The Search For Peace 2

Chapter 6

"Well?" Juliet was impatient, already uncomfortable placing her precious phone in the dirty hands of Austin Leo. Contrary to her beliefs, though, his small space was a lot tidier than she expected.  "What're you waiting for?!"

The boy didn't bother looking her way, sniffling to hide his smile as he spun around in his revolving chair. "Damn, you called him thirty-one times?" He snorted as he saw the number by her brother Adrian's name on the calling log, making her blood boil. "How annoying can you get?"

With a frustrated cry, Juliet spun out of his room, meeting Harmony and Ultima in the hallway of the Leo family apartment. "What is wrong with your brother, why does he always get on my nerves?" She chewed out the words one at a time, her sharp painted nails close to clawing her own face.

"Yeah," Ultima scoffed, "just like you always get on my nerves."

Before Juliet pounced on her best friend and killed her, Harmony got in between them and offered her a cookie. "I'm sorry, he's just...like that. But here, that'll make you feel better."

With a huff, Juliet accepted the treat and nibbled on it, the two girls passing by her as they walked into the room. If it weren't for the fact that that he was the only one who could track Adrian's number and find out his whereabouts, she would've never set foot in this dumb house!

Except...she did kind of like it. It was cozy and full with signs of life, the kitchen filled with sweet smells, the living room echoing with the laughter of Harmony's younger brothers as they played a game. It was alive, unlike her lonely condo unit. It was a home.

"Hey, person who talks crap about me behind my back even when I can hear you." She flinched, confusion enveloping her features at the statement Austin had made when he called her.  

"I have a name, you know." She retorted. The way his thick eyebrows were shooting up accusingly aggravated her even more.

"It seems that your bro is a lost cause."

"WHAT?!" She shrieked, before bolting into his room.

"It's inevitable, but it looks like his phone is gone from the face of this planet," Ultima told the panicked girl as soon as she made it in, staring at Austin's screen.

As he slipped back into his seat in front of the monitor, he pointed at a red dot on the vast map. "It stopped showing anything after he made it here."

"What's there, though?" Juliet bit her lip nervously, a sob choking her.

"Nothing." Austin shook his head. "Just an empty subway station with no name."

"But, why would he go to a place like that?" Harmony thought out loud, now just as worried as Juliet. "I mean, it's not even on the map."

"The real question is: what happened to his phone? Did someone steal it, or-"

"Shut-up." Juliet interrupted Austin's trail of thought, kind of surprising him. "Just shut-up, all of you." And with that, she stormed out of the apartment, her hopes shattered. 

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The last day before winter break was an uneventful one just like any other for Juliet, the difference only being the dry and fake goodbyes she offered and received.

She dreaded going back home, the thought of another phone call from her father petrifying to the core. So, instead, to fool the school and her friends that she had indeed left, she escaped to the closest secluded place she knew about.

It was the dull cottage in Alpine Covert. The one they had all gathered in a week or so ago. She didn't know why, but something about its feeble structure comforted her. It was glazed with light snow, so she hesitated to place her butt on the steps. But, in the end, she forgave herself for ruining her coat just this once and plopped down.

As she stared into the calm forest of evergreens and traced the rocks leading up to the pathway, she tried to ignore the raging waves in her mind, threatening to put her off balance. A series of whys and hows, a battle between what she knew and what she didn't. She was better off doing this, better off doing that. The typical anxiousness of a lonely teenager with issues like hers.

She closed her eyes, throwing her head back into the shade of the porch, and failed to pick up the footsteps of the person nearing her. It was only when their shadow loomed over her that she sat up and blinked.