Dedicated to Sophia you read over all my cringiness and never judged me, Ilysm!!
I found myself on a hospital bed, bright and early in the morning. I was attached to an IV bag. I tried calling out for someone but my voice was rough and quiet, no one could hear me. I remembered something about Rachel's boyfriend and then I blacked out. Why did I black out? What was I doing here?
"Oh good, you're finally up!"Emma said nearly choking me with her hug.
Emma was my best friend, she was like a sister to me, now more than ever.
"What's happening?" I asked in a rough voice
"I don't know, they won't tell me anything! Also, that police officer who saved you is hot af!"
What did she mean save? Avery saved me? From what?
"Oh, you're awake. I'll call your parents" Avery said getting my parents from the waiting room.
"Oh sweetie, you're ok! Don't do that to me, why were you even at the police station?" My mom said enveloping me in a hug.
"What is happening?!" I asked so loudly that my throat hurt.
"Somebody set something a firebomb of some sort, they set the whole building on fire, we suspect that it was the same person who killed Rachel," Avery said rubbing the bandaging on his arm.
"What happened to your arm?" I questioned
"I tried extinguishing the fire but everything spread too fast, you passed out from the smoke and I carried you out of the building, but I burned my arm while doing so. But don't worry it's just a second degree burn, it'll heal in three weeks."
"Oh, ok good, thank you. Um, do I need to stay here?" I asked
"They did a chest x-ray, the smoke caused an infection, pneumonia. You'll be fine as long as you take your antibiotics, the doctor said once you woke up you could leave," My dad answered
After the doctors removed the IV bag I got dressed and took my medication. My parents were dealing with my health insurance with the doctor and Emma left. Avery and I were sitting in the waiting room, it was so painfully awkward.
"Umm, I just wanted to say thank you, once again." I said trying to break the silence
"No problem, I am a cop after all.... Can you come out for a second, I need to talk to you."
I followed Avery out of the office hoping my parents wouldn't mind.
"Look, I like you Riley. We both went through some shit in life and we came out stronger. But-" said Avery
"But, I'm a lot younger than you" I countered
"We're only four years apart, we could keep it a secret"
"I don't know, my parents already have so much going on their lives another secret is just going to make it worse."
"But why don't you do something for yourself. You went through so much, do something that makes you happy" Avery said comforting my hand.
I thought about, he was right I really wanted to do something for myself, Rachel would approve.
"Ok," I answered
Avery leaned down and kissed my cheek.
*******************************
As soon as I got home my parents started fighting again. I got a little peace and then just like that, things were back to normal. Nowadays I don't even know what they're fighting about, it's sometimes about something as little as not turning the lights off. But this time it sounded serious, they were fighting about health insurance and bankruptcy. It just made me feel horrible the fact that I was the cause of this. I needed to get away from this. I snuck out of the house through the back door.
I plucked some flowers in my backyard and started walking into the Treetop Forest. Treetop got its name from its huge forest. Back in 1900's, it used to be really popular and people would go on wildlife tours in there. However, now it was all abandoned and forgotten. My grandmother was the one who started the tours of the forest. She loved the wildlife and spent as much time as she could in the forest. But after people stopped coming she fell into a state of depression. She passed away when I was 13 and she was buried in this forest in honor to her. I walked through the forest, I knew the path to her grave by heart. I placed the flowers I plucked next to the tombstone and sat by the grave. I missed her, she was like me, she always felt like an outsider. She understood me.
I sat down nearby and expected the dirt to be soft, but it wasn't. It felt like I was sitting on a rock, I got up and pushed the dirt away and found something, like a sign, or a tombstone. Engraved in it with big bold letters were, "Grove". Was this what I thought it was? Was this Grove? The tombstone was so heavy I lifted it up and found a passage leading down with a ladder. I closed my eyes took a deep breath and started climbing down.
HEYYY! That's right, I ended this chapter with ANOTHER cliffhanger. I am so happy that Avely is now a thing! Also, what do you peeps think of Grove? What do you guys think is gonna happen next chapter? Comment!! Also we got 100 reads and almost 25 votes. That may not seem like a lot but it is SO MUCH to me. Thank you to everyone out there who supports me and I love all of you guys. 💋💋💋
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Half a Twin
Mystery / Thriller"I remember the day, the smile, the blood, the death, I remember the sorrow, the tears, the pain, the lies. But mostly I remember her, the way she loved me, how much she cared, the promises she never broke" Riley loves her twin sister, times can be...
