1| WAKE UP LITTLE ONE ( zalfie)

Chapter 17

Caspar, Poppy and I drove back to my flat.

"Are you two coming to America with us to meet Joe and the others?" I asked them.

"If I get out of this wheelchair soon enough," laughed Caspar.

"Yeah, it'll be good to get the stress off of me. I can't believe Alfie's still missing," Poppy said.

"Yeah, I miss him so much," I said, tears stinging my eyes again. "If he's dead I'll die too."

"Come on, Zoe," Caspar said. "I'm sure he's not dead, and if he is you're not killing yourself."

"I am," I said stubbornly. "Because it will have been my fault. Like you getting injured, Cas, and Poppy going unconscious, and Dom getting murdered - all of these incidents are my fault and I'm the only one who's been completely unharmed."

"Me getting injured wasn't your fault," Caspar assured me. "Neither was Poppy, or Dom's incidents. You blame yourself because you have no one else to blame. But we will find who did this, Zoe. I promise."

****

Two torturous weeks later, I was planning to go to America. They were torturous because whilst little things had happened, like my window being smashed and threatening texts and strange phone calls and power outages, nothing big had happened. No more of my friends were getting hurt. The killer must be waiting, planning his next move. I hoped and prayed he wouldn't follow us to America. The town where Troye and Tyler usually stayed! Oh God. My stomach dropped. No no no no no. They couldn't come, not when they were the number one suspects.

Groaning, I folded some pants and pressed them into my suitcase, running a hand through my messy ombré hair. Staring in the mirror, I realised I looked awful.

I'd lost a lot of weight, my skin was pale and pasty, my hair was full of tangles, my bones stuck out and there was dark circles under my lifeless eyes. Of course I looked awful, my friend had been murdered, one kidnapped and two attacked and someone was deliberately sabotaging all my things, threatening me and attacking me.

Maybe everything would stop in America? I hoped so much.

****

The next day, we were all packed in the YouTube minibus. Me, Louise, Louis, Jack, Finn, Caspar, Marcus, Jim, Tanya, Troye, Tyler, Niomi, Matt, Joe, who'd come to pick us up, and Joe's new friend, Elise.

Elise was very pretty, with long hair like mine. Hers was obviously naturally wavy, and a bit longer, but ombré still. She had hazel eyes and log eyelashes, lightly tanned skin, perfect teeth and plump pink lips and an amazing figure. She wore her hair curled slightly at the ends, some of it up in a ponytail and secured with a black bow. She wore no makeup except for a touch of concealer and some mascara and lip balm and still managed to look like a model. She wore a line green vest top, plain and simple, paired with ripped jean shorts and white sandals.

She was so sweet and easy to talk to, as well as being hilarious and lightening the tense mood. Everyone loved her. She was so nice, asking people about themselves and when no one answered, trying to distract us by telling us about her acting and modelling career, and telling us funny stories. I could tell Joe fancied her, and really, Elise was perfect for him. She sat beside him while we drove, chatting and laughing and smiling, singing along to the radio and eventually falling asleep on Joe's shoulder, much to his obvious delight.

"Well she's bubbly," I laughed.

"Do you like her?" Joe asked anxiously, playing with her hair. "She's super sweet, isn't she?"

"She's the loveliest person I've met in a long time," I agreed. "She really lightened the mood and managed to make me smile, which I haven't done since this whole mess."

Everyone agreed and Joe seemed pleased that everyone liked his 'friend'.

A/N

Elise will be played by Madison Beer. If you don't know who that is, look it up on Google, I'm writing on my phone so I can't upload pictures. I'm basing her on the picture of her in a lime green tank top, with ombré hair and curls and long lashes, with her head tilted. Not very informative but it's a few rows down on Google Images! :) xx