sʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ

T W E L V E

Alexa

I was terrified the entire day that I was going to end up seeing Ryan in the hallway, but when the final bell rung for us to go home, I didn't see him even once. I couldn't even be sure he showed yo to school today—maybe he stayed home. Maybe he doesn't want to show his face after what he had done to me.

I walked out of the school, glancing around, trying to spot either Andrew or Ryder.

"Alexa!"

Right on cue.

I whirled my head around to see both Andrew and Ryder heading toward me. I smiled as they met up with me. "Hey, guys. Um, did you tell Cameron that I'm tagging along-?" He is the one that's picking us up after all.

Andrew grinned. "Nah, I wanna surprise him. Stay behind us, okay?"

I gave a slight smile and stood behind Andrew and Ryder. Typical Andrew. I'm glad he's still the same as ever.

"Oh, that's his car," Ryder said. I bit my lip, nervously.

Andrew chuckled and opened the passenger door. "Hey, can you give our friend a ride?" he said, sliding in, Ryder staying firmly in front of me.

"Yeah, whatever." I could hear the annoyed tone in Cameron's voice, but I hoped that his attitude would change when he realizes that it's me.

"Awesome," Andrew said, winking at Ryder.

Ryder gets into the backseat, leaving me out in the open. Cameron looks past Andrew and his eyes widened in shock.

"Alexa, get in," Ryder said, but I was staring at Cameron. He didn't seem happy to see me—maybe he was doing just fine without me.

"Oh, um—" Maybe I should just not go back....

Before I could voice this thought, though, Cameron got out of the car, kept on his hood to get to the other side and and tackled me into a hug, squeezing me harder than he needed to.

"Can't breathe..." I managed to get out and Cameron let go. I noticed Andrew and Ryder smiling from their seats.

"I'm so happy you're back... I thought..." Cameron didn't finish his thought. And I'm glad he didn't, because I knew where he was going to get at and I didn't want that to be brought up again.

"Hi," I said softly, with a small smile.

I missed him.

***

I rode next to Ryder on the way home.

Home.

I'm going home, where my brothers are. Despite my nerves, I was somewhat happy. I can forget what happened in the past and we can just focus on the future.

"Hey, Cameron," Andrew says. "Don't tell the others that Alexa's back just yet. I want to shock them at dinner!"

Cameron grinned. "You got it."

Andrew really loves surprising people.

Third person

Benny had no idea where Alexa had gone, it's like she had disappeared. He searched for her but had to come to an abrupt halt when he realized that the police were looking for him.

But when Benny does manage to find out Alexas's whereabouts, he will make her suffer. No one escapes him and gets away without it.

"Benny, dinner!" his legal guardian, Susan, called. Benny would have killed her like he had killed his parents, but that would've made it so obvious, and Benny would for sure get arrested.

Susan isn't so bad, being easily manipulated. She was scared of Benny but needed the money that fostering gave her—which was more than the average foster kid, just because no one wants to deal with him and they didn't want to put him in a group home because then he'd be a danger to his peers.

Susan lets Benny do whatever he wants, no matter how insane. Like keep a twelve year old girl in the basement. Susan really didn't want to upset Benny, so he had free range to be a psychotic kid all he wanted to be.

Benny joined Susan for dinner. She had made meatloaf and mash potatoes, on Benny's request. She only makes things that Benny approves of. She would hate to make something that Benny disliked.

"Hello, how are you?" Susan engaged in small talk. She knew that Benny was in an even more sour mood than usual, since the girl had escaped.

"Fine," Benny grumbled.

Susan pursed her lips. "You know the police are after you, right? If you weren't a child, you'd be in prison, but I don't think that they actually believed you kidnapped someone."

The justice system was a joke. It helped that Benny's uncle was the judge in charge of sentencing him, and he could never believe that Benny would do such a thing to his own parents. His uncle's friends were on the police force, so Benny wasn't too worried about them, either.

"I don't care," Benny said. "I just want Alexa back."

"I'm sure you'll find her, sweetie," Susan comforted, unsure on what to say or what Benny wanted her to say.

"I know I will."

There was a knock at the door.

"At dinner, really?" Benny groaned.

Susan sighed. "It's alright, I'll go get the door." She wiped her mouth with her napkin and stood up.

She went to the front door and opened it to see a cop standing there. Susan raised her eyebrow and glanced behind her to see that Benny had followed her to the door.

"Did you call the cops on me?" Benny accused. It was a cop that Benny wasn't familiar with, one that wasn't biased because he's friends with his uncle. This could be a problem.

"What, of course not—" Susan denied it, but Benny didn't care.

"Shut up, you old hag."

Susan was only twenty-nine.

"Are you the troubled child?" the cop asked. "Benny? We need to take you in for some questioning about the kidnapping of Alexa Hart." He glances at Susan. "Wound you like to accompany him?"

Benny gritted his teeth. This really would be a problem for him.

"Oh, uh... yeah..." Susan said, wondering what the fate of her foster child had in store. He somehow got away with the murders of his parents (if he did it. He was proven not guilty, but even so, Susan didn't believe that one bit."

"Let's get this over with," Benny grumbled.

Hi 😔 the first half of this chapter was inspired by Readingloera

The next chapter will be too :)