‘Where is she?’ Standing in front of the entrance to the park, Braxton tapped his foot impatiently. Willow was late. Not surprising.

“Braxton, I’m so so sorry for being late!” Willow had run up beside him, clearly out of breath. “Some guy stopped me to ask for directions. I was trying to tell him I didn’t know much about the area he was going to, and other people offered to help him but he insisted that it was me who told him. Then during the middle of me talking he said something about how he stalled me long enough for me to remain safe and he walked off.” She sighed after recounting the story.

“That sounds strange. Where was he wanting to go?” She went quiet for a moment. “He called it the “original” Ember city. I asked him if he just wasn’t confusing the place he was looking for for our little town and he said no, that there used to be another city known as Ember city that was exactly like this right outside the outskirts of town. But all there is out that way is a whole area of woodland. I told him there was never such a place but he insisted it was real.” She shook her head. “Even if it had been real if it was exactly like this town, who would want to go there?” Willow gave a small chuckle but Braxton remained quiet. That didn’t sound right. “Anyways Willow, what’s been going on?”

The two friends found a secluded area near the back of the park and took a seat on one of the randomly placed benches. Without speaking, Willow pulled something out of her pocket. It was a note. “I found this in my mailbox the day after we all met up at the coffee shop. It says, ‘YOU’RE NEXT BITCH.’ and it has me worried. I have no idea what it could mean, from what I know I haven’t pissed anyone off to come after me.” She spoke, worry seeping into her voice.

Snap. Instantly Braxton looked behind him and Willow to see where the snapping sound had come from. It sounded like someone had stepped on a branch, and now he couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were being watched. “Willow, do you feel anything?”

She shook her head. “No. Why do you ask?” He frowned. “I feel like someone might be watching us. Are you okay with leaving?” At his words, Willow was already standing up. “Of course, let’s go. It might be safer to be in a populated area anyways.” They fast-walked their way back towards the front of the park, unaware that they actually were being watched and still were.

“Well, since you told me about that I have some shit to tell you of my own,” Braxton admitted. “I had a weird dream about Khloe a few nights ago. It was so weird. She was trying to tell me something but she was unable to. After I had that dream I went to go visit her grave then all of a sudden I heard a voice in my head saying I had to save someone. As I was leaving I saw someone watching me from the distance then they just disappeared. After visiting her grave I went to her family’s house. Did you know they were moved by the way?” Willow shook her head. “I’m not surprised though.” She responded. “Anyways, they said they had a box of Khloe’s stuff they wanted to give me, and they let me into her room for a bit. While there Khloe appeared before me. She said she wasn’t able to tell me the things that she wanted to, but said that she hadn’t died in her room. I asked if it had been her voice back at the grave and she said no. Once I got home and opened the box given to me, the first thing I grabbed was her suicide note. Why the hell would they give me that?!”At this point he was practically screaming, the people in the park were now staring.

“Braxton, pull it together! Everyone is staring.” Heat rushed up to his cheeks. “Sorry,” he muttered, clearly embarrassed. “Did you call and try to find out from her family themselves why they gave you her suicide note?” He shook his head. “I think you should. With Khloe, it sounds like she’s wanting your help with something, though I couldn’t tell you what.” Braxton groaned. “I just wish I knew what the hell was going on and know what is real and what I’m only hallucinating.”

“Willow? Braxton? Is it you guys?” Startled, the two turned around, finding themselves face to face with a woman who appeared to be their age. One side of her hair was buzz cut while the other side was grown down to her shoulders. Her hair was a violet color. Braxton frowned. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

The woman’s cheerful expression fell. “Ow!” He muttered as Willow elbowed him in his side. “It’s Ashley, do you not remember? She was with us throughout our school life until our freshman year when she had moved away.” Willow hissed into his ear.

“Ah, sorry, it’s Ashley right?” Her smile came back. “So you do remember me?” Braxton nodded. “You’ve changed so much since I last saw you that I couldn’t tell who you were, I’m sorry. You look really good though!” Back then Ashley had been a nerdy, heavy-set girl, with brown hair and brown eyes. Now there she stood in front of them, she had slimmed down a lot, she now had what was considered an hourglass figure, and the red, semi-tight dress she wore showed off her curves well. It was hard for Braxton not to stare.

She blushed at the compliment. “Thank you.” “So, Ashley,” Willow broke in. “What brings you back to good ol’ Ember?” Ashley blinked in confusion as if she had completely forgotten that Willow had been there. “I came because my cousin has gone missing. I wanted to be with my family during this time.” “Who is your cousin?” Braxton questioned.

“Hayleigh Henderson.”

His blood ran cold. “You’re her COUSIN?” Ashley nodded. “I would have come sooner but work wouldn’t let me off until now for me to come, so now here I am. I just left from having lunch with the family. I was walking for a bit and was about to start heading back, but I kind of got lost.” She chuckled nervously. “Well, Braxton can take you home!” Willow offered before anyone else could speak. “Willow, don’t offer up things for me! Besides, we were doing something together, so I won’t be able to.” She gave him that look. “I had completely forgotten I had to be somewhere soon, sorry to cut our time short Braxton. See ya!” Willow waved as she ran off, leaving Braxton with Ashley. “Well, now I can take you if you would like.” She nodded. “That would be nice.”

The car ride to the Henderson house was full of chatter, even though she physically changed she was still the nerdy Ashley that Braxton had known years ago. He stopped in front of the house. “It was nice to see you again Ashley, it felt like that ride was too short.” She hummed in agreement. “That is very true. We should meet up again soon to catch up more.” Without thinking he grabbed hold of her hand. “Are you free tomorrow?” He blurted out. The sudden action caused her to blush. She nodded. “I’m free. Would you like to catch dinner together tomorrow?” He nodded. “Sounds good.” Leaning over she placed a kiss on his cheek. “See you tomorrow Braxton.” Then she was out of his car, rushing into the house.

The rest of the day passed by quickly without incident. The day after was going well, then finally it was time to pick Ashley up.

He pulled up, dressed up in the nicest casual clothes that he had. To his surprise, Mrs. Henderson was outside. His throat tightened. “Goodbye auntie, I’ll be back later tonight!” Mrs. Henderson only nodded in her direction.

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“Hi, Braxton.” She whispered once in the car. He smiled. “Hi Ashley, are you ready?” “You know it.” With that, he drove off, and out to the next town they went for what would be considered the first fancy date Braxton ever had.

“I had so much fun with you tonight Braxton!” She couldn’t stop smiling as they stood in front of the Henderson household. “Me too, Ashley.” He returned her smile. “You know Braxton… When we were younger, I had the biggest crush on you!” She said through her giggles. “You did?” This took him by surprise. “I did!” She got up closer to him. “And… I still do now to this day. When I moved, I never forgot about you.” Suddenly her lips were pressed against his. Without thought, he kissed her back. He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her closer. The sound of the front door made pull apart as Mrs. Henderson had emerged, a frown on her face.

“Braxton, it would be greatly appreciated if you would not suck off my niece's face in front of my house.” She sounded bitter. “Do you two know each other?” Ashley questioned. “Yeah. I was friends with Hayleigh until a few months ago. We had gotten close but then some stuff happened and our friendship had ended badly. That’s all.” He spoke through gritted teeth. Ashley only shrugged. “Well, I would love to go on another date with you. Can I meet you this weekend for a breakfast date?” “Of course.” He replied, disregarding Mrs. Henderson’s glares. “See you then, and I’ll message you in the morning.”

Morning came and went and there was nothing from Ashley. Braxton kept checking his phone, in hopes he had accidentally put his phone on silent and missed her message or missed a possible call. Nothing.

‘Was that kiss last night a mistake?’ He chewed on his bottom lips, anxiety was now taking over. He had the strong urge to go see her.

His phone started going off. “Ashley?!” He answered. “No Braxton, it’s Willow. I just wanted to call and see how it had gone with Ashley the other day, and to remind you that in the morning you, Jennifer, and I are meeting up to go do some more shopping for our Fourth of July shopping!” He couldn’t help but feel defeated. “I was hoping you were Ashley calling. Though to answer your question, it went extremely well. We went on a date last night and when I took her home, we kissed and we have another date set up for this weekend.” He began to grin as he thought about how soft her lips felt against his.

“Wow, sounds like you scored big buddy! Just be careful, you still might get looked into as a suspect in Hayleigh’s case, and with Ashley being her cousin, if she finds out that might ruin whatever you two have going on.” Willow sounded serious at the end, she never sounded this serious. “I understand. Hayleigh’s mom saw us kissing last night, she wasn’t too happy about it, or was either not happy to see me in general.” Willow grew silent. “She saw?” “Yeah, why?” Willow groaned. “Braxton! Do you have any idea how bad that looks?” Nothing. “Now because you made her upset she might make sure you get looked into, so please be careful with Ashley from now on. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She sounded upset. “See you tomorrow.” They hung up.

The next day when he met up with Jennifer and Willow, he felt tension. “Are you two okay?” Jennifer spoke up. Willow nodded curtly. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.” The whole shopping tripWillow cheerfully spoke to Jennifer, but none to Braxton. As they were checking out he finally had enough. “What the hell Willow! Why aren’t you talking to me?” She scowled at him.

“I’m upset that your actions will probably let you get seen as a suspect. I already had someone calling me this morning from an unknown number asking about you!” She snarled at him. He was taken by surprise. “You could have told me.” She shook her head. “It’s hard to talk about. It was wrong to ignore you, but to me, it’s a lot to take in.” She huffed. “I am genuinely sorry Braxton.” “I accept the apology.” With that, they continued with the day, but the sensation he experienced at the park with Willow had returned. They were being watched once again.

“Has Ashley got back to you yet?” Willow question. “No.” Jennifer was lost. “Sorry Jen, Ashley is an old friend, who may or may not end up as more than just a friend to me.” Jennifer broke out into a smile. “That’s great Braxton!”

As they approached Willow’s vehicle with the stuff they had just bought, Braxton noticed something sticking out of Willow’s trunk. He touched it. It appeared to be a shirt that must have accidentally got shut in the trunk. ‘Willow can be so careless.’ He chuckled to himself.

He opened her trunk, about to throw the stuff in when he was stopped in his tracks. In her trunk was a body. Ashley’s body. He let out a scream of terror, attracting the attention of the people around. “Braxton, what’s wrong?!” Jennifer shouted as she and Willow jogged to catch up with him. Jennifer peeked inside, without warning she had vomited.

Braxton backed away. “Someone, call the police, now!” He turned to face Willow. Tears were streaming down his face. “Why is she in your trunk?!” He screamed angrily at her. In the background, sirens could be heard. Willow wore a shocked expression. “B-Braxton, Jennifer, I didn’t do this! I don’t understand why she’s in there!”

“Braxton, you should leave,” Jennifer spoke, now finding her voice. “They know you had a connection to Hayleigh and now she’s missing, now you’re at a scene where her cousin’s body has been found, it won’t look good for you if you stay.” He backed away and ran off to his car, driving as quickly as he could home.

The smell still lingered with him as he left, the image of her cold corpse was now seared into his mind. He was never going to forget, and he would never forgive Willow. It might have been a small bit of time he spent with Ashley but they grew close, and then she became a possible partner for him, and that was taken from him. He gripped the steering wheel as tightly as he could, his anger was beginning to get the best of him. Burning leather filled his nostrils. He glanced around and noticed smoke was coming from his hands. Out of fear, he let go, swerving off to the side of the road, but then he quickly gained control once again. The smoke was gone now but his steering wheel was now burned like a fire had been set. ‘Fucking great. I’ll have to find a way to get this fixed.’

Hours passed after he got home before Jennifer finally called him. “Braxton?” Her voice was hoarse like she had been crying. “Jennifer? What happened?” He could hear her breathing in before she spoke. “The Hendersons had been notified and they arrived at the scene as well, all of them were visibly upset, but Willow was taken into custody and her car was taken to be searched for any kind of evidence. Though for some reason the Hendersons insisted that it wasn’t Willow. Mrs. Henderson, she… “ Suddenly the call dropped. “Fuck!” He tried calling her back but to no avail. His phone wouldn’t call out. He attempted to send a text, but the message wouldn’t go through. “You have got to be shitting me! I just paid for the damn phone bill last week!”

Frustration getting the better of him, he tossed his phone down onto the bed. Then it went off again. He dropped it when he saw it. ‘You were late. They are coming after you.’ It was a text without a number. He gasped, suddenly his phone was on fire in his hand. “No, no, no!” His fear heightened. “GO AWAY!” Before he could run out his door, the fire had disappeared like it never happened, but his phone still showed how badly damaged it was from the fire.

“Are you okay?” It was Samuel. He stood in the doorway with a worried expression. Braxton shook his head. “Yeah, sorry.” His brother still looked concerned but didn’t press further. “If you need me, I’m here. I heard about Willow and that girl.” Braxton looked down, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Samuel took the hint and walked away.

Something hit his foot. Looking down he noticed that from somewhere Khloe’s suicide letter had fallen. “I need to throw that away.” He spoke aloud. He bent down to grab it, then remembered Willow mentioning to call the Tate’s, but now he had no phone to do that with. Unless… He could manage to borrow Samuel’s.

“Sure, you can use it.” Braxton thought it was going to be a lot harder, but he was thankful that he didn’t have to end up sneaking it from his brother in some kind of way. “Thank you, I’ll bring it back as soon as I’m done.”

On the second ring, someone picked up. “Hello?” “Mrs. Tate, it’s Braxton.” “Oh, Braxton! How can I help you?” He had to stop himself from snapping. “I was calling because I was going through that box that you guys gave me. There was a letter at the top. I read it, but it was Khloe’s suicide note. I wanted to know why you guys gave that to me. Is it payback for what she wrote inside of it?” The other line went quiet. Only briefly. “Braxton, we had gotten rid of that. Are you sure that’s what you have?” “I’m positive. I can even read it to you.” He said bitterly. “Please.”

There was silence on the other end after he finished reading it off. “Braxton, that wasn’t Khloe’s suicide note.” “What do you mean?” His voice cracked. “In her letter she never blamed you. All she said was that she felt pressured to be the perfect daughter, student, that everything was running her down into the ground and she couldn’t take it anymore. She said how you changed her life in such a positive light, but that everything was too much, and that she was glad she had the chance to fall in love with you even if feelings were never returned.” “Thank you for that. I’ll let you be.” Before she could answer, Braxton already hung up, tears beginning to swell in his eyes.

After handing the phone back over to Samuel he went back to the room. He had his version of the suicide note crumpled in his hands. ‘If this isn’t the real one then why the hell do I have it?!’ Thinking about it caused him headaches, and he wasn’t feeling up to wanting to figure it out. Not right now. Not after the day he had. He sat on the edge of his bed and began to cry. ‘Why is this happening to me?’

Only if he knew it would go downhill before it would get better for him anytime soon.