The Silent Witness Chapter 1

My girlfriend was violated on a rainy night, and I witnessed the entire thing.

I even recorded it on video.

In the end, she couldn't bear the torment. Her mind broke, and she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

A few days later, her mother found me and dropped to her knees in front of me.

"Jason, Lily said that the night she was attacked, she was coming to see you. You were nearby—you must have seen who did it, right?"

But watching my girlfriend's mother clutch at my legs, utterly devastated, I kicked her away.

"I'm sorry. I didn't see who did it."

Mrs. Reed stumbled backward after I shoved her, collapsing onto the ground.

"Jason, you're lying!"

Her voice trembled, but she bit back her tears, refusing to let them fall. "Ever since Lily was admitted to the psychiatric ward, she's been clutching her pillow every day, calling out your name."

"She says she saw you at the entrance to that alley that night! Why didn't you save her?"

I pulled out a cigarette. It took three tries before my lighter caught.

"Mrs. Reed, like I said—I didn't see anything."

"Lily's mentally unstable right now. You can't trust what she says."

Mrs. Reed suddenly scrambled to her feet and lunged at me, trying to grab my arm.

I sidestepped her. She missed, staggering forward before catching her balance.

"My daughter has been honest her whole life—she's never told a lie! Even if she's not lucid now, she wouldn't make something like this up!"

My fingers tightened around the cigarette. The ember burned down to my fingertip before I finally snapped back to reality.

The truth was, I knew better than anyone that Lily wasn't lying.

That night, the rain had come down hard. I'd been sheltering in the convenience store at the entrance to the alley, and I'd watched someone drag her into the dead-end beside it.

"I went back to my dorm late that night. I never went near that alley."

I dropped the cigarette and ground it out with my shoe.

"Jason, I'm asking you one last time—who was it?"

Before I could answer, Lily's father appeared.

"Lily was with you for two years. She treated you so well. And now you're just going to stand there and watch her suffer like this without saying a word of truth?"

Mr. Reed had taken a bad fall after learning what happened to his daughter. He was still limping.

Seeing him like that made something twist in my chest.

But I forced myself to stay firm. "Sir, I really don't know. If I knew, I would've gone to the police already. There's no reason for me to waste time arguing with you."

"Waste time?"

Mr. Reed's temper flared. He shoved me hard.

The force of it threw him off balance, and he toppled backward onto the ground.

Mrs. Reed screamed and rushed over to help him.

"David! Are you okay? Jason, you monster!"

A crowd began to gather around us.

"Isn't that Jason? He's Lily's boyfriend, right?"

"I heard about what happened to Lily—something about a mental breakdown. So he knows who did it but won't say?"

"Jesus, what a coward. His own girlfriend gets hurt and he won't even stand up for her? And then he pushes her father?"

Lily's best friend pushed through the crowd, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"Jason, are you even a man? When Lily started dating you, so many people were jealous!"

"She was the most beautiful girl in our school. Tons of guys wanted to be with her, and she turned them all down for you. And this is how you treat her? Do you have any conscience at all?"

I laughed bitterly.

Of course I knew people had been jealous.

Last year at the school anniversary event, Lily had spoken on stage as a student representative. Every guy in the audience couldn't take his eyes off her.

"What good does jealousy do?"

"You all see how good she was to me, but none of you saw what I did for her. Now something's happened, and everyone's pointing fingers at me. Do any of you actually know what the situation was?"

"Isn't it just that you're a coward? Too afraid to offend whoever did this? I heard the guy has connections. You're scared of retaliation, aren't you? That's why you won't talk."

That hit too close to home.

After it happened that night, Lily had been curled up on the ground, her clothes torn to shreds, her face covered in tears and rain.

When she grabbed my arm and sobbed, I could see the despair in her eyes.

Mr. Reed, supported by his wife, managed to stand. His hands were shaking.

"Jason, you listen to me. You won't talk today? Fine. I'll search this entire city if I have to, but I will find out who did this. And when I do, I want to see how you'll face Lily then."

"Do what you want."

I turned to leave, but Lily's friend grabbed my arm.

"You're not going anywhere! We've already called the police. When they get here, you can tell them to their faces whether you saw anything or not."

I yanked my arm free. She stumbled backward, nearly crashing into someone behind her.

The murmurs around me grew louder—"coward," "monster."

I glanced toward the convenience store in the distance.

The alley beside it was where it had happened.

Lily used to come here all the time. She'd call me from right outside the store.

"Jason, I brought you something good to eat."

Back then, her smile had been so beautiful.

I couldn't help but laugh bitterly to myself.

Because deep down, I knew the truth better than anyone.

I was hiding something.