My parents both looked weary.
“Any news?” I asked.
“Not much.” Mom came inside and set down her purse on the shelf by the front door, while Dad slid in and slipped off his shoes.
Dad looked up at me. “The police think Chloe is a runaway.”
I gaped at him. “What? No—Chloe wouldn’t do that.”
Dad sighed. “I know it’s hard to consider, but they say the evidence they’ve found—”
“Then they need to look more carefully!” I shouted.
My outburst woke Lockley, who sat up with an expression of concern.
My dad ran a weary hand down his face. “The police only agreed to look into things more quickly because of the suspicious circumstances of Chloe’s vehicle being left in a public place. But then they discovered her wallet was missing from her backpack, and Mary says a tote bag is missing from Chloe’s closet, along with some of her clothes.”
“No. I don’t know why those are missing, but Chloe would not have run away.” I remembered my earlier contemplation, and my chest tightened. “Did anyone talk to Devin? The guy at the ice cream shop? She wouldn’t have run off with him, but she did like him, and if he—”
Mom placed a hand on my shoulder. “We talked to him at length, Aubrey. He recognized her as a frequent customer when we showed him her picture, but he said he didn’t know her well at all. He seemed confused why we were even questioning him. He was there the whole time, working. His coworkers confirmed it. He never left, and no one saw Chloe enter the shop—not even the handful of other customers who were there. No one even remembered seeing her pull up or get out of her car.”
I stared at her. “No one saw anything? ProScoop has a giant window on the front, and the parking lot is right in front of the store. How did no one see anything?”
“We don’t know, Aubs,” my dad said.
“She didn’t run away,” I insisted. “The police can’t just give up like that!”
“We’re all still looking, Aubrey,” Mom said. “No one is giving up.”
Giving up. Like they did for Emery. Presumed dead—drowned, though her body was never recovered.
We couldn’t even bury her.
Oh, please, God—please, don’t let this happen again.
Suddenly the movie felt too loud, the room suffocating.
I hurried toward the stairs.
“Are you okay?” Lockley called after me.
“I need to be alone,” I called back as I reached the top landing, then rushed into my bedroom and shut the door.
My breathing was tight, panicked—I knew this feeling, that crashing wave I’d learned to ride instead of fight. I sank to the floor against my bed and focused on slow, deep breaths. You’re okay. You can breathe. You’re okay. This will pass.
But reality would still be there when it did. Reality didn’t ease off or pass over.
Reality was a jerk.
The slow breaths weren’t working.
I couldn’t just sit here, doing nothing. The room was pressing in on me—I wanted out.
“Aubrey?” My mom knocked on my door. “Sweetheart?”
I hurried into my bed and pulled the covers up over my head, just in time for my bedroom door to open.
The last thing I wanted right now was a parent talk. I just wanted to be left alone.
I did my best impression of an emotionally exhausted, deeply asleep teenager until I heard the door close again.
I was pretty sure I hadn’t fooled her… but she gave me my space.
I listened until I heard her footsteps head back to the stairs, and down them.
I was crawling out of my skin. I needed to move.
I eased out of bed, tiptoed across the room, and slid my window open. The night air outside was humid, but it smelled like freedom—at least a little bit.
There was a lattice down the outside of our house. I could climb out, get to the backyard… from there, I could even sneak out the back gate in our privacy fence and leave, if I wanted to—
To do what?
I came to my senses before I actually slung my leg over the window ledge, because what exactly was my plan? To go hunt down Devin, whose last name I didn’t even know, and interrogate him to see if he knew something? To Uber downtown and break into a possible crime scene to search Chloe’s car for clues?
It didn’t matter—plan or no plan, I couldn’t sit here doing nothing.
Outside, that was step one. Out there, maybe I could breathe. I could make a plan, figure out what to do. Maybe even go somewhere, do something to help find Chloe.
I glanced at my bedroom door. Lockley and Collin had probably gone home by now, but heading out of my room the normal way still meant I’d encounter my parents. They’d want to check on me, ask questions about my feelings—and if they suspected I was harboring an itch to go help find Chloe, they’d never let me out of their sight.
My left leg was over the window ledge and halfway out my window before I’d even finished thinking it through.
“Are you crazy?” a voice hissed from the grass below.
I startled, nearly hitting my head on the window frame—then looked down to find Collin staring up at me.
I let out a deep sigh. “Why are you in my backyard, Collin?” I hissed back. “Go home!”
“I came outside to get air.” He peered up at me. “I genuinely never expected to see you doing something this stupid.”
I tensed. “What?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?” he whisper-yelled at me.
I exhaled, leaning against the window frame. “Leave me alone, Collin. I don’t need this right now.”
He moved closer to the house. “Oh, so what you need is to sneak out in the middle of the night when your parents think you’re in bed, after a long night spent trying to find a missing girl, so they can come in later to check on you and find that you, too, are missing? That’s your plan?”
I glared down at him. “I—”
His eyes widened. “You didn’t have a plan, did you?”
I glared harder.
His expression softened. “Listen,” he whisper-yelled again. “I get the need to be doing something. But this isn’t the thing. Go talk to your parents, Aubrey. Tell them how you’re feeling. And if you still need to get out of the house, Lockley and I can take you somewhere to get your mind off all this… with your parents knowing about it. But don’t be stupid. Your parents don’t need that.”
It was a lot to whisper-yell at somebody, and for a moment, I just scowled at him.
Then I sighed. He was right, as infuriating as that was. “Okay. Fine.” I pulled my leg back into the bedroom and shut the window.
When I stepped back into the hallway, the lights in the kitchen were still on downstairs, and I could hear hushed voices. I headed down toward them.
Mom and Dad were at the kitchen table, talking quietly with Lockley. They all looked up as I entered.
“Did we wake you?” Mom asked—though I doubt she’d actually thought I was asleep.
The back door opened and Collin stepped inside. His gaze met mine, but he didn’t say a word.
I turned back to my parents. “I can’t just sit here. There’s got to be something I can do to help look for Chloe.”
My dad shook his head. “Not right now, Aubrey. I know that’s hard, but it’s the middle of the night. Right now, we need you to be here, safe.”
My hands clenched. “I know it’s late, but please. I need to get out of the house.”
My parents looked at each other, then Dad turned to me. “Tomorrow morning, there might be more we can do, and if not, maybe you can go spend some time with Mary if there’s still no news. I’m sure she’d like your company. But for now, we’d rather you get some sleep.”
“You really think I can sleep right now?”
Dad sighed. “I suppose not. But there’s nothing else to do, and you should rest if you can. The police plan to come speak with you tomorrow, to rule out some things.”
“Rule out some things?” What did that mean? And why were they just now telling me that?
Mom held my gaze. “They still think this is a runaway situation, but Mary insists it isn’t.”
“It isn’t,” I snapped.
“We agree with you, Aubrey,” Mom said, “and the police probably will too, once they have more information. Hopefully, Chloe just changed her plans without telling anyone and she’ll show up on her own.”
Because that made sense.
I knew Mom was trying to avoid the more probable explanations.
Mom stood. “Look, I didn’t want to sneak out while you were sleeping, but… Mary called me again a few minutes ago. She’s not handling this well. I know your dad and I just got home from being with her, but Mary could really use a friend tonight. For now, it’s best I go alone. She’s not in a good place. But tomorrow, I think it would be good for you to come join me and spend some time with her.” She moved around the table and pressed a kiss to my head. “For now, I need to go be there for her.”
Like Chloe had been there for me with Emery.
Why was this all happening again? My heart felt like it was being crushed.
My dad stood. “I’m going to drop your mom off at Mary’s, but I’ll be right back. Will you be okay?”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
Lockley moved near me and squeezed my hand. “Collin and I will stay with Aubrey until you get back,” she told my parents.
Mom smiled at her. “You’re a good friend, Lockley. We’re lucky to have you.” She reached for her purse.
Lockley was a good friend—even if I didn’t need a babysitter.
“Thank you, Lockley,” Dad said, then hugged me and followed Mom to the door.
***
Click here to read the next episode!
Want to reread a previous episode? Click here to be taken to the main Season 1 forum menu, where you can see all available episodes.
***
Shameless plug for support!
Stories like this take a LOT of time, energy, and work to prepare, and while I’m thrilled to be able to offer this one to read for free, those costs have to be off-set somewhere. If you love what I’m doing here, please consider supporting my writing with a $5/monthly or $50/yearly membership to my PirateCat Publishing platform. You’ll get dozens of other clean YA stories to read, and I’ll get a few extra bucks a month to help me feed my four children and write more stories… it’s a win-win! ;) Find out more here.