Best Friends Forever (Cider Creek)

3

"They found Addison's body this morning," Mrs. Ayers reiterated.

Dove's heart hammered against her chest. Her vision went a little blurry. "Huh?"

"No one knows this yet, the police haven't released a statement. But Stuart Kepfir--from next door-- he found her. He's the one that called it in."

Dove struggled to get a hold of herself. She looked to Kessie for help. Her phone rested in her lap, still recording, but her eyes were staring at the car screen, unseeing. She looked like she was going to throw up.

"How?" Was all she managed to get out.

"Stuart's Mom says he was jogging with a friend and they ran a path she usually runs--they were all supposed to go together but she hadn't answered any of their calls..."

Kessie burst into tears. Dove felt broken, no tears pricked her eyes, instead she felt a numbness. A cold, cold numbness.

There's no way this is real. It couldn't be her.

"He's lying," she finally decided. "Stuart doesn't wear his glasses when he runs."

"There was someone else with him, some other friend of theirs."

"They're lying!" Dove insisted. "It can't be her we just talked to her yesterday."

"Dovelyn-"

"I love you, but we gotta go Mom."

Dove ended the call and sat back in the seat, breathing out heavily. "They have no right to spread those lies before the police could say anything for sure. It's not her. There's no way."

Kessie didn't respond.

The rest of the day went by in a daze. They entered the mall like zombies, interacting minimally. What felt like minutes turned out to be hours, and eventually they found themselves sitting on a bench, staring at the fountain.

Dove pinched her own arm dropped her hand uselessly. She still felt numb. It was so weird. Nothing felt real.

There's no way she's gone.

I should call her.

She pulled out her phone and let Kessie know she was gonna go take a phone call. She walked just out of earshot on the other side of the fountain and pressed Addy's contact.

The phone rang...and rang...and rang...

Each rrring made her heart sink lower and lower.

"Hey it's me, Addy!" Addison's voice chimed. She sounded so happy, Dove could practically see her smile. "Leave a message or text me and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Bye!" Followed by a beep.

Dove's chest tightened and she tried again.

And again. 

And again.

"OH!"

The sudden noise broke the cycle. Dove looked across the fountain to see Kessie staring at her phone with her jaw dropped. She hurried back to her friend, who turned to her wordlessly, eyes wide.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Kessie covered her mouth with a hand and slowly turned her phone towards Dove. Her hands were shaking too much, she couldn't read the screen at all. She squinted before just taking the phone into her own hands to read it properly.

And when she realized what she was looking at...her mouth dropped open in disbelief.