Exposed

Part Two: Chapter Three

The café is busy with the usual Saturday night crowd. A group of high school students hog the far right corner, sipping on their cold, mostly milk and sugar frappès and capturing selfies of their youth. More center and at the focus is a table of four police officers, all drinking coffee with varying degrees of cream and sweetner. Amelia tilts her head to the side. Her stint behind bars in Beacon Hills didn’t go unnoticed by the other officers. No matter how clueless they are to what’s really happening in their town.

Amelia settles herself into the same seat she sat in during her first ever day in town. The memory of that day threatens to sweep her away. It feels like a life time ago, and in ways it was. Everything about her life is different now. Then, Amelia was just a reporter with a peculiar ability that showed at random. That Amelia also had a family. This Amelia feels older. She hasn’t gone hunting for a story in weeks. She now knows her peculiar abilities aren’t as random as she previously thought and she actually harnesses a shocking power that makes her a shield, and weapon, for the humans in town. And she now has no family. Beacon Hills has changed her, and she hasn’t decided if it’s for the better.

A gust of hot summer air brushes her hair out of her face. There’s a storm brewing outside. She can feel the lightning in her pulse reacting to it. It brings with it danger and she responds best to danger. Amelia takes a deep breath. Already silver sparks begin to wrap around her fingers. Now is not the time to lose control.

“Rosie,” he says. “Long time.”

Amelia forces herself to slowly rake her eyes up to his face. Prison changed him. He’s rougher. More scarred. And angrier. He’s still just as strong as he was. Maybe even stronger. He pulls out the chair opposite her, the muscles in his forearm flexing. Amelia folds her hands together, her eyes studying every single movement he makes.

“I almost forgot you do that. You aren’t as subtle as you used to be when studying another person.” When she doesn’t respond, he laughs. “What’s the matter, Rosie? I’ve never known you to be so quiet.”

Amelia shrugs her shoulders. “Just wondering when you got out of prison. You were serving a twenty year sentence last I heard.”

“That was until I heard you were back in California.” He leans forward in his seat. “Do you remember our last conversation? My promise I made to you?”

“Vaguely,” Amelia says but they both know she remembers well. The flickering of her eyes to the table of police officers is his giveaway.

“Do you honestly think that would be smart?”

“I don’t see what it could hurt.”

“I think those you care about would care to differ.”

Amelia glares. “You obviously haven’t heard. There’s no one left that I care about.”

“Is that so?” He rubs his chin before reaching into his Jean pocket. He places a phone at the center of the table and begins flipping through it.
Amelia forces her expression to remain bored but the pictures she sees makes her blood run cold. One by one, he’s been stalking Camilla, Derek, and Parrish. The last photo, which is a still of a video, is of the moment she and Parrish shared at the police station. Realization at what else he must have saw dents her carefully placed cool exterior. She just released an article destroying Melody Patch and he has potential evidence that proves the incompetent editor right. There is something strange in Beacon Hills, and Amelia was caught on camera.

“What makes you think I still care about these people?”

“Because you’re still around. You’re avoiding them but you’re still in town. You only stick around when you care.”