Some Love Isn't Forever (Book One of 'The True Reality' Series)

Routine

The next week went by in a blur.

Wake up.
Eat Breakfast.
School.
Eat Lunch.
School.
Walk home.
Eat Dinner.

Keefe continued to sit with them lunch, and it bugged Sophie how close him and Fitz were getting. They acted like they'd known each other for years, while Sophie who actually had ignored him as best as she could.

Until the last day of school before winter break.

Sophie had been talking to Dex on the way out of school when Keefe walked over to join them. Dex was one of the few still wary of him, so when he did, he barely glanced over.

"So what are your plans for the holidays?" Keefe asked.

Dex shrugged. "My parents are taking me and the triplets up to Washington to visit friends." He looked at Sophie. "What about you?"

"Nothing special. Everyone's staying here. We don't usually travel." She narrowed her eyes at Keefe momentarily. "What about you and your family?"

Keefe's face seemed to drain of any color. Something about what she's said had caught him off guard. "My uh, my parents haven't made up their minds yet." He mumbled.

That's when the car pulled up. A tall man with a round face and dark hair got out of the car. "Come on Keefe! I have to get back to the hospital in an hour!"

Sophie stared at the man. "Doctor Heslege?! Why is he picking you up?" She said, really acknowledging Keefe for the first time since her hospital visit.

He looked down at the ground. "He's my dad." Then he walked off and got in the car as it drove away.

Sophie knew something couldn't be right. She'd met Keefe's parents back before the incident. Cassius Sencen and Gisela Sencen, those were their names. Not Elwin Heslege.

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The minute Sophie got home she knew Amy had been going through her things. Her blankets were messy, all her books were strewn across her desk, and Ella, her stuffed elephant, was under her bed.

"Amy!" She yelled and stomped down the hall to her sister's room. The door was closed so she banged on it. "Amy!" Sophie called again, and this time Amy came out.

"Yes Sophie?" She asked. Sophie couldn't understand why she looked so innocent when she clearly wasn't.

"Why were you in my room? And why didn't you clean up the mess you made?" Amy frowned, and a look of puzzlement crossed her face.

"I didn't go into your room."

"Yeah you did. Mom and Dad wouldn't do that and Marty knows better." Amy crossed her arms.

"Look, whatever you think I did I didn't do it. I just got home a few minutes before you did. I wouldn't have had the time to do something like that." Sophie sighed. Amy wasn't a good liar. She was too blunt and honest sometimes it made it impossible to believe she was capable of lying.

"Alright. Sorry for accusing you." Sophie trudged back to her room and began to clean up the mess.

She realized the small succulent on her window was knocked over and went to wipe up the dirt when she noticed that her windowsill was opened.

Then she noticed the note taped to the frame.

It read:

𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡...
-𝙁

Sophie screamed before dropping the note and running out of her room.

Her dad ran upstairs. "What's wrong Soybean?"

Sophie pointed to her room with one hand and covered her mouth with another. "Someone broke in. They left a note." Her dad walked in and came out a few minutes later holding the paper.

"Go with Amy into her room. I'm going to go call your mother at the cafe" Sophie nodded and walked into Amy's room without knocking this time.

"Hey, get out. I'm busy" said Amy.

"Dad said I have to be in here, so shut it." Sophie snapped, then blinked. "Sorry that was mean."

Amy just frowned. "Sophie what's going on?"

Sophie sat down on the edge of Amy's bed, refusing to meet her eyes as she told her what had happened.

Amy just walked over to sit next to her, not calling her a liar or a coward. Just being there for her.

An hour passed and the Police showed up at the house. They escorted everyone outside while they inspected the house.

Sophie waited outside. She noticed Linh and Tam walking down the street in their direction.

"What's going on?" Linh asked once they had joined the group.

"Someone broke in and left a threatening note about Sophie" said Amy bluntly.

"Oh, Are you okay?!" Linh asked Sophie, wrapping her in a hug.

"I'm fine Linh. No one was actually in the house when I got home. It looked like they were looking for something though which makes no sense."

They talked about what had happened and tried to figure out what was really going on for a while when the head officer finally came back out of the house.

"You and your family will have to be relocated since whoever left that note knows where you live. It won't be far, but it won't be here either." Sophie watched her dad work out contact lists until he walked back over where Sophie and Amy were waiting.

"We're going to stay at a house a few blocks away until they figure out what's going on." Her dad said calmly although Sophie could see the worry in his eyes.

"Alright."

"So go inside and pack up anything you want to take with you. Nothing too big or heavy, alright?" Sophie nodded and headed inside. Linh claimed she wanted to help and followed behind her.

As she packed all her school books into a bag along with a suitcase of clothes Sophie wondered what was going to happen next. Her life had taken a twisted turn in the last few weeks, and now she knew anything was possible.

Her fears were confirmed in the next hour when their car pulled up to their new house, and their neighbor walked outside. It was Doctor Heslege.