Long Lost | Twilight✔️

𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵

The next day was probably the most dreaded. Though her mom would be mad, Thalia didn't care, she skipped on her meds. She had to eat before she took them anyway and she couldn't even bring herself to do that. She laid awake the night before, filled with worry and regret. Part of her thought that maybe if she returned home on time that she could have- no stop it! She scolded herself. That wouldn't even make sense. The search party continued bright and early when Chief Swan and his buddies rolled up to the house, followed by people in the community who agreed to help out. She was thankful that people were willing to help but she just wished she could do the same. Thalia checked her phone as soon as she woke up, forgetting that she had dozens of missed phone calls and messages from the night before. She immediately threw her phone across the room and it landed just below the fish tank, cracking the screen the slightest. She was too tired and stressed and the missed calls and messages would only overwhelm her. Thalia felt bad not answering Jared. He was the closest thing she had had to a friend in a long time, he didn't deserve to be ignored. She would guess if Jared knew where she lived, then he would have hunted her down earlier. Thalia would answer the calls and messages later, just not at the moment.

As instructed by her mother, Thalia stayed in her room for the day, skipping school. Her mom had said that people would be in and out all day and she didn't want her in the way. Though Janie's words sounded insane, Thalia wasn't up for an argument, she would prefer to avoid people anyway. She let her skip school too and that came as a shock to Thalia but she assumed that her mom wouldn't want Thalia to have any publicity from this since it would be stressful. She just wanted her father to walk through the door and kick off his shoes at the step. She wanted him to ask how her project went and praise her for the amazing grade that Janie would despise for not being good enough. Her father would then tell her later not to listen to what her mom had to say. He would just be proud that she put in an effort. That's what she wanted and she knew that that wouldn't be the outcome.

Even after throwing her phone, it continued to buzz. She groaned and walked across the room to get it. Skipping her meds hadn't been the best idea for that she was worse than she would be if she had taken them. She could care less at this point. Thalia finally decided to at least give somebody an explanation, but who? Her Inbox had over 100 missed messages, over 40 voicemails, and emails, and over 30 missed phone calls, 12 of those which had been from Jared. Thalia decided to give in to his pleas and give him and call back. He picked up by the third ring.

"Thalia thank god you finally answered." he sounded relieved,

"How are ya holding up?" his voice softened and Thalia bit her lip to hold back her tears.

"Thalia?"

"No luck yet," her lip trembled as she sniffled. "I'm scared Jared," she had never admitted that to anyone before, whenever she would it would leave her feeling weak and vulnerable.

"What if- what if they don't find him-"

"Hey take it easy." Jared tried his best to comfort her. He wished that he knew where she lived.

"My buddy Sam and I are looking for him, okay?" Thalia was surprised that he was nice enough to help out. "We're gonna find him."

"Thanks, Jay,"

"No problem," she heard muffled in the background. "Hey, Thalia I gotta get going," he sighed, "I'll keep you posted."

"Thank you, Jared, really."

"Alright, you sound tired," he spoke off-topic. "You should probably try to sleep, maybe eat some food?"

"Alright," she wiped her eyes, "I'll try, see ya."

"Bye," he ended the call.

Thalia felt grateful that Jared had offered his help. It showed that he cared. It wasn't long before Tyler's face was plastered on every paper and news channel in existence. Since it was such a small town, it wasn't often that someone had disappeared and when they did it was a huge deal. Though there was a small spike in disappearances a few months back, the cases had died down a while ago. Tyler's case was the first in a while so the town and surrounding cities did not know how to handle themselves. Rumors and claims of seeing him had only made Thalia more upset. Even though she knew that the claims were false, it was almost like false hope was being thrown in her face. She wouldn't dare to turn on the TV, it would just hurt.

The day continued slowly with the sun slowly setting now. There had been no news or any updates about the issue and unlike Jared had asked, she had yet to eat or sleep. Thalia felt like she could do absolutely nothing until her father was found. She would search the whole state if given the chance. Jared texted her from time to time to check-in but she ignored it, he would understand. Plus, he would probably think that she was sleeping or something. It wasn't until around 8 o'clock when her phone had started to ring. When the caller ID read "Jared" she didn't hesitate to answer. He hadn't called since this morning, maybe he had news.

"Jared?"

"Thalia," his voice made him sound angry and a bit panicked.

"Jay, what's wrong?" his voice made her nervous. She had never heard him like this before.

"Where do you live?"

"What?" she seemed slightly dumbfound by her question.

"Damn it," he mumbled and there were the sounds of arguing in the background. "Thalia I have to go. I need you to message me your address."

"But why would-"

"I'll explain when I get there." Jared hung up the phone.

Confused, Thalia did what he asked and texted him her address. He responded with a "Thank you" and Thalia threw her phone back onto her bed. She didn't understand why he would need her address but it was now starting to worry her. Thalia had never heard him sound so scared before. She walked downstairs to get herself a glass of water. There were still people and cars lining her front yard. There seemed to have been a news van as well. She put her hood over her head as she walked to the kitchen because she didn't want people to notice her through the big windows. She got her water and went to go back upstairs when she saw another car pull up. It seemed rusted up and old but when she saw who stepped out, she hadn't even bothered to put shoes on. Thalia didn't care about the stupid news anymore. She set down her water and immediately rushed out the front door.

"Thalia," Jared rushed towards her and she did the same.

"Jay," she didn't care how many people were looking, they were everywhere at this point. She rushed to hug him, relieved that he was okay. She could feel his heart racing against her ear and he seemed worried. "What- what happened? Why did you- is everything-" seeing him so panicked made her worried. Jared had yet to explain the phone call. While she fumbled over her words, he did his best to block the sight behind him.

"Thalia," he paused and lifted her chin. His eyes seemed to be glossed over and seeing the worry and what seemed to be guilt in his eyes made her freeze. "Thalia, he was attacked." he held onto her shoulders. "We found him an hour ago. He didn't-" he shook his head pausing his sentence unable to speak anymore. He knew what was coming and it wasn't going to be good.

"No-" Thalia stuttered, shaking her head, refusing to believe him. "No- Jared, he can't- it can't be-"

"It is, Thalia I'm sure of it." She was in shock. No! It wasn't possible. It can't be. He's lying, right? Thalia shoved past him and Jared made a desperate attempt to pull her back. He didn't want her to see it, it would be too much for her and she wouldn't be able to handle it. His attempts failed as he now stood behind a shocked, mortified Thalia.