Not Expendable

Surrender Lang

Hey guys!  Hope you have been enjoying this story! Enjoy the next part! It's kinda long that's why it took so long to update lol.

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"I won't be back until late tonight," Hope told Scott over the phone. "I've got a dinner with Mom and Dad and then we're going to be working on a paper."

"That sounds....fun," Scott said. "How long of a paper?"

"Dad thinks at least sixty pages," she said. "But we're maybe halfway done already."

"That's okay," Scott said. "I've got a meeting with Luis at XCon, and then Cassie and I are going to see a movie. Just don't strain yourself, okay?"

"Okay."

~~~~

Hope groaned, rubbing her eyes in front of the bright computer screen. She was beginning to get so tired that she couldn't see right. She could barely read the words she was typing.

It was three in the morning, and she felt like she couldn't stop. She knew that the paper needed to get done soon......

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"Hope."

She flinched into consciousness, snapping her eyes open. She saw her mom standing at her side with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Hope looked at her computer screen. She must've fallen asleep on her keyboard, because her document had filled with hundreds of pages of random letters.

"Damn it," she muttered, facepalming.

"Jellybean, go home," Janet said, a laugh in her voice. "You're no good if you're falling asleep."

Hope glanced at the clock. It was about nine in the morning. She'd planned on going to breakfast with Scott and Cassie.

She picked up her phone. She didn't have any notifications from Scott, so she called him. The phone rang again and again, but he didn't pick up. She wondered if he was still asleep.

She collected her things and rushed from the door, running a hand through her tangled hair. She got into her car and called Cassie. Luckily, she picked up.

"Hey, Cassie," Hope said. "Have you heard from your dad at all about breakfast plans? I accidentally fell asleep at my parent's house and I'm just heading home."

"Oh, I haven't heard anything," Cassie said. "He's probably asleep still."

Hope sighed. "Okay, well, give me an hour to get home and showered. Maybe we'll have to have more of a brunch."

"Sounds good. Bye, Hope."

~~~~

Hope made a right turn, coming up over the hill that overlooked her and Scott's house. She looked at the front door, noticing that it was open. Not only that, but the doorknob was missing.

As she came down the hill, she also saw that the window in the door was broken, and the front gate was open.

She slowed as she approached the house. She had a bad feeling deep in her stomach. Instead of parking in their driveway, she shrank the car down and sped along the curb. She parked under one of the neighbor's bushes. She tried to call Scott again. When he didn't pick up, she began to bite her thumbnail in anxiety.

Maybe he broke the front door somehow, she thought to herself. Maybe he was at the hardware store or something and had his phone silenced.

Despite trying to rationalize the reasons for the door being open, she put on her suit. She entered the house through the open door, tiny and on her wings. Her breath hitched in her chest as her eyes processed the chaos around her.