Ripped and Stitched

7: Coping

One year later...

A lot could change in a year.

Brady and Alison's disappearance was officially considered a cold case and everyone dealt with that in different ways.

Alison's father for instance seemed to have completely moved on. He married his girlfriend, and along with his new wife's other daughter from her previous relationship, and their new baby daughter, they moved into Alison's childhood home. They had even cleared out Alison's things which had caused a huge fight with the Carson's when they found out.

"What's wrong with you?" Mrs. Carson had said in disgust to Alison's father. "Less than six months and you're already giving up?"

"We need the space in the house," he protested.

"Right," Mrs. Carson had rolled her eyes. "In that huge house of yours you needed more space."

Max was the only one who was not surprised to hear how fast the man was moving on, for Max knew how oblivious Alison's parents had been to her. A father couldn't miss a daughter he barely knew.

Max however, knew Alison well. That was why it pained him so much. Alison was a fighter. If after a year there was no news then there was little hope. Still, sometimes when he was bored in class, he would let his mind wander and think about her again.

But it was hard, he didn't like to think about all the times he would sneak into Alison's room and spend the night with her. How she would get cold and snuggle into him and he would feel the affection that she so clearly held for him. All the lazy weekends where they would lay in her bed and he would draw her profile. The rare times when they were alone and she would smile this genuine smile that he so hardly saw.

Brady too. Max missed the days when the Carson's would invite him and Isa for dinner. The days when Brady would cheer him up after a rough night at his mom's with just the right amount of jokes and laughter until he smiled. Brady was like that. Always so easy going and fun. Laughter followed after him wherever he went.

It was a feeling Max missed greatly. He would try his hardest to squash down the feelings that surrounded the two people he had lost but it was hard. Max had done everything possible to move on from what had happened at the end of his sophomore year and it still wasn't enough.

During his junior year, he spent most of his time flirting and using sex as a distraction from the demons that continued to haunt him, but to no avail, because at night, that was when the bad dreams happened. That was when he could no longer seek comfort in Alison and he would just drive his motorcycle around in circles until he was so tired that he couldn't think anymore.

The FBI agents were conflicted, a few did not want to give up but they had all agreed that it was very unlikely that they would ever find Brady and Alison, and if they did, they would most likely already be dead.

What Max didn't understand about his own feelings was that deep down he was hoping they were alive. He was angry at himself for having this tiny part of him that was holding onto something so foolish. Most missing minors died within the first seventy-two hours they went missing and it had been almost 8,676 hours since Alison and Brady had gone missing. Almost a full year in about four days.

Both Max and Julia did their best to hide their inner thoughts and move on but it wasn't as easy as others were making it seem. Although, on the outside, Julia appeared to be coping much better than Max. While Max let his bitterness lead him to some not so good coping mechanisms, Julia had taken another route.

Julia Evans had changed and her parents were proud. Something the old Julia would have been disgusted with. But having to start junior year alone and being known as the girl whose boyfriend and best friend went missing had taken a toll and she was sick of the whispers as she walked by. So, Julia befriended Hailey Marin, one of the few girls who went to Grant View High School and Julia's dance company. They had never been friends before because Hailey hated Alison, but now the two got along splendidly. They danced together, gossiped at lunch with their school friends, and became co-captains of the cheer squad at school. Julia's rise to popularity and her new found commitment to dance had made her parents quite proud.

Still, sometimes Julia looked in the mirror and she didn't even recognize the girl staring back. This new Julia who got her blonde hair perfectly highlighted, who wore a lot of makeup, and who watched her calories when she went on dates with one of her many suitors.

Her heart longed for the days when she and Ali would practice new hairstyles or makeup trends on each other and spend the night eating pizza and watching movies. Julia missed how confident Alison was. How she talked back to teachers, wore what she wanted, ate what she pleased. There was a certain self-assurance that used to radiate off the girl that Julia was in awe of.

She also missed Brady. The way he looked at her with his excited green eyes every time he saw her. Or the many times when she and Brady would sneak off together and spend the night in each other's arms. The many days they would spend just driving around town in his Porsche where Brady would make her laugh until all her problems melted away. How he would sneak into her ballet recitals and stay out of her parents' sight, bringing her favorite flowers for her. Julia still thought of him every time she saw white roses.

They were painful memories that Julia was doing everything possible to forget about.

So today, when she and Hailey were sitting in the cafeteria in between their English and Math final, gossiping and skimming through magazines, the last thing she was expecting to hear were whispers of their names.

However, it seemed like everyone who was on their phone was murmuring about them and pointing at her.

"I think people are whispering about you," Hailey said with a smirk. "Maybe they heard about you and Jackson Reeves secretly hooking up these past few weeks."

Julia chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I hardly think my boyfriend is news."

"Oh come on, the hot cheerleader and the star football player," Hailey said. "It's so cliche it has to be. This is like your two month anniversary, is tonight the night?" she asked suggestively.

"Maybe," Julia shrugged.

"Ooh, playing hard to get, are we?" Hailey giggled. "Just don't play too hard."

Julia smiled faintly as she took out her own phone. It had been buzzing in her bag. Texts were flooding in and Julia began to panic.

She didn't have to search for long. It was all over social media: Local Teenagers Found One Year Later.

It was the headline everywhere she looked.

Julia was wrong, her current boyfriend was hardly news, but her ex-boyfriend certainly was.

Her heart was racing as she skimmed the articles, and she felt sick when she finished reading everything.

Elsewhere, Max Hall was on his way to his last class of the day. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before and was already cranky because one his teachers had informed him he would have to repeat Trigonometry over the summer.

His friends, Liam and Jackson were walking with him to their last class when he heard whispers around him. Whispers that reminded him of what the beginning of the year was like. The staring, the hushed tones as he passed by, the endless pitiful looks.

Confused, he looked to his friends who were busy fighting over the other cheating in their sports fantasy league.

Max looked around and then he heard it. The one name he had been trying to push deep from his thoughts: Alison. Some freshmen in front of him was whispering the story to her friend.

Max pulled his phone out at once and anxiously began looking through news headlines. There it was: Local Teenagers Found One Year Later.

Max barely even finished reading it, he just took off.

"Dude, where are you going?" Liam asked.

Max didn't respond, he just kept running. His heart was racing with adrenaline. They had been found. After all this time, Alison Hart and Brady Carson were back.