On The Verge

Chapter 23- Come Get Her Quick

——————Maddie——————

⠀⠀None of us attended school the following day, claiming the fire had been traumatic and that we needed a day to recuperate.

⠀⠀Chloe had put up a brave front. She was acting strong, knowing that we needed to plead innocence by pretending to know nothing about what had happened to Josh.

⠀⠀The police had not found him yet. In fact, posters with his name and photo claiming that he was missing had sprung up all over town. Every time we passed one, Chloe's shoulders sagged, her courageous front breaking for a split second.

⠀⠀It was about noon when my phone buzzed with a incoming call. I was sitting on my couch, stewing over the events of the past few days.

⠀⠀"Hello?" I asked curiously as I held the phone to my ear.

⠀⠀"I know what we need to do." Nia's urgent voice greeted me.

⠀⠀"About Liza?" I asked, my attention peaked. I changed my position on the couch, planting my feet on the floor and resting my elbow on my knee as I waited for Nia's next words.

⠀⠀"She can't hurt us from inside the Sanitarium, all we need to do is get her back there. We pretend we're going to the Park. We'll make it really obvious so she knows where we'll be. We then give the police a anonymous tip saying that there's a psychiatric patient who escaped from the hospital at the park. When she gets to the park, we won't be there, but the police will. They'll throw her back in the Sanitarium before she can leave another note.

⠀⠀"Sounds like a plan," I agreed, an excited smile spreading across my face at the potential that we could put an end to Liza's doings before anyone else got hurt. "I'll call Kendall and Chloe. Meet me at my place at 8 tonight. We're ending this."

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀***

⠀⠀I checked the clock on my phone for the millionth time; 7:57pm. They would be here momentarily, only then we could act out Nia's plan.

⠀⠀"Kenzie?" I called into the hall. Silence answered my call. She was supposed to be home an hour ago, and it wasn't like her to be late. The doorbell then sounded throughout the house, indicating the arrival of my friends.

⠀⠀I bounded down the stairs and into the front entry. As I swung the door open, The bottom of the door passed over a small piece of paper that had been slipped under the door through the narrow opening that lay between the floor and bottom of the heavy door.

⠀⠀I froze in the now open doorway, my friends staring at me curiously as I knelt down to pick up the piece of paper.

I⃞ p⃞u⃞t⃞ h⃞e⃞r⃞ i⃞n⃞ a⃞ n⃞i⃞c⃞k⃞,⃞
T⃞o⃞ m⃞a⃞k⃞e⃞ y⃞o⃞u⃞ c⃞r⃞y⃞,⃞
C⃞o⃞m⃞e⃞ g⃞e⃞t⃞ h⃞e⃞r⃞ q⃞u⃞i⃞c⃞k⃞,⃞
B⃞e⃞f⃞o⃞r⃞e⃞ s⃞h⃞e⃞ d⃞i⃞e⃞s⃞.⃞

⠀⠀A muffled sob escapes my lips the moment I turned the paper of over where a blurry image was printed across the ivory paper.

⠀⠀The blurry picture displayed a large, deep, rectangular hole. Squinting, I attempted to see the what was at the bottom of the hole. A gasp escaped my lips as realization, followed by a wave of worry and terror, flooded through me. At the bottom of the hole, lay Mackenzie's unmoving body.