Early Bird | ✓

38 | wren

❁

           JJ ambled down the sidewalk, calling for Lizzy over and over again until his voice grew hoarse. Echoes of his voice reached his ears; each time he would jump, startled, mistaking it for a reply from Lizzy. A strange, prickling feeling waded over his skin, rippling until every inch was covered in goosebumps. Was this how Lizzy felt before her kidnapper stole her—frightened and creeped out but unable to figure out why?

           "Lizzy!" he called out again hopelessly. The wind whistled in his ears as if mocking him. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to drown out his fears, but they barreled toward him like a freight train, leaving him breathless and half-dead. "Lizzy!"

           The dilapidated houses in this area of town seemed to stare at him, silently, eerily, like they held the answers JJ was searching for.

           He tightened his sweatshirt around him, the cold biting every inch of his exposed skin. Despite the sun shining down upon him, the trees green and flourishing, children skipping around in swimsuits and shorts, JJ was cold. So, so cold.

           "Lizzy! Lizzy, please answer me!"

           The kids, once playing and laughing in the warm spring sun, stopped and stared at JJ. He could feel their eyes on him, little spiders crawling up and down his back. He didn't dare meet their eyes—their eyes that for some weird reason felt more accusatory than anything else.

           A little boy, no older than six, stepped up to JJ, simultaneously bashful and brave. "You looking for the girl?" he asked. The little boy seemed familiar as JJ looked down upon him; there was something that JJ recognized in his cinnamon brown hair, his bronze eyes swirling with unreadable emotions, his little body adorned in Nike shorts with a matching shirt. Realization dawned upon him and JJ knew—he was looking at a younger version of himself.

           "Have you seen her?" he replied breathlessly, never blinking, simply watching the little boy in awe.

           The boy pointed in the direction of a forest that loomed nearby. "Thanks." JJ treaded toward the woods despite his better judgement, despite the fear that now grasped his throat in a chokehold that made it hard to breathe.

            At the edge of the forest, he kicked a rock and tripped forward, the sunny sky traded for an expanse of leafy branches and a face full of dirt. He gagged and spit the dirt out of his mouth, his hands warm as some sort of liquid oozed out of them. Blood. He sat up and examined the cuts on his palms. The sound of a stick cracking inside the forest caused his head to snap up, his eyes as wide as saucers.

           He needed to get out of there.

           JJ turned back around, gaze set on the street a few feet away, when something in the long grass caught his eye, right where the rock had sent him flailing into the dirt.

            A speck of blood.

           His eyebrows furrowed, and he bent back the grass, revealing—

           A startled scream fled his throat like a prisoner and he crashed to his knees—willingly this time. When tears began to sprinkle onto the strands of green below him, he didn't force them to stop. His hands trembled as he reached forward.

           He tenderly touched her hand like he imagined he would if he had ever met her when she was still alive. Half-covered in leaves, dirt, and grass lay Lizzy's body, cold and lifeless, eyes staring blankly at the gorgeous sky, her lips blue and skin purple as though her entire body was bruised.