Miss Hawkridge

two

The moon peaked in through the open window, as dramatic shrills of music blasted from within. Two figures, huddled under the wraps of an army blanket, inched closer, as bright flashes illuminated their faces. Alaric screamed when the two-horned red creature leaped on the television screen.

"You scared me too," Liv laughed and pushed him.

Suddenly, they heard a loud bang. Loud knocks and thuds were heard against the door. For a moment, they sat still, and stared at each other with wide eyes.

"Gosh, it must've locked us in again," Alaric sighed, before he walked to the door, and yanked it open. "Good of you two to finally join us," he said, as Elijah and Anna walked in.

Anna looked around, taking in the soft, ring of halo casted on the shelves of worn out books, the blaring light from the television set illuminating the silhouette of a familiar face perched on the edge of the bed.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting for the two of you to show up? You said you'd be here ages ago," Liv told them.

"Unlike you, we actually had work to do," Elijah frowned.

"I'm sure you did," Liv snorted, as Alaric switched on the lights. "But, we've got more important things on our hands, like finding out where the hell your friend is."

"Good to know you're so enthusiastic," Elijah rolled his eyes. Liv pretended to smile.

"What we need right now is a plan. You guys wanted information from the police records, right? Well, I got them for you," Liv stuck her nose in the air as she held out a file of papers in front of her, " but I think you'll find none of it of any use, since the police don't actually have any clue or leads. You're welcome." Liv smirked. Anna grabbed the file.

"How did you even get them?" She asked, leafing through the pages.

"It wasn't that hard. Being the badass that I am-" Elijah snorted, and Liv pursed her lips. "As I was saying, I simply snuck through the back gate, then took up a disguise as an everyday civilian, before I crawled past the hoards of detectives, and entered the records and evidence room. I disabled the security camera and, just like that, snuck out through the window, with the information."

"Wow, your narration was so good, it almost makes the truth, wherein you took pictures with your phone from the records file and were allowed in the records room because you were already working there as an intern, sound a little bland," Alaric jeered.

"Can I at least pretend I was a badass super spy?" Liv pouted.

"Yeah, like that'd ever happen," Elijah snorted. Liv narrowed her eyes.

"Anyways," she began before turning back towards Anna, "what I'm really curious about is the dog. Why was Amelia's dog hanging from the branch of a tree in school? And, why was it slit open through the belly in the first place?"

"What dog?" Anna raised her eyebrows.

"The dead dog in school? Did you not hear about it?" Liv asked. Anna shook her head. "Well, Tess and Wesley found it. They said they saw the dog hanging from there tree, and there was blood all over the snow. So, I did a little digging, since, you know, it's my job, and I found out that this particular dog was actually reported missing by none other than Amelia at least a week ago." Liv produced a piece of paper and handed it to Anna. "In the official reports, which my mom didn't mind me reading," she smiled for a moment, before continuing, "it was written that Diamond, the dog, went missing after Amelia finished an interview with a magazine. He was nowhere to be found, and no one reported seeing him."