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SITTING BETWEEN JONATHAN AND NANCY, Valentina looked at the brunette boy who was eyeing the dismantled photograph wearily.
The look on his face was questionable. It was like he was brewing up reasons to call them crazy, but considering maybe he was crazy, too.
"It looks like it could be some kind of a perspective distortion, but I wasn't using a wide angle," he spoke quietly, turning the paper to view it from new angles. "I don't know, it's weird," he admitted, handing it back to Valentina who gave it back to Nancy. She'd seen enough of that creature, there was no need to see it on paper again.
"You're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?" Nancy asked, eyebrows drawn tight together. She was clinging to Jonathan for any sort of answers, but the boy seemed just as lost as Valentina felt.
"Just Valentina before she went inside, but there was nothing there while you were sitting," he said, looking at the blonde before his dark eyes averted to the ground, embarrassment flooding his cheeks at the reminder that he had been watching her.
The girl felt disgusted by the boy's actions at first, but after hearing what he'd been going through and speaking to him at this moment, she couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him.
Jonathan and his family were going through one of the worst imaginable things possible, and—unfortunately quoting the unhelpful officers—stress really does make one do questionable things.
She didn't completely trust that the guy wasn't a total creep, but she did feel sorry for him, and for that she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Especially now that she needed his help.
"Barb said she was going to wait up for you," Valentina said, looking at Nancy while she spoke.
"She sat down for a while after you left, and then when I looked away she was just... gone."
Nancy looked lost in a daze as she listened to the two's anecdotes of what happened while she was in Steve's room. Guilt consumed her consciousness as she realized that her best friend went missing while all she could focus on was her boyfriend.
"The cops think she ran away, but they don't know Barb."
Noticing the girl was struggling to use her voice, Valentina stepped in to give her a break, and also discuss the topic that had herself struggling.
"Did you see Tina at all?"
"Tina Winslow?"
"Yeah, did you see her?" Val continued, confused as to why the boy seemed totally shocked by her question.
"Um, no.. I didn't even know she was there," the boy said, brows furrowed and eyes downcast.
Her jaw slackened, taken back by his statement. Val saw Tina in the background of one of the photos, if Jonathan didn't see her there, where did she go?
