The Elites

Half Life

"And you could tear it up
Oh, no one tears it up like you
Ooh, you can rip it up
Ooh, no one rips it up like you"

"Half Life" - Banners

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" Melissa asks crossly as she sees me applying concealer. Melissa and William are being very protective this week so I may have not mentioned that I was invited to a party. Apart from telling me I can't leave school at lunchtime; they also seem reluctant for me to leave the house at all.

"Can you please just tell me what I already know?" I ask, tired of constantly imagining things that may or may not be true.

"And what exactly is that?" Melissa asks, keeping her face neutral. The most annoying part of Melissa's job is that she can lie extremely well. I can never know for sure if she is telling the truth when I ask her questions. This case is worrying me a little, she's never thought that her job could put me in danger until this case.

"I know you're investigating someone who may have killed Eleanor Flynn, so can you just admit it to me? It's not like I'm going to go and tweet about it." I would tell Hope, but I trust her in this situation. Hope wouldn't do anything to harm the investigation.

Melissa sighs and doesn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "I'm not going to confirm or deny that." That is confirming, if she was working on something else, she would tell me I was wrong, but she hasn't. Does she really think I might mess this up for her?

"I understand that William might not be able to answer this because he's a detective and he has a duty to keep things private, but you wouldn't face any consequences if you told me." I turn away from Melissa as I go over to my bathroom and grab my hairbrush, I quickly comb my long blonde hair. I'm wearing my hair out; I can't be bothered doing anything fancy with it tonight.

"You still haven't told me where you're going" Melissa says. I was hoping our conversation might distract her from that, but it hasn't. She can't stop me from going out when Hunter gets here, I'm not going to sit in my bedroom until she decides it's safe.

"I'm going to a party. Isn't it safer for me to be around lots of people? No one will try anything with people watching" I point out, hoping I can appeal to her logical side. It's true, I don't think I'm in any danger if I stay where my classmates can see me.

"Will Hope Flynn be there?" Melissa asks. I haven't spoken to Hope about whether she's going, but I assume she will be. Courtney would have invited Hope, despite their weird relationship.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I do not understand what their problem with Hope is. Hope is a victim, it's not her fault she was kidnapped. It's not her fault she's an heiress.

"I don't want you associating with Hope Flynn. Do I have to remind you that she was kidnapped? Imagine if you had gone running with Hope and Eleanor!" Melissa exclaims. What if she's onto something? What if the kidnapper only wanted Eleanor but Hope was there too? The trail would be a perfect place to kidnap someone, it's always quiet. There are the occasional joggers, but it's a pretty quiet place, and it's right near the Flynn household. Maybe the kidnapper figured it was easier to kidnap both rather than waiting for another time when Eleanor was alone.

"What if they only wanted Eleanor? What if the only reason they took Hope was because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?" I doubt Melissa will answer my questions, but I want to see if she has already considered this.

"From what I've heard from the news-"

"You mean Hope's parents" I interrupt which causes Melissa to give me a look of disapproval.