Help me...

Chapter 11

Layla and Jackson slowly walked towards the house. Burying the body hadn't been easy but Layla did a good job. Jackson told her how to do it though. He told her to remove the teeth, fingerprints and mess up Amelia's face. Then he told her how to drain the body of blood and cut her up. She placed her in different places around the woods, far from the murder scene and buried them all. They had just finished hiding the last piece of Amelia and were now walking back to the house. Layla's hands are covered in blood and dirty and her hands were clutching the shovel handle. She didn't know what to do or how to act around Jackson at the moment. All she knew was that she was to do as told, or she'd end up like Amelia. As they reached the back of the house, the neighbourhood was in silence. Layla stopped on the back porch steps and turned to look back at the forest. She stared through the trees, imagining as if Amelia was just going to walk out saying she was alright and safe. When it finally clued into Layla that Amelia was never coming back, she turned and walked into the house with Jackson. She put the shovel in the garage, cleaning off some of the dirt on it. As soon as she stepped back into the house, the collar of her shirt was grabbed and she was lifted up. Her back slammed into the wall under the force of Jackson's hands. She let out a yelp and clutched onto Jackson's wrists.

"Listen closely Layla. You will not say anything to anyone about Amelia. If anyone asks, she died from a sickness. Of course nobody will ask because nobody talks to you but-" Jackson's order was cut short by the phone ringing. He slowly turned to look at the landline as it rung. He put Layla down on the ground gently, walking towards the land line and pick it up.

"Hello?...Yes this is him...Are you available right now?...Okay tomorrow morning is fine then. Me and my wife will meet you at the school. Thank you." Jackson hung up and turned to Layla, "Why didn't you tell me that we were supposed to have a meeting with Amelia's teacher?" He asked with a furious look. Layla just looked away and whimpered softly, unsure of how to answer. She was sure she told him about it but her memory wasn't the best so she doubted herself. Jackson started to stalk towards her and on instinct, she dropped to the ground with her head down. Jackson walked past her without another word, showing no interest in her.

"You're sleeping on the floor tonight," Jackson mumbled as he walked up the stairs to his room. Layla slowly raised her head and looked around in confusion. She was surprised he didn't beat her for not telling him but she didn't question it. She got up and rushed upstairs, the house suddenly feeling cold and empty. She walked into the bedroom to see that Jackson was laying in bed under the blankets. She watched him carefully for any movement then laid down on the ground in her usual spot. She curled up her body, waiting to hear Jackson snoring. Once she heard him, she shot her arm under the nightstand, grabbing the phone. On it were multiple messages and all from Cloud. She frowned and opened the phone, reading the messages.

'Bing!'

Cloud: 'Hey I just got home'

'Bing!'

Cloud: 'Hey are you alright?'

'Bing!'

Cloud: 'Layla are you alright?? Did Jackson do something to you when you got home??'

'Bing!'

Cloud: 'Layla if you don't answer me soon, I'm calling the police'

Layla smiled at how much Cloud seemed to care about her but stopped when she read the last message. They couldn't have the police come over because then they'd for sure get caught. She instantly answered him.

Layla: 'No no don't I'm okay! I have to hide the phone and so that's what I did. I just got it now because Jackson is asleep'

She sent the message to Cloud frantically, trying to keep him from calling the police. Layla got off the messages and scrolled through another one of the apps there was downloaded. It was blue but with a big white 'F' on it. She scrolled through different news articles and some cute videos of animals. She stopped on a picture of Cloud and his daughter covered in cake batter and icing while holding up a wooden spoon. She clicked on his name and pressed on the tab labelled 'photos'. She started to scroll through all of his photos, going until she reached the bottom of his photos. The first photo was of him and a woman getting married, smiling happily together. He looked really young in these photos maybe 20-21 years old. She started to scroll up through more photos, seeing more of him and that woman then a very small Joy. There were all kinds of pictures of Cloud with Joy and his wife with Joy too. A picture of a letter made her stop her scrolling and enticed her to press on the photo. Once she opened it, she started to read through it. She frowned when she noticed it was handwritten and was probably written by his wife (Julie) since that was who it was from. The letter read;