Chapter 8

 The sunlight shone through Callie’s bedroom curtains.  After what happened last night she went back home. Toby had taken Emily to the hospital, so she was fine. Callie didn’t really see much of a reason to stick around.

She doesn’t know why Toby just took Emily there instead of hurting her like he did to Callie. Maybe it was because they thought Callie knew their secret. Well, she does now.

Luckily, she didn’t get caught sneaking back into her house as he father was still out like a light. She returned her phone and went straight to bed.

On the down side, she was still being held captive at home. No friends over, no school, no social life at all. Besides her dad and he was getting boring.

Callie rolled out of bed and headed downstairs, to her immediate surprise Rick had already left for work. Which meant for the rest of the day she was completely free. 

The door creaked open as she entered her father’s bedroom, searching for her phone. It wasn’t there. She sighed, accepting her defeat, walking into the kitchen. She froze in place, there was a note on the fridge.

𝐻𝑒𝓇𝑒’𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝒽𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓏𝑒𝒹 𝐼 𝓂𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒹𝒶𝓎, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼’𝓂 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎. 𝒜𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝐼 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝓈𝒶𝒻𝑒. 𝒮𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝒾𝒹𝒹𝑜

 – 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝒹

A smile creeped on her lips. She picked her phone up and saw all the missed calls and texts from Spencer. The girl really had been trying to check in with her. Callie would need to talk with her later.

———

“Jenna, visited you?” Callie asked Emily, sitting next to her on the girl’s bed. The Fields nodded. “Why?”

“She wants me to get the file about her and Toby.” Emily said shrugging, a brace covering her right wrist. “Said, I owed it to her.”

Callie scoffed. “The hell you do.” Her eyes flickered to a plate of cookies on the bedside dresser. Then she looked back at Emily. “Please don’t tell me you ate one of those.” Emily shook her head, denying the allegation. “Good. She could’ve poisoned it with her witchy juju.” Callie shivered.

Emily tilted her head at her with a sly smile. “Oh, so Jenna’s a witch now?”

“Yes! Absolutely, I wouldn’t put it pass her.” She sighed, looking around the room. “Have you called the others or talked to them?”

“Yeah. They were here earlier catching me up.” She hummed. “So, your dad.” Callie met her eyes. “He finally let you out of the house.”

Callie mocked a groan. “Yes.” She flopped back onto Emily’s bed. She exaggerated, dragging her hands across her face like it would relieve her of all the stress. “Can I tell you something?”

Emily’s eyes widened. “Of course, Cal.”

The Anderson snickered peering up at her. “Wow. You’re eager.”

“I.. Well- Yeah. You barely talked to any of us about anything even remotely serious.” She quickly said, expressing with her hands. 

Callie sat up, tucking in her knees. “That’s not true.” She frowned.

“Cal..”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. I’m sorry. Now can I tell you?” Emily accepted, Callie exhaled deeply. She hadn’t told this to anyone obviously but she knew she needed to.  “Okay..” She fiddled with her fingers, growing nervous. Emily reached over and intertwined their fingers, trying to give her support. “Toby was the one who kidnapped me. Even though, everyone knew that already.” She let out a breathless laugh. “I don’t know..” Her eyes became watery. She swallowed a lump form, firm. Not going anywhere. It burned violently and Callie started to feel like she couldn’t breath. “I.. It’s so- so- stupid. I can’t stop think about how cold it was in that room. How.. How empty it was.” She blinked, tears falling down her cheeks. Emily brushed them away gently, telling her to go on. “How tightly my hands were cuffed. So tight- that.. it burned. And sometimes I can still feel it, Em.” She sobbed shortly. “And it hurts. It hurts so much, I just want it to stop.”

Emily dragged Callie down, tucking her head into her chest. Brushing her fingers through her hair, shirt stained from tears. She sobbed into the girl’s arm feeling completely safe, more safe than ever felt before in her life. And there was only one time she felt this sort of safe was when she opened up to Spencer at Noel Kahn’s party. 

Perhaps letting people know how you’re truly feeling can be beneficial. Maybe Callie should do it more. This is what it felt like to have a true friend. One that doesn’t judge you but holds you when you cry. 

——-

The next day at school, Spencer was at her locker with Emily.

“Hey, are you taking something for the pain?” Spencer asked Emily, who was wincing at a headache.

She rested her hand, nodding. “Yeah, but nothing that dulls my mother.” Spencer scoffs as does Emily. “She’s got a zillion questions and they’re getting harder to dodge.”

Spencer retorted, thinking back. “I can’t believe Jenna was in your house.” Then she gasped eyes on Emily once more, filled with worry. “You didn’t eat that cookie, did you?”

Emily smiled, small. “You know, Callie asked me the same thing. I didn’t, no.”

The Hastings’ brows raised at the name of the girl. She was going to speak up but then her cell phone beeped with a notification.  She opened her phone checking, exhaling. “It’s okay. It’s not from ‘A’ I think we can finally stop flinching every time our phones ring.” Then she smiled. “Hey, it’s from Alex.”

Emily watched as Spencer texted the boy. “So, I take it you and Callie aren’t seeing each other anymore?”

Spencer jumped like someone practically jumped out and scared her, body suddenly alert. “What?” Her eyes widened, words caught in her throat. “We- I’m not.. She’s not- We didn’t break up!”

“Oh. So you two are together?”

“What? No! That’s.. Stop. You know what I’m trying to say.” She coughed fixing her hair, closing her locker. Emily looked amused, smiling to herself. “Callie and I are just friends.” She pursed her lips together. “Really, great, good friends.”

Emily chuckled. “Okay, Spence.”

“Alex just blew off our do-over date.” She rushed to change the subject. She sighed. “Says he has to work.”

“Well, that sounds legit.”

Spencer shook her head. “It’s not. Club is closed on Mondays.” She walked away, continuing down the hallway. Students conversing among themselves. “I don’t understand why he’d lie.”

Emily shrugs, clueless as ever. “Callie wouldn’t lie.”

“Emily!”

“Just saying.”

——-

Emily, Hanna, Spencer, and Callie sat by the window. There wasn’t enough room so Callie stood beside Spencer. “So, is Toby dead?” Hanna asked.

“I couldn’t bring myself to ask.” Emily said shaking. “Jenna was so upset. But his bike… It looked like it was-” She exhaled deeply, reluctantly. “Like it was wrecked.”

“Well, I’m not gonna cry over this and neither should you.” Spencer told Emily. She seemed to be blaming herself for being his friend.

Hanna gasped, jumping in. “Spencer, if she liked him she can cry about it.”

“Well, I’m sorry for speaking.” She said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Her eyes fell onto Callie, who had been oddly quiet. “Are you okay?”

Callie flinched slightly before settling back in, realizing it was just Spencer. “Yeah.” She fake smiled. “All good, Caesar.”

Spencer knew she was lying but decided to leave it alone. If Callie wanted to talk about it she would. “Look, she’s right. I, I can’t tell you what to feel.” She motioned to Emily.

“I’m sorry for what I said about your family yesterday. I didn’t mean it.” Hanna eyed Spencer.

She shrugged. “It’s true, you’re not the first person to think it.” Suddenly Emily’s phone beeped.

“It’s probably just Aria.” Hanna waved it off, acknowledging the intensity in the atmosphere. “Something weird’s going down at her house.”

🇹🇭🇦🇳🇰🇸 🇫🇴🇷 🇬🇪🇹🇹🇮🇳🇬 🇹🇴🇧🇾 🇴🇺🇹 🇴🇫 🇲🇾 🇼🇦🇾. 

— 🇦

Spencer immediately grabbed Emily’s phone, reading the message for herself and it was real.

“What is it?” Hanna asked peering over both girls.

“A message from A.” Callie said reading along. “This shit just keeps gradually getting greater.” She inhaled deeply, pacing the room. “I mean, really, what does this fucker want?” Emily rubbed her head in her hands. “Let’s just go to the cops.” They stared at her like she had lost her mind. “I’m serious! Aren’t you guys tried of being constantly taunted?”

“We can’t, Callie. You know that.” Spencer rubbed her hands together.

“I don’t know shit!” 

“Obviously.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She grabbed her bag, flinging it around her shoulder. She fixed her hair slightly. “I’ll just go by myself.” Her hand reached out and twisted the door knob. 

Spencer’s hand gripped her wrist pulling it away. “Stop. You know what A will do.”

“Who fucking cares?!”

“We care!” She shouted back. Callie eyes searched hers, finding genuine fear. Spencer’s breathing started to be come erratic. “So, can you please just sit back down? Before you do something utterly stupid.”

 Callie nodded taking Spencer’s hand which she offered. They walked back together, sitting side by side on the bed, hands never leaving each other’s.

Hanna and Emily shared sneaky glances.

——————-

A/N: short chapter lol

CHAT IM COOKING WITH THE UPDATES