《the wallflower》

the house in black canyon

BLYTHE CAMPBELL 

"But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God." -John 3:21 

The phone call was one of the most heart-wrenching things Blythe had ever witnessed. She saw the look on Ryder's face as he listened to a distorted voice on the other side of the phone, and watched as he pulled Lydia's notebook over to him so he could write down whatever information he could gather before it ended. Ryder tried to pry something out of the caller, but it ended before he could get anything out, leaving him mouth agape and confused. 

He placed the phone on the table and rubbed his eyes. "What was that?" Justice asked slowly, like he too was afraid. Ryder slid the notebook over to Justice and pointed at whatever he wrote down. "It's an address." 

Lydia swiftly the notebook back, pulling out her own phone to type the address down. The image the pulled up was an old brick house and looked abandoned and in the middle of nowhere. And Blythe was starting to get a bad feeling. "It's a start." Parker mumbled, looking up at Ryder who nodded, sweat visible on his face. 

"Black Canyon? Isn't that like, four hours away?" Blythe felt her heart beginning to race, but her question seemed to be completely disregarded. 

"If we're gonna go, we should leave now, before it gets any later." Lydia said, scooping up the notebook and her phone and walking away from the table. Justice, Andi, Parker, and Arabella followed in suit, leaving Ryder and Blythe behind. 

'Wait, we're actually going to do this?" Blythe, watching as Ryder reluctantly got up, running after the rest of the group. "Guys!" She pulled out a ten-dollar bill from her bag and raced out the door, seeing everyone already getting into cars and exchanging addresses. "Guys! We can't actually go and do this!" She reasoned, but she only got dirty looks. 

Lydia waved her over to her car, where Justice, Ryder, and Andi were already climbing in. "You can come or not, it doesn't matter. But when you get leads like this, you have to go after them. The police might not even know about this guy, and if we can get to her, then we will." 

"What if it's a prank? This- this is dangerous!" 

"Then don't come. But we're fine, we're a big group. And besides, if we don't go, what if she disappears again? What if this is our time to find her before she's gone forever. We can't dwell on 'what ifs', we just have to have faith that whatever we're getting into, we're doing the right thing." Lydia said, closing her door and starting her truck. 

Blythe stood there, watching as the last bit of the sun was setting, meaning that daylight was gone. Sighing, she walking to the backseat, seeing Justice open the door for her and move over for her to sit. This was it. She was going now, and there was no turning back. 

The cities lights from Reno shined brightly over the rolling hills, leaving an eerie presence on their venture. Justice continued to look up the history about Black Canyon, learning that it used to be a mining community in the Black Rock desert. The house they were heading to had been abandoned for years, left there for the elements, which didn't make Blythe feel any better about any of it. 

She had to call her mom and tell her she was staying at Lydia's for a study night, which she blessedly took, and settled in her seat, trying to keep her emotions at bay. 

Lydia had some indie music playing in the background, though everyone was uncomfortably quiet. One hour down, three to go. 

Two hours.