𝑶𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑶𝒇 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 ✓

Chapter Two

GRIFFIN was always active on social media. He never missed a call or a video chat from anyone. When him and Mal were still friends, they would video chat everyday and talk all the time. Until they began to slowly drift apart. Eventually Mal found out that he was becoming a terrible person, so she decided to stay away.

She, however, met Thomas years ago, through him when the pair were working together. So she didn't forget him for that.

She knew that something was wrong when Thomas told her that he wasn't answering his phone.

"That's... Actually really strange." she commented with a questioning look over her face. Thomas nodded, then tried to call his friend once again.

"Still no answer."

"How about this? We drop Jackson off at the restaurant, then we go to his house. I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation."

Thomas muttered a small reply, then followed her towards the area where Jackson and his friend were playing. To their surprise, they found an older woman with a microphone and cameramen behind her talking to the two kids. Jackson could only nod uncomfortably.

"Come on, Jackson, let's go." she called out as soon as she was at a fair distance.

The lady turned to her and her eyes widened.

"Mal, do you mind telling us about your upcoming project with Joshua Basset and Emilia Jones?!"

She sighed and reached to Jackson. He ran towards her and held her hand uncomfortably.

"Time to go."

The three then walked away.

-

"And remember, Jackson, don't talk to paparazzi!" she called out. He yelled a small reply and entered the restaurant, closing the door behind him.

She stared at the door for a few seconds, then nudged her boyfriend to grab his attention.

"Come on, let's go see Griffin."

The pair talked the entire way to Griffin's house, which was only a block away from the restaurant.

"Yeah, and Pete was like, are you sure you want to do this?" Mal giggled at his story, squeezing his hand gently.

They then stopped in front of a medium-sized white-coloured house, which was about half the way through Main Street. The house would usually be silent, because Griffin lived alone. But Mal thought that something was off.

It was... Too quiet.

He always had someone over. Whether it was Thomas, Pete, who was their co-star, or his girlfriend.

And he always had some lights on.

But, looking at the state the house was in, Mal could almost think that there was nobody home.

It looked deadly.

"Isn't it weird that it's so quiet here?" Thomas asked as they stepped towards the door.

"You read my mind."

Mal then reached out and rang the doorbell. Closing her eyes at the loud ring, she reached out and knocked on the door after the few seconds.

"I don't think he's home."

Thomas scoffed. "Impossible. Where would he be?"

"Maybe, he went to the location?"

"But we don't have any scenes until Sunday."

Mal gently hit her head against the door.

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know. Let's get inside."

She paused and widened her eyes at him. "Are you out of your damn mind?! Breaking and entry is a felony!"

"It's not a felony if he's your friend and you're worried about him! Plus, I think there's a spare key here somewhere. Try under the flowerpot."

Mal reached out and picked up the flowerpot, which had a big, beautiful red flower on top, and held up a key.

"It's always the damn flowerpot."

He grabbed the key gently from her hand and inserted it into the door, unlocking it almost immediately.

They both peeked inside, only to be met by the sight of complete darkness.

Thomas allowed his girlfriend to enter first, then closed the door behind them. Mal took a few steps forward, glancing around her at the interior.

It was a plain, ordinary exterior, with a white-themed couch, brown table and a white rug in the middle. There was also a big, plasma television at the far end of the room, and on the further end a doorframe that led to the dining room, which had a simple brown dining table surrounded by about eight chairs of the same colour.

However, there was no sight of a person inside.

"Griffin?!" Thomas called out.

No answer.

"Griffin?! Where is that asshole?" she muttered in annoyance.

Thomas followed her further into the room, taking a closer look at the room. The room, to their surprise, was clean.

"Look at this! Griffin is the messiest person I know." he pointed out. "Something is definitely off."

She nodded at his words, then approached the stairs, which led to another floor that had the bedrooms.

"Where are you going?"

"Upstairs. You check the first floor, I'll check the second. Call to me if you find anything interesting."

He obeyed, making his way towards the living room.

Mal took a deep breath and ran up the stairs, then stopped at the sight of the dark, empty hallway, with only a faint light coming from the windows of each room.

"Griffin?"

She peeked through each room, meeting the empty, dreadful sight while her heart pounded in worry.

Where could he be?

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