On The Verge

Chapter 14- Roses are Red

———————Chloe———————

⠀⠀It was an hour later, when we were passing the time where we were supposed to be at school, that Nia voiced everyone's thoughts; "I think Liza's the one behind everything."

⠀⠀No one answered for a moment, the only noise was our footsteps on the hard concrete as we walked down the lonely downtown sidewalk. As it was a school day, there was not a larger number of people dwindling about.

⠀⠀"How can she do all this from the Sanitarium?" I muttered in disbelief.

⠀⠀"We all know the security isn't very good." Kendall shrugged, referring to the ease we had in sneaking Paige out.

⠀⠀Any unspoken words that I was going to utter were silenced when something across the street caught my attention. A striking head of blond hair stood on the sidewalk opposite us. Her hair was mused, and the wind blew it out of her face, allowing her eccentric green eyes to bore their way into my being. The blond's pale clothing was eerily familiar.

⠀⠀It was Liza.

——————Maddie——————

⠀⠀Chloe had stopped walking and was now planted in place, her eyes trained on the other side of the street. Her face had suddenly paled, her eyes wide in fear. I flicked my gaze to where she was looking so intently, my eyes just catching a flash of blonde hair as it disappeared behind a cluster of trees.

⠀⠀Before I could question Chloe on who the blonde had been, Kendall urgently grabbed my sleeve. She was pointing at an envelope in which had carefully been tapped to a bench along the sidewalk we were walking upon. The envelope was a delicate cream colour, black writing stood out in comparison. I felt my heart clench in despair when the black writing formed it's corresponding words in my mind; our names were inscribed on the face of the envelope. Nia was quick to tear the envelope from its place on the bench and remove the paper folded neatly inside.

'R⃞o⃞s⃞e⃞s⃞ a⃞r⃞e⃞ r⃞e⃞d⃞,⃞
V⃞i⃞o⃞l⃞e⃞t⃞s⃞ a⃞r⃞e⃞ b⃞l⃞u⃞e⃞,⃞
I⃞ k⃞n⃞o⃞w⃞ w⃞h⃞a⃞t⃞ y⃞o⃞u⃞ d⃞i⃞d⃞,  
A⃞n⃞d⃞ I⃞ c⃞a⃞n⃞ d⃞o⃞ i⃞t⃞ t⃞o⃞ y⃞o⃞u⃞.⃞'

⠀⠀Nia read the note aloud, it's cryptic words sending chills down my spine.

⠀⠀"It was Liza," Chloe stated flatly, "I saw her across the street."

⠀⠀"Chlo, we just saw her in the sanitarium." Nia offered quietly.

⠀⠀"I guess it all goes back to their shitty security system," Kendall smirked. "we all know it's more than possible to escape."

⠀⠀There was a silent moment where we all considered this possible scenario; Liza somehow knew about what had happened to Paige— and she was sneaking out of the sanitarium to avenge her death. It was no coincidence that Liza happened to be seen moments before we received a note.

⠀⠀Liza was blackmailing us.

⠀⠀A strange thrill of excitement grew in the pit of my stomach. Now that we knew who was terrorizing us, we could put an end to this. We would no longer feel the need to look behind us when we walked down the street, we could feel safe in our own homes.

⠀⠀We would be able to stop being afraid.