Dancing to the Answers

Chapter 11 || Kendall's Crime

(Another update yay! Just bc you guys are awesome and lots of people are reading and voting for all my chapters. You earned it! enjoy!)

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Kendall woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache. Ever since her clue was revealed, her health had been declining rapidly. First it was just a cold, but it then turned into a sore throat, loss of voice, stuffy nose, and terrible headaches.

Nobody knew it was her, did they? They couldn't. She had been just an nonchalant as the others.

Kendall was filled with regret. A stupid dare brought her here in the first place, and she wished terribly to go back to that day and decline it.

But no, Kendall couldn't, thought her 15 year old self. Her reputation was more important than hurting innocent people. It was important enough to break the law.

Kendall was a babysitter until that night. She had always loved being with kids, watching them interact to the world all around them. She admired their carefree lifestyle, and often found herself missing her own childhood.

She loved babysitting kids, oh yes. But that was until she was forced to abduct one.

Flashback, one year ago

"Kendall, truth or dare?" Alex demanded, spooning Italian ice into her mouth. It was a lazy Friday night, and Kendall was hanging out with her new friends at Joe's.

"Dare," Kendall smirked, staring down at her melting vanilla ice cream. She had gotten it because all the others had, but Alex and Jackie told her to secure her spot in the group she would have to lose weight. She was trying.

"See that playground over there?" Kendall nodded furiously, following Alex's gaze to the plastic play equipment swarming with kids. "I dare you to take one of them."

The group burst into laughter, shouting cheers of encouragement, but Kendall was confused. "Take one? Like just go over, pick up an innocent kid, and run away with them?"

"Exactly!" Alex cried, laughing along with the others.

"I-I can't do that. It's illegal. Those kids did nothing to deserve that."

"Oh come on, not again, Kendall, you always ruin the fun. Put on your big girl pants and stop being such a party pooper!"

Kendall stared hesitantly at the playground, looking at the small children laughing and playing. Alex broke her out of her trance.

"You want to be a part of this group, right? What I say goes. If you don't do this, you're history." Alex spoke through gritted teeth in Kendall's ear, the scent of cherry and lemon visible in her icy breath.

There was a two letter word on the tip of Kendall's tongue, about to deny Alex's crazy dare and get her kicked out of the group forever.

Instead, something possessed her, and she spoke a four letter word that felt like acid coming out of her mouth.

"Okay."

Cheers and whoops erupted from the group as Kendall scurried over to the fenced playground. Fighting back tears, she opened the gate and scanned the area before her eyes landed on a small little boy, possibly six years old, sitting on a bench quietly near the gate.

She would hate herself for doing this.

Quickly, she picked up the boy, and he started wailing immediately. "Stranger danger, strang-" Kendall clamped her hand over his mouth, tears running down her face. He desperately tried to wiggle out of her grasp but wasn't strong enough.

When Kendall reached her friends at the outdoor picnic table they cheered. "Didn't think you had it in you, Vertes," Alex shouted.

She didn't stop to reply. She kept running. She ran past the ALDC and bolted down the street, into the woods. She had to get away.

What now? Setting the boy down, she removed her hand from his mouth.

Before he could run away, scared and repulsed by her, she whispered something through tears. "I'm sorry, my friends made me do that."

She didn't wait for an answer before taking off, leaving the boy lost, scared and upset.

Kendall ran, and she ran. She felt the more she ran the more she was hurting herself, taking away the guilt. She felt like if she ran fast and long enough, there would be nothing left of her, no guilt, no pain, no worry.

Her body was pumping with adrenaline, so she kept running. She collapsed in an area surrounded by trees, panting like a dog.

She didn't care where she was. She didn't care that she was lost, she didn't care that people were probably worried sick looking for her. She didn't care that she abandoned her friends, heck, she didn't care if they kicked her out of the popular group. She didn't care that they thought she was fat, she didn't care whether or not they were looking for her, because they probably weren't.

For a few moments, Kendall didn't care about anything. Before falling asleep in the quiet, deserted forestland, however, she realized she did care about something. The only thing she cared about was the boy being found.

And he was. It took three days, but an investigator crew found him, only mildly dehydrated and mentally unstable.

Kendall, however, was a different story. It took the crew two weeks to find her. She honestly didn't even care when she saw the helicopter whirling above her head, she made no movement to signal they had found her.

Kendall was now a criminal, and that one crime would haunt her forever. She would have to spend the rest of her life running.

(End of flashback)

Kendall sighed, the feeling of guilt coming back to her and overwhelming her body. She needed to go for a run.

She slipped on her neon Nike shoes and a North Face jacket before pushing open the doors as the girls made plans to go to Joe's. She could never face that place again, she nearly had a mental breakdown when her clue forced them to the park.

Kendall took off at a steady pace, running down the street.

Running.

She was always running.

And she always would be.

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author's note: holy crap this chapter was emotional. I mean it spoke to me on a different level when I was writing it, I'm sorry if it's utterly long and boring. And I know it's slightly depressing, I didn't plan it like that, it kinda just came to me and it overwhelmed me so much I think I almost had a panic attack. idk man that was really exhausting. okay I'm gonna go calm down cuz this is too emotional for me. bye 😂

-cai the bae (ps, there's Kendall's secret!! you know Chloe's, Brooke's, Kendall's, some of Paige's, and some of someone else's. still not enough to know the murderer. you will soon, though. mwahahaha)

(pps, I'll update at 300 reads! cuz seriously I had 190 this morning and now I have 232. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING MY FIRST STORY TO 600 READS OMG I CANT YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST)