fae's nineteenth day
michael and i walked to school quietly, the events of last night still creating this barrier between us. i didn't know how to react around him when we both got up this morning so i kept my distance, being at least 3 inches away from him at all costs. we got to school in a few minutes and much to our surprise, ashton and calum were waiting by my locker--ashton smirking at us, and calum still looking timid as always. "hi," ashton greeted us with an amused grin, "good to see the power couple today."
michael groaned, crossing his arms over his chest. "would you shut up?"
ashton's smirk grew even bigger. ashton eyed him for a whole thirty seconds, causing michael to gulp. there was something off about his friends but i never dared to ask michael about them.
"what?" michael exclaimed, growing uncomfortable by each second ashton stared at him.
ashton's expression changed for a split second, turning into a threatening glare before returning to his smug self as he stared michael down. "we're giving you three days," ashton said, narrowing his eyes at him. michael sucked in the air he was breathing as both of his friends started walking away from him.
"three days for what?" i asked.
michael's eyes widened at me before he scurried off, going after his friends. well, that was extremely weird.
•••
i looked around the empty corridor, wondering where michael was. we always went home together but today, it seemed like he decided to ditch me. i sighed and roamed the halls, looking for the exit. even though i've already spent more than a week in this hellhole, it felt like as if i still couldn't find my way out without the help of michael. i started walking across numerous trophy shelves made out of glass. of course, there weren't much on it. just a few pictures here and there. surprisingly, the school had a basketball and a soccer team despite of how few the students were.
i decided to postpone my search for the stairs leading to the ground floor and look through the shelves. i read some of the surnames carved on trophies, "bradley, crawford, hemmings, middleton, waterson". i narrowed my eyes to get a better look of what's inside and saw a photograph of a soccer team just two years ago. i was deeply intrigued by this school's history, considering how weird and eerie this place is so i opened the lock and carefully pulled the photograph out.
there were about fifteen boys in the picture, smiling widely at the camera. i looked at their faces one by one, squinting my eyes to make out their features. my eyes laid on a boy with a quiff, standing proudly with the ball pressed between his side and his arm. he was grinning at the camera and i swear to god his face looked familiar.
my eyes traveled down the bottom of the picture where their names were listed.
1st row; left to right: joe t. marquez, mike b. upton, gregory alfred s. potter, mitchel c. anderson, luke robert hemmings, dra--
wait a second.
i looked at the familiar face again and matched each of the boy's face with the names listed below. i almost dropped the photograph when everything in my head suddenly clicked. it all made sense now. i looked at his face again, double checking if i had it right.
and oh boy, i really did.
it was luke.
now that i knew his surname, it would be easier to help him out. i returned the photograph, closing the glass door. the clifford's didn't have any internet connection back at home so i decided to go to the library to search more information about luke. it was my first time being here and thankfully, i wasn't the only person in this room. the librarian was sat in one of those office chairs behind her desk, reading a book and a scrawny looking boy was sat in the back corner of the room, sleeping away with his head tucked between his arms.
i went to the row of unused computers and turned one on, waiting for the screen to load. after a few seconds of waiting, the screen lit up and i immediately clicked on the browser. i typed luke's name in the search bar and waited for the results to load. there weren't much on there, just a bunch of other guys who share the same name as his.
but just as i was about to close the browser, my eyes fell into one of the search results.
"boy in a secluded town in seattle went missing" and beneath it was a small description of the article. i clicked on it, feeling my heart beat rapidly against my chest. it took a minute for it to fully load, revealing a picture of luke with a soccer ball balanced on his knee pasted at the bottom of the article.
"luke hemmings, 17, went missing last night, reported by one of the teachers at their local school. some of the locals claimed that the boy might've ran away. others said he was murdered."
i felt like vomiting as i read every single word of the whole article. i checked the date, seeing that it was written a month ago. it wasn't much of a surprise to see that there was only one article about his case. this fucked-up town's nearly non-existent with the number of people living here. i continued to read the article.
"his parents were heartbroken at the news of their child going missing. apparently, they had no idea that it would be the last time they'd see their son, luke.
"i thought he was out with his friends," his mother, age 37, stated. "i didn't think it would be the last time we'd see him." police investigated--"
"fae?" i heard michael's voice behind me, interrupting me. my hand flew to the mouse, clicking on the red 'x' mark at the corner before turning around to face him.
a/n
short chapter iM SORRY
but man ashton is shady af
comment vote and share and im so happy this story is getting ranked woohoo
-athena
{{unedited as usual}}
