chapter four!  Your house is haunted ☆

Everyone knew where they lived. How couldn't they? They were harassed for months after everything that happened with Sal and Andie. 

Kids would taunt each other, daring one another to approach the Singh's front door, yelling and laughing. The Singh's had become totally isolated, secluded from the rest of Little Kilton's residents. 

Cassie often walked past the house, holding her breath as she did. She was still sceptical, even if in the back of her mind she believed Sal was innocent. Each day for the past five years she had been listening to everyone expressing their disbelief on how someone Andie trusted so much could hurt her. She'd been fed with the information that Sal was guilty and that the Singh family were bad people. She couldn't help but have a small piece of her believe them, feeling guilty when she did. 

So, even though she was assured that everything was okay, welcomed in along with Pippa, standing in the Singh's living room felt awfully wrong. Cassandra couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety bubbling in the pit of her stomach, it didn't help that she was overthinking if anyone had seen her enter and later exit. Cassie knew that if she had known this was where Pippa would have taken her, she would've ran. She had to admit, it was a smart move on Pip's behalf. 

"No, I'm alright, thank you." Cassie smiled slightly, declining the glass of water she was offered. Pip stood beside her, more sober than before, the anxiety of the situation clearing her head and making her more alert.

There were distant footsteps and Ravi appeared in the stairway, exchanging a few words with his mother before he approached them. Cassie froze, mind blank and a tightness in her chest, one she knew wasn't going to go away until she was back in the fresh air and free of any worry the tense situation caused her. There was no way this could end well. Bells weren't meant to interact with Singhs. Not anymore.

Pip apologised to him for their last interaction, eyes glassy when she thought he would turn them down. To both of their surprise, Ravi led them upstairs. Cassandra followed behind them, hesitantly entering Sal's bedroom. She felt out of place. 

His room was blank, empty. All of Sal's belongings were in boxes which were scattered around the room. There were no personal belongings on the shelves, nothing hung up on the walls. It felt cold, as though Sal had been completely erased, his memory stuffed into boxes. Cassie was aware that the Singhs never got the option to grieve their son fully, perhaps this was easier than waiting.

Andie's room had been left completely as she'd left it, as if time had frozen the second she left her room for the last time. She wasn't sure if it was because her family had hope of her return or if they didn't dare enter her room and disrupt any memory of her.

"It's Sal's." Ravi spoke, diverting Cassie's attention back to the situation at hand. She looked over Pip's shoulder at the phone in her hands. Pip unlocked the phone, immediately opening the conversation between Sal and his dad, the person he wrote the confession to. All his previous messages were written in the same way; no punctuation and grammatically incorrect. Until the last. It was perfect, with no faults whatsoever. 

"Sal didn't write the message, that's clear." Cassie voiced, uncertain if she should. She didn't want to overstep. 

"So, who did?"

"I guess that's what we need to find out." Ravi looked at Pip, a shared understanding between them, and the blonde couldn't help but smile in relief when Ravi glanced over at her too.

☆

A heavy sigh left her lips as she placed her keys on the kitchen table, slouching into the closest chair to her. 

Cassie ran her fingers through her hair, before settling her chin into the palm of her hand. Sal's phone clutched tightly in the other, her thumb hovering over Andie's contact. 

She'd been re-reading their messages every opportunity she got. Her heart aching less and less every time her eyes caught sight of Andie's smile. Cassandra was grateful that Pip gave it to her to look over, stating that she'd got all the information she needed for now and she had a few days before she wanted to give it back. Andie didn't speak of Sal much when she was at the Bell house, so any crumbs of their relationship Cassie had to find out for herself. Andie loved Sal. That was definite.

Her own phone buzzed next to her, lighting up to a notification from Pip. She didn't expect to hear from anyone for another few weeks, the last update she received was the voice note of Pip's interview with one of Andie's friends, Emma. To her annoyance, Emma was no help, and she wasn't sure that the snippets of information she did disclose were trustworthy enough. She wasn't familiar enough with Andie's friends to help. 

Intrigued, she opened the group chat the brunette created to see a message urging Cassie and Ravi to meet her.

The air was still crisp, and sunlight bled through the gaps between trees, illuminating the dew drops that highlighted the grass. Nat Da Silva was their new topic of interest, Pip taking it upon herself to interview every person she deemed necessary.

Nat Da Silva's voice played from Pip's phone speakers, Pip skipping ahead to the end of the interview; "You don't know what you're digging up. Be careful."

"Well, that's not weird at all." Cassandra joked, sarcasm laced in her voice. She sent Pip a quick grin, legs swinging off the platform she was currently sitting on, trying to cover the confusion that was growing inside her. The case wasn't solved, not properly, and Nat's warning confirmed that.

Pip continued to explain their interaction; "And she got into a car with the guy from the party." Cassie glanced behind her. "It was probably Dan, her brother. He used to work for Jason." She stated matter of fact as if it was common knowledge.

Ravi and Pip conversed for a few short moments, the youngest Bell tuning them out until Ravi asked for Emma's number and Cassie's interest peaked. 

"You need lessons on how to impersonate a girl." Cassie took the phone out of Ravi's hands, continuing to message as Nat.

Emma responded 'Yeah. She found me at work. You?' Cassie reached over to hand Pip the phone, looking at her questioningly as she wrote back. Apparently Pip caught Nat at tennis, following her into the changing rooms. It was also how Pip and Cassie found out Nat's nudes were leaked years back, which she alluded to earlier in the interview. 

'I'm worried I slipped up about Andie's complicated love life.'

There was a pause, the three of them staring at the phone awaiting a response. Pip turned the phone slightly to allow them all to see the screen. 

Cassie's eyes were wide and expectant and her breath was caught in her throat, heartbeat unsteady, its echo ringing through her ears. She knew when deciding to help with the investigation she would most likely find out things about her sister. Andie kept secrets, but didn't everyone?

'You told her about secret older guy?' 

hey  loves! I'm so sorry about the late update, this past week has been crazy busy and there has been a lot going on recently <3

hope you are all okay, kisses !!!

also 1.38k reads already is insane!!