"What do you mean? It's not Friday yet", I say aggressively

"I know. I want you to come live with me for a while. I don't think it's safe for you to be in this house alone.", he says

"How do you know I'm here alone?"

"Your mother's lawyer called me"

"I don't need you to protect me. You never wanted to when I was a kid. You don't get that privilege now that I'm older"

"What do you mean? I've always wanted to protect you Kelsie. You're my daughter"

"Really? Where was this mentality when you left?", I say back

"it's not like I wanted to leave you. I had to make the best decision for myself", he said

"What about me?!", I scream, my chin trembling out of rage and tears start falling onto my cheeks. "Who was going to make a decision for me?! You're my father! You were supposed to protect me! To be there for me! But you left. You chose someone else.....you left me", I cried, "how could you leave me?

"Kelsie. I'm sorry that I hurt you but I'm here now and I'm trying so hard to show you that I'm sorry and that I know it wasn't fair. All I'm asking for is a chance"

"It's too late...Kevin", I whisper, wiping away my tears with my sleeve. "It's far too late"

***

The blasting sound of my alarm wakes me up suddenly and an unexpected groan leaves my lips. I cover my head with my pillow and try to gain strength to actually get out of bed today. I let out a soft yawn as I finally slip out of bed and stretch. Thankfully, I managed to send all of my moms software to Noah last night through my ready eyes. I don't really remember my entire conversation with Kevin though, nor do I want to.

My body shivers when my feet touch the cold floor while I walk towards the bathroom. My reflection almost shocks me as I stare at myself in the mirror. My skin is pale and the circles under my eyes are darker. Even a blind person could see that I'm clearly not coping with everything that's been going on.

I quickly take my shower and get dressed then head downstairs. I choose to skip breakfast and then pick up my backpack before locking the door behind me and taking a quick detour to the police station to see my mom.

"Hi", she says. Her voice is raspy and her hair is a mess. She looks how I feel

"Hey"

"Why're you here Kelsie? You're supposed to be in Echo Creek"

"You set that up?"

"Yes. I did", she tells me, "I just want you to be safe"

"I found a way to get you out of here", I say quickly to avoid the hard subject, "I know about Mr. M"

"How much do you know?"

"Not enough I'm sure. But I know that you worked for him"

"....he's going to kill you if I let them carry on Kylie's investigation. He told me so", she whispers and I can feel the fear in her voice

"What did you do for him mom? If we get proof we can hand it in and they'll at least let you out of police custody if they know that you're being threatened to stay silent"

"Just leave it Kelsie. You don't know what you're doing"

"I do", I say back, "tell me the truth mom. Let me help you. Please"

She takes a shaky breath and begins to tell me everything.
"I asked for a favor concerning Ashley and the entire secret. The secret that continues to ruin my family", she starts, "I knew that it would have consequences but I didn't know how grand they would be. I did a bunch of petty jobs for him, stealing, dealing and occasionally snooping around but when I got old enough, I was about to be done with the entire operation and he told me I had one final task. To burn down a house. I thought, it wasn't a big deal. The worst thing I could be charged for was vandalism of public property or something and besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't say no. So I did it"

"... I went over to Larkspur Lane and burnt down the little red house sitting at the end of the street.", she continued, "When the fire got rapid, I started to hear little screams......There were two girls in there Kelsie. And I killed them"

I gasp and my blood stands still for a second.

"I sent him a video of myself starting the fire. He asked me to, as proof and he has it with him now as blackmail", she whimpers, "if I let Kylie go under investigation, I'd be charged with death and Mr. M will take your life. He said so"

"I sent those threats to someone who can decrypt them. If we show the police the threats you were sent, maybe that'll change something in your favor mom. What do you really have to lose?"

***

I peep inside the classroom through the little patch of glass at the top of the door. My teacher's already started with the lesson. Great, I'm tired, emotionally exhausted and I'm late.

I decide to just skip first period entirely and take some time for myself. I walked to the bleachers and sat down on one of the empty benches. I ruffled around in my backpack looking for Kylie's diary and I realized that it isn't in there.

That's weird. I haven't taken it out of my backpack in almost 3 weeks. I empty my backpack completely and look some more before accepting the reality.

Somebody's stolen Kylie's diary.

*****

Her readers! Sorry I didn't post last week, I really just didn't know where the story was going by thankfully, my plotting is back on track and I have a double update to make up for last week so please don't kill me! Haha

Chapter's Question: Who do you think could've stolen Kylie's diary? And why?

Don't forget to vote, comment and share!

Thank you for reading❤️

-xoxo, Lakish'a

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