February 4-- Location: Evergreen:

BEEP--BEEP--BEEP

Charlee groaned as she opened her eyes, slamming her hand on the black box next to her.

"Stupid alarm." She grumbled, dragging her hand through her wavy, blonde hair. Her green eyes sleepily blinked as she blankly stared at the ceiling, finding the small patterns rather intriguing.

"Charlotte!" Her mother called, banging on her bedroom door, "Get up!" Charlotte rolled her eyes, not seeming to be able to find the energy that was required in order to get up.

"I'm up, I'm up!" She yelled back, rolling out of her bed and landed with a loud thud on the floor. Just at this moment, Hannah entered from the en-suite bathroom, rolling her eyes at Charlee.

"It's about time." Hannah retorted, letting out a light chuckle. She was wearing a red graphic sweatshirt, with a picture of cartoon mickey on the front. Along with that, she was wearing light blue ripped jeans, white converse, and her platinum blonde hair was in curls. Her eyes were lightly dusted with light, natural looking eyeshadow with a small touch of glitter. Her eyeliner wasn't winged but was instead just neatly applied to her lash line. This greatly complimented her pale green eyes, as well as making her look seem effortless. Though, in reality, she had been getting ready for an hour.

"Oh, shut up!" Charlee replied, pushing herself up from the ground, "You didn't take that from my closet, did you?" She was, of course, referring to the graphic sweatshirt that Hannah was wearing, for she had an identical one.

"I would never!" Hannah replied, making a beeline for the door, reaching forward to open it while she feigned offense.

"Sure." She said, laughing at Hannah's obvious crime. "Whatever, but I get to take something from yours today." Hannah rolled her eyes before leaving their shared bedroom, gently closing the door behind her.

As Hannah made her way downstairs, Charlotte was walking into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Hannah sat down at the kitchen table, the TV easily viewable from her seat. A bowl of cereal was already ready to eat and the TV was on the news channel.

"Last night, Carly Cousins was found unconscious in the school parking lot. She woke up not long after, and her account of the accident was rather strange." The speaker was rather calm, though the situation was disturbing.

"Charlee!" Hannah yelled, afraid to move from her seat.

"What?" The other replied, coming down the stairs, fully clothed.

"It's Carly."

Those two words were enough to make Charlee run into the room and unpause the TV, turning the volume up.

"We were leaving the school-" Carly began, but was quickly interrupted.

"We?" As far as the police knew up to this point, Carly had been alone.

"Yea, me and Ashton. We were leaving to go to El Chile Poblano when he disappeared. When I saw him again, his running towards me and gave me the keys. He told me to get out here, and that he would be fine." At this point, Carly was sobbing, her voice shaking whenever she mentioned her boyfriend. "I told him that I wouldn't leave him there and I tried to go to him when the sky started turning orange and 'MISSING' posters started flying around. I almost reached him when he started to try and warn, me about something behind me. When I got to where he was, he was gone. I then tried to get to the jeep and leave, b-but that was gone too. After that, I just remember being hit on the head with something."

The twins' eyes were wide, their mouths hanging open as the broadcast continued to state the known information. They occasionally glanced at each other, still not able to process the information.

"Ashton is still missing, his last known location was in the Evergreen High School parking lot." A picture of the athletic boy came onto the screen, his blue eyes smiling behind his nerdy glasses. His hair had recently been cut in this, even though it was very shaggy now. "If anyone has seen him, please call the tip line immediately. 317-262-8477."

"I can't believe he's gone," Hannah said, slumping back into the cushioned couch. Charlee nodded, not finding the energy to move.  Hannah's curly bangs were falling out of the small twist she had put them in to keep them out of her face.  A few tears dropped onto Charlee's dark grey sweatshirt causing the collar to slowly soak with tears as she began to cry.

"Of all people, why him?" Charlee was choking on her tears, attempting to hold in her quiet sobs as she was still shocked that her best friend was now one of many on the growing list of missing students from Evergreen High. Her green eyes were rimmed with tears as fumbled with her phone, wanting to call Alexander, one of their few remaining friends. The TV continued to make background noise, beginning to list off all of the missing students.

"The following citizens are missing, all under the age of 18. Foul play is suspected, and the list is continuing to grow. Sarah Davis, Aliza Travis, Landon Howarth, Jude Adkins, Ashley Maxwell, Courtney Bell, Thomas Rodriguez, Anna Hawkins, Jose West, Diane Hardy, and Ashton McCann. If you know anything about their whereabouts, please call the tip line. 317-262-8477."

Alexander was laying on his back, the weight of the world sitting on him. Unshed tears welled in his eyes as he listened to the newscaster. His brain was reeling with thoughts as he tried to understand what had just come out of the woman's mouth.

A strangled sob was released as Alex numbly rolled off the bed, curling into a tight ball on the floor. His thoughts flooded with images of the handsome boy he had grown to know so well. His cerulean eyes looking back hopelessly, staring into his soul as the calm, blue eyes he loved turned to a stormy grey.

Ashton's familiar dorky smile disappeared as tears began to flood his eyes, trickling down his pale cheeks. All Alex could see was the memory of their last encounter. The last time Alex had seen, or spoke, to Ashton.

Deep down, he knew that he would never see Ashton again, and the thought just made him break down into more tears, his body shaking with sobs. His heart was shattered into a million pieces as he heard Carly recount what happened.

Alex wished he could turn back the clock to yesterday morning, back to their fight. He just wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be alright. He wanted to take back everything he had said, especially their parting words.

Alex jumped as the phone rang, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts. He reached his hand up, his hand blindly scouring his unkempt beside table.

He looked down at the caller ID, sitting up slightly as he processed who it was. With a shake of his head as he pushed another sob away, he answered the phone.

"Hello?" Alex's gruff morning voice echoed through the phone, sending a sigh of relief through both of the twins as they heard his voice.  "Charlee?  Hannah?"  It was unusual for the girls to call him at 7:00 a.m., so he immediately assumed that something was wrong.

"Have you seen the news?" Charlee's voice was thick with tears as she heard Alex getting out of bed on the other side of the line. Unknown to the girls, Alex had been up for hours, knowing immediately what had happened.

"No, is everything okay?" Alex lied through his teeth, afraid to let the young girls know of his private affair. Unaware to Alex's obvious distress, Charlee let out another sob, passing the phone to Hannah as she collapsed to her knees next to the green armchair that sat facing the TV.  "Charlee?"  Alex sounded panicked, which he had every reason to be, seeing as his friends were being picked off one by one. This was, of course, the reasoning of the twins as they listened to Alex's tone. Alex, on the other hand, was more afraid of being next, which he likely would be.

"Ashton is missing," Hannah began, speaking slowly as if that would keep Alex from freaking out.  "And Carly was attacked." 

Hannah could hear Alex stop breathing on the other line, almost as if he was waiting for a missing punch line that would never come. A TV softly began switching channels in the background of the conversation, well, the lack of one.   She finally relaxed when she heard Alex take a deep breath.

"It's true." He muttered, not really directed towards anyone. After hearing the news himself, he didn't want to believe it. Alex wanted to believe that this was just his mind's way of giving him what he deserved.

The news station was rerunning Carly's story repeatedly, with only a short break every few minutes to give an update on information or to remind everyone that the tip line was there for a reason.

The 3 friends didn't know how long they had been standing in silence, almost like a silent prayer to Ashton and all of the other victims.  The school was holding annual vigils for the missing students, but no one seems to want to do anything about it. Perhaps now that one of the football team's biggest stars went missing, someone would do something about it.

"A search party is being sent out at 5:00 p.m. tonight for anyone wanting to help look for the star athlete." This was the first time that a search party had been organized, the announcement causing a gasp to leave Hannah's mouth.

"Wow." Charlee spat, hastily standing up from the couch, "We don't want to lose a game now, do we?" Hannah let out a dark chuckle beside her, slumping back into the soft armchair. Alex let out a silent laugh on his end of the line, running a hand through his thick, curly, brown hair. Ash would be living for this, going straight to the school board and demanding to know why he was more important than the others.

***************

He was like that, always looking out for others before himself. Alex could remember when they first met, he had just been kicked out of the house by his father and was sitting on the sidewalk, cradling his freckled face in his hands.

Ashton had been walking down the sidewalk, as he was on his way to the library for some last minute studying. He noticed the defeated looking figure hunched over on the sidewalk, his body shaking with sobs as blood dripped onto the sidewalk.

"Hello?" Ashton approached carefully, not sure of how the younger looking boy would react. "Are you okay?"

Alex's head snapped up, his pale grey eyes filled with tears as blood flowed from the numerous cuts on his face, not to mention his nose.

"Oh my god!" Ashton rushed over, bringing the struggling boy into his arms, "It's okay, I've got you. You're safe now." Alex just looked up at him with the most pain filled gaze Ashton had ever seen, his eyes struggling to stay open as he began to loose consciousness.

"Please don't hurt me." The words left the frail boy's lips in a delicate whisper as his eyes fluttered shut, his long eyelashes brushing the light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

"Never." Ashton's voice choked as he held the boy close to his chest, his callused hand soothingly stroking the boy's curly mop of hair.

***************

"Alex?" He was shaken from his memory by the soft voice of a Hannah, someone he had come to know almost too well.

"Yes, Hannah?" Alex was exhausted, his grief and fear taking a great toll on him as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Do you think we're safe?" Charlee had gotten up and left the room, too afraid to hear his answer. She was currently making a new bowl of cereal on the counter, the milk splashing over the cereal in angry waves. The type of waves you see when a storm is coming, both angry and sad at the same time.

Hannah remained in the living room, the TV playing quietly in the background on both sides of the lines. The sun was reflecting through the window pane and across the reflective surface of the coffee table. The light created a warm glow to the sitting area, though it felt uncomfortable to feel relaxed at a time like this.

"No, they don't care enough to protect us." Alex was right, even with the growing number of missing students, no precautions were being made to prevent any attacks.

"He's right," Charlee muttered, returning to the room with her bowl of cereal, the chocolate dust turning the white milk brown. "They won't do anything until someone dies, and maybe even then, they still won't do anything." A deep sigh could be heard on the other side of the line as well as a few rustles.

"Well, we might as well head to school," Alex muttered, a bitter taste in his mouth at the thought that they still had school. The jingling of keys could be heard as Hannah took her keys off the counter, motioning for Charlee to hurry up.

"Alright, we will see you there. Love you." A muffled 'love you, too' could be heard before Hannah hit the end call button, turning towards the door. "Don't forget your money." The twins went off campus for lunch, seeing as they were juniors and took turns with their friends on buying the meal. Today was Charlee's turn, that is if either of them felt up to eating today.

"I got it," Charlee replied, hold up two twenties as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "And don't forget your shoes!" Hannah nodded as she slipped some black NIKE slides over her plain, black socks.

Charlee's bowl of cereal was left untouched on the coffee table, the formerly hard food growing softer by the minute.

As the two moved out the door, a harsh wind was blowing through town, sending missing posters flying everywhere. One flew onto Charlee's car, plastering itself to the windshield.

Hannah pulled it off, having to hold it in both hands to keep it from flapping violently in the wind. A frown was etched on her face as she looked at Ashton's cheerful face. With a heavy sigh, she tore her eyes from the picture that captured Ashton's sky blue eyes perfectly and released it back into the wind.

Hannah watched as it blew down the street before finally landing on the road and tumbling down it. Other posters, with pictures of other students, littered the road as well. It was turning into a raging sea of papers, the students' anger and fear apparent in its harsh movement. Birds flew over head, squawking angrily as everyone went about their normal routines, as if nothing had happened. The sea of papers grew angrier as Hannah watched, clustering on street lamps and flooding the streets,

"Are you coming?" Charlee called out the passenger window, already in the driver's seat, "We don't want to be late." Hannah nodded as she joined her sister in the car, the warmth quickly wrapping her in a comforting embrace. She sent one last look out the window at the flickering street lamp before looking down at her hands, willing her tears to stay at bay.

As they made their way down the country roads that lead into town, Hannah watched the scenery fly by, until they reached Ashton's house. It was the first house after the bridge, placed there to set a proper setting of what the town is supposed to be, and what it used to be. It was an old style home, with tall white pillars in the front that framed the bright red door. The black roof and white exterior gave it a modern feel, which the family preferred.

The lawn was typically clean-cut and free of debris, as Ashton loved a clean yard. Yet, today stuffed bears and flowers were strewn across the driveway and petals littered the large property. A few candles sat on the steps, their flames flickering in the harsh wind.

"It's strange," Charlee muttered, creeping down the road. The two usually picked Ash up in the mornings because he never got up early enough to walk to school.

"Yea." Hannah agreed as Charlee sped up, noticing that there were only 5 minutes till the final bell rang. "We better hurry."

*********************

Hannah was in US History when Olivia walked through the door, her head down.  Olivia was crying, her chocolatey brown eyes flooding with tears.

"Livvy?" Hannah asked, standing up to meet her at her desk, "What happened?" She looked up at me, a blue bruise covering her cheekbone.  A few scratches littered her light caramel skin as she blinked some tears away. Hannah lifted her hand up, lightly brushing away some of the tears running down the poor girls face.

"Um, uh, nothing." Livvy smiled, glancing around the room at everyone who was paying attention to their own business, "Just some family drama."

"Racheal?" Hannah spat, her eyebrows furrowed into a glare as the preppy cheerleader's image crossed the young emo's mind, "Why were you even around her?"

"Well," Olivia shrugged, her black hair cascading down her shoulders, "She is my sister."  There were a few drops of blood on her light grey sweatshirt, most likely from the small cut on her lip.  Her black jeans had a few patches of dust on them, and her beanie was offset. 

"My god, did you even try and dust yourself off?"

Hannah groaned as heard the voice of angels, that is, of course, if angels looked and sounded like Satan them self.  She spun around, not even trying to hide the death glare she was giving the girl in front of her.

"Rachael." Hannah spat, distaste oozing from her words as she looked the cheerleader up and down, "What a pleasure to see you here." She resisted the urge to smack the smug smirk off her face as she stepped closer to Olivia, if that was even possible.

"Ouch, please do try to be more kind."  The demon herself chuckled, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder.  "It's always a pleasure to see me."

"Yeah, maybe before you were possessed." Olivia scoffed at her.

Racheal used to be very close to the girls, actually dating Charlee at one point.  Until she changed, leaving the ragtag group behind for a life of booze and drugs.   Of course, there was more to the story, but not everyone knew the truth.

A hurt look flashed across Rachael's features, but she quickly masked it.  Her eyes changed from their familiar chocolate brown to a pitch black, a smirk settling on her painted lips.

"Oh, darling, you couldn't be more right."

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Hello everyone! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has read this. Any comments and/or votes are greatly appreciated. The next chapter will be out next week (6/28). I will be updating this on weekly periods as I do my best to publish my best work possible.

ACTIVE READING QUESTIONS:

Does any one seem suspicious so far?

Are there any relationships that you are suspicious of?

What do you think will happen to Alex?

Who is your favorite character so far?

Where do you think the next chapter will take us?

QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR:

Comment your questions, whether it be about the characters, plot, or me.

They will be featured on my Q&A book, which is updated every Wednesday.

With love to you all (and Happy Pride!),

-Skylar :)