Danielle Panabaker as Kennedy White.

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Alison's P.O.V

I fluttered my eyes open, completely disoriented. My head was throbbing and my sore leg didn't help either. I heard the blender go on and off downstairs.

Shit

I looked at the time. It was half past eight and I had only fifteen minutes left to get to school. I got up and ran towards the bathroom to freshen up. I felt a lot better after a quick shower so I threw on a black knee length shirt along with black jeans. I let my brown wavy hair fell over my shoulders. When I was satisfied with my look, I headed downstairs. 

I saw my dad and uncle struggling with the blender. I laughed when my father grunted, trying to get the lid to open.

"Let me do it. You go make coffee." I took over the poor blender and let my father make coffee. When he was done, I grabbed the cup and ran outside.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast?" I heard my uncle yell.

"No, I'm late." I said and ran out the door.

I entered the building of my school and went towards my locker. The hallways were empty which meant that classes had started. I made an attempt to get my things before the warning bell rang but halted in the steps when I saw my gang gathered up near my locker. They hadn't seen me yet because they were busy talking in hushed voices. It was wrong for me to eavesdrop but they looked suspicious the way the locked left and right before whispering. I neared them as I heard something.

"I don't think she knows." 

"We shouldn't tell her."

"Yeah, it's false hope." 

"No, we should tell her because this is big." I decided to make an appearance. 

"Tell me what?" I asked. Kennedy and Walter made eye contact.

"Guys?" I asked again when no one responded. Kennedy spoke up.

"You know what, screw this." She said taking out her phone. Walter, Tris and Callie did the same. I sent them a questioning glance. 

"So yesterday, we got a message..." Callie started but I cut her. I had a really bad habit of interrupting these days.

"I'm not the only one who got the I'm alive message, am I?" Their expressions replied as they gave me a look. I checked their phones and saw that they were sent a recording too. I played Kennedy's recording.

"Hey Didi. I'm alive and I'm in trouble." I gasped. 

"Eric is the only one who called me Didi." Kennedy wiped a tear. She was pretty emotional.

"He had a different nickname for everyone." Walter said as Tris agreed. I was too shocked to say anything. Could Eric really be alive? The second bell rang, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I have to get to class." I pulled my bag over my shoulder but Callie stopped me.

"We are ditching class to go to Meadow Valley. We need some answers." The girls got their bags and started walking but I stopped them.

"No, we can do this after school." 

"I have Soccer practice, Tris has ballet." Walter replied. I sighed and went along with them. We ran out before the Principal comes on round to see if everyone had gone to class. We drove in Walter's car to the Valley nearby. That was our usual hangout before everything that happened. Walter parked his car near the huge oak tree before we all got out. Callie, Kennedy and Walter went to wards the bench and sat down. I stopped to look at the trunk of the oak tree. Our names were still encarved on the tree from two years ago. I smiled as I remembered.

                                                             ***Flashback***   

"Thank you." Eric said, smiling at all of us. Callie and I stopped laughing.

"For what?" Kennedy asked. Eric smiled at each of us.

"Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for being the best friends you all are. You have been with me through thick and thin and for that I'm grateful. Thank you for making me smile through the pain. And just thank you...for just being you." Walter stared at Eric confusingly after he gave his little thank you speech.

"Bro, are you okay?" Walter asked, trying to control his laugh but failing.

"What? I'm fine." Eric said.

"What's gotten into you, Ric. You were never the cheesy mushy type." Kennedy said, laughing.

Eric shrugged. "I didn't know you were considered cheesy if you said thank you." 

We all turned our heads when we heard a snap. Tris stood by the tree, trying to do something to its bark. I asked her what she was doing.

"This oak tree has a soft bark apparently. I'm carving my name in it to mark my territory." She said as she cracked a smile. 

"Great idea." I said and got up to write mine. The rest of them followed me, each grabbing a rock. When we were done carving our names, Eric enclosed our names in a heart. 

"Always and forever." He said.

"Always and forever." We all said after him.

                                                                      ***Flashback***  

Tris snapped her fingers in front of me, pulling me out of my daydream. 

"Earth to Allie." She said. I snapped out of it and looked towards her. Then, I looked at our names again.

"I miss those times too." Tris said, as if reading my mind. She patted my on the back and led me towards the others. We all sat down and opened the recordings as we listened to each one of them. I took off my locket that I had worn again in the morning and repeated what I did last night. I traced each gem on the necklace before I heard a click, grabbing Callie's attention.

"That's so cool. Can I have it?" She asked but I shook my head. Walter spoke up.

"What is it?" 

"Eric gave this to me three weeks before he died. He told me that this will keep us close and no matter what, he'd always be able to find me as long as I wore this at all times. He also promised that he'd never leave me alone." I paused when I remembered how he broke that promise.

"Yesterday, I was playing around with this when I found out that it's not a necklace,rather it's a locket. This is what came out when I opened it." I showed them the paper. Walter took it and tried to read what was written on it.

"You won't be able to read it without a microscope."

"What does it say? Did you read it yet?" Tris spoke. I gave her the other paper I had which had the message written on it. She gasped as soon as she read it. Each one of them read the message.

"What does this mean?" Kennedy asked. I shrugged.

"Beats me." Walter kept staring at the paper. I shot him a look before saying.

"Walter?" He didn't reply, rather took a twig and rubbed the paper that I took out of the locket. 

"What are you doing?" I looked at him, confusingly. He didn't reply rather kept rubbing the paper gently, making sure he doesn't rip it. Then, he showed it to me.

"You see." I looked at the paper. Now the ink of the small words were smudged. 

"What?" I asked, still confused. He sighed.

"The ink is smudged. It means that..." 

"That this was written not so long ago." Kennedy completed the sentence for him.

"One year is long ago." I replied.

"Who says it was written a year ago." Walter said.

"Dead people don't generally write." Tris said, stating the obvious. We ignored her.

"Your point being?" I asked Walter to stop beating around the bush.

"Eric is alive and he wrote this maybe a day ago. He wanted you to open the locket when you did." Walter replied and we all went silent.

Is this what pin drop silence feels like? Because I was definitely feeling it. Even the birds decided to shut up.

"That's absurd." Callie broke the silence.

"Think about it. We  didn't really see the dead body did we?" Walter said. I stopped him right there.

"I did." 

"Did you see his face?" He asked me, challengingly.

"No, it was covered with blood and cuts."

"Exactly. It could've been someone else." He said.

"Why would someone else be wearing my brother's necklace." I asked. That shut him up. He didn't reply, thinking of an answer.

"A necklace is a necklace. It could've been another one." Callie suggested.

"No, it was exactly like mine." I said, clearly remembering the golden pendant being exactly like the one my brother had.

"No, maybe someone else had the same necklace. Maybe someone other than you was given that necklace by Eric. What if someone else had been in this mess?" Walter said. His finger on his chin, tapping it every now and then.

"I mean, we know that Eric was involved in something right? Something that got him killed." Walter explained himself.

"Aren't the cops supposed to be dealing with this. They are professionals, we aren't." Kennedy spoke up.

"Yeah, like how the cops did a good job finding Ric's murderer. They closed the case after 3 months." I replied. It was getting late and my dad would be worried as to why I haven't reached home yet. 

"Let's see what we know. First of all...Eric was being stalked." Walter said.

"How do we know for sure?" Tris asked. 

"He said so himself, in the paper."

"Somebody else could've put that in her locket. When do you take the locket off, Allie?" Tris asked.

"When I'm taking a bath." 

"I think, Eric put that in there." Cassie and Kennedy agreed with Walter.

"It still doesn't prove he was being stalked." Tris argued. Walter face-palmed himself, earning a smack from Tris.

"No, I agree with Walter. There were times when Eric was really paranoid. He used to look behind his shoulder everytime we went outside. Our late night adventures slowly stopped. He became really secretive and he would jump every time his phone rang." I said. Tris didn't say anything further.

"Okay, let's try this again. We know that Eric put the message in Allie's locket. We know that he was being stalked and that there's a possibility that he's still alive. Agree?" We all nodded. If he was alive all this time, why would he wait for a year to pass? I didn't voice my thoughts but Callie did.

"If he's alive then there's a family out there, waiting for their son to come home. They don't know that their son is dead and buried in someone else's grave." She said. Who is buried in Eric's grave if it isn't him? I looked up to see a flock of birds going towards their nests. It was almost sunset. I texted my dad, telling him that I was coming home in half an hour.

"It's getting late guys. We can't guarantee anything without proof. Let's think about this another day." I said.

"Friday sounds good?" Tris asked.

"Friday after school." I said, stressing on 'after school'. We all agreed and wrapped our things up. I felt a huge migraine coming on. All this information was a lot to absorb in just a day. The guys went towards the car but I stopped to give the tree another look. Something caught my eye.

                                                                                        269990

I stared at the 6 digit number written in the corner. That is weird. I could tell it was Eric's writing. He always wrote nine as an upside down six. I shrugged it off. It's probably nothing.

I reached home before the sun set. My dad wasn't happy when he saw the time I reached home. I didn't tell him about school because that would make him flip over. He was pretty strict when it came to studies. I guess, that's why I was a straight A student. My mother never cared about my grades. She just wanted me to have manners and to be lady like. Maybe that's why we never got along, because I was pretty lazy and immature, always acting like a child. But, Eric death made me grow up faster than I had hoped. 

I entered my room, dismissing the thoughts of my mother. I decided to start on my history assignment. It was on the Mongols. I turned my laptop on and searched a few pics of Changez Khan. I saved his picture in my documents. Then I opened my documents. I was about to open the folder containing the pictures of Changez Khan but stopped when I saw another folder beneath it. It was named 269990. I clicked on it twice, revealing a video. 

I clicked the video and my notebook fell from my hands when I heard the first sentence. 

"Hey Al. I'm alive and I'm in trouble." My brother's face shown on the screen spoke.

Tears stars flowing as I stared at his face. I paused the video. There was no way I'd be able to watch it now. I wasn't crying because I saw him. I was crying when I saw the date. The date when this video was made. It was made yesterday.

I stood there shocked as reality started to sink in. My brother is alive.

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 Hey guys. Cliffhanger eh?

What do you guys think will happen next? Will she watch the whole video? Let me know in the comments section below. Remember to vote and comment.

Byeee