𝘽𝙇𝙐𝙀, colby brock.

005.

valerie.

valerie had safely made her way back to her childhood home after her dad had picked her up. she had said her goodbyes to the others before quickly getting into the passenger seat. the girl didn't want to seem eager to leave the two but she really just didn't want to be in the forest anymore. there were too many bad things tied to it.

too many things she didn't want to experience anymore. helping was her only choice, valerie couldn't just stand there and watch. that wasn't who she made herself to be. the brunette couldn't just wait until sam crawled out of the forest by himself

she needed a plan to find sam. something that the police didn't do but also benefited the case to find sam. finding him alive was the top priority.

the average person could only go three to four days without water before experiencing dehydration. there's a start, valerie needed to create a plan to find sam in under three days. there was not enough time, use it carefully.

to find sam in under three days valerie would have to spend her entire day in that forest. maybe there was an easier way to do that though. or maybe she could try the same tactic her father did. wait until the forest made a mistake and they found a piece of sam.

a piece showing that the boy was ok. a sign that the girl was doing everything right and she just needed to forest to unfold its secrets. it was smarter than that, the brunette was sure of it.

this was insufferable, no it was infuriating. she couldn't be in control, she wouldn't be able to find sam. hope wasn't lost yet but it was slipping away, like sand in an hourglass.

valerie carefully made her way over to her desk. she had to map out her plan on paper, not in her mind. it could get lost in her mind. she could get lost in her mind.

the brunette grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. the first step, identify the problem. samuel golbach was missing. general ideas on how to find sam, the girl could just go and run around every square inch of the forest, or she could just take things slow and wait for him to come out. she didn't have time for that last plan.

maybe valerie could just wait for the forest to unfold its secrets to her like her dad did while interrogating people. would she have enough time for that either? there was only one way to find out.

be patient, wait. just a little longer until they'd find sam and valerie could go back to living their normal lives and kat and colby do the same. she could be patient.

the brunette had always been interested in the crime world, the crimes, and the police. she had looked up to her dad for her whole life. nothing could change that, nothing.

it was almost as if the girl was destined for it since birth. her mother had always wanted her daughter to turn out like her father, he was perfect in every way to valerie's mother. sadly, she'd never be able to see how far her daughter has come.

in the years that her mother has been gone, valerie had turned out just like her father. strong-willed knew what she wanted and when she wanted it. she made her feelings and thoughts clear and heard, not caring what anyone thought of her.

the brunette held herself up even when she felt like crumbling. no matter how much stress was weighing the girl down, she would lift it until her arms hurt, then she would take a few things away and lift the weight back up.

resilient, you could say. bounced back quickly, except for asher. it wasn't that easy to get over your best friend. especially when you were to blame. it was difficult to even now for the girl to think about him, so she shut it down. tried not to think about him.

that was yet another one of the girl's flaws. valerie refused to grieve. there wasn't time for it in her world. she had to keep moving forward, no matter what was thrown at her. but it isn't always like that.

a tear escaped from valerie's eye. she tried to brush it away but another fell in its place. more, she was crying and hadn't realized it. caught up in her mind. it was like that, val would get so caught up in her mind she'd shut down. not fully but she still shut down. not focusing on anything but her mind. like an animal hunting for its prey.

"i have to find him, even if it's the last thing i do," valerie whispered more to herself than anyone. scribbling out her page, crumbling it up, and throwing it onto the floor. she needed to start fresh, with a fresh mind. blank of everything but the task she needed to solve. find sam. 

picking up a new piece of paper the girl made her way over to her bed, sitting down she picked up her laptop. the brunette would need to research first.

she knew the basics like contacting the police and all the things she and her father have already done to find sam. she really needed to dig deep.

researching how big the forest was helped a lot. only being two acres big, valerie would have to cover over a thousand square yards a day. it wasn't even a mile. definitely not as big as the girl thought it to be.

the second problem on the brunette's list was how she was going to find sam. she couldn't just scooby doo her way out of this. pull up to the forest in a van and catch the witch herself, interrogating her until she told them where sam was. val didn't even know if the witch was real.

the internet wasn't on her side with this problem. valerie had already done all the things mentioned to find a missing person and made the fbi think she was involved in some sort of crime.

the girl could try and work with her dad on how to find sam but she would have to wait until tomorrow. it would be rude to bug him while he slept. one of the only opportunities her father got. this is where her investigation had to unfortunately end.

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word count - 1089