Overcast Night Stars

38: Quiet Down The Voices In Our Heads

Chapter 38: Quiet Down The Voices In
Our Heads

Nine-and half weeks, Sixty-six days, Twenty-two hours, Three minutes and Nineteen seconds had passed since Koel was kidnapped. Hours kept on ticking as the days went on. Everyone's brain cells were fried at this point. All the Jones family wanted was to see or even hear Koel's laugh again. Four, three, two and one, Alice started counting as she looked around for Jellybean. Jellybean begged for her to play hide & seek with her. Alice eventually gave in and started counting.

"Ready or not! Here I come!" She shouted as she started climbing the stairs.

She hears giggling coming from her bedroom. She gets on all fours and ducked underneath her and FP's bed. There she found Jellybean with her knees tucked into her rib cage, stifling giggles to herself. "I found you!" She roars and grabbed Jellybean by her foot.

Jellybean started kicking her feet and Alice ticked the little's foot. "Oh man." Jellybean whines as she snapped her fingers together like swiper from Dora the explorer.

Alice giggles at her and helps her up." Wanna help me start decorating the house for Santa?" Jellybean nodded her head and followed Alice.

The two started grabbing boxes from the basement and brought them into the living room. The boxes were labeled as Christmas. This was Alice's favorite time of the year. But one thing was missing. Her son. His smile, laugh was all she wanted to hear again.

"Mama S, are you sad?" She turned around to see a little girl in front her. She wants to shake off the tears and pretend she isn't sad but that would be a lie. A big lie. She hates lying. She spent her whole life living a giant lie.

"Oh sweetie no."

"Are you sure? Because you don't look happy. Isn't it your favorite time of the year?" Little tears went down her cheek as she turned to face Jellybean.

Jellybean watches her carefully as Alice sets down the box. She could tell by the look on her face she wasn't okay. She knew that Koel was gone, but didn't know why. "Sweetie... life is complicated, honey." She heard Alice brush off before walking away.

Yeah life was sure hella complicated...
————
When FP gets home, He finds Alice crying by the fireplace. He sees all the Christmas decorations all around the house and feels his heart break. Alice didn't look happy about the season. To be told he wasn't excited about Christmas either.

"Al..." She slowly raises her head up and looks him in the eyes. "What are you doing by the fireplace?" He asks slowly as he felt her pull him close to her.

She sighs heavily and looks down," Just felt cold." She muttered as she blinked back the tears.

He wrapped his arms around her frame and smiled. He tried so hard not to cry to. "Come to bed, Al." His tone was soft and her eyes looked dead.

She stands up on both feet, looked around at the room and sighed. The room felt empty, even with the two of them. It still felt empty.
———
A ding of a doorbell wakes Alice from her light sleep. She didn't sleep at all. Her mind was all blocked by her son. Midnight barked as she reached the front door. Damn dog, she grumbled to herself as she opened the door.

She rubbed her eyes as she heard the voice. "Alice." She hadn't heard from him in weeks.

"Adam.. what's the pleasure?" She asked the young man.

Adam slowly his head and Alice felt chills ran down her spine. "I got a new lead. The kidnapper was spotted in wind land. It was hard to figure where the picture was taken but I found his exact location." Alice's heart started beating faster.

Could Koel be around? Was this all a trick? Her son was alive! All she knew next was she was shouting. "FP! FP!" She shouted upstairs as a smile rolled on her lips.

She couldn't believe what was going on. It was a week from Christmas. Was this her Christmas miracle? She hoped so. Otherwise she would be devastated.

"Mom? What's going on? It's a Saturday!" Her daughter asked as she walked into the living room.

Betty heard her mother screaming and thought her mother was in danger. She raced into the living room, out of breath and bent over. "Oh hi, Detective Adam." She added shyly as her cheeks burned pink. She wasn't expecting any people on a Saturday morning.

Jughead and FP came rushing into the living room, huffing out of their chests. They felt as if they were running for miles. FP's heart was working double time as he reached the room. "Al, what's going on? I heard you shouting for me. Are you alright?" He asked worriedly as he accessed her arms.

Alice chuckles as she saw his face. "Adam has a lead, FP. Koel's kidnapper was spotted in Wind-land." He looks at her with wide eyes. Is she for real? Koel was alive. He knew his son was alive and that was the best news in the world.
——-
Everyone plies into their vehicles. Alice couldn't believe what was going. Her heart slowly increases as her feet meet the ground. FP's hand laid protectively against her. He couldn't stop the happy tears from escaping his eyes. His son was okay. That's all they knew. They didn't know if he suffered any injuries or not. Was he traumatized? Nobody knew. It was what they feared. It had been too long since he saw his son. He could still hear his laugh in his head. His laughter kept playing over and over again as they pulled up to abandoned Warehouse. Nothing looked like he imagined.

"Well well, look who finally showed up." His Head was spinning like a round table-top.

Then a gunshot rang out the abandoned field. He saw two figures and didn't recognize either one of them. Alice looked horrified. Warehouses reminded her of what Polly did to her. She still had night terror because of it. No matter how hard she tried not to think about it; she did anyway.

FP looked to his left and saw a group coming towards them. He couldn't tell if he was about to be killed or not. He hoped there was another option. "What the—"

"Jughead!"

Jughead looked in the direction and almost swore. He wasn't expecting his dad to find out about his backup plan. "I told you to stay in the car!" His Dad shouted loudly across the field.

"No! You're not going to make me stay in the car. His my brother too."

A smirk crossed the shadowed person's face."we have the whole Jones clan." Fp gritted his teeth as he stared at the person.

"Fuck off, Penny! I thought you were in prison!" He snarled with his nose flaring.