When the Camera's Aren't Rolling || Elizabeth Olsen x Child Star

Doom and gloom.

MONDAY  || AUGUST 2nd  || 2021

[Back to present time]

Robbie Arnett's POV ~

As the clock struck 3:00am, Robbie's foot tapped restlessly against the cold, hard floor, a dull ache growing behind his temples as he wondered if they'd ever be allowed to leave this claustrophobic interrogation room. Nearly three hours had passed in this stifling back and forth as they went around and around in circles answering the same questions. Despite Seney's evident desire for specific answers, neither husband nor wife could provide what she wanted, and her attempts to incriminate them fell short. The officers that Seney had dispatched to their friend's residence in the dead of night had confirmed their alibi, and Robbie could see Seney's eye twitch with thinly veiled frustration as she realized her angle wasn't sticking.

A creeping frustration climbed through Robbie, mingling with a discomfort he hadn't expected. He'd come into this out of a genuine desire to help—both he and Lizzie had agreed to cooperate without hesitation. But as Seney's questions kept twisting, her tone growing more condescending, Robbie was just about ready to call it quits and request a lawyer. He couldn't shake the feeling of how much time had been wasted, wishing the police's efforts had been focused on apprehending the true perpetrator instead.

His skin crawled with the knowledge that the sick freak who had been responsible for the monstrosities that Robbie had seen tonight was still out there. Nobody with even a single ounce of goodness in them could have inflicted that level of harm to a child, leaving no doubt in Robbie's mind that the perpetrator deserved eternal damnation. The haunting image of Elsie's lifeless, blood-soaked body and the piercing cries of her two sisters would forever be etched in his mind, impossible to erase.

For the umpteenth time, Seney's voice pierced the silence, her tone dripping with scepticism. "Why did the child call you instead of the police?"

Robbie clenched his jaw involuntarily. What had seemed like a routine questioning was beginning to feel like something far more hostile. They had somehow gone from witnesses to being treated like suspects. Lizzie's hand tightened around his own with a vice-like grip. He looked over at her, her face tight and pale, her shoulders tense as she fought to keep herself steady. Her breathing came fast, her chest rising and falling with an unfamiliar rhythm of frustration. She blinked hard, holding back the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes, as Seney watched with a dispassionate, unrelenting stare.

"As I've already explained. I don't know," Lizzie insisted, her frustration barely contained as she met Seney's gaze head-on, her eyes flaring. "I got a call from Elsie, and I answered. I don't know why she called me instead of the police."

Seney's condescending tone only served to fuel Lizzie's annoyance. "You don't know?" she repeated mockingly.

Lizzie's lips pressed together, her gaze hardening, "No, I don't," she said, her voice sharp and precise, laced with the sting of aggravation. "You know everything I know." With a deliberate sigh, she closed her eyes and started rattling off details with restrained fury. "Her name is Elizabeth Grace. She's nine years old. She has light brown hair, green eyes, and she's under four feet tall. I don't know her parents. I didn't even know she had sisters' until tonight, and I still don't know their names or ages."

Robbie squeezed her hand to remind her to breathe, which she did with a sharp inhale before continuing, "Once I answered the call and found out she was hurt, I asked Robbie to call the police, and I drove to the park."

Lizzie's fingers trembled as she brushed them over her knee, as if grounding herself, before she continued, her voice a shade quieter but determined. "By the time we got there, she wasn't... she wasn't responding." Her voice cracked, her mouth quivering as she struggled to keep steady. "I-I did everything I could to help her before the ambulance arrived."