Chapter 31
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November 12, Thursday - The day of the football game.
Since the Brooks told the complete true story to her brother's old best friend and her unofficial girlfriend she felt... relieved?
It all happened more than a year ago and it was always an event that never left the brunette girl's mind.
Her brother had died.
She left out one part of the story though.
The part... where she fell into a depressive black hole the months after the event.
The part of her life where she felt guilty for her brother's death because she should have called someone sooner.
The part where she wished it had been her instead of her brother.
The part where her will to live wasn't there for several months and she probably never would have made it without the support of her two family members she moved in with.
But she made it. She wanted to make it. For her brother.
And now, for his love, she was sitting in his old car, which she had managed to get running after several weeks, with the box of tapes in her lap.
Why?
The older car had a cassette player.
And currently the brown-eyed one has been sitting in the car for hours going through all of them.
She listened to some of them twice, just to hear the creepy voice of the football player and that of her brother.
What Cedric said was true... it was recordings of conversations from various situations about the Brooks trying to get information out of Mason secretly.
Each tape had a different name... which meant that the name appeared at least a few times on that tape.
Cedric was right... her brother was smart.
And all this information could lead the young Brooks to decide to pack up that box and go straight to the police station with it.
The news would also be evidence, or the pictures she took in the bathroom that time after what happened to her.
But she knew it was too soon.
The brown-haired girl was just about to put the second-to-last cassette into the box, when she noticed that there was only one cassette left.
It was the one without a label.
Expecting that again background noises like from a party or in school are to be heard, she was wrong.
"Test... test... hello? Good it runs. Hi, it's Alex."
The girl had to grin.
"So... it's May 17, 2004 and guess who's birthday it is? The birthday of Bella Elena Brooks my sweet little sister. If you're listening to this, hey sis, I'm glad you found this tape--"
He wanted me to find it?.. I turn the volume up. I was in the garage anyway, so I wouldn't bother anyone with it.
"The point of the cassette? There isn't one. I already mentioned that your birthday is today and since it's.... 2:34am of course my midnight thoughts came-" he said the sentence with an audible chuckle at the end.
"Idiot." I whispered to myself.
"No matter when you find this Bella... I just want to tell you that I am lucky to have you as my sister. Really. I'm lucky to wake up every morning with you by my side... I'm lucky I had you when we were both at our worst... I'm lucky to be your brother and to watch you grow up..-" You could feel the boy's breathing becoming more irregular in the middle of it.
"I honestly don't want to cry right now... no Alex stop. Anyway ehm... yes I wanted to say all that because no matter what ever happens Bella... I am and always will be proud of you okay?"
I ran both hands through my hair now while leaning my head back on the seat. It all sounded like he had known something was going to happen to him.
"And Bella? Don't ever change, okay?... as sickening as it sounds it's true. You are a beautiful, strong and amazing girl. Promise me that. You can do that now the second you hear it, go I'll wait."
"I promise." I said to myself with a smile.
"Good then... I better go to sleep, because in a few hours someone will be pulled out of sleep by the beautiful Alexander Brooks so we can go to the lake together, as you requested. Bye bye."
Here the audio stopped.
"Bye Alex." I whispered to myself now.
My head drooped and I could feel tears forming in my eyes.
"You stupid stupid boy... how can you come up with words like that without me being able to answer to you."
The thought hurt her.. a lot.
"Bella." someone suddenly spoke up.
I quickly wiped my eyes before looking up.
At the door, I saw my uncle and cousin now looking at me with worried faces.
"Are you okay?" asked Lauren, making her way in my direction.
"What, oh sure. Did I disturb... I'll turn it down my music." meanwhile I said frantically putting the cassette into the box.
"That was definitely not music Bella." said the green eyed one who was now squatting in front of the door looking at me in the car.
"Was that really Alex?" asked my uncle who was making eye contact with me as he moved to the work bench.
"Yes.. that was him." I gave a soft smile.
"You miss him a lot don't you?" asked the black haired girl next to me.
I looked over at her from the window. "Every day."
She didn't answer but smiled instead.
"I see you managed to fix that boy's car." my uncle spoke now from the work table. I knew he was doing this to lighten the sad mood.
"Yeah, I think so. I was just going to take it for a ride and-" I couldn't help but think of the cassette tapes in my lap at the moment. "And that's when I found the cassette in here."
It was a lie, but I preferred not to tell them both about my plans just yet.
"I see... are you going to clean all this up?" He looked at the scattered tools on the floor.
"Luke!"
"Dad."
"What? Just asking." the brown haired man said with his hands in the air.
We both laughed in response.
"Where are you and Max actually going today instead of the game?" I asked the green eyed one.
"I was planning on taking her and my girls out for dinner. Football isn't really our thing."
"So it's official between you two now?" I asked while wiggling my eyebrows.
"Oh shut up. Go snuggle with Lizzie. " she said as she stood back up from her crouch.
"I'm just asking." I held my hands up in the air now too like Luke did before.
"Yeah yeah... don't you have your princess to pick up soon? You better go get ready, because the way you look now, she's going to mistake you for Letty again."
"Alright. Then step away from the door, ass."
"You realize these tools don't belong here." Luke spoke up next to one of the cabinets.
"Luke." I said again in the same tone as before.
"I'm just saying."
Time to get ready.
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5:34pm
The game will start at 6pm and the football player's party will be at some point after that. Cedric has already assured me that we are invited.
I texted Lizzie before I left that I would pick her and the baseball player up.
I stood in the driveway of the Olsen house where I was waiting. The front door opened and I saw the girl in a black puffer jacket walking towards the car.
You could see on her face that she looked surprised.
The door opened and the green-eyed girl stared at me with her mouth open.
"Whose car is this?"
"Good to see you too, princess."
"Bella." said Lizzie more sternly now. Seeing her belting up, I backed out of the driveway.
"It's mine... well before that it was Alex's. It had damage from back then and I recently decided to fix it." I explained to her. Along the way I was thinking again about how to get to the gray eyed boy's house.
"You and fixing cars? Wait a minute. That picture of Lauren... were you working on that car that day?"
"She seriously sent it to you. That little bitch. But yeah... why else would I have oil on my hands and my clothes?" I asked meanwhile carefully looking at my phone to check the time.
"You slipped in paint, I don't know." she said with a grin.
"Ha Ha very funny."
We were now at a red light after a few minutes. The boy's house was not far from here.
Suddenly I felt a hand turn my face and a quick kiss was placed on my lips.
"Hey." said the dark blonde.
"Hey princess." I replied.
I looked away and noticed it was getting green.
"We're going to the game. Keep an eye on Mason, after that go to the party... and then what?" she asked.
"Cedric said he'll explain everything as soon as we pick him up. I think today we have some kind of mission at this party."
I also wondered if anything would happen today. Will we get home safely? I hope so.
The car was now a few meters from the house and I could already see the boy standing on the sidewalk waving at us.
When I parked next to him the back door was opened immediately.
"It all feels so nostalgic sitting here again. Hey girls." he greeted us.
I turned the car around and drove into the direction of the school where the football game would take place.
"We're going to stay with Mason's group today."
"You mean party with them?" asked Lizzie to the back of the car.
"That's stupid Cedric." I said in a scowling tone.
"No listen to me. We have to make a good impression.. dont draw attention to us otherwise we cant search the house without fearing that someone is looking for us.
Search down the house? Have we become criminals?
"It would still be the best if someone stays with the group to keep an eye on Mason meanwhile two others will be searching."
The drive was quick, so we could already see the parking lot near the field coming toward us.
"What are we looking for?"
"Anything to look for to use against Mason." he answered. "Maybe pictures... his laptop--"
"Or his camera," I interrupted him.
I recognized from his look in the rearview mirror that he understood what I meant.
"Camera?"
I looked over at Lizzie after I parked.
"He filmed what he did," I told her.
She looked at me with sympathetic eyes.
"All right. Then let's get the evening started." the baseball player said before getting out of the car.
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-A