Heaven and Hell and a child named Delaney Chen
♱
(tw: strong language, mentions of domestic violence, and mentions of child abduction)

BREAKING NEWS!

Beacon Hills police have reported a 15-year-old girl missing who goes by the name of Delaney Chen. Delaney was last seen on June 10th which was two days ago on the last day of school at Beacon Hills High after a lacrosse game that she was cheerleading at. At 8:40 PM Delaney left her home to go to a friend's house and according to said friend, she never made it. Many of Delaney's friends, classmates, teachers, and even family members were interviewed by law enforcement this morning and the police are conducting a search party tonight and many more will take place over the next few weeks until Delaney is found. After the interviews that took place today, the sheriff of Beacon Hills, Noah Stilinski, has reason to believe that Delaney has been kidnapped.

What you now see on your screen is a picture of Delaney and according to her parents, she left the house wearing grey sweatpants, a white t-shirt, white sneakers, and a gold heart locket. Her mother said that the locket has a photo of Delaney and her sister in it and we will briefly broadcast that picture now. If you have any information about Delaney's whereabouts, have seen her, or find her dead or alive, please call the number currently on your screen. More missing person posters just like this one will be posted all over the town of Beacon Hills and the surrounding areas. As the police continue to investigate we will continue to report. Thank you, and goodnight.

Friday, June 12th, 9:00 AM
The Beacon Hills Police Department
Two days after the disappearance

Stiles:
Yesterday, when Delaney was officially reported missing the police got every high school student, teacher, and other authority figures in the area to confirm or deny if they saw or spoke to Delaney the day before. The names of those who said yes have been compiled into a list and are currently being interviewed by Sheriff Stilinski as well as a local detective, Detective Manson.

The room Stiles was in was brightly lit and the detective was sitting in front of him the only things sitting on the table was a clipboard and a tape recorder. It smelt like the cigarettes the detective had been smoking and the AC was blasting. Noah offered Stiles his sheriff's jacket but he didn't want to put it on. He was sitting next to Stiles and this might have been the worst he'd ever seen his son look since the death of his mother.

He had dark circles under his eyes, his lips were chapped and bruised from biting them, and he was still in his pajamas. He didn't even bother getting put together that morning he just rolled out of bed and got into the passenger seat of his father's car. "Before we start today, I am required to inform you that you are not under arrest nor are you a suspect in this crime as of right now. But, you were on the list of possible witnesses who told law enforcement that they saw or heard from Delaney Chen on June 10th of 2011." The Detective looks Stiles straight into his eyes.

The child's leg bounces so fast that it looks like it's going a thousand miles a minute and he refuses to make full eye contact with the man in front of him. He's too busy wondering where Delaney may be right now. Is she hurt? Struggling? Dying? "Can you please confirm or deny this with a simple yes or no?" The question Detective Manson asks snaps Stiles out of the web of thoughts in his mind.

Noah's gaze shifts over to his son who takes a second to breathe before answering the question. "Yes." It comes out as a weak and sad yes.

"I want to make you aware that this is not an interrogation and I want you to see this as more of an interview." Manson moved the tape recorder so that it was in front of Stiles. "Your father has consented to you being recorded and because you're a witness, anything you say in your statement today can and will be used in the court of law as evidence if it gets to that point and I heavily advise you to tell the truth and answer these questions with as much detail as possible. Do you understand?"

There was silence again for a second and Stiles still wasn't making eye contact as he picked at his nails. "Yes." He responded, nodding his head.

"If you or your parent are uncomfortable with any questions I ask you, you have the right to not answer." He slowly leaned across the table, pressing his pointer finger into the record button. "Please state your full name and age."

Stiles stared down at the table. "Mieczyslaw Marek Stilinski. I'll be sixteen in September." He answered in a shaky tone. "And please call me Stiles."

"And what is your relationship to Ms. Chen?" Manson clicked his pen, getting ready to make notes.

Stiles dragged his nails across his arm which was riddled with goosebumps. "We were lab partners in Biology."

"When and where was the last time you saw her?"

"The day she went missing during school." He watched as Manson scribbled on the paper. "I also saw her at the lacrosse game. She was cheering."

Manson looked up at him. "Did you speak to her that day?"

The memories of her started spinning in his head again. Stiles always had Delaney on his mind but now it was on an endless, gut-wrenching loop. And his thoughts were no longer happy ones. "Once. She signed my yearbook. It was just small talk and her telling me to have a good summer."

"Did she ever say anything to you about running away, her home life, or anyone trying to hurt her at all that year?" With the little information they had, the cops were mostly thinking that maybe Delaney ran away. Kidnapping never happened in Beacon Hills.

Stiles immediately shook his head. "No. We never talked about stuff like that and she doesn't seem like the type of person to run away. She did look upset at the game though."

"Did you see anyone talk to her that could have made her upset?"

"No." Stiles spoke through a deep breath. "She kind of had on this fake smile during the game. She would smile so big during the routine but the second the guys went back to playing she just had this scowl on her face. I've never seen her make that face before. It's not like her." He continued to stare at the table recalling the look on her face. Whenever Stiles thought of Delaney, he thought of her smile. Now all he can see is the anger that decorated her face while she was out on the field. "The day it happened Scott's sister told me she thought something happened to her but my dad couldn't do anything about it till the next day and we had no proof at the time."

"Is that all you remember about her from that day?" Manson asked.

"Yes, sir."

Noah and Manson glanced at each other before Manson had leaned over and stopped the recording. "Thank you, Stiles." He gave him a light smile that Stiles had no energy to reciprocate.

Noah's fingers brushed against his child's shoulder, making him look up. "Go in my office for a little, okay?"

"Okay." Stiles stood up and took one quick look at Manson before walking towards the door.

"Let me know if you need anything," Noah called out before Stiles could leave but he responded by shutting the door. Noah watched him with sad eyes through the glass window.

Lydia & Briella:
Briella treated every girl on the team as if they were her children. She was their mother. Two days ago, she lost one of her children and Lydia lost a sister. Lydia was slightly shocked by Briella's appearance today because she has never seen her with her hair unbrushed, with no concealer under her eyes, or gloss-less lips. Lydia stared down at the tape recorder, occasionally looking over to her mother who was watching her through the window. "You're on the cheerleading team with Delaney, correct?" Detective Manson asked, making both girls look up.

"Correct." The girls spoke in almost perfect unison.

"Did you speak to Delaney after the game?"

Briella sat up more in her chair. "Yes. When we were getting ready to leave I invited her to stay the night at my house because I was gonna host an end-of-the-year sleepover with all of the girls to celebrate our win."

"And what did she say?" Noah took a step closer from behind Manson's chair.

"She said she was going to go home to ask her mom and that she would call me and let me know. But I never got a call and she never showed up but I ended up canceling the sleepover."

Manson settled in his chair, lightly tapping his own against his clipboard. "Why?"

"Lydia told me that she was worried about Delaney."

Both men looked over at a silent Lydia and Noah took a step in front of her. "What happened, Lydia?"

Lydia looked up at Noah, her hand playing with the ends of her hair. "I got a call from Aria when I got to Briella's house. She said that Delaney was supposed to be with her and that she never showed up."

"Aria McCall?" Noah's eyebrows shot up.

Lydia nodded her head. "Yes."

Aria & Scott:
Scott was getting more concerned about his sister as the hours went by. Especially now as she sat in the chair next to him biting what was left of her nails. Delaney and Aria are best friends and it would be safe to say that Aria was absolutely losing her mind. "We have a reason to believe that you were the last person who spoke to Delaney before she went missing." Mason's eyes switched between the twins before they fully set on Aria. "What happened that night?"

Aria took a deep breath, trying not to explode from anxiety. "I had just broken up with my boyfriend after the lacrosse game and I called Delaney and she told me she was coming over but she never showed up."

"And what time did you call her?" Manson clicked his pen getting ready to write the information down.

"8:35," Aria responded with no hesitation, making Scott look over at her. "She lives a block away so after about 30 minutes I texted her and I never got a response so I called her and it went straight to voicemail. And phones only go straight to voicemail if they're dead or...broken." Aria took a small breath. "Or if you were blocked and I obviously wasn't blocked."

Scott watched the faces of both men in response to his sister's fast speech. "She watches true crime...a lot." He mentioned, trying to break the silence.

"So I called Lydia because I remembered Briella inviting us all to her house, so I wanted to know if Delaney showed up but she didn't so I told my brother to call Stiles." Aria continued.

"What happened when you called Stiles?" Manson questioned.

"He took us down to the station to talk to Mr. Stilinski. But Mr. Stilinski told us that he couldn't put out any amber alerts or missing persons reports until he had more information or after it's been twenty-four hours." Scott answered, slightly looking over at Noah.

Manson looked down at his notes, remembering something Aria had said. "Delaney lives down the block?"

"Yeah. I was worried because of the woods. It's not that far from our house." The small bit of information made Noah tense up. "I thought maybe if she was taken they could've pulled her into the woods while she was walking." All this time, Noah had believed that it was more than likely that Delaney had run away. But was it possible that she was kidnapped?

"Did Delaney say anything about anyone that might want to hurt her?" Noah asked.

"No." Aria was quick to answer.

"Did she seem on edge at all that day?"

Aria thought for a second. "She did actually, but I don't know why." She looked up at Manson. "I remember seeing her talking to Emily and Darika earlier that day before the game she looked upset. It might've been about her and her boyfriend they were having problems for a few weeks."

Her response made both of them look at each other.

Emily & Darika:
"Aria told us that Delaney was speaking to the two of you before the game. Do you remember what she said?"

Emily requested to have her sister, Erica in the room with her during the interview. When Manson asked that question, Emily squeezed Erica's hand and looked over at Darika. "Um..." Darika trailed off.

Noah leaned over in front of the girls. "Listen I know that you want to keep her business private but we're trying to find her."

"She was talking about her boyfriend." Emily cut off Darika who was about to speak. "They got into this huge fight before the game and he said some nasty things."

Manson blinked. "Nasty things like what?"

"He called her a bitch and he pushed her." Emily locked arms with her sister who made sure to stay quiet.

Darika noticed the concerned look in Noah and Manson's eyes. "It wasn't anything drastic he just pushed her back a little and she slipped into a locker behind her and kind of scraped her shoulder because she was wearing her cheer uniform."

"She was just ranting about it and we told her that he was being mean to her for a few weeks and that she should maybe end it," Emily added.

Manson didn't want to believe it but he's seen many cases in his lifetime where the boyfriend was the one committing unspeakable crimes to the girlfriend. "Did she ever tell you that she intended to break up with him?"

"No." Emily shook her head.

"She didn't talk to him during the game or after because I was with her. She just went home." Darika confirmed.

"What is this boyfriend's name?" Manson asked as he pulled out the list of names they had.

"Zeke Mendoza," Darika answered.

Zeke:
Zeke was shaking in his seat and his mother sat next to him slightly eyeing Stiles who was now back in the room and staring at Zeke. He was in a chair next to his father with his Lacrosse stick in his hand that Noah was helping him to re-string the head of. He promised to take him and Scott to practice Lacrosse after the interviews. He and Melissa thought it would help take their minds off everything. "I'm sorry, who is this boy?" Mrs. Mendoza asked, gesturing towards Stiles.

Noah looked up at her. "My son. He won't be trouble. I just can't leave him home by himself." He turned to Stiles, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Put your headphones on, Sti."

Stiles glanced over at Zeke before putting the wired headphones into his iPod. "You're Delaney's boyfriend, correct?" Manson asked after putting the tape recorder on.

"Y-Yes." Zeke stuttered, looking down at his hands.

Zeke's mother could barely get him to eat anything. All he was doing was lying in bed only leaving to pee and take a shower. He hasn't spoken to her or anyone else but his mother practically forced food down his throat this morning. "Her friends told us that you two got into a fight before your lacrosse game. They said that..." Manson pulled out his notes and began skimming over them. "You called her a bitch and pushed her. She fell into the locker behind her and scraped her shoulder." He looked back up at Zeke who was surprisingly looking back at him with wide eyes. "Is that true?"

Zeke took one look at his mother before answering. "Yes." He admitted. "But it's not what you think. She was standing about an inch away from the locker when I pushed her back by her shoulder she slipped. I apologized immediately." He said, defensively.

"My son has some anger issues that we're trying to work on with therapy." Mrs. Mendoza placed a gentle hand over her son's shoulder who gave her a scowl. "But he was home all night he didn't do anything."

"We're not accusing anyone, Mrs. Mendoza," Noah confirmed.

Manson turned his attention back over to Zeke. "What did Delaney say to you after that?"

"She just cursed me out. We didn't talk for the rest of the night. I tried calling and texting but she never responded. I thought she was still mad at me until my friend Jackson called me. Lydia told him Delaney went missing."

"What was Delaney's home life like?" Noah leaned forward a little. "Did she ever tell you?"

"Her and her mom don't have that bad of a relationship. They fight sometimes but they always make up. But her dad..." Zeke paused. Noah watched him gulp and look back down again.

"What about her dad?" Noah inquired.

Zeke sighed and made eye contact with him. "He's a dick." He blurted out, immediately regretting his choice of words. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Go on." Manson smiled at him.

"He's really argumentative. And he um..." Zeke took a second to think. At first, he wasn't going to tell them because Delaney made him promise never to tell anyone. But if it was going to help them find her, he had to tell them. "He hits her sometimes. Not in an extremely abusive way but just like slaps across the face and hair pulls. Sometimes he starts arguments for no reason over something stupid like her room not being clean just so he can yell at her. He scares her."

Noah stared at him with anger. If her father's behavior was what drove Delaney to end up in her current situation, it could've been stopped. What if she's dead because of this? Were all things going through Noah's head. "And you never told anyone!?" Noah raised his voice a little.

"She told me not to." Zeke fired back.

Manson eyed Noah, making the man lean back in his chair and running a hand over Stiles' scalp in the process. He sat there silently now, avoiding the judgmental eyes of the boy's mother. "On the days leading up to her disappearance did they have any type of fight?"

"Not that I know of. But I know he didn't come to the lacrosse game. He's a lawyer so he works a lot but he usually comes if he's not working." Zeke mentioned. By the way Manson was looking at him he started to assume that maybe to police thought this had something to do with him. "But I don't think her father would do anything like that. He's mean but he's not a psycho."

Sylvia, Darby, & Arwen:
Sylvia, Delaney's mother, was probably taking the news of her disappearance worse than anyone else. Sylvia was very adamant that someone had taken her child and would burn the world to a crisp to find out who did it.

Her niece, Arwen also had the same feeling. And her other daughter, Darby was just in shock. She flew down from New York yesterday and she was still convinced that Delaney would just walk back in through the front door in no time. Since this was the last interview of the day, Stiles moved back towards the front of the station, waiting for Noah to finish up. "Where is your husband today?" Manson asked Sylvia.

"He has work," Sylvia replied quickly. She was tired of answering questions about her husband. "My husband didn't do this. I told you he was home when Delaney left and he stayed home that whole night."

"We're not accusing your husband, Mrs. Chen. We just think that it may be possible that your daughter ran away because of the way your husband treats her."  Sylvia rolled her eyes in response to Noah.

"We're weighing out all of our options," Manson added.

Sylvia put her hands down on the table, which slightly startled Manson. "Delaney and Markus have a rocky relationship but Delaney would never run away. And even if she did she would call her cousin or her sister beforehand. I know she would go right to them or one of her friends if she truly wanted to run away."

"And Delaney didn't call you did she?" Noah looked over at Darby.

Darby shook her head. "No. We talked on the phone the day before she seemed like her usual self."

"Arwen, you were at school that day right?" Manson asked and Arwen nodded her head. "Did you talk to your cousin at all that day?"

Arwen and Delaney didn't have much time to interact during school. They were closer when they were younger but once high school started and Delaney started cheerleading, they only talked to each other in a few classes. "I didn't talk to Delaney that much. She was busy with cheer stuff. We only talked in class. But it was just normal girl talk. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"She didn't say anything about maybe her boyfriend? Or anything that may have been odd?" Manson added on.

"No."

Sylvia didn't want to feel like she was wasting her time with the cops. Because there were measures that she would go to in order to find Delaney. But, she didn't know if she was ready to open that book again. "Somebody took my child. I know it."

"After what we heard today, I believe that too." Hearing those words from Noah made Sylvia finally crack a smile.  "We're going to send search parties all over town and especially in the woods starting tonight and nobody is allowed outside after 9:30 PM unless they're working. We'll be working overtime to find your daughter."

"Thank you, Sheriff."

🐺

It was about 9 PM and there were groups of people going around town, looking for Delaney. Noah was leading the group going through the woods. Almost everyone was calling out her name as they shined flashlights through the darkness. Stiles was next to his father for a while before he felt something on the ground that hit his toe. He groaned, looking down at his feet.

When the flashlight shone on the ground, he saw something beneath the leaves. It was pink and sparkling in his face. He leaned down and picked it up. It was a phone with a pink, bedazzled case. It was Delaney's phone. "Hey, Dad?" Stiles stared down at it. When he didn't get a response he looked up and yelled out for him. "Dad!"

Noah came running. At first, he thought Stiles was hurt but then he saw what was in his hand. "What is it, Stiles?"

"I found something. This is Delaney's phone." He held it out to him.

"Are you sure?" Noah questioned before taking it into his hands.

"Yes, I remember the case."

Noah inspected it. There were no cracks or damage on it and when he tried to turn it on, he realized it was dead. "Well, it's definitely not broken." He muttered. Now Noah was sure that something horrible was happening to Delaney right now.

KARISSA SPEAKS!

—This prologue is long asf😭it might as well have been the first chapter but oh well 🤷🏽‍♀️