Deadly Hallows [Complete]

Chapter 25: Search Dogs

The night had passed slowly. I had been waiting for Mason to show up only to realize that he didn't mean he'd come over at a normal hour, instead he'd meet up with me for one of our dusk to dawn walks. So I excused myself from the family early, mostly due to the awkwardness between everyone since the fight between my parents, and decided to read on my phone while I waited for Mason to come over. Anything was better than dealing with the silence down stairs. I had never heard silence so loud, screaming in pain and sorrow, and I didn't want to ever again.

My dad had stayed the last few nights out of town as to not cause more rumors. They had come up with a lie that he had taken off for a work trip, and that he was gone indefinitely. My mom told everyone some lie that he may be moving to start a new office, no one was sure yet, but that was because my father had yet to make a decision on what to do after he heard the news. It had been about three days, but I knew it would take him a while to figure out what to do with the information. According to Mason, his dad hadn't spoken to his mom yet. Maybe he didn't feel the need to because technically he hadn't lied.

Mason's mom knew that Sophie wasn't hers, she just didn't know her husband had cheated on her. If my mom had the courage to tell my dad the truth when she knew how he would react, I saw Mason's father taking the cowardly way out. His secret would come out eventually, and then he'd have to own up to it.

I laid in bed flipping through the virtual pages of the book I had downloaded over a year ago. I had a reading list a mile long, and most of the time they just sat on my phone never opened. Thanks to all the recent events I had been diving into books more and more as an escape from the horrific details and the aftermath of Sophie's death. Though it was becoming harder and harder to distance myself from it. Mason had been right, this would eat away at us and soon we'd end up as dead on the inside as Sophie was when she first arrived here.

I just hope we finished this before it took over our lives and prevented us from moving forward.

My phone buzzed in my hands, and a text from Mason lit up my screen. I typed a quick reply as I peeled back my covers, all ready dressed for our late night walk. I had been covered so when my mom came to check on me I would look like I was asleep, but I didn't want to waste time getting ready this time. I grabbed my coat and raced down the path I had taken before, making sure not to wake up my mother. The last few nights she hadn't been sleeping well, so every sound woke her up. If I wasn't careful this night would have an unfortunate outcome.

I was praying Mason had reconsidered, or at least thought of a different lead to take with Sophie's case. Otherwise I pushed my mom to ruin her marriage for nothing. Guilt washed over me once again, but I shook it off as I stepped into the cold fall air. Though this time, Mason wasn't easy to find. He usually stood under the streetlight, but this time when I shut the door he was nowhere in sight. I started to panic slightly as I stepped off my front porch, and slowly walked down the stairs. He told me he was here, yet he was nowhere in sight. 

"Casey," a voice stated from behind me. I turned to see Mason smiling like a mischievous kid whose plan had worked out perfectly. "Did I scare you?"

I playfully hit him on the chest before saying, "That wasn't funny, Mason."

Mason let out a laugh before taking my hand so I'd stop slapping him. "Come on, Casey. It was just a joke. Have you lost your sense of humor?"

"No, I just don't like having you scare me." I was trying to keep my anger hot so I could tell him off for scaring me, but Mason's smile just had a natural way of relaxing me. My anger melted away as he took my hand, apologizing and leading us for toward the open front gate to begin our walk. 

We walked in silence for a while until we returned back to the bridge we had sat at last time, and something about the location told me how serious this conversation was going to be. I shuffled my feet as I waited for him to start speaking. I could see the inner debate he was having, it was written all over his face that he didn't want to say anything. Suddenly my heart fell to my stomach, I had a bad feeling he was going to tell me he couldn't be around me anymore. Even though he said Sophie and I didn't look alike, it must be hard digging around in her past and sharing it with someone who was basically a stranger.