To My Dearest Enemy

Double-Crossed

September 27

Matt, Bryan, Mr. and Mrs. Randall stood behind the barriers near a police car. Other cops were rushing into the building. They tracked down where the call came from; an abandoned warehouse forty minutes out of town. Mrs. Randall was hysterical, Bryan was calming her down, Mr. Randall was watching hopefully, and Matt didn't know what to expect. They could be bringing out a dead body or a living, Hayden injured. Time seemed to drag on the longer the police were in the building. The search only lasted for fifteen minutes and when the police officers began to file out of the building, Mrs. Randall and Bryan looked up hopefully.

"Where is my daughter?" Mr. Randall asked.

"There was no sign of anyone having been here in months. We are sorry Mr. and Mrs. Randall, but we do not know your daughter's whereabouts." One officer said. All hope Matt had left with that sentence.

Matt tossed and turned as he played back that night in his head over and over again. The call had to have been a set up. Hayden was probably not the caller, it was most likely JD trying to make Matt and his friends hopeful. Hayden was nowhere to be found. She went from missing to being kidnapped, and they were sure of it. The police had found her phone outside Jack's house, which was the only way of possibly tracking her down. Now they were wasting time interrogating all guests at the party and hopefully one would remember seeing Hayden leaving the party, but they were probably too drunk to remember. It was hopeless, but Matt wouldn't give up.

———

Jill laid on her couch with a cup of green tea in her hand. She was watching Grey's Anatomy, but wasn't really watching, just thinking about Hayden.

"Hungry?" Jill turned to see her mom walking in the kitchen door carrying Takeout bags.

"Not really." Thinking about her best friend missing, possibly dead or hurt, took away her appetite.

"You should eat." Her mom said as she set the bags down on the counter.

"Fine." Jill sighed and stood up, leaving her crutches leaning against the coffee table.

"Hey, crutches." Her mom instructed. Jill sighed and grabbed one crutch and began walking to the kitchen. She winced as she walked. She was trying to use them less and walk on her own more, but was still going to need crutches for another three weeks. She sat down at the bar and rested the crutch against the counter. Her mother was taking the food out of the bags.

"Can you get my pills?" Jill asked. Her leg was in pain, but it wasn't that painful. It was worse at the beginning.

"Yep." Her mother said as she opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of pills. She opened the bottle of pills and raised an eyebrow. "How many have you been taking a day?"

"Just one and I haven't taken them everyday." Jill replied.

"Then why are there only two pills left? There were thirty when you got the bottle." Her mother questioned.

———

Stella walked out of a Starbucks with a large iced coffee in her hand. Even though it was just below thirty degrees, she still drank iced coffee. She needed coffee to keep her awake since she hadn't slept in days. Every time she would fall asleep, she would have visions of Hayden hurt or dead. It was her fault. If she hadn't been fighting with Matt, he wouldn't have gone to visit her and he would have been with Hayden. She also didn't need to be mad at Hayden, just Matt. If Hayden were dead or hurt, Stella would never be able to forgive herself. She began to walk down the street towards her house when she saw the boy she hooked up with walking down the street with Alana. She froze in her tracks. Did Alana know him? How could she? He didn't go to their school and didn't live in Maplewood. No, this was not good for Stella or Alana. She noticed the two holding hands as they entered Evelyn and Ivory's. Did she hook up with Alana's boyfriend?