School was the same. It was normal but everything was still different. Ansley has also been the talk of the school for a long while. "How are you feeling Cecily?" a random kid asked me. "I'm fine." I responded without making eye contact. I tried to stay to myself instead of feeding into anything. "Don't hook up with any strangers now, you wouldn't want to go missing either." He snorted. His laugh made me fume. I sarcastically laughed as if it was funny then flipped him off. I was so fed up with the jokes that have been going around, and out of everyone, me, Abby, and Lynn were being talked down to, or had to listen to every bit of it.
The students only started doing this because they know Ansley wasn't there to defend herself like she normally would. I didn't care, I stood up for her as best as I could. I've gotten into so many fights this past week I couldn't even count, even the principal was tired of seeing me. The bell rang. I got up and walked out of the classroom, but before I could make it past the doorway, the guy turned me around and gave me a good strike to the face, without even thinking, I punched him back. I hit him right in the nose, that's all it took, he tackled me to the ground while the students just watched and chanted each of our names. We were now fighting, tossing each other around on the ground.
With some struggle, I managed to push the guy off of me. I balanced myself back up, he was still on the floor, I knew I was in control. I stomped on his chest, then punched and kicked him repeatedly. The students did nothing, no one cared, it was kind of cruel thinking about it now. I let go of all my anger from these past weeks. The jokes and insults from the students, what I heard about dad, mom moving on and not telling me, it all just angered me even more. It was all built up and I couldn't help it. I heard a familiar voice, "Cecily!" The recognizable voice was Liam. "Cecily, that's enough!" Before I could even attempt to stop, I felt hands grab both my arms, a teacher had come to break up the fight. It was the same teacher that was miserably brought into all the fights I've had this week.
I felt like I didn't even have time to blink, when I did, I was sitting by the front door of the school, waiting for my mom to pick me up. As soon as my mom pulled up to the school, Liam walked up to me, "Try to come to my house today if you can, before we go to the house," he got a little flustered, "Well...if you want to." I smiled, "Sure, I'll message you and let you know." "Okay." he said, and watched my mom grab me by the arm and drag me out of the school and into the car. When we were both in the car, I wasn't greeted by an angry face, she seemed kind of concerned. She looked at me, then started the car and began driving, "What was it this time, are they really still saying things about Ansley?" I was hesitant to answer at first, afraid she was going to lecture me or yell at me for some reason. She didn't yell, she wasn't upset, she laughed lightly and answered a question I've been trying to figure out for a long time, "You really are their leader, they always told me you were there for them." "Seriously?!" I answered back with excitement. Leader... I just couldn't stop thinking of that word. I was proud of it, that's for sure. "How am I the leader? I always thought it would be Ansley." "Well, that's easy to answer, you fight for them and stand up for them all the time. As you see this whole week, you won't let anyone say one word about them without your two cents." she laughed. "Cecily, one part of them, makes a part of you, you four are perfect puzzle pieces that go together no matter what." I looked at her with a bright smile, "Thanks mom." "You're welcome, and I'm not mad at you either just so you know. I'm proud of you for sticking up for your friends, and I'm surprised you took on a boy!" She looked at me from the corner of her eye again, "Speaking of boy," I already knew where she was going with this one, she saw Liam talking to me by the front doors of the school, when she was walking in. "Who was the boy you were talking to earlier?" I got a little red in the face not going to lie, "That's just Liam mom, he's, my friend." "Well," she started as we got closer to the house, "tell your "friend" that he is welcome to come by anytime." I lightly hit her arm and laughed and her sarcastic "friend" gesture, "Stop it mom!" she laughed along with me. "He wants me to go to his house today, is that fine?" I asked, "Cecily, you know I don't mind." She smiled at me as we pulled into our driveway. We had a garage, but it was used more for storage than anything.
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I spent some time downstairs with mom, about an hour or two, then I went up to my room. I cleaned up my bathroom a little bit too, before going into my room to text Liam. When I walked in, I was very shocked to be greeted by Liam himself inside my room. My first thought was wondering if he had snuck in through the window, then my second thought was how he got in without my mom finding out. "Did you sneak in?!" I asked a little panicked, "No, of course not!" he gave me a playful, shocked look, "How could you ever think so lowly of me?!" I looked at him and crossed my arms, "Well, you're the one who came up with the idea of sneaking into the police station." "Okay, fine, but whatever. I came in through the front door. Thank you very much." He sassed to me. "So, you met my mom? Does she like you?" "I think so," he started, "she seemed happy to meet me so I guess she does." he said with a sort of questioning voice. We stood there in a small, comfortable kind of silence, "Should we get going? I want to meet your parents now." I say, he was quick to react then, but he was also a little flustered by my statement, his feelings were easy to stir around, in a fun way, never hurtful. "Sure, we can go in my car too." he said, I began to tease him again when we went outside, "How nice of you to drive for me too Liam!" He rolled his eyes and laughed, we both got in his car and sped off. "So, I had an idea," I said, getting his attention, "what if we went inside Ansley's house to look for evidence first, instead of the old one? I know it might sound dumb but her parents might have more stuff the police found." He nodded in response. "It's a solid plan for sure, but we can't just walk in and go through their stuff that easily, can we?" he questioned. "No, but I can bring Abby and Lynn along. It would be easier with the three of us to look for evidence or some sort of clue, we're her best friends after all." I answered. "I think it would definitely work better, I'm sure we can figure out how we're going to go through with the plan once we meet up with the right?" he asked, "Yep!" I responded.
We made it to his house. It was a nice blue house, with a black triangle roof. From the outside it seemed like it was a decent sized house. We got out of his car and were greeted by his parents at the front door. "Well, hello there!" a middle-aged woman smiled, with a middle-aged man behind her, "You must be Cecily!" she gave me a greeting hug, it was definitely different, I have never been greeted with a hug but it was sweet. "Yeah, I am." I say with an awkward smile. "Well, I'm his mother, this man right here," she pointed to the middle-aged man, "this is his father." "It's very nice to meet you two!" I smiled. "You too, Liam hasn't stopped talking about you since the first day you two met!" she laughed while Liam just looked away embarrassed. "Let's just go inside." Liam said, actually pushing us three inside. The inside of his house was very cozy, I felt more at home there than I did at my actual house. "Your house is very nice!" I said probably a little too loud, it made an echo noise. "Thank you," his mom started, "It was my mothers." She said with a proud kind of smile. "Well, it's wonderful Mrs. Madden." I smiled, then we started our walk into the kitchen where food was already made and was waiting for us in a neat order, spread in a straight line on top of a fancy dinner cloth. I was offered the first seat, Liam sat next to me, and his parents sat across from us. The table was massive, at least eight or more people could've fit. The kitchen and dining room were combined, making the space big enough for walkway. Once we sat down, everyone began eating. I hesitated to grab the food at first, without being told I could. Liam nodded his head towards the food, "Go ahead, eat some!" he smiled with a full mouth, making me chuckle. I nodded and grabbed food and ate a wonderful meal.
"This is amazing Mrs. Madden." I said with an almost full mouth. She laughed and smiled, "Your welcome sweetie. Liam has told us a lot about you." His dad chimed in, "Yeah, he can't stop talking about you!" "I think that's enough you guys..." Liam said with a flushed face. I laughed as his parents teased him and he argued back to defend himself. As fast as the day started, the night ended. "Dinner was amazing you guys!" I smiled brightly. "Thank you," her mom started, "You are more than welcome to join us anytime." "Thank you, I sure will!" Before anything else could be said, Liam drug me to his car and drove me home. We had gotten more comfortable with each other so the ride back to my house was all talk and laughs.
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"Do you wanna come in?" I asked when we pulled into the driveway, breaking the silence. He thought about it for a second and smiled, "Are you sure your mom won't mind at all?" "No, I think she likes you. She should be fine, besides, we're not gonna be inside for long." "Well then I don't see why not." He sounded a little too excited, practically jumping out of his car, and following me inside my house. I smiled and rolled my eyes at his childlike attitude. We went inside and I gave my mom a quick hello, then we went upstairs. I called Abby but she didn't answer so I called them both in our group chat. Lynn answered eventually, "What's up Cecily, is everything okay? Also, Abby is at my house, that's why she didn't pick up her phone." "That's fine," I said, "I just need your guy's help with something." Abby appeared in the frame with Lynn, "What's up?" I took a breath before I started, "Well, me and Liam snuck into the police station and found nothing on Ansley, there was no evidence at all, except for this house. I just have the feeling that no one is taking her being missing serious." "Tell me about it..." Abby said, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "What should we do though," Lynn started, "I mean I'm not doubting us or anything but we're just teenagers Cecily. There's a boundary to what we can do." "We have to at least try." I said, my voice became more aggressive, "I need to look in her house for answers." "Cecily, come on, do we have to?" Abby persisted in a lazy tone. I tried to think of something that would egg them on, then it hit me, I looked back at Liam then back at my phone, "Liam's here..." I smirked to the two. They were silent for a moment, which made me laugh slightly but I covered up my mouth so they wouldn't see. "You should've said that when we answered." Abby jolted out of the bed and pulled Lynn with her. "We'll see you guys there." She said then hung up the phone. The drive wasn't far either, which gave me a realization of how close Ansley's house actually was to mine. We parked about two blocks away from the house, next to some cars so we wouldn't look too weird. A few seconds after pulling in I got a call from Abby. "Where should we go? Are we going in through her window or something? Where are you guys at?" she asked, I could hear Lynn asking her more questions in the background. Before I was pushed with more questions though, I spoke, "Have you seen what kind of car Liam drives?" "Yes." I could faintly hear them both say in sync. "Good we parked two blocks down from the house; find Liam's and park by us. We'll be here waiting until you guys get here." "Okay, sounds good!" Abby said and hung up.
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Eventually, we all met up and made our way to a field by Ansley's house. "Are her parents' home?" Lynn asked. "We drove past her house and didn't see any car there." Liam said. My focus was stuck on him longer than it should've been. I caught him looking back at me and I quickly turned away, earning a silent tease from Lynn. Abby was too bothered by thinking to notice what was happening. "Good, but just in case I think we should go through a window anyways." Abby finally voiced. Me, Liam, and Lynn nodded in agreement. The walk felt like forever too, but that didn't bother us much. As we were walking, I felt a constant surge of some kind of eerie feeling of someone watching us. I stopped walking, the others eventually did too after realizing I did too. That same slow motion feeling I had when I snuck out of the classroom had occurred again. I focused my hearing the best I could so I could possibly hear anyone, if there was anyone, approaching me. I felt a hand creeping around my shoulder which made me jump back, it was just Liam. He quickly moved his hand back, "Are you okay?" he asked with a constant laugh. It took me a minute to answer; I was still looking around, which gave Liam, along with Abby and Lynn confused looks. "Uh...yeah, I think so. I thought I heard something behind us. Apparently, it's just nothing though." I said, slowly turning my face towards him. "Come on, we don't really have the time to worry about this." I said and stormed off to catch up with Abby and Lynn, leaving Liam behind. I don't know why I acted that way but anger was the only emotion I felt in that moment. "So, what was that about?" Abby asked, turning her head towards me while we were still walking, "Nothing I just thought I heard something, but it's nothing." "Okay" Abby dragged on. I just rolled my eyes at her and laughed. Liam caught up with us, "Her house should be close." I said to him, assuring him we were close. I almost didn't realize that he wasn't too similar with Ansley, or even Abby and Lynn for that matter. "Okay, sounds good." He smiled slightly. I could tell he seemed a little confused with the way I was acting. Even I was a little confused but blew it over my head and decided to only worry about one thing at once. Once we reached Ansley's window, each of us took turns going up until all four of us were in. When we all made it into her room, we decided to separate to look in different parts of the room. Her room was still kind of a mess, just how she left it. Sadness was rushing through me but the sight of Abby and Lynn staying strong made me do the same. I looked in all of her drawers, Lynn looked in her closet, Liam looked under her bed and side tables, while Abby, the computer nerd, looked on Ansley's computer. Nothing was found. At. All. "Maybe the police took all of the evidence. That photo might've been everything there was." "That may be true," Liam started, "the police did definitely come in here to search." When he was finished with his statement, I sat on Ansley's bed with a blank mind. I just wanted some hope of finding something, anything that would lead me closer to finding my best friend. I felt someone sit next to me, and when I looked in front of me, Lynn was standing and watching what Abby was doing. Liam was sat by me, he hesitated but put his hand around me and pulled me into a quick and small side hug. "I promise you we will find something Cecily, okay?" I nodded, "Yeah. Thanks." I said while looking up at him. He smiled at me and nodded. It made my worries fade; it was weird. I looked away from him and ignored the feeling, my face turning slightly red in the process. Liam and I sat together on the bed and stared at the computer, waiting for Abby to be done, she was the only person we could depend on at the moment. She isn't the best person to depend on either, but I hoped this time would be different.
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We waited and waited, until at least an hour or two passed. Me, Lynn and Liam eventually found ourselves laying on the bed. The three of us jumped up at the same time when Abby gasped. "What is it?!" I hopped off the bed and ran to the desk that was once Ansley's. "Well, this is weird but I think I'm able to chat with someone that could possibly know where Ansley is." She said and pulled up the chat box with an unknown name. The person popped up with a text that stated they knew where Ansley was. It was risky and I knew that, but my voice yelled quicker than my brain could function, "Talk to them!" I yelled a little too loud, I was too excited. Liam and Lynn grouped behind us eventually to see what was going on. I helped; the person typed. "What?" the four of us said in unison.
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Abby sped towards the printer and grabbed the small note, "It says to print out the image on the link that was sent." "Not your friend, the other one." "Other girl, what other girl?" Liam said in confusion. The printer was finished and Cecily looked at the photo with fear. "My mom...it's my mom! We have to go, now!" We hurried and climbed out the window and sprinted to Liam's car. Lynn and Abby were already sped off and I pressed the gas and sped off behind them. I was so worked up, so worried, that I didn't even realize that I was going ninety. "Cecily?" Liam tapped on my shoulder, "What?!" "We're almost to your house, shouldn't we slow down? There's only a few more houses to go." I slowed down and came to a complete, sudden stop once we got to the house. I forced my way through the front door, which was being barricaded by something. I ran around each part of the house, yelling my mom's name, hoping in my head a thousand times that I would hear her yell back. Liam grabbed my arm, "Cecily, wait..." His eyes weren't on mine, they were directed to an open room. "What?" I slowly moved forward towards the dark, empty room, and seen her, gone, dead, sprawled out on the floor. What the hell?! What happened?! I thought to myself.
This didn't look like a death, it was worse, a suicide. I looked down at my mother's deceased body and had no expression, too many were piling in my head right now. I was blank, gone. Liam wrapped his arms around me from behind me and hugged me. Once I acknowledged him and heard him, for what was the third time, say it was going to be alright, I started crying. Any good memory and any good thing she had ever said or done was there, in my head. I would never get to see or hear her again. I had nothing or no one to come home to, and the thought of Haden finding out made me feel an even bigger sadness in the pit of my stomach. I didn't really like him but now, I felt empathy for him. While crying, I held tightly on Liam's arm and leaned into him. Liam on the other hand was also sad, I could feel our energy meet. We stayed that way for a long moment until Liam noticed a note. He reached over to grab it and walked Cecily out of the room and sat her on the couch in the living room. "This isn't over Cecily; you will see it no matter what the cost is. The cost of what?" He thought out loud after he read the note. My thoughts were black, I can't remember what led me to this moment. Liam followed me into my mom's office. I grabbed a knife and gun out of her drawer. "What are you doing?!" he asked in concerned. "I don't know what they're talking about, but I feel like I need something to protect myself Liam. This is insane. They killed my mom!" I yelled out. He sighed and nodded in understanding, he backed away and allowed me to walk past him. I walked to my car and grabbed my phone to call the cops and waited for their arrival. The four of us are focused on one thing, achieving. We want to achieve more than anything. How could that possibly happen when we're busy without achieving?