𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 → original

nineteen

WARNING: mentions of injuries that are meant to imply domestic violence, but no explicit acts of violence.

Four days later, and they were finally granted the local police's blessing to leave the state, though they were asked not to leave the country. Without any sort of warrants or arrest, they really couldn't be held in Milford any longer, and Marc suspected they no longer wanted to keep footing the bill for the group's stay.

Nadia was left in a sort of limbo. Her parents had express shipped her a new phone and bought her a new plane tickets to their hometown. She had spoken to her supervisor in Vienna and he understood her circumstances, granting her an indefinite leave of absence and bereavement time. It's not what she wanted, not by a long shot. She wanted to keep working, to throw herself into a new city and never think about this week again, but she also knew that probably wasn't healthy.

Over the span of the last four days, more and more information was leaked to the public, and thus leaked to the group. The police were able to retrieve the google search from Tyler's google account and the IP address, and it appeared they were of the belief that he was the one who made the search. It had been made the night before the group arrived, and there was no proof Vallie ever even made it to the house after she got off work, so that seemed to be enough to convince them. Vallie's mom revealed that 'find my friends' on her iPhone had shown Vallie to be at the cabin for days, meaning her phone had been there all along. The story seemed to be writing itself.

Additionally, it was leaked to the press that over the course of the last year, Vallie had gone to her coworkers at the hospital with an array of unexplained injuries, begging them to treat her without filing it in the hospital's system. A broken wrist was the most noteworthy, but it seemed she was also given x-rays to check for broken ribs, topical medication for a split lip, and stitches on her forehead. Ophelia actually had gotten nauseous when she watched that particular report, heaving over the motel bathroom toilet for minutes that felt like hours before Marc came in to soothe her.

The search for Vallie had become much more grim, the general public clearly of the opinion that if they were to find anything, it would only be her remains. Useless tips were fielded, people across the continent claiming they had seen her. So-called psychics on social media recorded videos of themselves performing seances, leading to various insane theories about her whereabouts. Reddit was a cesspool of amateur detectives, implicating each member of the group as their identities were revealed, even going as far as harassing Vallie's family. It was a disaster.

Amory was getting the brunt of it all. His status had been bumped significantly, though not in a way he would have liked. Now, he was a household name, even to families with little interest in football. Reporters had leaked their location and now camped outside the motel. They would harass everyone, of course, but Amory was their main target. His team's publicist had given him implicit instructions not to interact until he could go through some serious media training.

The head coach of the Lions was even unable to avoid questioning. Every press release he did with the intention of talking about the upcoming season was bombarded with inquiries about Amory and his involvement. Amory feared they might buy him out of his deal completely.

The group gathered in Marc and Ophelia's motel, their final goodbye before they went their separate ways. They were all quiet, none of them quite knowing how to interact with one another. Ophelia and Marc sat on one of the beds, their knees touching, with Lou on Ophelia's other side. Amory, Nadia, and Caspar sat across from them, though with a bit of space between each of them.

"So," Nadia broke the silence. "This is it then, huh?"

Everyone hummed in response, none facing each other. Most of their heads were bowed, staring at their laps or pretending to be focused on their hands. Nadia looked around, studying each of them, and wondered how they got to this point. She wished there was some magic remedy to save them, but found she could think of nothing. They had once been a puzzle, each piece fitting together easily. Now, the box had been tipped over and mixed to a point where it seemed impossible to put them back together again.