Vision Of Broken Things

Chapter 9

I must have been hallucinating, there is no way this could be Ashley. I saw her dead body with my own two eyes!

''Mel?''

Her voice, it's her voice. The voice that comforted me at my worst of times and the voice that laughed with me at my best.

''Ashley? Is that you?''

This must be a dream, there is no way this is real.

''Yes, it's me. I haven't heard from you since...''

She went quiet, we both knew when last we heard from each other.

''Are you okay?''

Her voice was filled with confusion; I must sound bonkers.

''I am fine; why do you ask?''

It could just be that I was checking in, or maybe... maybe it's the fact that I saw your lifeless body not so long ago!

''Mel? Melanie?''

I blinked repeatedly, was I wishing this was a dream? Or am I hoping this is reality?

''I'm here.''

I could hear her breathing through the phone, calm and graceful. Everything she did was graceful, always.

''Look, I have to go. I still use the same number, okay? Text me sometime.''

Without saying another word, I hung up. I still couldn't believe it, Ashley is alive.

Who is the girl in the shipping crate? How did it look exactly like her? And most importantly, who is behind all of this?

***

I have no memory of the time after my phone call from beyond the not-so-dead grave.

I must have dozed off because I felt someone lightly tapping my shoulder and when I fluttered open my eyes I was greeted by the same peaceful girl I fell asleep next to.

''Hey, Mel. I didn't want to wake you but I got kind of scared and I didn't know what else to do.''

I sat up and yawned.

''No, don't worry about it. As I said, it will all be alright.''

She whipped her face, how did I not notice her leaking eyes?

I shifted closer to her and held her in a tight embrace. How long has she been crying?

She cried in my arms and I could feel her tears dropping onto my collarbone.

I wondered if I should tell her about Ashley, the last thing I want is for her to worry more than she already is. Heck, I don't even want her to be in this situation anymore.

When she started to calm down I had a look at the time on my phone. It was early morning. Angelo should be here in the next few hours.

''Chrissy, we need to talk about something.''

Her eyes swelled again, I hated seeing her like this.

''Ashley is alive.''

She looked at me, examining whether or not I was being serious.

''No, that can't be. We saw her body, Mel, who else would that be?''

She must think I have lost it.

''I don't know who we saw but it wasn't Ashley.''

Her features shifted into a look that I have never seen before. A look of pure fear, doubt and a slight of madness.

''This can't be. How do you know?''

Admitting that I almost put all of our lives at risk by calling Ashley's parents wasn't an easy thing to do.

What else could I do? I told her exactly what I did and as expected, she freaked out. She let me have it.

''Chrissy, I couldn't help myself. At least, we now know that it wasn't her.''

She looked me dead in the eyes.

''You risked all of us going to jail for this information. I just hope it was worth it.''

After many hours of the silent treatment, Angelo knocked on my bedroom door, it's safe to assume Victoria let him in. Chrissy didn't spare a minute by filling Angelo in on what I had done. I can't say I blamed her, if the tables were turned I would have done and felt the same.

''We need to go back.'''

Is he mad?

''You mean to the shipping crate?''

He had a crazy look in his eye, I knew exactly what he was going to do with or without us.

''Angelo, you can't. That is a scene of a murder. Do you have any idea what will happen if we get caught with a dead body? We don't even know if someone witnessed us being there!''

He was heading to my bedroom door when I jumped in front of him.

''Mel, get out of my way! There is a girl in there, an innocent girl. Someone's daughter! If we can just go identify her, we can do something.''

I understood where he was coming from, I did one hundred percent, but I was not about to risk it all for someone else to get closure.

''What can we do? How do we explain this? People don't find random dead bodies in hidden areas unless you killed that person yourself.''

That is when it struck me, I was thinking back to the other night and there was one thing I never thought of. I turned towards Chrissy and took a deep breath.

''How did you know where to find us?''

She bolted towards my bedroom window, we caught her just as she got her left leg out.

''Let me go! Let go of me!''

Angelo held her down.

''No, you have to let me go. You have to understand.''

My face was heated with anger. How could I ever trust this person again?

''Tell me the truth. Not the phony truth, not the truth that you know I want to here. The real truth.'''

She cried.

''I told you the truth.''

I couldn't keep it in anymore, I felt so betrayed.

''Stop crying!''

She immediately went mute and to my surprise so has Angelo.

''Tell me the truth.''

A single tear hit my bedroom floor and just like her tears she had spilled what I believe is the full truth.

''After I left you at the party, someone caught me on my way out. I woke up in my car with this note.''

She handed Angelo a piece of paper that she took out from under her shirt.

Angelo read it out loud.

''Play along or flights will forever be canceled for a certain pilot.''

We eyed each other, this could mean so many different things.

''My dad isn't on a trip, when I got home he was gone. He doesn't answer my calls and he always tells me if he has to leave for an emergency. You don't get it. If I didn't act like I knew nothing... I would never have seen him again and now I might never.''