The Forest's Secrets

Chapter Eight: Eli?

Fate had to pull Sally, who thought this was a very bad prank, along all the way to the station. But as soon as they got there, the blackheads stubbornness turned into fear and worry.

"I'm so sorry", she apologized to Fate, who just rolled her eyes.

As they entered the building, Brooks was already waiting for them. He looked at Sally somewhat surprised, the girls really looked nothing alike. But he just shrugged it off and lead the kids to an empty breakroom.

"Girls, this is important. Where is Elisa?", he opened the conversation.

Sally looked scared and confused as she replied:"I think she's at home. I haven't seen her since she came back from here."

"Can you call her?"

"Do... Do you have a phone?"

Fate grabbed hers out of her pocket, unlocked it and handed it to Sally without a word.

"Thanks", the smaller girl said and quickly typed in a number. It was quiet in the room for a few long moments.

Someone seemed to pick up, because Sally said:"Hi, it's Sally."

Then she stood quiet for a few more moments. Fate could hear someone else talking on the other end of the line.

"It's not mine", she seemed to reply to someone,"Fate borrowed me hers it's-"

"Yes, I just wanted to-"

"Is Eli home?"

It went completely silent for a bit, as even the person on the other end of the line didn't say anything.

"Eli needs to come here", Sally said, she almost seemed scared to speak up.

The other person said something, to which Sally replied:"I know. I'm sorry. The police-"

Whoever she was talking to, the person kept on interrupting her.

"Yes, I'll be waiting", she said and handed Fate her phone. The other person had hung up.

"So?", Brooks asked curious.

"She'll be here in a bit", Sally replied. She seemed nervous.

The tension that was in the room for the next few minutes felt almost unbearable, even with Fate and Brooks trying to maintain a conversation. And then, the door opened again.

The first person coming in was the man that had picked Eli up two weeks ago. He dragged the girl behind him, but she didn't seem bothered by that.

"What did she do now?", the man asked, he sounded annoyed.

Fate could have sworn that Eli flinched at something in this sentence, but that was understandable to the girl. She only knew the man as an angry person.

Jamie Brooks replied:"I need to talk to Elisa and Fate alone. You'll hear the details later."

The man groaned and sat down. "Hi Dad", Sally said and sat down next to him. He smiled at her and replied:"Hey Sal, why are you here?"

As the two started talking, Brooks led the girls to another room. Fate was nervous, she still was scared of the seemingly nice girl. She couldn't explain why, Eli had never attacked her at school or followed her. She only had gotten into fights with them to protect her sister, and that Fate found to be justified.

"What's the matter?", Eli asked, as all three of them sat down around a table. The girl had been in this room before, two weeks ago.

The white haired girl looked tired and cold underneath the white LED-Lights of the room. She sat alone on one side of the table, facing Fate and Brooks and the mirror.

Brooks sighed and opened a laptop, that he must have brought before. Then he explained:"I need both your fingerprints scanned in. Fate's because she was there and yours, Elisa, because you are a suspect."

Fate just nodded, but Eli wasn't done talking:"How very nice. First you get me in trouble, and now in even more trouble. How do you even want to know it was me, if you don't have my dumb fingerprints?"

She sounded angry and stressed, her voice was louder than it needed to be. Something had happened, Fate was sure of it.

The officer seemed oddly calm in comparison to the tired and anxious teenager, as he replied:"We have a description of the killers and also found some white, long hair on the victim's body. Not bleached, completely white hair."

Eli groaned and buried her face into her hands. As the girl looked up again, she sighed:"Why would I even want to kill someone?"

Jamie Brooks shook his head, symbolising that he didn't know either. Before Eli could keep complaining, the officer asked her to give him her right hand. She did and the man pressed every finger on a small tablet he had hooked up to the laptop. He then repeated that with Eli's other hand and a few minutes later he scanned in Fate's fingerprints.

Before the man was done packing his devices again, Eli already stood at the door. She seemed impatient and worried.

"What's the matter?", Fate carefully asked.

"Just a feeling", the girl replied quietly.

A single thought shot through Fate's head as Brooks unlocked the door and Eli ran back towards the breakroom, the light dress she was wearing flowing nicely: How could someone like her even hurt somebody?

Fate would find out soon enough. As she and the officer entered the breakroom a bit after Eli, it was utter chaos.

Sally and her father stood at the far end of the room, trying to stay out of everyone's way. Two policemen were in the room, aiming their guns at Eli. The girl had blood on her dress, and as she turned towards the door, Fate couldn't believe what she saw: Eli was crying. Her one eye was swollen and blue, her nose and temple were bleeding. The look on her face was distressed, scared and angry, like a wild animal that has been cornered.

"What happened here?", Brooks asked angrily.

"We're not sure", one of the cops replied," she just suddenly was in the room, then she crashed against a table and started bleeding."

As Jamie took a step closer towards the white haired girl, she took a step back, into the direction of the officers.

"It's ok Elisa. We're here to help you", Jamie said calmingly.

Eli just stared at him and took a step back with every step he took towards her. Until she bumped into one of the other policemen, who quickly grabbed her by the upper arms and pulled them behind her back.

The teenager flinched and made an odd sound, a mix between a growl and a sob. Brooks now stood toe to toe with her, his colleague holding the girl in place.

"What's going on?", he asked through gritted teeth.