Heyo! Thanks for deciding to read on. Enjoy.
***********
Before I knew it, Monday had arrived. It arrived on a cool spring morning when the air was clean and crisp, and the birds were singing their lovely songs.
Too bad I hadn't gotten much sleep on the night before.
As soon as my alarm clock went off, I slammed the top of it and jumped out bed eagerly, despite feeling like a tired wreck.
I knew that this first day at my new job was going to be like a high schooler's first day at school. I'd be excited for the first two days and get all worked up, only to complain about having to go to work by the time the third day rolled around.
But, there was nothing I could do except to live in the moment, so I eagerly took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast. Before heading out, I quickly went up to my mother's room and peeked in through her door. I was hoping that there would be a small chance that she was awake, but at seven in morning I didn't know why I had expected that.
"Bye mom." I whispered, and her loud snores were the only response I received. I skipped down the stairs, grabbed my things from the living room, and hopped into my car.
The sun was beginning to rise, and the sky was painted in a lovely orange hue. An orange glow covered the land below, and a cool, light breeze passed through the neighbourhood and washed away all fatigue from my body.
Something about today felt different, and it was as if something new was coming in the wind. I switched on the engine and for the first time in a while, I switched on my car radio.
As I drove out of the neighbourhood, through the town square and pulled on to the highway, I sang along to the familiar songs that were being played on the radio station. As I sang, a warm feeling enveloped me, and I soon realized that ever since John had died in the fire that night, I hadn't sung a single song.
People had always told me that I had a beautiful voice, and John had been the one to advocate it the most. Sometimes, I would sing while I did my work, and he would clean while listening to me sing. I thought my voice was pretty average, but he said I sung like an angel.
Coincidentally, for the talent part of the Miss Cheshire Beauty Pageant, I had performed one of my favorite Bonnie Tyler songs, and my mother had always attributed my win to that particular performance. David had appreciated it as well, and had kept asking for me to sing at one of his father's dinner parties for months, until he gave up after realizing that I wouldn't relent.
It had taken a lot of courage for me to get up on that pageant stage, and a lot of convincing myself that beauty pageants weren't superficial or meaningless. But the eager push of my mother and the cash prize that I had needed to pay off my student loan pushed me to go through with it, and in the end I had ended up winning.
The radio tunes soon ended, and the morning news came on. I assumed that it would be the usual political announcements since nothing eventful ever happened in this town. Today, however, was different.
Good Morning Cheshire. I'm your morning announcer, Susie Haddock, reporting to you live from Rockland FM radio.
Breaking news: Thirteen year old boy found dead in Pine Ridge Lake early this morning. Autopsies reveal that the boy was hit upside the head and then thrown into the lake where he drowned. Investigators say-
My heart sunk as I listened to the news report, and I resisted the urge to change the channel. I felt deeply saddened by the tragic news, but I couldn't help but wonder who would do such a thing to a little kid.
And in Cheshire of all places.
There were rarely murders in this town, so whenever they occurred, it became a huge deal. If I was recalling correctly, this was the first murder of the year...
The primary suspect in this case is said to be the boy's father, who is now being detained and is under criminal investigation. Until the matter is resolved, authorities are warning children, and adults alike, to stay away from the Pine Ridge Lake as it is now a crime scene.
As soon as the woman had concluded this report, a man whom I presumed to be the co host chimed in and provided unnecessary commentary on the gruesome murder. As soon as he had finished putting in his two cents, the female reporter chimed in.
In other news, a reported four disappearances took place between last night at 10 pm and early this morning at 4 am- a record in Cheshire history! Four individuals ranging from ages eighteen through forty-five have been reported missing. Among the missing are eighteen year old Jonathan Smith, who was last known to be jogging along the Cheshire Park trail early this morning, twenty five year old Jessie Myers who, her family says, never came home from work last night. Also, a thirty one year old college professor by the name of Jason Hawthorn, whose car was found in a ditch- authorities say that no body was found inside the car. And finally, forty-five year old cancer patient, Ingram Johnson who, evidence suggests, escaped from her hospital room and fled into the woods.
Goosebumps ran up my arm and chills ran down my spine as I listened to the chilling report. The reporter went on to say that the disappearances were being investigated as one big interconnected plot, and that they were working on finding the missing persons as soon as possible.
I couldn't help but wonder how so many different people could go missing in the small space of 8 hours, and in our quiet little town nonetheless. Something was definitely amiss, and I dreaded finding out what it was.
"Well, at least I know what our first news story is going to be." I said to myself, as I turned onto the road that led off the highway and down to the parking lot of the newspaper company.
I was soon greeted by over a hundred different cars occupying almost all of the parking spaces, and I drove along the rows of cars seeking out a parking spot. I was surprised that the parking lot was already practically filled up with cars, unlike when I first came there.
Not to mention that most of the cars looked really expensive.
I glanced at my car clock which told me that it was only 7:40 am, which meant that I wasn't the only one who wanted to be early and make a good impression.
Not by a long shot.
Luckily, I finally found a parking space in the middle of all the cars. It wasn't too far away from the main building, but it wasn't exactly very close by either. I gathered my things from the backseat and stepped out of the car.
The sun had risen fully now, and the morning heat began to prickle at my skin. Tossing my handbag over my shoulder, I jogged out of the parking lot and towards the building, where I would start the very first day of my new job.
********
"Morning Lisbeth! Nice to see ya again!" Vicky greeted me loudly as I entered the building.
"It's Elizabeth!" I yelled back, laughing and waving. I immediately stopped when I noticed that there were way more people there than before, and that they were now all staring at me.
I jogged towards the desk, and Vicky's taller friend, whom I soon learned was named Jackie, gave me a small smile.
"Excited for your first day?" Vicky asked, chewing her gum loudly.
"Really excited!" I grinned, as I penned down my signature. "I'm really hoping that I can make at least a few friends here."
"Yeah, well there's bound to be one good apple in this rotten bunch, I suppose." She sighed, then turned her back to me and went back to typing on her computer. "Have fun Lisbeth."
"Thanks..." I said. I was really beginning to suspect that she was calling my name wrong on purpose. But, I was in too much of a good mood to be annoyed. Instead, I found it a little amusing.
I walked over to the elevator and waited patiently for it to return to the floor. Once it did, I stepped inside and rode it all the way to the third floor lobby.
According to the instructions I had received, the company supervisor would be the one doing the assignments and orientation. There would be a quick tour and office placements before the real work would begin. I'd be assigned to an investigative team, and then we'd have to take it from there.
The elevator dinged as it came to a stop and the doors slid open. I stepped out of the elevator and went down the hall which led into the lobby.
This lobby was much bigger than the one above it, and much livelier.
The room was alive with chatter and laughter, and the scent of caffeine was already heavy in the air. Unlike before, both men and women intermingled, and I noticed that way more men would be working for the company than I had originally thought.
I sighed in relief at this realization, and safely pushed the imaginings of vicious cat fights and awful gossip that I had been having throughout the past week to the back of my brain. I decided to wear a smile on my face as I usually did, so as to not create any unwanted tension between myself and anyone.
I sat in an unoccupied seat on a grey sofa, where two women were chatting animatedly. As soon as I had sat down, they looked over at me and I offered them my brightest smile. In response, they scoffed and stood up to go find another seat.
I slumped backwards dejectedly, realizing that making friends here was probably going to be harder than I thought. Unlike everyone else in the room, I had no one to talk to, so I decided to just look down and avoid eye contact with anyone until the supervisor came and got things going.
The chime of the elevator was faint, and was largely ignored by those in the room seeing as it went off ever so often. However, I was surprised to hear the loud chatter die down into silence and I quickly looked up from my lap to see what had caused the silence.
Matt had entered the room, and on either side of him stood Blanche and a thin, quivering boy whom I didn't recognize.
"Hello everyone!" He greeted cheerfully. "Welcome to your very first day here at Pennsylvania South Newspaper Company. I hope you're all as excited as I am because today is sure to be lovely day!"
Matt's overflowing enthusiasm was met with awkward silence and a single cough at the back of the room, as everyone in the room stared at him as if he was from some foreign planet.
Realizing that it was getting embarrassing, Blanche stepped forward and cleared her throat. All spines, including mine, were immediately straightened and all attention was immediately directed towards her.
"What my dear brother here is trying to say-" She paused, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "Is that, hopefully you will all make use of this wonderful opportunity that you have been blessed with, and that slacking off will not be tolerated." Her tone grew a bit harsher.
"Also, he will not hesitate to fire anyone who doesn't meet the expectations, and that there will be no mercy for the likes of those who refuse to listen. He is running a business here, and less than the best is not tolerated. Every single one of you is replaceable. That IS what you wanted to say, right brother?"
Matt looked like a deflated balloon.
"More or less." He quivered.
After hearing her words, everyone practically went limp with dejection. In just a few seconds, this woman had managed to suck the life and enthusiasm out of the new employees.
It had just clicked in my brain then.
She had called Matt her brother.
So they were...
"Jeez, talk about sucking the life out of the room." Someone in the back remarked, and everyone else chuckled.
"Who said that?" Blanche demanded angrily. "How dare-"
She was cut off when Matt suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Now, now, Blanche. It's not worth it." He tutted, and guided her out of the room.
"The supervisor will be here shortly!" He yelled back at us, and as soon as he was safely out of sight, the chatter resumed.
I tried to wrap my mind around the fact that Blanche and Matt were siblings. Was that why she had gotten the job? Does this mean that he'll never fire her no matter what she does?
My thoughts were interrupted when two deafening claps echoed through the room and brought everyone to silence once again.
In the center of the room were three tall women. The one who had clapped had a manly face and a mole on her cheek. She held a clipboard in her hand, and the pin on the pocket of her blood red suit read Supervisor.
"Quiet! All ov' you!" She yelled in a thick Russian accent, hushing the last of the chatter. "Now zat I have your attention, my name is Vladlena. I vill be your supervisor for as long as zyu are verking here."
A woman in front chuckled at the accent, but was met with an ice cold glare that seemed to freeze her entire body.
"Zyu thinks my accent iss funny, no?" Vladlena asked irritated, and the woman shook her head furiously.
"Good." She turned away from her.
"Vee have no time to vaste. Section Editors, go vith this one." She gestured to one of the women, and those who were supposed to go did so accordingly. "Graphics team. Go vith that one. Journalists, come vith me."
Three different groups were instantly formed, and I joined the one closest to Vladlena. She led us out of the lobby and down a hallway which led to another wing of the building. The other groups also continued down separate hallways into another wing of the building.
Through the large glass walls, we had a clear view of the outside as we walked down the corridor. It was a perfectly sunny day outside, and I almost wished that I could've been outside to experience it.
When we got to the other wing of the building, I looked around to see a small group of eight other people.
From what I had been told, there were ten of us in total working for the Investigation team, which meant... that someone was missing.
"I vill proceed to split you into two teams. Since zyu are teams, then that means you will share von large office. Vair enough?"
We quickly nodded in agreement, not wanting to get on her bad side. I was used to having my own office and working on my own most of the time, so it was definitely a change.
But, perhaps it would be a good thing to share an office with other people. If it would speed up the friend-making process, then I was all for it!
Hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor and two dark figures came into the light.
Matt was practically towing Blanche along by the arm while she wailed and complained. As soon as she realized that everyone was watching her, she regained her composure and put on her cold face.
"Sorry about this, Vladlena." Matt chuckled awkwardly. "I had to talk to Miss Henry here about some things. She's all yours."
He shoved her forward then gave us a parting wave before leaving.
Blanche scowled at the floor, and Vladlena laughed, surprising us all. "I zee that zyur brother has vinally found the nerve to stand up to your spoiled vays." She remarked, and Blanche just glared at her severely.
Vladlena did not seem to be afraid in the slightest of Blanche, which I found strange considering everyone seemed to be afraid her.
"Vell, now zat you're here, I might as vell proceed." She cleared her throat. "Team A vill consist of Tim Elbram, Jess Monroe, Carter Williams, Jane Arkensaw and Roger Blake."
Seeming to already know each other, the persons called greeted each other with smiles and laughs. I looked around at the people that were left, reaching the conclusion that these were my new coworkers.
"Team B vill consist of Elizabeth Black, Natalie Oulette, Jake Witter, Blanche Henry, and Savannah Calhoun."
As soon as Blanche had heard her name called alongside ours, she threw a fit. "No way. Absolutely not. I refuse."
"But it iz not zyur choice to make." Vladlena told her. "In fact, zyur brother vas the one who wanted you on zis team."
"I refuse to work with the lot of them." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
"This is ridiculous," a tall blonde girl from our team muttered.
"Lissen to me. I zid not fly all ze way from Russia just to babysit some spoiled brat vho doesn't know how to have respect for anybody. Zese people are here to vork, and YOU are stopping zem from doing so. Zou are a disgrace!"
Blanche stared back at her angrily, and we had all expected her to turn on her heel and walk out the door. Much to our surprise, the words seemed to die in her throat and her gazed softened.
"Fine."
Vladlena had somehow managed to tame the beast.
"Right zen. Team A, you get Office 105. Team B, you get office 107. Go. I vill be with you all in a second."
The office turned out to be the complete opposite of what I had imagined. It was spacious and had a gorgeous view of the grass below and the town in the distance.
There were four large desks with two computers on either side. The desks were split along the middle by a short glass pane, forming two separate work stations. There were a few sofas in the corner of the room, and six ceiling fans on the roof. There was an small water fountain and coffeemaker at the back of the room, and five small lockers and file cabinets for storage.
The other four members of Team B trailed in after me, and expressed admiration for the spacious and comfortable work space.
All except for Blanche, who held nothing but contempt for the space.
"The other team's office is bigger," she said, setting her things down at one of the stations around the desk. "I should know. I've seen it."
"Nice to see you're stating the obvious as usual," the tall blonde from earlier replied sarcastically, claiming the station farthest away from Blanche.
I had been so distracted that I hadn't noticed everyone already choosing seats. Before I could react, all the other stations were taken except the one directly across from Blanche. Feeling frustrated, I dejectedly took the station across from her.
"Oh, it's you," she said disgustedly, looking over at me.
I wanted to tell her that I wasn't very thrilled about sitting across from her either but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Arguing with her was asking for trouble, and trouble was the last thing I needed.
"Well, it seems I'm the only male on this team." The black haired male I knew had to be Jake chuckled. He looked older than the rest of us. " I think this might be fun."
Thankful that someone had broken the awkward silence, we chuckled at the joke. All except for-
Well, you probably know who.
"Don't get any perverted ideas, you pig," Blanche spat.
Jake frowned at her, a bit hurt by her remark. "Well jeez ma'am, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit..."
"Yeah. Relax, Princess. It was just a joke." The blonde shook her head, and I observed Blanche flinch at the nickname. "Anyway, it won't do us any good getting off to a bad start like this. We're going to be working together for a while, right?"
"Right." We agreed, and she smiled.
"Well, I'm Savannah. I'm already acquainted with the princess over there, but how about the rest of you?"
"I'm Jake." The man introduced himself, and gave a mock salute.
"I'm Natalie." The girl with long brown hair and dazzling green eyes smiled, and everyone turned their gaze towards me.
"M-my name is Elizabeth." I told them.
"Ah. The name of a queen," Savannah remarked with a smile, and I returned it. We shifted our gazes towards Blanche, who sat with her legs crossed and her nose high in the air.
"Well, I'm sure you all already know who I am, so there's no need for introductions, really."
Savannah tsked in disapproval. "No, no, no. That won't do, Princess. Ever heard of a formal introduction?"
Blanche regarded Savannah briefly, before relenting to the request.
"I'm Blanche. There? Happy?"
"Very." Savannah smirked at her.
The room was enveloped in silence once again. It wasn't broken until Vladlena came into the room fifteen minutes later with six folders in her hands.
"Alvight. So for ze bigger assignments ve'll have you vork together. Ze plan was originally for all of you to vork together in producing two vell-informed reports. But zat vas until the dissappearances, and naturally ve are going to have to cover zose too." She explained, then took in our expressions. "So zen, for zis issue ve'll have you work separately on each of the cases I have here."
"Do we at least get to choose?" Blanche asked.
"As a matter of fact, you do," she said and tossed the folders on the closest desk, which happened to belong to Savannah. "I vill be back to hear your choices soon."
She left the room and Savannah opened the folders curiously and began to scan through them.
"Starting information on the articles we have to write."
"Go ahead and read them then," Natalie urged gently.
"Hmm. We have one about the boy who drowned in the lake, one about the disappearances, one about the mysterious death of some farm animals in the area, one about Cheshire's corporate businessmen, one about the old newspaper company, and finally-" She paused, then began to snicker.
"What is it?" Jack asked.
"Ok, this one is totally random. One about a guy from our town who apparently set the Guinness World Record for Most Big Macs Consumed..."
"Yeah, you can just toss that one out of the pile. Unless, someone actually wants to right about that one..." Jack looked around the room to see if anyone was expressing interest in the bizarre news story.
"I don't know. It sounds pretty interesting," Savannah joked, before literally tossing the folder over her shoulder and straight into the trashcan.
We applauded her perfect shot jokingly, and she took it all in with exaggerated bows and fake "thank-you's."
"Seriously though. I call dibs on the dead farm animals!" She said eagerly, grabbing that folder.
"Ohh. So we're calling dibs now, are we?" Jack remarked snarkily. "Then I call dibs on... the boy who drowned in the lake! God, that sounds morbid."
We giggled a bit, then Blanche made her pick. "I'll do the one on the disappearances."
"Hmm, you sure about that princess? It's a pretty thick folder. Seems like a lot of work." Savannah remarked, waving the folder around.
"What do you take me for? I said I'll do it, so just hand it over."
Savannah relented and handed Blanche the folder.
"So that just leaves Natalie and Elizabeth to choose." She smiled at me. "We have the newspaper company that got burned to a crisp, or interviewing a bunch of rich old guys. Take your pick."
I shifted uncomfortably under their gazes and tried not to let my apprehension show. I couldn't choose Northstar because that would open the lid on many emotions I had fought to suppress. But the corporate business owner thing didn't sound particularly interesting to me, and I hated writing finance articles.
But boring was better than an emotional breakdown.
"I'll do corporate business owners." I forced a smile, and she handed me the folder.
"Funny," she said. "I didn't peg you as a finance type of girl. I, for one, absolutely HATE writing finance articles. They're a living pain in the ass. I was so sure you would've chosen the newspaper company..."
"I hate writing them too." I told her. "But I'd rather not write about the newspaper company. It's... old news."
I masked my fears and emotions behind this statement, and hoped that I wouldn't get asked anymore questions.
"Fine then. Let's get to work!" Savannah declared, before powering on the computer in front of her.
"Right," I murmured weakly, doing the same.
**********
The day had gone by way quicker than I had expected. I had been so immersed in the article that I was typing that a few hours had felt like a few minutes. It was now only an hour before quitting time, and I was the only one left back in the office since everyone had gone out to get more information for their articles.
The warm orange glow of the sunset came into the room and spread itself over everything. I sighed, realizing just how much I had missed writing articles and doing research. I was definitely glad to be back at it again.
Finishing the introduction for the first draft of my article, I decided to print it and submit it to the reviewers as was required of all of us at the end of the day. Depending on what we were working on, we were required to submit at least a folder containing all the data we'd be referring to in the article, or drafts of the actual article.
I walked over to the printer to see that it was out of paper. Sighing in frustration and not knowing where to turn to, I paced the room slightly and contemplated asking the other team for help.
A few seconds later, Vladlena walked into the room, and I sighed in relief at my luck.
"I see. You are all vout of paper. Ze intern iz the one who is supposed to fill the printers, but he iz a bit slow. I apologize. I'll go look vor him and send him up here."
I thanked her and went back to my chair to wait. I spun around in the chair idly, having as much fun as a child would. I laughed a bit at my silly foolishness, but only stopped when a meek voice came from the doorway.
"Y-you n-needed some p-paper?" It stuttered, and I spun around to see a frail, slender boy with thick brown hair and wide green eyes staring back at me. It was the boy who was with Matt and Blanche this morning in the lobby.
"Uh, yeah. Paper would be great." I watched him as he walked across to the printer with the pile of paper clutched to his chest and began to fill the printer with paper.
Unnerved by the silence, I decided to initiate some small talk.
"So, uh, you're the intern, huh?"
"Y-yes."
"Do you have a name?" I asked, but then mentally facepalmed myself for wording the question so stupidly.
"Y-yes," he smiled slightly, still looking down at the printer. "My n-name is Toby."
"Toby, huh. That's a nice name." I smiled at him, and his face seemed to flush red.
"T-thank you." He said quickly. "I p-put in your paper. I'll b-be leaving n-now."
"Thanks Toby." I saluted him jokingly as he walked out the door, but he just kept his nervous gaze glued to the floor.
I was alone again.
*********
The work day finally came to an end at 3. The last documents were submitted and many people began to sign themselves out of work. Those who were left back were those making after work plans to go to diners and stores.
I packed my things quietly while the others did the same.
As soon as Jack finished, he bade us farewell.
"I gotta go pick up my daughter from kindergarten." He explained, and we were all surprised.
"You have a daughter?" Natalie asked.
"Yup. My beautiful Victoria. She just turned five last week."
"Aww, that's so sweet." Savannah said, as she threw her bag over her shoulder. "What's her mother like?"
Jack's proud expression changed to a sad one. "Her mother died. It's just me."
I smiled at him in admiration. It wasn't easy to raise a child on your own, so I couldn't imagine how hard he must've had it.
He said a hurried goodbye then left Natalie, Blanche, Savannah and I in the office.
"Well, I'm gone." Blanche remarked boredly before walking out of the room without so much as a goodbye.
"I should get going. I have to get back to school for my afternoon Math class." Natalie laughed, and I looked at her curiously.
"Campus?"
"Yup. I go to Cheshire University. I'm here on an internship actually. I come here in the mornings and go back on campus in the afternoons."
"Sounds rough." Savannah sympathized.
"It is. But I have lots of ambitions, and I think working for a prestigious company like this one is as good a place as any to start." She beamed. "Anyway, see you all tomorrow!"
She left the room, and only Savannah and I were left in the office.
I rocked back and forth on my heels awkwardly, not sure what I was supposed to say.
"Walk down to the parking lot together?" She offered much to my surprise, and I accepted with a smile and a nod.
We took the elevator down to the first floor, waved goodbye to the girls at the front desk and headed down the path towards the parking lot.
"Today was pretty rad. I really enjoyed it." She said, breaking the silence.
She seemed to be a really laidback and fun person.
"I did too. I was so excited to work here. I really missed doing what I'm doing now."
"Oh. Did something happen at your old job or something?" She asked, and I looked up at the sky.
"Yup. The building burned down." I laughed bitterly, and her ocean blue eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, man I'm sorry. That means earlier you-"
"It's fine. You don't have to apologize." I stopped her. "I'm still coming to terms with it all, but if one good thing came out of it, it's that I came here and met you all."
We smiled at each other, and soon we were behind my car.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I waved, turning towards the car.
"Wait!" She quickly pulled out a piece of paper, scribbled something on it and handed it to me. "That's my number. Just in case you ever need anything."
I stared at it as if it was a piece of precious gold. Ever since Lucy had stopped talking to me, I hadn't had anyone to talk to about things, so this meant a lot to me.
Realizing that I should return the favor, I wrote my number down and handed it to her with a smile.
"See you tomorrow then?"
"Sure. That's if I don't quit and find a new job by tomorrow." She joked.
We waved to each other one last time before she headed towards the other side of the parking lot and I hopped into the front seat of my car.
Today had been a good day.
I turned on the radio eager to unwind with some good music. I turned to my favorite radio station, expecting to hear some of my favorite songs being played.
Instead, I was greeted by this.
Hello Cheshire. Susie Haddock here with an update on the case of the disappearances. Three of four of the disappeared have been found. But not alive.
Investigators found the gutted and mangled remains of 45 year old cancer patient Ingram Johnson in Cheshire woods this afternoon. Her limbs appeared to have been ripped apart, and her entire chest cavity was gutted and devoid of organs. Investigators say that this was the most gruesome crime Cheshire has ever seen-
I turned the dial and switched the channel, feeling sick with nausea. Unfortunately for me, it seemed all the channels were covering this gruesome news story.
The bodies of Jonathan Smith and Jessie Myers have also been found. Investigators say there seems to be an apparent trend in these chain of murders. Both victims were found deep in Cheshire woods barely recognizable save for their heads and faces which remained intact. Their entrails had been removed and their limbs had been viciously ripped apart. The police are worried that a madman is on the loose, and will be issuing a curfew-
I switched the radio off and took a deep breath.
Who would do such a terrible thing? Our town was such a peaceful place and the crime rate was admired as being one of the lowest in the country. Now out of nowhere they're all these inhumane murders.
All this trouble.
Ever since I was younger, Trouble has practically been my middle name.
But for the first time in my life, I doubted whether or not I wanted to get involved in it.
************
This chapter officially sets the record for the longest chapter I've ever written, but I'm so proud!
Also, I noticed that I have a lot of ghost readers. It's kinda scary lol.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading that chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.