Eccedentesiast (Brandon Darrow)

#LeavingScared

[#LeavingScared]
If you only knew how hard he is trying to win your heart, you wouldn't resist so much.
–Ed Buch
*****

After school the girls were texting me nonstop to meet them at Stingers. I sighed brushing my hair back before walking to Stingers new place. As I got there Rowan and Elisia both rushed to me. "Hey are you okay?" Rowan asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, nice place," I said to stinger who nodded.
"Feds were trailing my IP, so I split. I only live in bars and churches, pretty much the same thing," he explained.
"What'd you find?" Rowan asked and I sat down on a couch.
"Nothing, it's like Zoe Desaul doesn't exist. No address, no social security number, no birth certificate," Stinger replied.
"You guys are looking for Zoe?" I asked Elisia.
"Yeah," she nodded patting my hand.
"Well then it's a really good thing it's easy to swipe personal files from the administration office. She has a flash account. Her last post said camp," Rowan answered.
"Is that camp Terrerro?" Elisia asked, "What if Zoe went to camp with Brandon, Sean, and Trevor? Hailey said they all went to camp together. Even Dunbar."
    "Where is Hailey?" Stinger asked.
     "She's been weird ever since the bonfire, she didn't go to school today, she won't return our phone calls. I'm positive Sean was there and he was wearing a mask, so maybe that really messed her up," Rowan answers.
"Yeah, so you saw people standing around a fire wearing masks. And then what?" Stinger asked.
"Ran like hell," I said looking at the others who nodded. I mean what else were we suppose to do.
"They didn't even chase us which is creepier," Elisia said, "we were all so tense in Hailey's car on the way home. She didn't even say a word, the whole time."
"Do you blame her, we all got texts at the bonfire," I said.
"Yeah mine said welcome to the emptiness," Rowan answered.
"Mine said warning we're watching and listening," Elisa said.
"Hailey's said you can run but you can't hide, and mine said let's finish the game," I shivered thinking about it. Honestly all I wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed and not have to deal with any of this ever again.
"She showed us her phone but she wouldn't say anything, she didn't say a word when she dropped us off. Her mom says she's sick but I'm wondering...maybe I should go check on her," Rowan said. I nodded, my mind kept going back to that suicide prevention assembly. What if Hailey was feeling like that? I couldn't even bring myself to think further on it.
"Hey look," Rowan said turning her phone toward us," Zoe posted just a second ago. I texted her in class asking where she was and look at the caption."
"Here I am," I said staring at the caption for so long.
"It's geo-tagged, that studios downtown," stinger pointed out.
"I'll go," Elisia said.
"I'll go with you," Rowan answered.
"No. Go make sure Hailey's okay," Elisia said.
"I'll go get Zoe's address from school, then I'll meet you both at the ditch after?" Rowan suggested.
"Yeah," I nodded, I would have offered to go with Elisia but I felt like she wanted to confront Zoe herself. She had told me all about Zoe and ash. And everything going on. I just hoped she could figure out what was going on with the both of them.
When I got home I sighed and threw myself on the bed. I wanted to do something to get rid of the way I was feeling. I grabbed my notebook and a pencil and started to draw. The more lines that came up on the paper the more I realized I was back to drawing the same things. If it wasn't Brandon it ended up being Dunbar. It was like I couldn't get either of their images out of my head.
Instead of trying to draw what was in my mind, I took out a clean piece of paper and thought about what to draw. I closed my eyes and thought hard about what to draw. I started to sketch and when I looked at the finished product an hour later it was a photo of Trevor. Headphones were looped around his neck, his hair was sticking in every direction. I groaned before I threw everything down on the floor.
It was useless it was like I couldn't draw anything but the things that tortured me. First, Dunbar, then, Brandon, and now Trevor. What the actual hell is wrong with me. My phone rang and I sighed looking at the message. Rowan wanted me to meet her and Elisia at the ditch. Apparently Rowan new what happened to Hailey.
When I got to the ditch both girls were walking and I jogged up beside them. "So what's going on?" I asked.
"Hailey got on a train, she left town," Rowan answered and my eyes widened I wanted to be mad but more than anything I wish I could have gotten on a train and left as well.
"Do you really think Hailey would leave without saying goodbye?" Elisia asked.
"No," Rowan answered. But I could Hailey as it were, was running, she was running scared.
"Where'd she go?" I asked trying to keep the twinge of anxiety out of my voice. What if this was another trick from King Cobra, from Zoe? What if Hailey wasn't okay.
"Said she bought a ticket to California, I keep wanting to text her but I remember she left her phone at home," Rowan answered.
"Hey, do you know hawk?" Elisia asked.
"I met him once," Rowan answered. I knew he was a teachers aid at school plus he tutored.
"I figured out he was my teachers aid, the one who graded my paper; the one that had the zoo written all over it, remember," Elisia said, "and we also know he was the one who asked Hailey to meet him when she got trapped in that elevator. I mean, doesn't that seem really shady to you?"
"Maybe," I answered thinking about it. I mean who could we really trust? No one.
"Oh my god guys I got an email from Hailey, look," she said.
"Rowan I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry. Take care of Elisia and aspen for me. You're stronger than me. I'll see you again. Love, Hailey," Elisia read out loud, "no, no. I'm not okay with that. Are you guys okay with that?" Surprisingly I was okay with that. I knew what she was feeling but I also knew I couldn't run.
"I get it she was scared," I whispered and they both looked at me.
"Yeah well we're all scared. This is typical Hailey, running away," Elisia said anger evident in her voice.
"Hey," Rowan tried to calm her down. It all made her more mad though.
"No, it pisses me off," she sighed saying, "You're right. We need to end it. If we can end this, then she can come back. I definitely saw Zoe at the dance studio."
"Yeah but why was Sean there?" Rowan asked. Everybody kept silent, nobody had the answer for that.

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