Frozen in Time

Chapter 24

I sat on the plane in pure fear.

It wasn't because I was flying in air millions of feet above the ground. It was because I felt like this trip was a mistake. I hadn't even gotten to New York and I already had a knot in my stomach the size of a grapefruit. It was nawing at me, making me wonder what the point of Alli bringing us here was.

Why does she want our help now?

If she wanted help why didn't she ask for it when she first 'disappeared'?

Why now?

If she's been alive all this time she had to have had help. So who was protecting her?

~•~

"Aria! Wake up! We're in New York City," Hanna said excited.

"You slept through the plane ride," Emily said yawning.

"So did you!" Spencer protested.

Emily shrugged and started walking toward the exit. We followed behind her waiting to see what the big apple brought to us.

When we got out of the airport we decided a hotel was the most logical first stop.

"Know any good hotels?" Hanna asked the taxi driver.

"Depends where your going! Manhattan? Your lookin' at The Plaza. Time Square? Then your lookin' at The Westin. It all depends where your going. But I get paid per mile so if you girls can't afford much then you better be carful where you go," he said

"We know how taxis work, dude!" Hanna said.

"Hanna!" I protested.

She was going to get us kicked out before we even moved.

Da do da do

Hanna's phone went off just as Spencer was about to answer.

72 East 1st St New York NY 10002

Emily leaned over and read the phone just as I looked up dazed.

Alli or 'A' knew we were here. They wanted to meet us.

"Look are you girls gonna go somewhere or not?" the cab driver asked.

"Just a second sir," Emily said as politely as possible.

"What is that place?" Hanna asked.

Spencer typed the address into her phone.

"It's says it's Bluebird Coffee Shop," she said reading the screen.

"What would Alli want with a coffee shop in New York?" Emily asked.

"Maybe a remote location so people wouldn't recognize her or suspect anything of her," I said.

"I don-"

"Hey! Are you goin' somewhere or not?" The driver asked,watching us through the mirror.

"Yeah, take us to Bluebird Coffee House please," Emily said.

"How much?" Hanna asked.

Spencer looked at her phone.

Sixty miles.

"With a tip, it comes to almost two-hundred dollars," he said chomping his gum.

"Two-hundred dollars?" Emily asked in astonishment.

"Hey, you want the ride? You gotta pay the price!"

"It's fine," Spencer said and handed him two one-hundred dollar bills.

"Alright then! Let's go girls!" he said.

He took the car out of park and we started our sixty mile long journey.

Trust me, it was long!

~•~

By the time we got to the coffee house my butt hurt from sitting down so long.

We got out and looked up at the sign.

It was closed.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Alli led us here for a reason, so we have to look for some sort of back door or something," Spencer said roaming around.

"Alli or 'A'!" Emily corrected her.

"Why would 'A' go through this much trouble just to threaten us?" Spencer asked.

"Why does 'A' do anything 'A' does?" Emily argued.

"And Emily's right, if it is 'A' who's leading us here, they are going to do a lot more than just threaten us!" I said.

"Well they'll have to try a little harder!" Spencer lifted up what looked like a giant doggie door.

Hanna got down and started to climb through.

"Is she even listening to us?" I whispered to Emily.

Emily shrugged.

"Come on slowpokes! We have a friend to revive from the dead! Remember?" Spencer yelled.

We caught up to her and we each got on our hands and knees.

Emily went first. I could hear the denim of her jeans scraping against something rusty. It smelled like no one had been in that place for years.

Once I got through I turned the flashlight on on my phone.

Spencer came in and dusted off her pants. She was fine afterword like she wasn't in a nightmare controlled by our best friend that is supposed to be dead.

"Guys! Come look at this!" Hannah shouted.

The three of us followed the trail of her voice and found her.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

"Look!" She pointed to freshly wet footprints on the concrete floor.

"Someones been in here?" I asked.

"Or someone still is."