Part 3/3 : Alive Girl
Chapter 15 - Final Call
It was all set, I glanced at the clock and it read two twenty am. I had ten minutes before I would be on the road.
I had told my parents earlier that I will be spending the weekend over Harry's house so they don't need to worry about me. They always insist on me to go out of house anyway, so they didn't push it. Which I was thankful for.
I grabbed my bag and threw all the stuff that I thought would be important in it. We did plan to make stops on our way to Alabama to gather the supplies and stuff. I grabbed the map, my money and other things before throwing them in my bag quickly.
Once that was done, I knew it was time to go. Making my way downstairs, I grabbed the keys to my mom's mini van which had two front seats, then a seat for three people in mid, and then again a seat for three people in back.
My first stop was supposed to Marilyn's house since it was the closest to my house. It was decided that by two thirty all five of them will be out of their own houses, ready for me to pick them. Except for Mario, who was spending the night at Marilyn's house.
The reason being that his house was in the other corner of the state, and we couldn't risk wasting that much time. Who knew what would it be like if we were late?
As soon as I was on the road in front of Marilyn's house, the headlights of my car shined on two people standing right there wearing their bags.
Marilyn waved at me, as if I could not see her.
I stopped the car and they both hopped in.
"Next stop, Ben's house" Marilyn cheered.
Was it just me or was she extremely cheerful?
Even though the first pick up was done very smoothly, the rest two pick ups gave us a lot of trouble. First it was Harry's turn.
When I took the car in front of his house there was no sign of him. I sighed.
"We will have to wake him up" I said.
"We can't afford to waste a single minute Archer, you know what it is like" Mario explained, but there was no other way now.
"Take the driver seat, be ready to rush" I told Mario as I and Marilyn made our way out of the car.
"We're going to have to climb the window" I said and looked at her.
"Just because I am a girl, doesn't mean I can't climb a window" She whined, reading my look.
"If you say so" I smiled "You go first"
She actually did it very smoothly and once was inside the room, was looking down at me with a very proud look.
"Give me a hand" I said as she lend me a hand and helped me in.
"So much for gender equality" She rolled her eyes.
We could see a figure sleeping on the bed in the darkness of the room.
"Wake up Harry" I said turning the room light on, knowing very well where the switch on.
As soon as I turned the lights on Marilyn let out a high pitch scream, which was probably more than enough to wake Harry's parents up if our luck was bad. Which thankfully wasn't.
I turned around quickly to see what it was and saw Marilyn with her hand in front of her eyes.
Harry was on his bed, asleep --- naked.
The high pitched scream of Marilyn was enough to wake Harry up.
As soon as he was standing he covered himself with sheets.
"I told you to stay awake" I complained.
"I am sorry, I felt really sleepy" He excused.
"There is no time, just hurry up" Marilyn said pissed off, her hands still in front of her eyes.
Harry grabbed the first cloth he could get his hands on, which ended up being his graduation robe for the ceremony that was taking place on the next weekend.
"Let me grab some clothes, I am not going in just a robe" He whined.
"Harry you come with us this instance or we're leaving you here" I said glancing at the clock.
He groaned but agreed.
Climbing down the window again, Marilyn continuously cried about how she was scarred for life and was never going to be same again. She also mentioned that it'll be better for Harry to never talk to him.
I chuckled at the scene.
Running towards the car, we saw Mario power the cars engine as it roared to life. Harry quickly took the passenger seat as me and Marilyn hopped into the middle seats.
"Graduation robe?" Mario chuckled once he was driving.
"Don't ask" Marilyn shuddered and Harry rolled his eyes.
"That house right there" I told Mario once Ben's eye was visible.
Taking the car near his house, we could see a guy standing out of the house who we expected to be Ben.
There was just one problem, he wasn't able to stand properly. He kept moving here and there as if he was about to fall any moment.
We stopped the car in front of him and opened the door immediately and he somehow managed to sit.
"I- I made it" He slurred. "I made it to Narnia"
"Huh?" I asked.
"Shh. Don't talk to me. I mad it to Narnia" He said, giving me a wide grin.
"No way" Marilyn gasped "You're drunk" She said to Ben.
"I might have sneaked a bottle or two from Mario's party. In my case, bottle or two means-" He stopped and started counting on his fingers silently, before looking up again and saying "Hundred"
"So we have one naked guy, and one drunk guy" Marilyn groaned "We're off to a good start" She said sarcastically.
"Hey" Harry whined "I am wearing a robe"
"Yes, and nothing underneath that" Marilyn whined.
"Why don't we just throw him out, and carry our trip without him?" Harry said gesturing to Ben who seemed to be to busy in counting the fingers on both his hands to listen to what Harry said about him.
I chuckled and I could see Mario smiling too, as he continued driving. This was sure going to be one fun trip.
Even though we were late due to Harry, we somehow managed to be on the road just in time thanks to the fast driving of Mario.
"A question" Mario said to me "Why exactly are we going there?"
I was about to answer the question but just then my phone started ringing.
Who would call me at this time? I asked myself before I picked the call.
"Hello?" I said. No response.
"Hello? Anybody?" I said again, and no response.
My heart was beating fast. I could hear unsteady breathing on the other side of the phone, which meant that whoever it was that was calling me was still there.
"Goodbye then" I said but just as I was about to cut the call like last time, a reply came.
"Archer" said the same voice from the night of my birthday and my eyes went wide open "The last line of my first passage. All good except for the part that when you get this, I'll be gone forever. Did you find the answer to that?" The voice asked me.
I was panicking. For a moment I forgot how to speak or breathe. It was her. It had to be her.
"Who are you?" I said ignoring the question.
"The girl you thought was dead. But she wasn't ever dead Archer. She was just gone, as written in that line. The girl who was gone when you first got that diary, just gone and not dead. Hurry up to Alabama Archer, and you might find more than a clue" She said into the phone.
Hearing her voice was a feeling so new to him yet it felt like that it was like coming home. To right where we belong, after a very hard and rough day.
"You might find the one who was giving all the clues herself" She chuckled "You might find.." There was a brief pause before she said the next words.
"The gone girl" She whispered, and then laughed a bit.
"Make sure you're not late Archer, and remember" She paused again "Have fun" And then the line went dead.
It was her. It was for real this time, all along we thought that she was dead, but she wasn't. She neither committed suicide nor was she murdered, in fact the truth was far from that.
Evelyn Mosby was still alive, and she was waiting for us in Alabama.