CONSPIRACY THEORY | GRAYSON DOLAN

twenty four

"Hey Em. I'm just gonna go for a walk, okay?" Matilda said popping her head into Ethan's room, where Emma was.

"Want me to come with?" Emma offered. Ethan looked up to Matilda, even he knew that she was upset.

"No it's fine." Matilda dismissed. She needed some time alone.

She had just been reading through the comments on her recent video. Bad idea. She was getting a lot of hate. People were calling her a slut, saying that she was just using Emma, The Twins and James for fame. She just needed a breather.

"You don't know the area." Ethan pointed out going to grab his shoes so he could go with her.

"I won't go far. Promise." She offered him a reassuring smile.

"Matilda are you okay?" Emma questioned, approaching her to put her hand upon Matilda's shoulder with a worried scowl.

Matilda nodded,

"I'm fine."

Ethan placed his shoes back on the ground still weary of her sudden need to leave.

"Call us if you need anything." Ethan said giving her full eye contact which meant that he was very serious.

"I will." She says convincingly, closing the door gentle behind her.

Matilda walked down the streets of LA, trying to clear her head. Everything that people commented were lies and she knew that, but to her it doesn't matter what she thinks, it's what other people think.

After about an hour Matilda began to wish that she would've brought a jacket or at least something warm.

She sat down on a random bench and began to scroll through her Instagram, seeing more hate comments. She decided turning off her phone was the best option, so she pushed it into her pocket and just watch people walk past.

Suddenly Matilda's heart skipped a beat and her throat began to dry, she was sure that she had seen Noah. She knows he moved to LA for acting and she was hoping that she wouldn't bump into him. The Male turns to face her more and she finally lets out a sigh of relief when she realised it wasn't him.

"Hey have you seen Matilda?" Grayson asked Ethan and Emma as they cuddled upon the sofa watching The Office.

"She's not back yet?" Ethan questioned, tearing his eyes away from the tv, now worried for the girl.

"Back? Back from where?" Grayson asked raising his voice slightly. He wasn't quite sure why he was being so defensive right now, but the thought of something bad happening to her made him feel sick.

"She went on a walk." Emma said grabbing her phone to call Matilda realising her mistake. She shouldn't have let her go, she knew that, and yet she still let her wave.

"A walk? Are you crazy? She doesn't know her way around." Grayson ran his hand through his hair as he flooded with a whole new type of anxiety.

"What's going on?" James asked sipping on his drink as he entered the room now aware of the raised voices of his best friends.

"Matilda's not answering." Emma said ending the call.

"Let me try." Grayson said pulling out his phone to dial her number. He let it ring. His heart began beating faster. He could feel an anxiety attack coming on. He began to shake once she didn't answer the phone. "She isn't answering. Why isn't she answering?" Grayson then threw his phone, not even caring if it would smash.

"Bro, calm down." Ethan said going to help calm down his brother. "You stay here incase she comes home and we'll go out and look for her."

"No I can't sit here and do nothing." Grayson said biting the inside of his cheek, his leg now bouncing up and down anxiously.

"I'll stay here. I'll call you if she comes back." James offered. Everyone nodded and went to grab their shoes.

Emma was panicking, she knew she shouldn't have let Matilda go out alone. Emma kept calling the girl but it always went to voicemail. The twins and Emma split up to cover more ground. Matilda couldn't have gone far considering she was on foot.

Grayson was running through the LA streets hoping to bump into the girl somewhere, hoping she was fine. But every possible scenario was running through his head. He would blame himself if anything had happened to her. If he had known she was going out he would've gone with her whether she would've liked it or not. Grayson kept looking at his now smashed phone to see if Matilda had called or text, but she hadn't.

Ethan felt so stupid for not insisting that he went with Matilda. He knew he should have. But he didn't.  He ran his hands through his hair out of frustration- He hadn't found her yet but he should've.

He hadn't heard from the others yet meaning they hadn't found her either.

He continued to walk down the street but stopped once he heard muffled cries. He wanted to check if the person was okay but he also wanted to find Matilda. Ethan bit his chapped lips, not sure on what he should do.

With his kind heart overriding, he went to check on the sobbing figure.

"Hey are yo-" He stopped himself noticing that it was Matilda. "Matilda." He quickly pulled her into a hug. "What's wrong?" She just shook her head.

She was freezing. Ethan pulled off his jumper and gave it to her. Matilda pulled the jumper on and wiped her eyes feeling pathetic and weak. He pulled out his phone finally texting everyone saying that he had found her. "Let's get you home." Ethan said offering her his hand. He pulled her up and they walked home in silence.

Once Matilda got back to the twins house, her eyes weren't as red but her cheeks were still swollen. Grayson pulled her into him as soon as he saw her.

"Where were you?" Grayson whispered going to pull away but Matilda wrapped her arms around him and clung to him tightly. Grayson rested his head on top of hers. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. He wanted to know what was wrong with her but he didn't think she would tell him.

Grayson turned to look at his brother who was hugging a very concerned Emma.

"Thank you." He mouthed. Ethan just nodded.