Happily Never After (sequel to Stolen Love)

Chapter 10

Sam's POV

I woke up early and went for a run. It was Saturday morning, 5:00 am. The sun had just come up less than an hour ago. The air was brisk. It was beautiful. I could see a mountain out in the distance. The sun was hovering at the tip of the mountain making it a bright, almost orange, color, while the base was a dark blue color.

I continued running when I got to the woods. I ran about 1 mile into the woods and stopped. 2.5 miles so far. There was a creek a couple yards out, so I walked out to it. Leaves crunched under my feet as I walked. A lot of times I would purposefully step on leaves so I could hear the crunch under my feet. It brought back childhood memories, ones that I cherished.

When I got to the creek I stopped suddenly. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It wasn't beautiful. It was sad. That was it, that's the only thing I felt when I saw this. Right in front of, lying face down in the water, was a body. Long brown hair, jeans, and a blue jacket. Embroidered on the back was a name. Connor. It was a varsity jacket for our school's soccer team. I knew on the front of the jacket, it would say Riley.

Maya's POV

"She's dead?" I asked Sam through tears. Sam called me and he could hardly speak. "I just found Riley." He told me. I couldn't tell if he was lying or not.

"Did you... did you call the police?" It was hard for me to speak as well. My best friend was just found dead. There is nothing she could've done to deserve an ending like this.

"They're on their way. They told me to stay with the body till they get here." Sam was trying to stay strong, not show his sadness. That's who he was, he didn't want people to see him cry, not because he thought it was weak, but because he felt uncomfortable with people taking pity on him. "Oh, I think they just showed up. It's the same detectives who were talking with us the other day."

"I'm so sorry Sam. I can't imagine what it must have been like to find her just lying there."

"I got to go. Could you meet me here? I don't feel like walking home by myself. I would ask the detectives for a ride home but, they'll probably be here a while."

"I'll be there. Should I tell Dominic?"

"I don't know..." Sam was hesitant to let Dominic back into his life.

"I'm not saying we have to forgive him but, we were all friends and we should go through this together. Riley didn't want us all to split apart, we owe her us at least trying."

"You're right. Bring Dominic." I hung and texted Dominic. I didn't tell him about Riley though. That deserves to be said in person, not over text. I told him I was meeting Sam at the woods and I would be by his house to get him in a couple minutes. 

"No. No, no, no. It can't be true. Please tell me this is a joke." Dominic pleaded when I told him about Riley. I watched as the tears streamed down his face stopping at his chin. The tears hung on the edge of his chin for a moment before falling to the ground.

"Sam wants us to meet him at the edge of the woods, closest to the creek." It was still a blur to me. I couldn't believe that Riley was actually dead.

When we got to the woods Sam was already waiting for us.

"Thank you for coming. I didn't want to go home alone."

"I understand. I'm here for you, always have been and I always will be. We need to stick together, now more than ever." Dominic replied.

"I want to see her." I cut into the conversation. I don't know what I just said. I didn't really think about it, I just said it."

"No, you don't." Sam responded. He found her, he knew it would be hard for me to look at her. It probably was for him too."

"I want to see her. I don't care if I go by myself or not. I am going to see my best friend." I left the boys and walked into the woods. Why was I doing this? The answer to that question would remain undetermined. I didn't know why I wanted to see her, but I did.

"Maya? You shouldn't be here." Detective Towning was talking to me. I ignored her and kept walking. Before I knew it I was looking down at my best friends body. The water was moving, but she wasn't. She was caught on branches. The water wasn't moving fast, it was slow. I could hear it moving though. If I closed my eyes it was a beautiful sound. I used to come out here and lie on the ground just listening to the water. I won't be doing that for a while now. I could see the ripples in the water as it hit rocks. It was mesmerizing. I looked back at Riley. She was just lying there. I felt the warm tears fall from my eyes down my cheek. It was as if it wasn't real till I saw her body. I didn't fully process any of it... till now. I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. I walked away from the creek and back towards the detectives. It got really hard to walk after just a few steps. It felt as though I was having to walk through thick, wet concrete. My legs gave out all of a sudden and I fell to the ground, bawling my eyes out. The female detective came over and wrapped her arms around me.

"It's okay Maya. I've got you." She held me in her arms for a what seemed like an hour (when in reality it was only about a minute) before her husband came over. They asked me if I could stand up, I did so and they walked with me to their car. They gave Sam, Dominic, and I a ride home. The three of us sat together in the back seat and held each other. We just sat there and cried. Cried over the fact that we just saw a dead body, cried over the fact that we lost somebody we all cared about very deeply, cried because we knew we could never get them back. Time couldn't be reversed. Riley was gone, forever.

Authors Note:

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Let me know what you think about it in the comments and please vote if you enjoyed reading this chapter. 

-Lizzy <3