x| chapter two.
' gone too soon. '
alice pike was never late to school. this was the first sign that today was anything but normal. she always made sure to wake up early enough to leave just the right amount of time to walk to school and comfortably make it to class way before the bell. today she had woken up early enough, and everything was just on track, but then it wasn't. and now, she walked into her first hour of classes, biology, about thirty minutes late.
she opened the door, a small sigh leaving her lips. she felt all the eyes in the room shift her her, making her cheeks flush red with embarrassment. she tried to ignore them, making her way to her seat. as she sat down, she kept her eyes on the lab table in front of her. the other kids in her lab group had already been doing the experiment, so she just tried to catch up. "what'd i miss, ollie?" she soon asked the boy sitting next to her.
it was oliver ruben. he was a strange boy to say the least. but, he was her friend. oliver came from a pretty rough family, one which he never really talked about to other people. except he'd told alice, only because one day she had witnessed it when they were hanging out. and now every time they hang out, they go to her house only.
he was a tall and lanky boy, who was incredibly pale. he had long, curly hair that looked as though it was a black mop upon his head. he usually was seen wearing large sweaters with jackets hanging over them, most of his clothes seemingly too large for his body. you could practically see the bags under his eyes from a mile away, suggesting his horrible case of insomnia. he was usually looking pretty rugged, which was basically why he had no friends. but despite all of that-
oliver was probably the best friend alice could ever ask for.
most people wouldn't suspect that the two were friends. alice came from the perfect family who had great jobs, made good money, and cared far too much about appearance. she always had on a tidy outfit, something in style, something her mother helped her purchase. they were polar opposites but somehow made perfect for eachother's company. and in a way, alice liked that he had no other friends. in her own conceited way, it made her feel good knowing he would never be too busy for her. she liked the comfort of knowing she could always call him up in a crisis.
"-nothing worth talking about." ollie shrugged to her, his head propped up by his arms on the lab table. he honestly hadn't been paying much attention, so even if it was important he wouldn't know. he parked up a bit, tilting his head to her. "but on the other hand, i've got something worth talking about." he mentioned, sitting up a little straighter than before. "where have you been?"
alice shook her head at his question, it wasn't exactly something she had wanted to talk about. "my mom kept me held up. it was nothing." she sighed, very quickly shrugging off the question. she didn't think it was important anyways. she was never late, so why make a big deal of it?
soon enough she looked up to the other two across the table from them. they were the ones actually doing the work. she sort of felt bad that she hadn't been helping this whole time. "shoot sorry, let me." she quickly commented, grabbing hold off the stirring stick in one of the beakers. she brushed hands with the boy across from her, it made her sort of uncomfortable for some reason.
the boy, better known as jacob barber, let go of the beaker, letting her take control of it all. he didn't mind, he hadn't wanted to do it anyways. his mind had definitely been elsewhere that morning, stuck on something.
the teacher mentioned something about the experiment they were doing, saying a phrase that happened to set up perfectly for a joke. "that's what she said." jacob chuckled under his breath, causing the other kids at his table to laugh a bit as well, besides alice.
she hadn't known much about jacob barber, only small things that ben had told her. ben had of course told her anything but the truth about him. he made jacob seem like a loser, some weirdo who shouldn't be trusted. of course, alice wasn't aware that ben rifkin (her former next door neighbor who was now dead in the woods) had been bullying the absolute shit out of jacob barber. ben definitely wasn't the kid that alice thought she knew, but she was too blindsided by a childhood crush to see that.
alice was about to say some remark about jacob's joke until a loud voice came on over the loud speakers above. "the school will now be on mandatory lockdown, lock all doors, take cover." the voice spoke. immediately the electronic curtains began sliding down the windows, limiting all sight in or out of the building. kids desperately tried to get a final glimpse of the outside world until they were swallowed by the darkness of the classroom. their teacher quickly locked the door, telling all the kids to sit next to the inside wall and be quiet.
alice quickly followed all the other kids to the inside wall, leaning against it as she sat down. ollie sat beside her, on his phone right away. he was trying to look up anything to see what was going on. kids frantically started calling their parents trying to figure out if they should fear for their lives yet. it all happened so fast that most of them were just sitting still.
pulling her phone out of her pocket, alice quickly texted both her mom and her dad letting them know that they had gone in lockdown. she tried to think of reasons why this would all be happening, but it all just sort of sat in her stomach like a pit. her nerves were nearly eating at her from the inside out. she looked over to jacob barber, who was crouched down by the wall and whispering to his phone. she knew his father was a lawyer or something, so maybe he knew what was going on.
all she knew, was it couldn't be good.
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the words were more than overwhelming, really. it was almost as if her mind couldn't even process them. or maybe her mind just didn't want to process them for her own good. alice sat in her living room on the couch, her parents standing in front of her as if they were giving her an intervention of some sort. they stood in front of the tv, which was on the new channel. she mindlessly listened to her parents speak while in the background the muffled news was repeating it over and over. 'sixteen year old boy murdered in the woods'. the boy was ben rifkin.
ben rifkin had been murdered.
it was hard to process the information being thrown at her. anyone would have a hard time with that. the school had been on lockdown that morning and they were all sent home early. why?
because ben rifkin was murdered.
ben was the boy next door, someone she would claim to be her best friend since diapers, someone who she trusted. someone who she maybe even loved. and now he was gone. it was only a few hours ago she had been in his house, been in his bedroom. she talked to him that morning. she had given him back the sweatshirt she had borrowed, and she told him that she would see him later at school. they had joked about the math test they both were dreading that day. now neither of them had to take that math test anymore.
because ben rifkin was murdered.
alice sort of felt like she could puke in the moment, but she held it together. well, for the most part she held it together. she at least did in front of her parents. her mom had been crying, since she too had known the boy from a young age. her mom was best friends with his mom, so it was like losing her own family member in a way. they kept asking her if she was okay. "honey, it's alright to be upset. this is horrific." her father, robert, patted her on the shoulder.
she nodded her head, not wanting to break down in front of the two. they had enough to deal with on their own. plus, she had had enough time to be sad. she didn't like being sad. she forced herself to not grieve, she didn't want to feel anything. it was a horribly unhealthy thing to do, but she pushed back her emotions as far back as she could and just chose to feel nothing. "i'm fine. i promise." she assured her parents, getting up from the couch.
"i'm gonna go upstairs so i can call ollie." she stated, making her way to the stairs. her parents simply nodded to her. she assumed they would just sit and mope for the rest of the day anyways. and she didn't want to be around that. she made her way up to her room, being sure to shut the door behind her. she called up her friend as soon as she shut the door, collapsing onto her bed.
"hello?" his voice rang through the phone. it almost sounded like he had been asleep.
"ollie? what're you doing?" alice quickly asked the boy, biting on her bottom lip nervously.
"laying in my bed?" the boy spoke sarcastically, as if it was dumb of her to ask such a thing.
"oh. right. did you see the news?" she soon spoke up, talking a bit slower than before. it was a dumb question, of course he knew what happened by now.
"uh.. yeah? look i'm sorry about what happened. but i-" oliver tried to console her in short sentences, but of course she had to go and cut him off.
"i'm fine. it's fine. you know i'm gonna go. i don't know why i called." she soon blurred out before hanging up. she didn't even wait for the boy to say goodbye.
after the phone call she sort of just laid in bed for the rest of the day. she didn't get up once, but also didn't sleep. she couldn't sleep. she was just stuck in her thoughts. why?
because ben rifkin was murdered.
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a/n: alrighty! the moment you've been waiting for; the murder.
hopefully you enjoyed this long chapter!
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i really loved introducing oliver's character, he is one of my favorites to write about.
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don't forget to vote and comment!
[next chapter: three!]
[publishing date: 04/28/20]
[word count: 1832!]
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