The Government Vlogger

Chapter 21: Finally Home

After three hours in the car, they reach their neighborhood. They pull into Riley's driveway. Riley steps out of the car into the dark. He goes to the other doors of the car and helps Max and Brody emerge from the car and into the back door of the house. Max went up to Riley's room to sleep and Brody was in the guest bedroom is Riley's house. Brody woke up early in the morning, just when the sun was rising, to the sound of sirens zooming past Riley's house. Within a few minutes, Riley's mom is heard calling the boys into the living room.

"Boys! Get down here!" She announced.

Brody leaves his room and slowly heads downstairs. He can hear Max, with his crutches, and Riley leaves their room and follows him.

"That bear did a number on you two, didn't it?" She stated as she looked the boys up and down as they entered the family room. Riley's mom sat on their tan sofa in her pink bathrobe and blue slippers. She held the TV remote in one hand. "I heard sirens this morning and I wondered what they were for, so I turned on the local news and found this. Apparently, this girl goes to your high school."

The TV had a breaking news red bar running across the bottom of the screen. In capital letters, it read "Teen girl killed by father". The boys sat down on the couch. The broadcast started off with a news anchor interviewing a man.

"I was on my regular jog around the neighborhood with my dog when I started smelling a weird smell, something I never smelled before. My dog smelled it too and freaked out. He ran off and I chased him." The man explained and then began to tear up. "He...he lead me through this person's backyard and into the woods behind his house and...that's where I found...the body. I dialed 9-1-1 as soon as I found her."

The news reporter came back into the frame and said that the body belonged to 17-year-old Christine Bryant. Then the showed where they found her body, with dried up blood everywhere. Then they showed the five police cars in front of Christine's house.

"The police found a knife in Christine's eye. They took the knife and found fingerprints on it. The fingerprints belonged to Christine's father, Alastor Bryant. His trial is to be determined. More with Channel 16 news after this break."

Then the news cut to commercial. All the boys were shocked with what they heard.

"Could you believe that her father did that?" Riley's mom asked, astonished as she got up and retreated to the kitchen.

"I mean.. I knew her dad was mean to her, but I never knew he would do that to her." Riley added as he got up and followed his mom into the kitchen.

The two were fixing up some toast in the kitchen and talking while Brody and Max sat there watching the commercials, still in shock.

"Brody...how?" Max whispered.

"What?"

"She was with us, her dad didn't do it. Shela did." Max whispered. When he said "Sheila", the TV screen glitched, which made the boys jump and received a little pain from their actions.

"What the hell was that?" Brody asked.

"Maybe just the wind. It probably blew the TV antenna."

"Maybe..."

"How did 'she' get her body in the woods?"

"I don't know."

"What do you not know?" Riley asked as he sat back down on the couch, handing Brody and Max a plate of toast.

"I don't know why her dad would do such a thing as murder. I knew he would always torment her but not physically abuse her. Christine must have done something really bad to push him over the edge like this." Brody replied.

The news channel music boomed in the family room as they came back on the air.

"And we are back. I know this is some tragic occurrences here happening in Ridgemore but we are not out of the woods yet." The news anchor started with a small chuckle.

"Too soon, Ron." The female news anchor stated, seated next to Ron.

"Sorry, Angela. Anyways, we have a recent story, just received a few hours ago. Forty-year-old Lisa Lysotu and her daughter, sixteen-year-old Sheila Lysotu have been reported missing. If you have any info on their whereabouts, please contact the police as soon as possible. Well, that's it for today. Stay interesting, Ridgemore. This is Ron Papish,"

"And Angela Ralphy, signing off."

Then the news cut to the credits. Once the credits were rolling, Brody got a notification on his phone.

"Hey, Max. AJ is going live at 8 tonight. We probably can't watch it together since our moms are super worried about us right now. But, we can text." Brody states.

"Sound like a plan," Max responded.

Then the doorbell rings. Riley's mom gets up and answers it. At the door was Max's mom and Brody's mom. They pushed Riley's mom out of the way and ran to their kids.

"Oh, my baby Brody! Are you okay? I..." Brody mom began hugging him and rambled on.

"I am okay, mom. I promise. Just a few stitches. Max is the real warrior here."

"Max sweety! I am so sorry this happened to you! I feel like I failed at protecting you! I..." Max's mom cried and hugged him.

"Mom! I am totally fine! I am just going to wearing closed toe shoes for the rest of my life."

"I'm glad you boys are okay. We all are. When we received the call from the hospital saying you were hurt, I did not know what to do. Then I heard Riley was going to pick you two up and we could see you guys tomorrow morning at his house, I could not stop worrying. But I glad you are both safe and sound. Now, let's get you boys home." Brody's mom stated.

After some goodbyes, the boys and their moms were in the cars going back home. Within five minutes they were both back in their own driveways.