Moonstruck ⟡ HS

03

♫
link: spoti.fi/3s8PAzh
EYES ON FIRE | BLUE FOUNTAIN
EASY LOVER | PHILIP BAILEY
CHAROLETTE SOMETIMES | THE CURE
THESE THINGS | SHE WANTS REVENGE

Despite the typical jovial spirit that resided within the town of Chagrin Falls, everything seemed to come to a halt, a stand still with a morbid tone to every gust of wind that blew through the air. Fear had been cast upon the citizens, worry and caution rose within the town once the sun set below the horizon—especially as a woman. No one dared to go out past eight in the evening, too scared that they would be pictured on a missing poster next, and with a change of attitude within the citizens of Chagrin Falls came a new fear: being kidnapped.

Kelley Laken was still missing, no one had seen or heard from her since the night of the party, and with the police searching every corner of the town, not a single piece of evidence was found. Not a DNA sample, not a call to her home phone, nothing. The police were growing more and more hopeless as the days went on, because once day three passed of Kelley's presence fading from the small town, the less people believed that she was even alive.

And that was the million dollar question, whether Kelley Laken was alive or not, and the truth was that she had no idea. She didn't like to think about Kelley's fate unless there was news about finding her, because she wasn't made for something like this, something so morbid and horrifying, and for the first time something this grueling happening around her, she wasn't handling it well. Especially with the complications she had with Kelley before her disappearance, despite that being more of Derek's fault instead of her own.

Her nights had become sleepless, replaced with nightmares where she takes on Kelley's role and goes through hell and back before being woken up. She feels things heavily, whether they happen to her or not, and with a girl her age being taken and held, she can't help but wonder what would happen if that was her. It very well could have been, and selfishly, that's what terrified her the most. But she also worries for Kelley, despite not being too close to her, because even with their differences, she knows that Kelley doesn't deserve to die.

Her days were made up with moving through the school hallways without her signature smile, trying to block out the whisper and wonderings about Kelley, though in a town so small, no one could escape it. Alice and her other friends were past talking about it, coming to a silent agreement to put the topic to rest unless news came out about their missing classmate, but some people were more interested in the gossip of it all than actually hoping that Kelley was okay.

Especially the person who slipped the note in her locker.

It fell past her eyes and on to the floor once she swung open the locker door, causing her to flinch before looking down and furrowing her brows in confusion. She was running late to her last class, but the worry subsided as she bends at the waist and fetches the folded up note from the ground, wondering who left it for her. She looks around, seeing virtually no one else in the hallway with her, and as she looks back down at the note, she slowly unfolds it and narrows her eyes while reading over the scribbled words.

Derek was cheating
on you with Kelley.

That's all there was to the note, causing confusion to take hold of her features more now than ever as she flipped over the note, looking for any kind of indication as to where this came from, and immediately she feels sick to her stomach. With the heightened emotions of Kelley's disappearance and remembering how Derek was looking for her the night she got kidnapped, she can't help but believe that this is true, that Derek was cheating on her with Kelley.

She rests her head against the door of her locker, clutching the note in her hand until it crumbles, and with a heavy breath, she stands back up straight and tries her best to keep her tears from building, though her efforts only push her over the edge. She grabs her book bag, shoving everything she needed into it before slamming her locker shut and starting down the hallway towards the parking lot. She tries to calm herself down, knowing this could very much be some kind of prank to get this kind of reaction, but there's not one part of her that trusts Derek enough to discard the note without a second thought.