"MOM, LOOK OUT!"
The car came to a roaring halt as the woman pushed down on the brake, The car violently rocked as she made a sharp turn to avoid hitting the girl full-on. The side of the car still hit her, and she fell to the ground as her mind could not register the car coming toward her in time.Her head fell onto the concrete, and she was out cold. The car was filled with heavy pants as the boy and woman had to take a few seconds to take in what had just happened, but as the gravity "of the situation sank in, they both unbuckled their seat belts and jumped out of the car to aid the injured girl.
"Miss!" The woman exclaimed as she shot down to help the girl, her fingers reflexively reaching to feel for a pulse. "Phew, she's still breathing..." The woman sighed. Y/n stood a meter away, his eyes strayed to the younger woman's arms, they were full of small cuts with glass pieces and her wrists were heavily bruised and bleeding. She looked worn out, her cheeks were hollow, and her complexion was eerily pale, indicating a lack of sun for a long time. Her body looked like it had been deprived of proper nutrition. these signs all raised red flags in his mind.
"We need to call an ambulance," His mother said she stood up from her kneeling position and took out her phone to dial the emergency number. She walked to the side to speak with the operator. Y/n stood still, observing the girl, 'She looks...familiar' The boy squinted his eyes as he took in her appearance and tried to remember where he'd seen her before. Suddenly, it clicked, the puzzle pieces wrapped together.
'That's.." his eyes sparked with concern and anger, someone had done this to her. Someone vile. He turned toward his mother. "Mom..." The woman put up a hand. the boy sighed and took a deep inhale "THAT'S AVERY EMMONS!" he shouted. The woman pulled the device away from her ear and stared at her son, dumbfounded, before her gaze lowered to the girl on the ground. It was silent.
"Oh gods..." The woman stammered, she put a hand to her mouth in shock. She turned her head back to speak with the operator. and after a while, she hung up. The woman stayed on the spot. "Y/n go sit in the car, an ambulance with come soon, I have to stay til they come here." Y/n looked at his mother, then at the girl-- Avery, who was lying on the ground and bit the inside of his cheek. "okay.." he muttered before walking back to the car and closing the door.
He tightened his lips into a line and ran a hand down his face. There was nothing he could do now but wait. 'What is happening to this town?'
.
.
After what felt like an eternity, an ambulance showed up. Paramedics stepped out of the vehicle and pulled out a stretcher, Two paramedics lifted up Avery, set her down on the stretcher, and rolled her into the ambulance. One worker stayed behind to talk with Y/n's mother. "Detective Evans, we will contact Sheriff Whitelock, and we would urge you to come to the hospital as soon as possible as well." The paramedic advised."I will see to it that I come to the hospital as soon as I can." The paramedic bowed their head in respect.
The woman watched as the ambulance drove away and then went to her car and stepped into it, putting the keys in the engine. Y/n glimpsed at the driver, 'Would it be a bad time to tell her, I 'told you so' The boy moved his gaze away to avoid the temptation to parade his mother. "You were right." She muttered, "What?" his mother tightened her grip on the stirring wheel "You were right about Avery," she repeated Y/n stared out vacantly, all the previous things he wanted to spew out disappeared on his tongue, "uh-huh." He couldn't seem to get out anything else, everything died down in his mouth.
The woman let out a deep exhale "I will let you inside, but then I have to be on my way." Y/n didn't verbally respond and kept looking out to the road ahead.
The car came to a stop just outside their house and Y/n stepped out not before his mother gave him the house key. She waved him goodbye and drove off. Y/n stared at the leaving car and pivoted on his heels Walking up the the front door and unlocking the door, the boy stepped onto the threshold, closing the door behind him. Y/n looked around hazily. 'It's not even midday yet and everything that went down just sucked half my energy out of me' Y/n sluggishly walked to the living room and threw himself on the sofa, internally screaming into the cushions.
After he had let out his pent-up annoyance, he tilted up his head 'So I'm assuming mom is gonna be home late, yet again. I have no classes today so I basically could do whatever.' Y/n sat up straight on the couch 'I have no clue what I want to do' The boy shifted his gaze to the television 'I'll just watch something.'' He approached the coffee table, grabbed the remote, and hunched himself back on the cushions. Y/n turned on the television and began idly scrolling through the various channels.
The h/c haired eventually found a channel he could endure, although his mind didn't want to admit it, his thoughts couldn't help but go back to the events that had taken place during the search party, it all felt so surreal. He shook his head and forced himself to focus his attention on the program on screen.
.
.
.
Detective Evan's car reached the hospital, she parked it and got out to walk up to the tall building. She noticed there were a few police cars around, indicating that the sheriff and police officers had been made aware of the founding of Avery Emmons. The woman dusted over her blazer and into the hospital, and just as she suspected, there were police officers everywhere, When they saw the detective, they gave a curt nod as a sign of respect. Her shoes hit against the polished floor as she navigated her way to the corridors.
She reached the hospital room of Avery Emmons, and she knocked on the door before walking in, There were a few doctors and nurses, along with Sheriff Whitelock. The older man's eyes looked toward the woman, who had just come in. "Layla, glad you could join us." The sheriff greeted. The Detective's gaze landed on the girl lying on the bed, she was dressed in a hospital gown, she was strapped to a machine that acted as a mechanism to help her lungs get air and her arms had been bandaged up. "How is Avery doing?" The woman asked.
The sheriff coughed into his fist "She's stable at the moment, just unconscious, we have contacted her family and they will arrive any moment." The woman hummed, "I see, as any trace of what happened to her been found?" The sheriff shook his head. "No, sadly, we were wishing you could perhaps question her when she becomes conscious?" He inquired. The female curled her lips into an uncertain expression: "Is it smart to question her when she just woke up? shouldn't we give her a few days to recover?" She pointed out.
one more again Sheriff Whitelock shook his head. "No, it's important we get as much evidence on this case as soon as possible," The Detective rolled her shoulder "Whatever you think is best Sheriff," The redheaded man glimpsed at Avery. "I heard you told the operator you accidentally hit here with your car, could you explain what happened?" Detective Evans put her hand to her hip "Me and my son were driving home after the search party, and she came out to the street unexpectedly," she explained.
"You think she was running away from someone?"
"I don't know, "
After a while, footsteps were heard rushing toward the room and all the adult's attention shifted to the threshold, An old couple came out, the woman started weeping as her green eyes landed on the girl. "My baby!" She cried, she ran to the unconscious girl's side and she started trembling as her hand skimmed her daughter's hair. The older man walked up to the detective and sheriff. "Detective Evans, this is Arthur Emmons." The sheriff introduced, The man in question shook the woman's hand "Hello, I'm Arthur, Thank you for bringing our girl back home to us." The woman nodded. "Avery is currently unconscious, but when she awakens, I would wish to question her if that's alright?"
Avery's mother walked up to her husband's side to face the detective, her eyes were puffy from crying "Yes, that's alright with us, someone did this to our daughter." Her tone was hoarse from crying but it still held a layer of anger. "I want the culprit to answer for their crimes." Her husband snuck a hand around her waist and squeezed comfortingly, "Don't worry, we will find the one reasonable." The sheriff assured.
.
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Alex was sitting in his room, his parents had gone to the hospital to visit Avery, but he couldn't come with them, he couldn't stand to see his sister in that condition yet. His mind was preoccupied with a single question. "How could she have been kidnapped if she was at a friend's house to hang out?" He mumbled to himself, It didn't make sense, Avery did say before she left the house that she was going out with friends, did she lie?
an idea popped up in his mind, and stood up from his bed.
Alex opened the door to his room and proceeded to move down the hall to his sister's room, His mother had been cleaning the room weekly for her return, if she did, it turned out the cleaning had been fruitful after all. He walked into her room and looked around. 'It should be here somewhere..' The boy wandered over to her desk and opened the drawer, and his eyes lit up as they landed on a diary.
Alex took up the diary and sat down on Avery's bed. He opened the book and turned the pages to the latest entry from five months ago. 'I knew it...why didn't I think of it earlier.' Alex took out his phone, he messaged the first person that came to mind.
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Y/n was sitting and watching the television when suddenly a knock on the front door was heard. He stopped by the front door, peered out the peephole, and saw Kiara and Clark, He opened the door. "Hey guys, what's up?" he asked the pair, "We need to tell you something," Kiara said.
Y/n arched a brow but let the duo in regardless, "So what do you need to tell me?" Y/n questioned, Kiara and Clark shared a look "Haven't you heard the news?" Clark remarked. The h/c haired made a confused expression "No? Should I?" Kiara huffed and pulled her phone out. "Take a look for yourself," Y/n squinted his eyes as the device was shoved in his face.
The headline made his blood thicken.
"High school student, Harper Smith found dead."
"This morning, a girl named Harper Smith was found dead in her house, She died by an explosive gas leak in her house, a tragic accident, officers informed"
Y/n widened his eyes "Explosive gas leak in her house? What we saw didn't look like it." He commented. Clark nodded. "Yes, that's what we said, but then we got thinking, you remember the threat we got sent? The killer sent it to us because they don't want us to tell people we found her body in a cabin because they wanted to make it look like an accident, which worked." The brunette observed.
"Damn it.." Y/n cursed. "What do we do? If we tell anyone what really happened, we risk getting ourselves and others hurt, or we end up getting labeled as suspects by the police."
Or people are gonna think we're batshit insane
Kiara huffed out at the statement, " We need to keep it for ourselves, for now, we can't risk innocent civilians getting hurt." Clark raised his hand "I second that." The duo stared at Y/n, "Fine, yes, let's lay low for now." They all agreed to the pact to keep the dreaded secret to themselves.
After Clark and Kiara had left, Y/n was alone, With only the buzz of the television on, he went over to the remote and turned off the screen. When he heard a "ping," from his phone, he unlocked the screen and saw a message from Alex.
Alex: I read Avery's diary, she lied and snuck out to a frat party on October sixteenth.