If only this agony would end.
Bailey jerked awake clutching her throat as she took heaving breaths trying to calm herself. She'd been emerged into the depths of despair, a dream that took so much light from her that Bailey thought it was her in the cramped room with an IV in her arm. Lost, alone, so alone, and for too long. Panic bloomed in her chest, making her skin crawl as she remembered the hopelessness of the girl in her dream, a girl that reminded her of Samantha Levy.
The fear paralyzed Bailey. Why would she be dreaming of Samantha when it was Gwen she should be worrying about? She'd told everyone at the Atherton's house just how connected she felt to Gwen too.
Bailey had been furious when Sheriff Lambert voiced his thoughts on how ridiculous it would be to waste resources by using a quarantine procedure. That the irrationality of a child was not going to find Gwen and that searching everyone's house was illogical. So they didn't do it.
The next day, instead of going to school, Bailey, with Gale's help, petitioned the board, trying to go over Lambert's head. She even suggested cancelling school so that everyone could participate in a search that she later found wasn't going to happen.
Bailey clenched her teeth. When she'd first come to town, she'd had a crush on Sheriff Lambert. After having lived in Haven she'd come to like him as person too. He'd always done his job... until now. He'd told her she was too close to the situation. That she couldn't see things clearly.
Crystal couldn't be more clear than I am, is what she wanted to tell him.
Sheriff Lambert had been livid. Bailey remembered how he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. She still had the bruising finger marks to prove it.
Bailey had decided then that if he wouldn't do it she would. She was going to find Gwen.
Sheriff Lambert groaned from his office desk with such a heavy dose of irritation that Bailey almost darted towards Officer Davis' desk instead. "You have been here every day for the past month," he scolded. "You're skipping school. I've heard you're barely speaking to your other friends. I've even arrested you for obstruction, but you come. What is with you? You're like a fucking dog with a bone." He paused, cringing at his cursing, but too frustrated to correct himself. He let out a growl. "This is our job, not yours."
Bailey raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "Then do it better!"
He slammed a hand down on his desk. The loud bang caused Bailey to jump. Her eyes slammed shut and she stiffened before letting them open. She'd only needed a second to gear up for this fight. She made sure she didn't move another inch, not in fear, not in surprise, nothing. She would give him nothing other than determination.
Sheriff Lambert had indeed arrested Bailey and held her in a cell overnight. After that to say everything else had gone downhill was too polite. Not just with Sheriff Lambert, but the other officers as well. They were more tightly lipped and refused to disclose any new information. It didn't help that the Atherton's had given up, so all the funding they'd been adding to the police stations budget had stopped. It had surprised Bailey so much she'd gone over to demand why. It had only been a month.
Bailey hadn't been received well, but Damien had said something about Sheriff Lambert. That he'd said something to his parents that drained the life out of them. Bailey still hadn't found out what the bastard had said to them. She'd pestered them so much she was no longer allowed over. Secretly Bailey knew it had nothing to do with her questions. It was painful to see Bailey without their daughter.
"If you had just done what I suggested..." she started.
"If every police precinct took the advice of a sixteen-year-old I'm sure we'd all be a lot better off," he said sarcastically.
Bailey gritted her teeth. "Maybe if you listened to this sixteen-year-old delinquent you'd have found both Gwen and Sam a lot sooner!"
"Wilson, get her out of my office!"
Seth's older brothers' shoulders slumped down and he turned towards the window of Sheriff Lambert's office. "Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't see me Wes," he said, using the Sheriff's first name. "Shouldn't you be in school kiddo? I thought we had this discussion last week."
Bailey shook her head. "Last week it was Officer Davis, it must be your turn this week."
He gave a laugh and rubbed the auricle of his ear, his face flushing as he came forward. "You're right. Come on, let's get you to school."
"You all are sure wasting a lot of gas money trying to keep me in school, ," Bailey said.
He sneered at her from his paperwork. "Every bit we spend on that gas is one less dollar we have to find Gwen. Think about Bailey."
His biting comment didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was Gwen. Every day she wasn't here was like a day in hell for Bailey. She clenched her teeth. She was really starting to dislike Sheriff Lambert and every officer in this town. They were worthless.
"Bailey, come on," Officer Wilson whispered, this time tugging at her light pink jacket.
She'd wanted to get her so quickly she hadn't bothered to change out of her track suit from earlier that morning with Matt and Gale. "I'm not in uniform."
"They'll make an exception for you."
When they got to his squad car he swiftly opened the door for her and helped her slip her seat belt on before running around to the drivers' side. He didn't go immediately, just rested his hands on the steering wheel. "I don't have to take you to school if you don't want to."
"Thank you," Bailey nodded, grateful he wouldn't force her and dropped her forehead against the window. "I can't face them right now."
Officer Wilson frowned. "Bailey, you've done nothing wrong. No one blames you..."
Bailey blinked and turned towards him. "Is-is that why you think I'm doing this? Because I think it's my fault?"
He shrugged. "It's understandable."
"I know it's my fault. It's the killers. I keep thinking if I had been in Gwen's place instead, I wouldn't want her thinking it was her fault, but I also wouldn't want her to stop looking for me. Every single day, every minute I would want someone looking... could you imagine if you found out no one was?" Bailey paused to breathe. "I will stop. She's important to me and when I find her, she's going to know that never stopped, that the thought never once crossed mind. You know, I want to know what Sheriff Lambert said to the Atherton's to make them stop looking too. I never heard exactly what it was."
He didn't answer, in fact, he didn't say anything else. All he did, when he stopped the car in front of Bailey's house, was nod as she started to get out.
"Ah," he paused and cleared his throat, leaning towards the passenger seat and peeking out the open door. "Bailey, even though Wes called off the search, Seth and I still go out every day after my shift. We look for at least four hours. If you'd like to join us, you'd be most welcome."
She hadn't known that and now she felt like an ass. Even though she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Seth, he hadn't given her that bit of information. Having extra people physically searching was a good thing. "Yes, I'd like that."
"We're going tonight..."
She shook her head, "Got teaching lessons with my kid brother."
He nodded giving a little chuckle. "All this and you still have time to help your little brother with his homework. You're a good girl, Bailey."
Bailey cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow as she gave him a lopsided grin and shut the door to his car. He didn't need to know it was teaching .
"Bailey, we've been going at this every day for hours. I'm tired," Matt complained. "I swear Sensei's ready to let me go up two belts from all this practice."
"I fail to see why that's a bad thing."
"It usually takes six months to a year to get to the next belt."
Bailey chugged her bottled water before responding. "And?"
Matt sighed, brushing his sweat dampened hair out of his defeated looking face. "And I'm only a green belt, Bailey. I can't teach you everything, besides... you're not even that good. I'm a miserable failure as a teacher."
Bailey frowned as she walked towards him, getting ready to punch him in the shoulder, but he held his hands up.
"I can't teach you everything, but that's why I asked Sensei to come and watch." He paused and pointed to the entrance of the . "He's been here the entire two hours and you haven't noticed him at all. An utter failure," he mumbled the last part, bowing his head in shame.
Bailey flipped around. How she hadn't noticed him was beyond her as she stared at the very tall bald black man. He looked to be in his late twenties and as he started walking towards them she couldn't help but think how much attention his presence called for. It wasn't his boyishly handsome features or the tribal tattoo decorating the side of his neck either; he was all lethal stealth and danger. This man could kill a person with his pinky finger... probably. He was definitely a karate master. Yet she hadn't noticed him. Not once.
"You're angry, Bailey," Matt's Sensei said answering her the question she hadn't asked out loud.
At least that was one thing she improved on. Her thoughts, after all these years of struggling to keep them to herself because of her diarrhea mouth syndrome, were finally hers and hers alone.
"You are a fucking genius," Bailey snarled.
His brown eyes scowled. "Hey, watch your mouth young lady. If you were my student I'd make you do a hundred push-ups for that. You're angry. You're consumed by it and it's making you stupid," he said, his voice not angry, but stern. "That's why you didn't notice a six foot black man standing in the door way."
"No," Matt offered, raising his bottled water to his lips to take a quick chug. "She's always been this clumsy and lazy. Plus, I think the practicing has actually made her worse. No coordination. I wonder sometimes how we're related."
His Sensei smirked and patted Matt's damp hair. "What's making you so angry? Is it really the need to get tough and find this killer? Or perhaps something else, maybe with your father?" the man asked.
Bailey sneered and completely ignored the comment about her father. For once, it had nothing to do with that scum bag. "I don't want to find the killer, I want to find Gwen."
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's all you want?"
She shrugged. "You're off your rocker man. I to be able to protect myself. I know he's in Haven and I know he knows us, which means he's aware I've been digging around. I might be sixteen, but I'm not as stupid as you think."
"Maybe not stupid, but Matt's right. Your form is atrocious. You have no balance and even though you've been practicing every day, you haven't been getting much better. At best, you have more muscle, but no skills. If it came to a fight, you'd lose... your life, Gwen's, any others who've you decided to drag down with you."
Bailey glared at him angrily, tossing her ponytail to the side as she averted her attention to the wall. "Why do you think I never wanted to pay?"
"Sensei, I told you she sucked and that she was too stubborn to stop," Matt supplied.
Sensei heaved a tired sigh. "I fail to see how you haven't even improved a little."
"She runs like the wind. At least she can run from danger, but I think she's too bull headed..."
"I'm right here, Mattie," Bailey gestured at herself.
"Yes, but what good is running if he takes out her legs."
Bailey wanted to cry. They could beat that bush to death, but she didn't plan on sticking around for it , she decided as she walked towards the exit. Dipping down to gather her bag she glanced back confirming that the two were still considering what would happen if the killer took out her legs.
She didn't have time for their silly 'what if' scenarios. Every second counted.