I'm back here again. There's no question about it. I know where I am, and I don't know whether I want to be here or not.

This may be a good thing, because I can ask some people how everything went down. The bad thing is, I don't know if everything will be a hundred percent correct. A girl can dream, but let's hope those dreams are valid.

I can feel the warm sand beneath my feet, as I stare right at the blue ocean that's shimmering in front of me. All I have to do is wait for her. She'll come to me and then I can finally get some answers. That shouldn't take long, because before I know it, I hear light crunching behind me.

I turn around, and my mom is walking towards me, looking as young and fresh as she always has been. She gives me a smile, and then comes to sit down right next to me. "You know, Ashmita, I appreciate your curiosity in the case. It makes me smile that Mason has raised my daughter so be so curious and intuitive."

I smile, while trying not to think about the fight that I just had with Mason the previous night. "It's all so complicated. There's so many different motives, and everyone is a suspect. What should I do?"

My mom looks at me, with slightly hopeful eyes, and says this. "Ashmita, you're not on the right track. You're pretty off. I'm going to give you some hints. One, reread my diaries. There's hidden meanings in so many things, and you're interpreting a lot of them wrong. Two, look back at everything that's been said to you. There's hints. Pick them up. You have to think really hard though. They're almost hidden. That's all that I have, honestly."

I sigh, and sit back a little bit. Everything seems so peaceful here, and it's such a pleasant contrast to all the chaos that I've been feeling. I look back at my mom, who just has the slightest smile on her face, as she stares out in the open ocean. "What if I don't figure it out? What if I can't figure it out and Arjun will still be labelled as a ruthless killer? What will happen?"

My mom raises an eyebrow, and says, "Ashmita, you're such a smart girl. I would be surprised if you didn't figure it out. And second, karma will come. I know it's delayed by almost 17 years, but it will come. And you can help karma deliver its blow."

I stand up from the sand, slightly angry. I can't say I should help karma deliver its blow when it already did on my mom. I mean, she's one to speak about karma when it happened to her because she destroyed her marriage. Plus, how can I trust her after everything involving her marriage was lied to me so far? "How can I even trust that you're telling me the truth right now? All my life, I've been lied to when it comes to Arjun, and now it comes to the case! How do I make sure that I'm not fed any more lies?"

My mom stands up to comfort me and reassure me, as I stare at her with an angry look on my face. She takes a deep breath, and says, "Ashmita, I get where you're coming from. And I'll admit this. I screwed up. I really screwed up. I don't blame you for being angry with me. I can't blame anyone for what I've done. It's all my fault, and I can't express in words how sorry I am. But, I'm going to tell you this. Arjun may seem like someone you can't trust, but you should. I'm not saying this because I owe him for breaking his heart. I'm saying this because although he may seem like a hardened criminal, he's got a big heart. I can tell that if I didn't screw up majorly, he would have loved you to death. I can already tell that he loves you, and he's slowly loving you more everyday. I know that all your life you were told to not trust him, but honestly, don't believe that. Almost everything he has done has never been in intention to hurt people."

I calm a little bit at that notion, because I know deep down that Arjun isn't a bad person. Just someone who was thrown into bad circumstances. I know that he would have been a fantastic father if he had the opportunity.

I let out a sigh, and say, "I hope that I can figure out the case, Mom."

She gives me a bright smile, and says, "Why are you hoping? You definitely will figure out the case. I just hope that this set of information really helps you." I nod, as I stare at another huge wave that's rising in front of us. "Oh, another one! Hold on tight!" she exclaims, as she grabs my hand.

I look up at the big wave that's staring at us, before I feel it crash down on us. I squeeze my eyes shut to prevent the water from getting in my eyes, as I shoot up from my bed. My hand flies up to my hair, which lacks any sort of moisture.

I don't feel the grains of sand against my feet, or the warm sun kissing my skin and blessing it with a slight tan. It was another one of the beachy dreams that I've been regularly having with my mom. I should have known.

But, there were some things for me to take away. I had the ideas that I should look back, reinterpret things, etc. I know that I could have been wrong previously, because my mom structured her diary so that it's filled with little metaphors that you have to slowly decode one by one in order to understand anything at all.

Really, it can be a lot of work, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I let out a huge sigh, and then throw off the blanket. I feel a little bit more refreshed than last night, where I just let everything out on Mason. I sit on the edge of my bed, and I reflect on my actions.

I can't help but feel slightly bad for everything I yelled at Mason. He was trying to be a concerned father, and I stood there yelling at him. I understand how he wanted to be concerned, but at the same time, I stand by my thoughts on him being hypocritical.

I definitely want to talk to him, but I want him to hear me out first. I need him to know what I've been thinking about the whole thing. "Ashmita, can I come in?" I hear, after a knock has been cast on the door.

I gulp a little bit, and wanting to get this over with, I say, "Yeah, come in."

The door swings open, and Mason, with an extremely guilty look on his face, walks inside. He kneels down, and immediately starts to explain himself. "Look, Ashmita, I know I screwed up. I'm sorry. I know you're mad at me, and-" he starts, but I cut him off.

"Mason, I don't want an apology."

He looks at me, slightly surprised, and says, "Oh. Then, what do you want then?"

"I want you to hear me out."

Mason gulps, then says, "You got it."

I let out a sigh, and say, "Okay, before you faint out of shock, I went through the autopsy reports, my mom's diaries, and all that jazz. I found evidence that Arjun may not have killed her. The stab wounds and the diaries are all just not indicative of him. Plus, you said he would have never laid a finger on her. This wouldn't make sense. I thought it could be Cody, and he would have an accomplice with him."

Mason interrupts me from there, and says, "It couldn't have been Cody. One, he's in a wheelchair. Two, he was with me the entire time during your mom's murder. Literally he couldn't have done it unless he had some sort of ability to stop time."

I gulp, then realize that my entire case pretty much has fallen through. I'm back to square one, and I hate it. I have to start over. I look back at Mason, and then say, "Mason, I have to get this straight. You're gonna look like I grew a tail, but whatever. Did you kill her?"

Mason's eyes widen a little bit, and he says, "No, of course not. Cody verified my alibi, and I was at home the entire time. I couldn't have done it."

I sigh a little bit, then think about everything. "Mason, you have to understand that I need to bring whoever may be the truthful killer to justice. Arjun may have just lost 15 years of his life because he confessed wrongfully. And, I need this to be between us. No Nathan, no Sarah, none of that. I need to keep this secretive enough so that this plan can work. I will figure out something, but you have to trust me."

Mason nods, and says, "Sure. I'll be patient. If you need something from me, let me know." He gets up, and then walks out of the room to go help Sarah cook. I flop back on the bed, and think about everything that's just happened. I've spent so much time on this case and my arguments fell through. I have to start from square one.

When will the truth finally come to light?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It will come, Ashmita. I promise. So, now Mason proves that Cody isn't a part of this. So, what do you think is next? Let me know in the comments.

Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm eagerly waiting for Wattpad to give us an update on the separate medium contest they promised. They said that there would be a separate contest for novellas, poetry, short stories, etc. I'm waiting! I really want to enter Blooming Flower!

Other than that, hope you guys liked this chapter!

Please vote/comment/share/follow/message if you like my work! See you all next Sunday with a new chapter of TSOC! Have a great week!

Love you guys,

Shree