"Wake up Bro!"
"Buzz of Andy!"
"Come on, you've got a literal fan club waiting for you."
"What?"
"Those girls downstairs, do they go to your school?"
"What girls?"
"You ask so many questions, why don't you just get up and see?"
I reluctantly push my duvet away, get up and walk to the window where Andy is standing.
"Look over there," he points to the girl sitting outside the house in a hoodie.
"That's just one girl."
"Do you know her? She's waiting for you."
"That's Avery."
"She's waiting for you."
"AVERY!" I sit up immediately.
"Adonis! Oh thank God you're awake!" Mum stands up and drags me into a tight hug.
"Mum, mum what happened?" I ask the moment she loosens her hold on me.
"What happened is that you didn't keep your promise to stay safe. Jumping into a fire? What exactly possessed you?!"
"How's Avery? And Lee? And Declan?"
"They're all fine, well...excluding Declan," Dad says. He's standing at the other end of the room making tea.
"Avery hasn't woken up but she's out of danger. They examined her and she has physical bruises but nothing permanent." Mum's tone changes at the end and I raise my brows.
"He didn't do anything to her," she tries again.
"He didn't rape her?"
"Shhhh." She pats my arm aggressively.
"I just woke up," I groan, massaging the spot. She rubs it quickly and apologizes.
"I guess I should go tell Lee and Reyna you're awake. They haven't been able to sleep all night," Dad smiles at me before leaving the room.
I lean back on the bed and place my hand on my forehead.
"My head feels like it's about to split."
"You should rest, you have a lot of burns."
"Mum, what are they going to do to Declan?"
"Declan will go to jail, you shouldn't worry about that."
I nod and let her put me back to sleep.
||
Breaking news: On Saturday the 26th of April the local case of a missing high school student was solved. The 18 year old female named Avery Chan was found in an empty beach house by her fellow classmates. The accused, Declan Jones has been arrested on the charge of kidnapping, arson, attempted murder and several other crimes.
"Hey, isn't that the girl? Avery?" One of Jaré's coworkers asked, pointing at the TV. Jaré stopped cleaning the table and stood straight to watch the announcement.
"They found her! That's great news!"
"How could he do that to her though? The lady said they were friends. Kids these days are so sick."
"Who?"
"That rich kid. Declan Jones, he's father is so deep in politics I guess it's not a surprise. The son of a senator isn't going to be law abiding."
"Wait. Declan?" Jaré stared at the TV where Declan's picture was practically being paraded. He shook his head slowly, aware that his coworker was watching him. He remained quiet and continued cleaning the table but even then he couldn't shut the thoughts in his head.
They got the wrong person.