the boarders

Valentina

The two girls looked around to check that nobody else was lurking around - namely Aurelia, alone or with a gun.

"Go!" Whispered Valentina as they ran across the grass; with Octavia's flip flops thwacking the ground as they ran to the shed.

When they came to the shed, it was, of course, locked. Most likely, thought Valentina, due to the crusty old groundsmen who stored vintage bottles of whiskey in the fridge in there, which they'd drink on their lunch breaks.

Octavia slipped a hair grip out of her blond hair and eased it into the lock, turning it left and right until the lock gave and it was open.

"Ok, where did you learn to pick a lock?" Laughed Valentina, as they stepped inside the shed. "When that evil nanny I had locked me in my room, aged seven." She replied, thinking of the time her old nanny found her smoking in her room and wouldn't let her out.

They both looked around the shed, crouching down to see if there was anything of interest, anything that would tell them what was going on.

"Oh. My. God." Breathed Valentina, crouched down on the rotting, wooden floorboards with a hastily scrawled note in her hands. Octavia put down the things that she was looking at and joined Valentina.

"What?" She said, looking at the note. With each word she read, the more sick she began to feel. It didn't explain everything, but it gave them an insight. An insight that they could go to the police with.

𝑇𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒, 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝐴-

"What?" Octavia repeated. "Who is A?" She stood up and scratched her head in confusion. "I don't know, but it looks like it's been torn off." Valentina replied, running her hands over the jagged edge of the paper.

"What the fuck, this is like pretty little liars or some shit." Sighed Valentina, running her hands through her hair. Well, she thought to herself, at least they'd found something of interest.

"The other piece must be in here somewhere." Said Octavia, desperately searching around for another piece of paper. Valentina sunk back into the wall in despair. Why was this whole situation so complicated?

"Why would anyone want to hurt Aurelia, though?" Cried Valentina, thinking of their friend, bedraggled and lonely, locked up somewhere.

Valentina looked around the dilapidated shed, where she used to spend so much time with Drew. God, she missed him so much, those lazy blue eyes staring back at her, as if they never wanted to look away...

Suddenly, a light caught Valentina's eye, and she walked over to it. The sunlight seemed to be shining on a piece of paper shoved into the floorboards. It was sticking up from there, and Valentina wondered how she never saw it before.

"Who's that?" Said Valentina, as she held in her hands a photo of a beautiful girl with auburn hair, smiling back at the person who was taking the photo; with lines and lines of blindingly white teeth.

As Valentina examined the photo closely, she realised who it was. If you took away the auburn hair and the smile, it looked exactly like Katie. Strangely, it smelt like Chanel No5, a scent Valentina had smelt on someone but she couldn't remember who.

"Why does he have a photo of Katie?" Said Octavia, reading Valentina's mind. Valentina shook her head, as tears spilt out of her eyes like a waterfall.

"Katie has something to do with this..." Valentina said, standing up and scrunching up her fists. "And what's more, she's going to fucking pay."