ILARIA LAYED CURLED UP UNDER A MULTITUDE OF BLANKETS, ONE OF THOSE BLANKETS BEING HER SADNESS. It kept her down, suffocated her - she'd had many days like that... But she never tried moving, shaking the blankets off or opening her curtains. It was comfortable.
Everytime she had hope that things would be okay somehow everything came crashing down again. She never learned. So she just lay motionless in those days, waiting for something inside her to change - so she could go back to being who she was. Nothing changed and she was afraid nothing ever would.
It was a rare sunny day, quite the contrast to her horrible mood.
She'd decided to skip school, it didn't make a difference - she was ahead in all of her classes.
Her mother never questioned it, she knew how it was when Ilaria had her "episodes" and it was pointless trying to reason with her during them.
Kai hadn't asked questions, he only stopped by in the morning to give her chocolates - he left it on her bedside table and didn't say much other than that he'll be back in the afternoon if she wanted so - she'd nodded to let him know he could.
It was almost 2 in the afternoon and Ilaria was still in bed, scrolling through pictures of her and Kenna aswell as her and her father. It's like she could feel time moving.
Her cheeks were wet with tears, when did she go from growing up to breaking down? When did she just stop growing and moving? When did time really freeze?
She stopped at a picture where she was about 8 or 7, her, Kenna and Rose were playing with flowers, there clothes were covered in dirt - Ilaria was trying to put a flower in Kenna's hair while Rose did a peace sign behind Ilarias head, she saw the picture coming before the other two girls did.
Things were so much simpler then, when they were unaware of the evil lurking just beneath all the sunshine and rainbows.
She ran from her grief so much until it caught up to her and paralyzed her.
Ilaria had accepted that not Kenna nor her father were coming back, that those parts of her would always be empty - that didn't mean it wasn't hard anymore. It always would be, that type of pain didn't just go away. She finally understood that.
With a sigh she pushed her blankets off, there was another reason she stayed home. She slipped on her slippers and made her way downstairs and in her mother's room.
If she had been to that cabin before and if she wasn't losing her mind, then it was definitely a family cabin - so it had to be in her father's will.
Luckily for Ilaria she knew exactly where her mother kept all her papers. She closed the door behind her just incase and opened her mother's closet. Ilaria pushed aside the scrubs and clothes that were hanging and found a box on the floor of the closet.
She opened the box and sat flat on the floor right there, she put the pages on her lap and began searching through all of it, birth certificates, water bills, electricity bills, medical bills until eventually, at the very bottom of everything she found a copy of her father's Will.
Her blood rushed to her head as she opened it and began reading... If she was right then she somehow knew who started the killings.
She came up blank. There was no mention of a cabin whatsoever, if she didn't get proof that it was real then she sure did that she was losing her mind. Frustrated, she packed everything away and shut her mother's closet.
Something inside her still wasn't rested, it had to be real. It couldn't be something as simple as a dream. She refused to believe it.
But since that plan had led to a dead end, she had a plan two. She always did.
The only problem was that she needed Kai for the second one and he was hell bent on keeping her away from the case ever since that day in the woods.
He just had to agree, if plan two worked she'd be able to let it go.
Atleast, that's what she told herself.
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Kai had shown up shortly after Ilaria went through her mothers papers.
They were sitting in comfortable silence, Ilarias head was on Kais shoulder,her book on her knees and his in his hands.
There were alot of things Ilaria appreciated about Kai but the one thing she appreciated the most was that he knew when she just needed silence. He was there for her in all the ways that he could be and though she wouldn't admit it, she fell just a little bit more everyday.
Kai abruptly shut his book "I'm not going to force you to talk but you've been staring at the same page for the past 20 minutes and 15 seconds -"
"how did you -"
"easy math. What's going on in your head,agent?"
Ilaria sighed and closed her book then turned to face him, she knew she had to bring up her plan sooner or later. She just didn't want to fight, she hated conflict. That's what she was trying to avoid the most.
Before she could stop herself from speaking she blurted everything out "Okay so remember the cabin in my dreams? Well you see I checked my father's will just incase we have one in the family but there's nothing on the Will so that was a dead end."
Kai raised an eyebrow "okay?"
Ilaria blew out a breath "and I have another plan but you can't get mad at me."
"I won't get mad at you."
"promise?"
"promise"
"okay so I need you to get me Michael's dorm number." She stated simply, she was toying with the pages of her book and eventually looked up to a confused Kai.
"for what?" he questioned "why?"
"I'm going to break in"
"to his dorm?"
"yeah." Ilaria said seriously, Kai looked like he wanted to laugh.
"God, you say the craziest shit so seriously" he chuckled "okay, why do you want to break in?"
"I may or may not have copied that file onto my laptop and watched it Atleast 50 times but that doesn't matter right now, I could've sworn I saw camera flashes, which means one of them took pictures of those girls. Obviously they kept it and I have a strong feeling they have them as Polaroids." she rambled quickly, nervous that Kai would be mad that she copied the file and that she was suggesting something as absurd as breaking in. He must have thought she was losing her sanity slowly.
"you said you'd drop it" Kai said but he didn't seem angry, he just sounded concerned.
"and I will, if I can just prove this one thing I'll let it go." she said honestly and hoped he saw that she was being really honest. That she just needed this one thing to let it all go.
"okay but I'm coming with you." he stated simply and Ilaria relaxed.
"that's it? You aren't going to lecture me or anything??" She eyed him suspiciously "are you high or something?"
"what? No" Kai laughed "I'm used to your taste for breaking the law and as an amazing boyfriend it would only make sense that I broke the law with you."
Ilaria grinned "and they say romance is dead"
"there is one thing though" Kai lifted a finger and Ilaria groaned "I knew it" she mumbled.
"what is it?"
"a date" He said "once this is over... For real this time" he rolled his eyes "I get to take you on an actual date."
"okay." she nodded "I can work with that"
Kai pulled her closer and kissed her softly "I know you don't really like that sort of thing but it won't be anything extravagant, I promise"
She nodded "and no gifts."
"can't promise that." he said, Ilaria shook her head smiling and they went back to their books.
The rest of the day went that way, both of them reading quietly, Kai occasionally stopping to ramble about something or another. Eventually Kai went home after they had planned out that they'd break into Michael's dorm Friday.
Kai first had to find the number and make sure Michael wouldn't be there but that was easy to him, especially because he had access to FBI software.
Ilaria swore with how much he used it, he was most likely on their watch list or something.
She didn't complain though. If she was right, then those pictures were all the evidence she needed to get Michael behind bars and find his partner.
Then it would all be over and her and Kai could go back to being normal teenagers.
Or that's what she thought.
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Hi loves❤️
Im so sorry this chapter is kinda depressing but i wanted to show that Ilaria is still dealing with her mental health and that her struggles didnt just dissapear.
I hope you guys enjoyed it though!
Also im super excited for the next chapter😋
Anyway, i love you guys!
Dont forget to vote and share if you're enjoying my story so far<3