Targeted

04 | Long Journey Ahead

The two young men glanced at one another. Tyler felt bad for her. She was too young to be going through all that she's endured in the last few days. Jink didn't care too much for the girl, but hearing those words even made him feel sorry for her.

"Damn, I can't imagine how you must've felt," Tyler voiced shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

Kellan wiped her tears, her voice losing itself again.

"I know this may be hard for you to talk about or relive, but we need to know everything. Try and remember things down to the smallest details." Tyler reached out and touched her hand, Jink catching the gesture while lifting the blunt to his lips once again. "What time was it— morning, evening, afternoon? Where were you? Were you two alone? Was she known to self harm or have suicidal thoughts? Did anything seem put off earlier that day?"

"At this very old house we lived in for a few months. I didn't find her until the next morning I woke up. We didn't have anyone over— we never do. She..she wouldn't have just left me alone like this," she cried out, placing her face inside her hands. "We talked normally hours before! Nothing seemed put off about her, but for some reason she was in that bathtub, fully clothed in bath water, and dead!"

"Do you remember the last conversation you had with her?" Jink asked blowing out smoke, keeping his eyes on her, seeing that Tyler's hand never left hers.

"We talked about the future. I was finally going to be enrolled into a private school. She was a little cautious about it, but I thought she was just nervous to let me out of her sight for once." Kellan drifted off into thought remembering Tara's behavior. "Come to think of it...all my life I've been shielded. My mom— Tara— she did seem to be troubled."

"What you mean?"

Kellan furrowed her eyebrows, her memory coming back like a motion picture in her mind. "It's almost as if she had been running away...we moved around all the time, and even so, times we wouldn't leave the house for a period of days. When we did go out in public, she'd keep me close and always looked over her shoulder. She hid a lot from me, and would always beat around the bush when I questioned her."

Jink wrinkled his face when Tyler used his thumb to wipe her tears. He smashed the blunt in an ashtray and cleared his throat, becoming agitated. "How'd her funeral turn out? Was it crowded?"

"Not at all," Kellan said lowly, smiling small over at Tyler for his support and understanding. "I'm the only one who attended, of course."

Something was off and both of the young men felt it. The facts Kellan was presenting along with the information that Tauni found out, wasn't adding up. Jink and Tyler both knew the next steps they needed to take to get their investigation further.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked her quietly, and she nodded. Jink flared his nostrils low-key getting upset, thinking that his cousin needed to focus on the main goal.

"And what about your father? Have you ever met him?"

"No. I've only known my mo—Tara." Kellan had to keep reminding herself that she may, or may not, be her mother. It was hard to admit it to herself that she was actually questioning everything of her life. Lies seemed to surround her and she couldn't help but feel cheated, like someone should have told her things to prepare her.

Jink and Tyler looked at each other briefly. As Tyler stood and walked off doing something on his phone, Jink reached into his pocket and tossed something to Kellan. She caught it with a quick reflex and examined it in her hand.

Her eyes widened and relief rushed through her as she jumped up with joy. Jink looked over at her like she was weird, and before she leaned to give him a hug, she thought twice about it.