work. You got yourself expelled, and you came to my house to tutor my child. You almost got your hands on my son.”
The officer pulled the woman back gently. “Ma’am. Let us handle it.”
He did not give Tara any more room to talk. He marched her out and into the cruiser.
The homeowner kept yelling after the car. “You little fraud. Don’t you dare come back.”
At the precinct, I went straight at her. “Give me back my things. And you’re paying.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “I borrowed it. You being this petty over a coat?”
She peeled the wrinkled coat off and threw it across the table at my feet.
I picked it up, shook it out. My voice was flat. “Where’s the necklace?”
A nasty little smirk. “Oh, that. I tossed it. Costume jewelry. Get over yourself.”
Heat shot up the back of my neck.
I forced it down, reached into my bag, and slapped the receipt for the sapphire necklace down in front of
her.
“Take a real look. See what it’s worth.”
She glanced at the receipt and froze for half a second, then jumped to her feet and started screaming at
“You forged that. You’re trying to extort me. Are you that broke?”
The officer slammed his palm on the table. “Tara. We have already verified the receipt. It is genuine.
Hand it over.”
She flinched at the volume. Her eyes started darting. “I-I sold it.”
“For how much?”
She mumbled into the table. “Five hundred.”
The room went still, and then everyone, even the cops, was laughing. Bitterly.
The officer rubbed his temple. “A multi-million-dollar piece. You sold it. For five hundred dollars.”
I almost laughed too. Mostly, it just hurt. My mom gave me that necklace when I turned eighteen. She had picked it out herself.
The officer did not waste any more time. He called the woman who had bought it.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged woman in a fur coat hurried in, the necklace clutched in her hand,
apologizing as she came.
“I had no idea it was stolen. She said she needed cash fast. That’s the only reason I bought it.”
The officer took the necklace from her and put it in my hand. The cold of the sapphire against my palm finally let some of the rage out of me.
Tara had nothing left to say.
Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside. Two people stumbled through the door.
Tara’s parents.
Their clothes were faded from years of washing, and there was mud on the hems of their trousers. One glance was enough to tell they were honest farmers.
When Tara’s mother saw her daughter in handcuffs, she dropped to her knees and cried.
“Officer, please. I’m begging you. Let my daughter go. She’s young and foolish.”
Tara’s father grabbed my hand, tears in his eyes. “Miss. We’ll pay. Whatever you want. We’ll sell everything we own and we’ll pay.”
Looking at the two of them, my heart twisted. I was about to say something. I was. And then Tara
exploded.
She shot to her feet and screamed at her own parents. “Get out! I don’t need you meddling in my business!
“It’s because you’re so poor that I became this vain. This is all your fault!”
Her parents froze.
The next second, Tara’s mother covered her face and broke down sobbing. Her father reached out with
trembling hands, trying to hold her, but Tara shoved him away.
Tara turned on me. The hate in her eyes was something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“Sophia, you ruined me! I hope you suffer for it!”
I did not bother answering. I turned to leave.
I had taken one step when something moved fast behind me.
I looked back. Tara had grabbed a box cutter off the desk somehow. Her eyes were wild. She was already
on me.
My heart skipped. I knew I was not getting out of the way in time.
Out of nowhere, Tara’s mother flung herself between us.
The blade went straight into her throat. The blood came out in a hot rush.
She went down on the floor with one hand on her neck, and looking up at me, she got out the words.
“I… didn’t want her… to keep making mistakes…”
Tara froze.
The box cutter slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Then she collapsed and let out a heartbroken
scream.
In the end, Tara was convicted of intentional murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Years later, whenever people asked me if I regretted it, I always gritted my teeth and said no.
Tara brought it on herself. What was there for me to regret?
The only thing I wished was that, in her next life, Tara’s mother would never have a daughter like her
again.
As for the future-everything was peaceful.
