Chapter 3 (Freddie's POV)

"You, Sam," I smiled.

Sam and I leaned in to kiss, but cops started pouring in from the door. Yeah, I knew why they were here. I pushed Sam behind me and waited for them to put the cuffs on my hands. "Freddie Benson," a cop walked over to us. "You are under arrest for the murder of Nevel Papperman."

"No duh," I said. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever get here."

Sam had a grip on my arm. "Freddie, you didn't-"

"Miss, I'm going to need you to step away from him, he's dangerous," the cop told Sam.

Sam didn't let go. I touched her hand, "Sam, it's okay, let go."

She released my arm. I flexed my shoulder and removed my jacket. I held my arms out and a cop put handcuffs on me. Carly pushed through the crowd that was around me. "Freddie-what's going on?" Carly demanded.

Two cops grabbed my arms. I could see Sam standing next to Carly. The look on her face made my insides hurt. It was true I had a crush on Carly, but I loved Sam. She starred at me with big blue eyes. When the cops started to drag me out of the gym, Sam and Carly followed. There were three cop cars outside-all those just to get me? Cool! The cop on my right opened the car door. The one on my left tried to push me in. "Wait," I growled.

Sam came over to me. "You really did kill him didn't you?"

I smiled at her. "I'll see you in a little bit." I kissed her then allowed the cop to push me into the car.

The door slammed shut and Sam put her hand on the window. When the car started, Sam took her hand off the window and stepped back. I wished that I could of said something to comfort her. The cop put his foot on the gas and we zoomed out of the parking lot.

You know those rooms where they question people in show like C.S.I.? Well, I was sitting in one of those. They had taken the handcuffs off me. I rubbed my wrists and sat comfortably back in my chair. Then swung my feet up on the table and waited for one of the cops behind the glass to come out and question me. I never understood why they had that glass. I mean, everyone under the sun knows that it's not a mirror it's glass and if you cup our hands around your eyes you can see there is a room behind it. "Can we hurry this up?" I said, knowing whoever was watching me could hear me behind the glass. "Come on, people. You know, you guys interrupted Sam and I. Man, I was actually going to get to kiss her for real, and you guys totally ruined it!"

Finally the door opened and two guys in suits came in. One leaned against the wall, the other sat in the chair in front of me. "My name is Rick Johnson," he said. "That's my brother, Luke Johnson."

I yawned. "Uh-huh, nice to meet you."

"Mr. Benson, this is very serious," Rick told me. "You killed a boy."

"Gee, how'd you know?" I asked stupidly.

"Your fingerprints were on the knife used to stab Nevel Papperman," Luke muttered.

"Awesome. Guess, I forgot to wipe the fingerprints off the knife before I left," I yawned again.

"It sounds like you don't even care, Mr. Benson," Rick noted.

"Maybe, I don't care," I grinned.

"Mr. Benson, its people like you that keep us from living without crime," Luke snapped.

"It's people like Nevel Papperman that make murderers," I snapped back at Luke. "Murderers sometimes make more murderers."

"So you do admit that you murdered Nevel Papperman?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I would have killed the little bastard over and over again if I could," I said.

"Why did you kill him?" Rick leaned forward.

"I did what you idiots couldn't do: I solved my mother's murder."

"You're not telling me that a boy, not even third-teen, killed your mother?" Rick asked me.

"Yep. Believe me or not. It doesn't matter even if I showed you proof, I'd still go to jail." I stood up. "Just take me to jail or whatever, I don't feel like talking to you morons anymore."

Luke put handcuffs back on me. "I hope you get locked up for a long time," Luke muttered.

The next day, I went to jail. No, they didn't send me to juvie. I went to prison with, like, adult people. And yes, I had to wear one of those orange jumpsuits. I was laying in my cell when the door opened, "Benson, you've got a visitor," the guard said.

"Sweet." I sat up.

The guard took me to the visitor room or whatever you want to call it. I had to admit, I was expecting Sam to be sitting at one of the tables. But instead Carly was there. My court date wasn't for another week so I was allowed to have visitors but I wasn't allowed to go home. "You have thirty minutes," the guard told me and opened the door.

Carly stood up and gave me a hug. "Hey, Carly." I hugged her back. "How's it going?"

She let go of me and sat back down. I sat across from her at the table. "Horrible," Carly sighed. "By the way, cool jumpsuit." She pointed at me.

"Oh. Thanks," I smiled. "It's really comfortably."

My smile faded and Carly the disappointed look on my face. "You were expecting Sam, weren't you?" she asked.

I folded my arms on the table and rested my head on them. "You can be honest with me, Freddie," Carly said.

"Okay, yes, I was expecting Sam. How is she anyway?"

Carly bit her lip.

"She's pissed, isn't she?" I grinned.

"Well...yeah. She's pissed," Carly said.

"But I'm guessing, telling me that Sam is mad, isn't the reason you came here, is it?" I sighed.

"Nope," Carly admitted. "I wanted to ask you why you did it."

"Did what? Murder Nevel?"

Carly nodded.

"Like I told the cops, I did what they couldn't do: I solved my mom's murder. It turned out to be Nevel. So I gave him what was coming to him," I shrugged.

"Freddie," Carly frowned. "Just because he killed your mom doesn't make it right to kill him. Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Carly, for all I care he can burn in hell."

"Because you murdered Nevel, people around you are suffering. Your friends, family, Nevel's family-"

"Just stop." I held up my hand and stood up. I started walking to the door. "Hey, I'd like to end my thirty minutes early," I told the guard.

Before I left Carly asked, "Freddie, do you regret killing Nevel?"

"No."

When I got back to my cell it was nighttime. I laid on my bed. Since my court date hadn't come yet, I had my own room. My eyes closed before the door shut.

-Dream-

I had solved my mother's murder. Nevel Papperman was the one who had caused me so much pain. I didn't care about his life or how his family would feel. He didn't care about what my mother's death would do to my family and me. So why should I care about his? Sam and I had just got back from destroying the locker rooms. I sat on my bed and waited until I was sure Sam was asleep.

I reached under my bed and pulled out a pocket knife; then slipped it into my pocket. Slowly I crept down the stairs and opened the apartment door. I slipped out the door and shut it behind me. When I got outside it started to rain. Great, I thought. I took a cab to Nevel's house. I'd been observing it for a few days. There were a weak spots in the house. The back door was old and rotted. A window that showed the basement was cracked. My personal favorite was Nevel's window. For one, it was only a few feet from the ground. Two, he left it open every night.

I easily cut the screen. Then I climbed in Nevel's room. The twerp was asleep. I wanted to cut his throat right then and there. But that wasn't what I had planned. Quietly, I walked up to his bed. His back was facing me. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him over. Lightning struck outside. I saw that his eyes weren't open. "Nevel," I growled.

"I don't want to get up now mother," Nevel said.

When he opened his eyes he saw that I was clearly not his mother. "Fred-"I slammed my hand on his mouth before he could finish.

Then I remembered that over the past few days, I had learned that his parents weren't going to be here, for tonight, at least. I pushed Nevel and he fell out of his bed. "I know what you did, Nevel." I walked around to the side he had fallen off of.

"What? How could you possibly know that?" Nevel asked.

I knelt down so that I was in his face. "I looked a little harder than the cops did. I found a lint brush yards from where my mother's body was found. There was hair on it-your hair, Nevel," I explained. I stood up. "I want to know why you did it."

Nevel backed against the wall. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I pulled the knife out of my pocket. "Nevel, if you don't tell me, I'm going to make your pain last for hours."

"Fine! I'll tell you! Just put the knife away!"

I put the knife back in my pocket. "You're right. I did kill your mother," Nevel admitted. "I did it because..."

My patience was becoming lesser and lesser by the minute. My anger was growing. "Because why?"

"I-I hated you guys..."

Then it hit me. "Tell me if I'm right. 'You guys' is referring to Carly, Sam, and me, right?"

Nevel nodded.

I kicked his nightstand. "You're telling me that your jealousy and pure hate of our web show, iCarly, that it was enough to kill someone? My mother?"

"You don't understand-" Nevel stammered.

"Oh! I understand completely! You murdered my mother because you thought that we would stop iCarly. You assumed that I would move in with an aunt or grandparent. But all my relatives live outside of Seattle, so you thought that without a tech-producer iCarly would stop. You KILLED my mother because of a WEB SHOW!" I was so angry. I wanted to rip his head off. "Am I correct?"

Nevel nodded weakly. "I-I'm sorry! I wish I could take it back-more than anything!"

"You're not sorry, you little bastard, not as sorry as you're going to be." I pulled my knife out again.

"Please, don't kill me! You said you wouldn't," Nevel pleaded.

"If you recall, you only asked me to put my knife away," I told him.

"Killing me won't make things right!"

"Whatever." I dug my knife in his side. Nevel didn't cry out, he just had a look of pure shock on his face. I took my knife out and stabbed his stomach. Nevel hacked and pushed me back. He fell on his floor and hacked up blood. I gripped my knife and took the blade out of him. Then I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him to his knees so he look into my eyes.

"Go to hell!" Nevel cried.

I snarled and stabbed him a third time in his chest. Before he died I told him, "Well, I guess I'll see you in hell."

-End Dream-

I woke up with a start. My forehead was drenched with sweat. Remembering that night wasn't something I really liked to remember.

My court day came up. Guess what? They found me guilty. Isn't that great? Jail wasn't much fun. All the guys were, like, thirty and boring. There wasn't much to do. And to think I had twenty years in this dump. My bail was kind of high so the Shays didn't have enough money to bail me out. I had a cellmate, he was about fifty. His name was Chester. He never told me what he got sent to jail for, but he got a life sentence. He didn't talk much. Come to think of it the only thing he ever said to me was, "My name is Chester. You need to bust out of here before it's too late." I always wondered what he meant by "too late" but I guess it didn't matter. This was too boring. So I was planning to break out anyway.