Against Hope

8 | Alone

Rose's POV

When I got back home, all I could think about right now, was Emily and everything that happened between us. It was just a kiss right? It didn't mean anything? But what if it meant something to her? What if I just made one of the worst mistakes of my life?

I paced around in my room trying to think about what I was going to do next. Then my phone rang and my heart started racing only because I was hoping that it wasn't Emily. I checked my phone and saw that it was only Dani calling. I let out a sigh as I answer the phone and bring the phone up to my ear.

"Rose? Why the hell were you not in school?" She asks me and I let out a sigh.

"I was with Emily." I say.

"Why? Did something happen? Is she okay?" Dani asks.

"She's fine."

"Mind if I come over? There is something I have to tell you" She says and I say yes before hanging up. It didn't take long for her to come over to my house. She walks through my front door and into my kitchen where I was sitting at the kitchen table.

"So how is she? When you saw her?" Dani asks as she sits down across from me and lets out a small sigh.

"She's fine, really. She's just alone" I say and Dani nods. "So what did you need to tell me?"

"Right" Dani says as she takes out her laptop from her bag and opens it up. She presses a few keys on the keyboard before looking at me with a serious look on her face. "I was able to hack into my dad's computer to look into Madison's case-"

"You what?" I ask.

"Rose, you know my dad is a cop on this case. I want to help Emily and the only way I know how is to find Madison."

"You're going way over our heads, Dani. I don't think this is a good idea, hacking into your dad's computer? Looking at classified police files? Dani, this is wrong"

"I'm trying to help a friend here. She's your friend too" Dani says and I take a deep breath before looking over at her laptop. Pulled up, was in fact, police files on Madison's case. 

"Well, what does it say?" I ask and Dani looks at me, with the same serious look on her face.

"I was reading this all last night. The last place they found evidence was down by the harbor, you know, our meeting place" Dani says and I nod my head.

"What did they find?" I ask.

"A bracelet. Madison's bracelet" Dani says as she pulls up a picture of a bracelet inside an evidence bag. It was in fact, Madison's bracelet. I only remember because she wore it all the time.

"Okay. What else?" I ask.

"You obviously know how small this town is, I mean it's New Bern, you can't expect much from this place. They searched every square inch of this town and found no traces of her anywhere. Every search group had to file a report and all of them have come clean. The last place they think Madison was is by the harbor other than that, they have nothing." 

"So what does this mean?" I ask.

"It's a cold case. Meaning the case will remain open until new evidence is found."

"Does the police have any other signs of evidence?"

"Yes they do. They have security footage on Madison before she went missing." Dani does a few things on the computer before she pulled up a video of Madison walking through downtown. She was wearing her New Bern High School sweatshirt with running shorts. It was probably the middle of the night because the streets were empty and no one else was around but Madison.

"What is she doing?" I ask as I continue to watch Madison on the screen  walking through downtown with her hands shoved into her pockets. "She looks scared" I say.

"No one knows what she was doing that night. All we know is that this was the last time Madison was seen. And this footage was during the night she went missing which was on July 8." Dani says as she closes her laptop and leans back in the chair.

"So what exactly are you going to do with all of this?" I ask Dani and she shrugs her shoulders. 

"The police have given up on the investigation, no one is looking for Madison anymore. I don't know about you, but I refuse to believe that Madison is dead. She has to be alive or they would have found a body" Dani says.

"You're not telling me what we're going to do" I say. Dani stands up and starts to gather her things. 

"We're going to find her. One way or another. I have to go." She says. She kisses me on the top of my head and I wait until I hear my front door close before heading up to my room.

*

Later that night, I was unable to fall asleep. My parents were already asleep in their room, leaving me completely alone with my thoughts. Not even the sound of the rain outside could put me to sleep.

I found myself thinking about Emily, again. I hated the thought of her being alone with no one there with her. I quietly get out of bed and put on a hoodie before heading out the front door into the rain. I ran all the way to Emily's house which was only a few streets away. I looked over to the side of her house and saw that a small light was still on in her room.

So, I start to climb the large tree that is next to her room. I have flashbacks of when all three of us used to climb this tree just so we wouldn't get caught by our parents. I wipe my eyes from the rain before gently tapping on her window. Then, the light goes off.

I tap on the window again and this time the blinds open and Emily appears. She opens up the window and instantly lets me in.

"Rose? What are you doing?" She asks me as I remove the hood that covered my head.

"I.... I wanted to make sure that you were okay" I say quietly.

"I'm fine, Rose. It's nearly midnight, and it's raining. You came all this way just to make sure I was okay?" 

"Yeah, pretty much" I say feeling slightly embarrassed.

"You're soaked, here change into this" She says as she hands me one of her t-shirts from her drawer. I turn away from her, knowing that I did not have a bra on. I take off my sweatshirt that was soaked from the rain and I can feel Emily watching me. I quickly put on the t-shirt before turning to face Emily again.

 "Do you want to spend the night here?" Emily asks and before I could even answer she starts to lay some of her pillows on the floor.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"You can take my bed" Emily says with a small smile. 

"No... we can both... sleep on your bed, it's fine" I say and Emily looks at me for a few seconds before putting the pillows back on her bed. I take the left side of the bed and Emily takes the right side before she pulls the covers over us.

"About earlier today-"

"Let's not talk about it now, okay?" Emily says and I nod even though she can't see me. That's when she turns to face me. She was about to say something before I pressed my lips against hers. Her lips were warm against mine as I pulled her closer to me to the point where my body was pressed against hers.

She slipped her hands underneath my shirt and my body shivered at her touch before I pulled away. Emily's head rested on my chest as my arm pulled her closer to me and we both fell asleep.

**********
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

- Hannah