S e r e n d i p i t y (5sos Au)

Chapter 1: Will he be okay?

At the end of the day, all we have are our most precious memories. That's all we take with us when we die, that's all we live for. Memories are made up of the most important components of our life; family, friends, even our nemesis.

"What do you think Luke is going to say when you tell him about us moving halfway across the country? Washington and New York aren't exactly close..." Her friend, Shay, asked. "Ohh, and what is Michael going to say?" The brunette asked, referring to her best friend's current boy dilemma.

"What is Ashton going to say?" Elizabeth fired back, a smirk in place.

She knew her status wasn't exactly complicated, she was single and that was it. The only problem was that she had feelings for two people, two of which were her closest friends. Neither of them knew how she felt. Well, she was fairly sure that Michael suspected she had feelings for him, but, Luke didn't. And if Michael knew how she felt about him, he didn't know how she felt about Luke too. She should be wiser, after all having feelings for a close friend never turned out well. Somebody always ended up hurt and she wasn't ready to hurt someone she cared about.

"Oh, would you please let that go? I told you, it was just a fling. Besides, he's dating some Bryana girl now. Haven't you heard?" Shay asked.

"S, you know I never read celebrity gossip about the boys." Elizabeth replied with a roll of her eyes. She did keep away from all the Twitter drama or magazine articles involving the boys. It never did any good to read untruthful articles about the people she was close to.

"Well, you should. Because there have been some leaked photos of Michael with some girl named Crystal and Luke with some girl named... Sierra or something"

"Whatever they choose to do with their personal lives isn't any of my business, really"

"Keep telling yourself that, Lizzy, keep telling yourself that" the brunette mentioned, knowing how her friend unarguably felt.

"Anyways" Elizabeth started, evidently shifting the subject. "We won't have to wait that long to know what they'll think. Calum texted me an hour ago when they landed, they're already on their way here"

Shay promptly sat up on the bed in her best friend's room. "Well, why didn't you tell me? I have to look great" the girl said and stood up, running to the bathroom so she could do her makeup and hair.

"You're crazy, you know?" The blonde called out as she got out of bed, herself. They had been laying down for two hours now, waiting for the boys to get back so they could head out and celebrate their success.

As Elizabeth passed by her window, she noticed there was a crowd standing outside Luke's house. At first, she believed they were fans, they came around sometimes. But upon closer inspection, she realized that there was an ambulance outside the house, along with a van from Channel 9.

"What the hell?" She asked to herself, a feeling of dread filling her body.

Elizabeth didn't even remember to tell Shay where she was going or what she saw before speeding out of her room, down the stairs and out of the house.

She didn't stop running until she was outside Luke's house herself. And the only reason she stopped was because she was forced to, there were policemen all around the house, making sure no one could come in.

"Sir? Sir, please. You need to let me through, you have to! My best friend, his mom, his dad... They-they live here. I swear I've known them my whole life!" She said, now feeling more frightened than before.

"Sorry miss, I'm under strict orders not to let anybody through" the officer said nonchalantly.

Elizabeth scanned the perimeter as if to find clues of what they were dealing with, here. Aside from the ambulance -which had her terrified- the cops and the news channel, there were men in suits coming inside and out of the house as if they owned it. But neither Liz nor Andrew were anywhere to be found.

Her breath caught in her throat at what she saw next. There was a stretcher being rolled out of the house, a white sheet covering a body. Someone she couldn't identify from afar.

"Oh my God" she said almost breathlessly. She turned to the officer again, her face a mask of distress. "Please, I need to know... I have to be there" she begged.

The officer seemed to be contemplating whether or not to allow her inside the perimeter when a voice came from behind him. "Let her through, she's family"

Elizabeth's head shot up at the sound of Calum's voice, a sigh of relief coming from her mouth when the officer stepped to the side. She basically ran up the front lawn until she reached her dark-haired friend.

"Calum!" She exclaimed, confused and scared about what was happening.

His facial expression didn't help either, it told her that something very grim had just taken place inside that house. It had been the first time she saw him in months, yet the anticipation and enthusiasm had somehow dissipated.

"Elle, I have no idea what's going on. Only Luke was allowed inside. Me, Mikey and Ashton have been out here waiting for news but no one will tell us anything... And... I just saw... Someone is dead, Elle. I-I heard an investigator, they found a body" Calum explained, he was visibly shaking.

"A body? What do you mean?" She asked, her eyes wide. "It was probably some body in the backyard, right? I mean, Jack always claimed the house was haunted. Maybe that's it. They found a body buried in the backyard" she said, trying to convince herself that none of the inhabitants of the Hemmings house had been found dead. It just couldn't be true. Could it?

"We have no idea what's going on, Elizabeth. You're the only one who can find out, they'll think you're direct family." he said, referring to how she had blonde hair and blue eyes just like the Hemmings siblings.

"Okay, okay... I'll go in. Call Shay, she has no idea what's going on" the girl said before taking climbing the front porch steps.

Elizabeth stepped through the threshold and looked around, heading to the living room where she supposed everybody would be. But the scene that greeted her was much more gruesome than she ever imagined. The floor and walls were covered in blood, making it obvious that it was a recent death.

The scene was enough to almost knock her down to her knees, but she needed to find out what was going on. She turned away, though, not being able to watch much longer. And that's when she noticed her best friend sitting on the stairs by himself. The moment their eyes met, his gaze fell to the ground and he covered his face with his hands.

Elizabeth was about to approach him when a hand fell to her shoulder. She jumped slightly and turned her head to see Jack standing beside her, his eyes filled with pain.

"Elizabeth, I'm glad you're here. Luke... Luke won't talk to anyone after he found out" the older brother said, sounding hurt.

"Found out what, Jack? What is going on?" She asked, her face lined with confusion and fear. Little did she know that the next thing Jack would say was going to be what changed their lives for the next few months. Or, more accurately, permanently.