Hope you guys enjoy!! I love you all <3
The morning started out with a modest breakfast, the traditional pancakes and bacon, made by Lexi, and a fruit salad made by Emma. I recalled Lexi shoving multiple boxes of pancake mix into the shopping cart upon our quick visit to the supermarket on the way to Amber. She claimed it was her specialty, although there was not much involved in putting together pancakes from a pre-made mix.
And of course, the lovely memory of Emma forcing fruit salad down everyone's' throats so we could "stay healthy and alert" will forever be burned into my memory. . . and possibly my throat.
Meagan ate to her hearts content, shoveling food into her mouth like she hadn't eaten in days. Emma ate until she was full, mostly consuming the healthiest foods possible. Lexi watched over the spectacle with pride, working on finishing her eighth pancake and reaching for her ninth. Smiling, I took a sip of my [favorite drink]. It was nice that even though dangerous threats loomed over our heads, we still had it in us to enjoy ourselves. That meant a lot, psycho dystopian government considered.
What was really significant about that day, though, was what came after breakfast.
Ding.
Everyone sat completely still. Texts and phone calls had been off limits to hide our presence, so all contacts had been silenced other than people we absolutely needed to hear from: Brendon, Lu, and each other. The sounds of chewing, laughing, and silverware were lacking. No one had their phone with them at the moment, just themselves and their food.
Wordlessly and impulsively, I began to stand.
As soon as I left my seat, though, I couldn't contain my excitement and began to run. I reached my phone and grabbed it, the bright screen lighting up.
No new notifications.
"Shit. . ." I mumbled.
The next thing I knew, the other girls were going to their previous locations before breakfast and checking their phones, too.
"Nothing here," Lexi called from the couch.
Meagan's small body poked out from a bedroom and she shook her head.
All of us waited for Emma, who walked out of the basement, head in her Android.
"What does it say?"
Emma didn't respond. She was entirely engrossed in what the device had to offer.
I couldn't tell how much time passed with her hands tightening over the phone as we anxiously stared at her. Lexi's fingernails made a distinct click as they hammered over her phone case. Meagan's feet were uneasy. After Lexi's her knuckles had paled and her face was paler, Emma slowly turned the screen toward us.
Brendon Urie
I trust you have her safe.
Don't respond. I don't know who else is reading this.
Listen, if Dallon figures out what's up, he's not having any mercy.
I stood, conflicted. I was so glad he was okay, but nervous about what the message entailed.
"I was thinking," Emma trailed off, perplexed. "No mercy. . . As in what? He needs you alive." She pointed a finger at me.
Lexi's mouth stretched into a thin line.
Ding.
We gathered around her phone again, tripping over each other to see the message.
Brendon Urie
If he gets to you before we do, everyone but her is dead.
Part of me knew that was the case. That's what I assumed would happen. However, the reminder of it didn't make it anymore welcome. The girls around me were the ones that saved me. Them dying in the act would seem to be. . .
"Entirely my fault. . ."
The three other teens turned their heads to look at me, heeding my slip-up-sentence with extreme disapproval.
Lexi opened her mouth to speak, but Emma beat her to it. "[Y/n], all of us made a choice to help you. You didn't ask us to or force us to. Cliche as it is, we're in this as a group."
"Yeah," Lexi threw her fist into the air. "There's no way anyone even knows where we are. We're safe as can be!"
I smiled, but then it hit me. "If no one has any clue where we are, how would Brendon find us?"
Lexi's fist was at her side again, but Emma's pride never faltered. "Well, we do have a useful tool on us. Meagan over here happened to have just the solution."
Not liking the sudden attention, Meagan grew nervous and began to twiddle her thumbs. "An untraceable phone. . . If we could do that it makes it a lot harder, or even impossible, for anyone to link it back to a sender or location. We can tip off Brendon without anyone knowing."
I nodded, deep in thought. "Yeah, but how're we gonna get one of those."
The corners of her lips twitched up in a slight smile. "Easy," she said. "Obviously, just hiding our phone number isn't going to be enough. We need to make it un-hackable and untraceable. We're gonna need to get a disposable phone, a good VPN, and nix any contact information."
"That easy?" Lexi asked.
"Oh, definitely not." Meagan 'assured'. "I can get the phone prepared, but just to be extra safe, we're gonna need to drive to different locations between conversations to add some confusion."
"And," Emma added, "we can call him and give him some clues. No out right revealing just to be safe."
We all mumbled a statement of agreement, hope building.
"Now who's ready to kick some ass?"
Later that night, after a brief journal entry, we sat around together, staring at the false fireplace lighting up the dim room. The red and orange flick of the flames reflected off my cheeks, filling them with heat. I brought my knees to my chin.
I thought of Brendon. I thought of Lu. I wished them well in my dreams every night, but I missed them. I missed my father, my family. And of course, I wondered what everyone else's families were doing about their disappearance. For a while, I wondered "Hey guys, can you explain what happened at the party? Ya know, from your perspective?"
All heads turned to face me. The three girls blinked, waiting to see who would go first.
"Well, uh. . . Meagan and I kinda figured something was up after you ran away with Brett, and Brendon joined you guys, and then Brett ran back yada yada. But. . . Gosh, how do I say this?" Lexi scratched her head nervously. I didn't recall ever introducing her to Brett, but what did I know anymore?
Meagan picked up where she left off. "Lexi and I knew you had lost your memories to the machine. We had our fair share of information on Brendon Urie gathered, typically from our parents and personal observation. We approached you because we knew you had connections to the device.
"But we ended up really liking you. You're a really. . . nice person. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you so. . ."
There was a brief silence as I nodded. We waited.
"I'm sure you already know," Emma eyed me up, looking for something, "but Urie shot you with that machine again and gave you your memories back. Dallon grabbed you after you lost consciousness, using the whole ordeal as a distraction. I guess he thought that you'd be more valuable than ever because regaining your memories meant more dirt on Urie." She scowled. "I was sick and tired of being used like a piece of shit. I knew I was going to be killed anyway, so I might as well spend the time getting revenge on that damned government program. I asked Urie what I could do to help."
I raised a brow, taking in all of the information.
"Of course, he was skeptical after everything I did, but for some reason, that maid girl trusted me. . . and when they sent me off to go help you, these two," she motioned toward Meagan and Lexi, "begged to join in. I figured it wouldn't hurt."
I let out a noise of confirmation. It made sense, but it was slightly shocking that Meagan and Lexi already knew about me before I met them.
From my peripherals, though, I saw Lexi's elbow shove Emma in the arm. I heard the latter hiss and let out an "okay, okay. . ."
"And," Emma looked away like a school girl in a cheesy soap opera, "I kinda sorta care about you because you're not an asshole."
Laughter filled the room. My laughter. "Thank you, Emma. I kinda sorta care about you, too."
The rest of the night was spent with preparations for our next move. We had to act quickly. It was never certain what would happen, especially since we had limited information. Scratch pads and notebooks scattered, we fell asleep late in the night, the quiet of the faux fire absorbing the room.
Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will be an inside look from Brendon's perspective <3