Victim

Chapter 4 - Jessica

1 day ago:

It had been a week since the incident with Claire. But so far Claire hadn't come to school again. Marley knew she was avoiding confrontation with her. Marley scowled to herself; she was such a coward. If only she had the courage to ask Claire at that moment.

Marley's mind was quickly replaced with worry for her best friend. She hadn't come to school since the first day either. She had tried texting Jessica multiple times, but she never answered, and that was weird since Jessica was insanely attached to her phone. Marley had even tried calling her and her mom, but she never received an answer. Marley was sick with worry and decided to check up on her today at her house. Her stomach was hurting with dread, too many murders were happening these days and she needed to make sure her best friend was all right.

Xander, her lab partner elbowed her. "Are you ok Marley?" he asked quietly, aware that the teacher was still giving out instructions on what to do. 

"You look troubled, is everything ok at home?" 

Marley smiled warmly at him; he was a good friend. He'd been one of her closest friends, aside from Jessica of course, for almost 2 years now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Jessica. She hasn't come to school for over a week now." A troublesome sigh escaped her lips. Xander frowned.

"Perhaps she's just sick" Xander offered hopefully, giving her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

"She hasn't answered my phone for a whole week. You know how addicted she is to her phone! And her mother hasn't answered either." Marley bit her bottom lip as terrible scenarios played in her head. 

"You know how many people are going missing nowadays."

Xander's eyes turned to worry, and he seemed to also be thinking about the terrible cases. Eyes misted, he turned to her.

"Let's both go and check up on her? We can make sure she's alright together." He suggested, staring at her with a question in his eyes. Marley liked the thought of going to check up on Jessica with a friend, she didn't want to be alone in case there was anything wrong.

"Sure, that would make me feel better," Marley replied and smiled brightly at Xander. He really was a great friend.

"Ahem, if you 2 are quite done chit-chatting, turn to pages 57-59 and repeat the experiment." Mrs. Garcia, the lab teacher, stared down at the 2, annoyance brimming in her eyes.

"Sorry Ms. "They both said in unison, mischievous smiles covering their faces.

She gave an annoyed snort and walked away to another table where the students were stuffing tubes up their noses.

Xander and Marley both had to stifle their laughter and they continued with their lab work, shooting each other multiple amused looks. 

Maybe the day wasn't so bad after all.

***

Xander and Marley walked towards Jessica's house. Her house lay on the edge of town, so they had taken a bus together. The clouds loomed like skyscrapers over the sun and completely covered the ground with its eerily shade. The once ocean blue sky was now filled with foreboding clouds and the evening shadows deepened into blue and purple. 

Marley fearfully glanced back, and the shadows slipped up the rocks as though the world were drowning in darkness. A strong wind blew, almost making her fall. She clenched her coat tightly and shivered against the frosty air. Marley smelled rain, and somehow the previous good day felt like a lifetime ago. It was weird that it would be so cold at the beginning of fall. She quickened her pace, something was wrong.