Valerie's POV:
"So how come you're taking me up here?" I asked Demi as we walked up the path to the Hollywood sign.
"I just wanted to talk to you is all..." She said very simply. Her hair was now brown with purple tips. I liked it a lot. "When I was your age it would calm me down to go on a long walk or hike with someone. Just to go somewhere and get away from everything - even if it was just for a couple hours."
"But how do you get away from the thoughts in your head?"
"Sometimes you can't." She reached for my hand and we continued down the beach. The sun was setting and I liked the way my bare feet felt as they sunk into the sand. "But you can drop them. Drop them like a stone. If a bad thought comes, distract yourself. Go around people, even if it's hard. Come here for a walk, just ask me and I'll join you. Write a story .. There's so many things you can do. You just have to find out what works for you."
I didn't respond. So instead, I lightly squeezed her hand to let her know that I was allowing the words to sink in.
"Demi?"
"Yeah?"
"I want to go in the water."
Demi looked at me, then slowly back at the water. It was evening and the waves were calming down. The setting sun reflected a magenta color on the waves.
"You haven't been in the water since that night." She said.
She was talking about the night Ryan made me undress and walk into the water. "I know," I breathed. "And I want to conquer it."
"Okay," she smiles at me. It wasn't her big toothy grin, it was a small sweet smile. A genuine one. "Tomorrow you can go. How 'bout that?"
"Sounds good to me, you can come too if you want." I whispered hopeful.
"I didn't know when to tell you, Val... Tomorrow I'm leaving back on tour. But just two weeks and you, Maddie, and mom are gonna come up for a few days for your birthday."
I knew it was inevitable. I knew she had to leave. Everything in me didn't want her to go. But there was also this little part of my hear that told me that it'd be okay. Perhaps I still had a bit of a high from coming clean to the family. Two weeks sober has been the longest I've lasted in years. Or maybe this sense of everything being okay was just that. That it will be. Maybe not forever, but for now. And I am okay with that.
"C'mon," I grabbed Demi's hand and ran to the very edge of the sand. Our feet enveloped in the cold sensation of the waves washing over them, cleansing the hurts of our past. "Lift up your arms!" I exclaimed. "Feel the breeze!"
We both lifted up our arms and the wind swam in the air around us. I felt free. "Is this what it feels like to fly?" Demi laughed.
"We're still on the ground!" I laughed in return and put my arms down.
Demi caught sight of my eyes. "Well, we're flying together like birds in my heart."
~~~
After we talked for an hour we started to head back to the car. Just as we were about to reach it Demi gasped. "What?" I said but as I looked up I knew exactly why.
All the doors of the car were open, even the trunk. Demi stopped right in her tracks but I couldn't hesitate even when I knew something was up. I cautiously walked to the black jeep and my eyes grew wide at what I saw. There were dozens of them, no hundreds of papers - all saying the same thing.
I was the one who notified the authorities. And after tomorrow, if Demi comes back to L.A. - Val will be mine. Forever.
-yours truly
"What the fu-" I dropped the note to the ground after reading it aloud to Demi. "We need to get these out of here!" I screamed as I grabbed the notes in my hands and ran to the trash nearby.
"Hold on!" Demi grabbed my wrist and snatched one of the notes outside of my hands. "Do you know who wrote this!?"
"No!" I said defensive.
"Hey," she let go of my wrist. "I'm not accusing you." Her eyes gazed into mine but I averted hers.
"I know," I took a deep breath. "But whoever it is was the one who told the authorities that you were abusing me. And if they went so far as to take me away from you this person must've at least had some sort of 'evidence'".
Demi threw the last note in the car. "I'm saving this," she gestured towards it. "C'mon, get in the car. We need to get out of here."
Not wanting to argue, I hopped into the passenger seat only to hear Demi scream once again. "What!?" I turned to her.
She was staring at her key ring in her hand. "Oh my.." She held it up for me to see. On the ring of her car keys a bone .. It looked like a finger, was attached to it by a string.
"How the fuck did you not notice this before!?" I snatched the key ring out of her hand and untied the string attached to the bones getting ready to chuck it out the window. Just before I threw it out I saw something written on it in red.
Do what I say. There's more where this came from.
"Don't." Demi took it back. My jaw dropped.
"Don't throw it out!? What do you mean? We got to get rid of it, whoever the fuck that finger's is... Demi!"
She wasn't paying attention to me. After a minute of staring at the finger she finally looked up at me. "We have to bury it. No one can know we touched it."
I gulped. "Well, where?"
"We're going to Lookout Point."
And just like that, Demi put the car in reverse and we were off.
yayyyy i finally updated !! thanks to @BridgetPonzetti for saying i should :) this chapter is dedicated to you and all who waited for me to update so patiently.
so, do y'all remember Lookout Point? Val's been there before ... ;)
QOTD: who's bones do you think those are?