Present Day
Thea didn't say anything as I recounted the last two weeks of my life. She was patient with me and didn't interrupt as I told her everything that happened. Somewhere in the middle of my story Thea put her hand on my knee and rubbed circles into it and it kept me grounded. When I finished I kept wiping away tears that stubbornly continued to fall no matter how much I wished for them to stop.
"I have to work tomorrow. I'm on your house's detail. Your manager and Eli won't be allowed inside the house anymore. Our chief of department didn't want either of them lingering inside while we conducted our investigation. The officer assigned to the detail has a key to get inside your house for emergencies. When I'm on duty I'll swing by and pick you up and we can get some of your stuff so you can stop stealing all of my Henley's. Maybe we could even go next door to see how Pat is doing. I know that when Bobby stormed into your house he went to talk to Pat before he filed the missing persons report." Thea said in a quiet calm voice.
"You would do that for me?" I asked, still not believe that Thea would do this for a complete stranger.
"Yea, I even have a lawyer friend who owes me a favor that can look at your contract for you to see how to get you out of it." Thea said and a fresh wave of tears past through me.
"I don't know how I could ever repay you for this." I said and wiped at the tears again.
"Live. That's how you can repay me for helping you. I just want you to live." Thea said with her bright hazel eyes locking onto mine. I looked down at her hand that was still making those small circles and I nodded. Thea didn't say anything as I laid down next to her and pulled the blankets up over my body more. It didn't take long for sleep to wash over us.
The next morning I woke up comfortably warm in the crook of Thea's neck with one of her arms wrapped tightly around me. We must have moved closer during the night and I didn't have the heart to move right now so I closed my eyes and feel back asleep. When I woke up again Thea was trying to remove her arm from under my head. My eyes opened and they found hers. Without words spoken I lifted my head up and she pulled her arm back to herself.
Thea got out of bed a few minutes later and started to get herself ready for the day. I only laid in bed a few minutes later before I followed her lead. We met in the kitchen about ten minutes later and started to make breakfast together. Coffee poured in two mugs a stack of pancakes and todays newspaper sat on the table as Thea and myself settled down for breakfast.
We ate in silence still reeling from my words last night. Once I started, the words started to stumble out like word vomit and I couldn't stop. I needed to get it out and I felt like I could breathe a little bit more. I know that I would need to go see Pat sooner or later to see how he is but once I do it's going to make everything real and I don't know how I'm going to deal with that.
After we finished breakfast Thea called her lawyer friend and was able to set up a meeting for us when Thea was off tomorrow. Thea told me that we would be meeting somewhere private so nobody would know I was there. I can't let Bobby finding me before I was ready to be found.
Thea gave me a rundown of when she will come and get me and how we are going to get into the house. Even though she has the key she can't just walk into my house without a reason. Thea is going to drop me off by my backyard and I'll hop over my fence and Thea will let me in the back door. She will call her dispatch and let them know that she thinks someone is coming in through the back door only for it to be a false alarm.
After I finished collecting some stuff that I needed I would go out the back door and hop the fence into Pat and Eds backyard. Thea was going to go over their house at the beginning of her shift to let Pat know that I would be coming over through the backdoor later in the day. Once I wrapped up my visit with Pat I would walk out his front door and Thea would drive me back to her house.
The plan was set and Thea left for her shift. She said she would be back for me around 5 as long as everything goes to plan. I watched Thea as she got into her truck and drove off to the police station. I needed to keep myself busy for the next three hours so I started to wonder around Thea's house. We both agreed that I shouldn't leave the house unless it was an emergency. Salem has most of their officers out looking for me and I couldn't run the risk of being caught.
Thea's house is just one level. It didn't take long to explore the whole house. Thea has another two rooms that could be used as bedrooms but right now it just looks like she is using them as storage. I didn't want to nosy so I just closed the doors and left the rooms just as I found them.
I returned back to Thea's bedroom and found her laptop sitting on the desk. I pulled out the desk chair and opened the lid and found the laptop on already. Just my luck that Thea didn't have a password on it. I opened up the internet tab and went right to twitter. I needed to see what was happening in the world.
I had to be careful though. I couldn't log into any of my accounts otherwise it would tip Bobby and company off. So I logged into my very first twitter account that I had while I was still in college. It was one that nobody on my team knew about and I only used rarely just to keep it active. I was lucky that I remember my password in the first place it has been so long since I've used it and I didn't have my phone with my list of account passwords.
Once I logged in I went right to my twitter account and saw that Bobby has made posts on my behalf. There were only two right now and they were both about me being missing. I just ignored those and went to see what was trending. It didn't surprise me that I'm the number one trending topic worldwide. Millions of people all around the globe are sending their well wishes for me to be found safe.
After looking through the hashtag for a while I found some tweets from people saying that this is just one big publicly stunt. Then there were other tweets from some entertainment news sites saying that there might be foul play involved in my disappearance. Some are saying that they know about the tension between myself and my label and it might have played a hand in my disappearance.
If only they knew the truth. I also checked on Eli's twitter as well. A lot of people are asking if he knew what happened and where I was. He just kept retweeting the phone number of the tip line that was set up. I feel like I might want to give them a call with some false information just to through them off my trail. I'm going to keep that thought in the back of my mind for now.
After a little more time on the internet I closed Thea's laptop and returned to the living room. I had no interest in sitting on the couch after it murdered my back so I opted for the large dark down lazy boy that sat next to the couch. When I sat down I was happy to feel the plush cushions instead of the hard and lumpy couch.
I tried to relax a little but I knew if I relaxed to much I would end up falling asleep and I couldn't do that with Thea coming back to get me later. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something pressed up against the wall and when I looked over at it my eyes opened wide. Thea has an electric keyboard. How did I miss it from the first couple of day here?
I shot up from the chair and went over to the keyboard. It was a bit old and nothing like the baby grand piano I have in my house but it was something. I ran through the different keys and I just started to stretch my fingers after not playing in so long. The muscle memory came back to me and I lost myself in the music. Now I wish I had my phone. I wanted to record the song I've been writing all day. Just then I remember Thea's laptop. I ran over to her bedroom and I brought the laptop back to the living room and set it up so you could see the keys I was pressing as I sang the sad lyrics I came up with to go with the song.
Just as I was finishing the song I heard the door close and I turned to find Thea standing in the kitchen in her uniform.
"Ready when you are." Thea said taking in the scene.
"Sorry, I saw the keyboard and I just started playing and I want to record it so I would have this for later but I don't have my phone so I used your laptop." I said explaining myself.
"It's okay Ashlyn, go get ready." Thea said with a small smile to show she wasn't mad.
I didn't say anything else before going off to her room to slip on my jeans and converse before meeting her in the living room.
"You are going to want those boots you wore the other day. It finally snowed last night. Also you are going to wear this coat along with my SPD hat. If someone sees us riding in the car together they are going to think you are just my partner." Thea said and held out a Salem Police Department jacket.
I nodded and slipped on the boots I left by the door and Thea helped me into her jacket and hat before we left the house. It was already getting dark and I can't believe I didn't notice. Thea returned to the driver's side of her patrol car and I got into the passenger seat before she took off towards my house.
On the ride over she told me that Pat would be expecting me from the back door and nobody has been in the house since the crime scene unit walked through the place looking for any evidence to collect. Thea told me that Eli hasn't come forward with the note. Hopefully he has it in a safe place far away from Bobby.
When we came around the block Thea stopped and I hopped right out of the car before running off towards the tree and my backyard. I made quick work of climbing the tree and jumping into my backyard and I waited for Thea to come to the backdoor. It took her about five minutes to appear and she let me inside.
"We have a few minutes inside before I have to go back to my car. If I need to run out on a call here is a burner until we can get you a new phone. My cell number is programed in and I'll call you if there is a problem. I don't believe the SPD will come back through your house looking for evidence but I can't say the same for Bobby or Eli or anyone else on your team for that matter so only take things that you don't think they would notice missing." Thea said as I walked through my kitchen and living room before running up my stairs.
I pushed the door open to my room and everything looked like it did when I left it. I sighed in relief and grabbed my duffle bag before going through draws and grabbing some warm clothes for this time of year along with my own boots. It was hard for me to think what Eli would look for in my room so I just took a little bit of everything and left all but one of my favorite things behind. I took my Salem High School sweatshirt with me and zipped up the duffle. I wanted to take my wallet and ID but I know that was something I couldn't. I did take the cash I had saved up though that I have hiddened in my closet. I wouldn't leave without it. I couldn't have Thea keep paying for things for me.
Once I was done Thea and I went back downstairs and we threw my duffle into Pat and Eds yard before Thea gave me a boost over the fence.
"I'm going on my meal at 6:30 so you can meet me out front with your duffle. If I can't take you back to my place I will call you." Thea said. I said okay and shuffled over to Pat's back door and knocked.
It didn't take long for a shadow to move behind the curtains that cover the sliding glass back door. The light flipped on and the curtains moved the door and I saw Pat. He unlocked the back door for me and pulled me inside, right into his arms. The flood gates opened and I couldn't stop the torrent of tears flowing from my eyes.
Picture on the side of Tom Hardy who plays Bobby Miller.