༺❦༻

❝ and the truth of the matter
is, i'll never let you go, let
you go ! ❞

mary on a cross, ghost.

THE YEAR IS now 1978. after vance hopper got kidnapped last spring, it's been around 10 months. and in between those months, another boy disappeared: griffin stagg.

jaelin didn't know much about griffin, but she still felt bad for his family. missing posters were plastered all around town, and every time she saw one she felt sick to her stomach. griffin was only 11.

you'd think that after two boys' disappearances that the town would be more safer about their children, but you'd be wrong. not much has changed after, only a few earlier curfews here and there.

her mother never really cared about her whereabouts, knowing jaelin never goes out much and only ever goes to three places: the grab n go, finney's house and robin's house.

jaelin and her mother still had a distant relationship- or even a nonexistent one. it was like they knew of each other, but never knew about each other. her mother was always working or going out late at night doing fuck all.

jaelin envied all the people who had good relations with their mother. considering the last good interaction she had was at christmas when the two were in the living room watching random christmas movies.

she was grateful for everything her mother provides for her- but she couldn't help but still feel empty. that's what made jaelin hate herself even more.

IT WAS EIGHT am, just in time for billy to be delivering the daily newspaper. jaelin used to enjoy opening the paper, but now as it was filled with pictures and details of griffin- she couldn't bare looking at the front page any longer.

she opened the door and casually waited for the paperboy. though, she never heard the familiar tires of his bike. instead, she only saw a flash of fur running up towards her.

she immediately grew concerned as soon as the dog barked up at her, looking at her then back at the street. she bent down to his level and ruffled his fur, "what is it, rover? where's billy?"

the dog barked and turned around, racing towards the streets. jaelin instantly shut her front door and ran after the dog. the cold-ish morning breeze hit her face but she didn't care, only focusing on rover in front of her.

after running almost halfway down the street, she spotted a bike tumbled over near the pavement. after running up to it, she saw it was none other than billy's bike, with all the newspapers spilling out of the basket.

she covered her mouth in shock, looking around the street and not seeing him anywhere. she panicked and took rover into her arms, petting him gently, "don't worry rover, we'll find him."

'i hope.'

she held back tears at the mere thought of him missing just like griffin. so with rover in her arms, she semi-sprinted back home and immediately went to the phone and contacted the police.

she told them what she saw and the street name. in a matter of minutes, two police cars and two detectives: detective wright and detective miller were at her house.

she thought it wasn't necessary for all the commotion: she hadn't actually seen him go missing, only his beloved bike and dog abandoned on the street.

jaelin sat on the couch with rover cuddled up in her lap. who knows what the poor dog has witnessed. the detectives and authorities have gathered the billy's bike and took it for further inspection.

even though jaelin didn't actually witness anything, she was still shaken up by the thought of billy going missing. or even kidnapped. both plausible assumptions due to her not believing billy could just leave rover and his bike willingly.

"what are your relations with billy showalter?"

frankly, she didn't understand how this could benefit them finding him. nonetheless, she answered it, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill.

"he's a friend of mine. every morning at exactly eight am i would wait outside for him to toss me the daily news paper on his bike along with rover." she told them, looking down at rover who was now asleep on her lap.

detective miller took down a few notes as detective wright nodded. "we'll inform your mother about this, and it's best if you stay inside for a couple days whilst we investigate the area."

DURING THE QUESTIONING, robin was making his way to jaelin's house as usual. then, something caught his eye. he was a few meters away when he saw what seemed to be police cars surrounding her house.

the worry in him grew and he switched from walking to a fast sprint towards her house. he slowed down once he got to her front porch, hoping jaelin didn't do anything..illegal.

there was a police officer guarding the front door. he thought nothing of it, and went to go to the door when suddenly he was stopped.

"excuse me, sir, but you can't enter during questioning." the man told him, blocking him from the door.

he wanted to so badly roundhouse him to the side, wanting to see jaelin and know what the hell was going on. but he figured it would get him into probably more trouble than he would've liked on a school morning, so he decided against it.

"my girl- best friend is in there. what's going on?" he asked him impatiently, crossing his arms. robin tried to put a tough demeanour on, but after that tiny slip up, a faint blush rose to his cheeks. he couldn't believe that word even attempted to spill out of his mouth in the first place.

the police officer shook his head, "i'm afraid i cannot tell you. now you best be off to school young man."

robin scoffed slightly, "no. not until i know she's okay. could you just let me go in?" he tried to manoeuvre his way towards the door, but the officer blocked him every time.

"don't make me call for back up." the man said sternly, reaching for what looked to be a tazer. robin's eyes widened- he couldn't believe that he was deemed threatening enough to have a tazer be used on him.

he couldn't decide wether to be cocky about getting on this man's nerves, or be in disbelief at the blatant racism. robin put his hands up slightly and stepped back a little, so that if the man did pull the tazer, robin could dodge it easily.

"officer there's no reason for that. i just want to see if my best friend is okay. i'm sure this would be a lot easier if you'd just let me in."
he tried to speak in a reasonable tone.

the officer was about to speak when suddenly the door opened behind them. there stood detective wright. he cleared his throat, "let the boy in." he told the officer.

the man said nothing but nodded, moving aside so robin could step through. robin knew of detective wright- considering he was one of the main investigators when it came to the missing kids.

wait- detective wright?

this only made robin more anxious. as he walked towards the house he managed to give the officer a slight smirk before entering. he looked around frantically until he found jaelin sitting on the couch with rover next to her.

he didn't hesitate to go towards her. jaelin noticed him and stood up as the two hugged each other comfortingly. robin brought one of his hands up and put it behind her head whilst jaelin slightly cried into his shoulder.

"call me if anything happens." detective wright handed robin a card to which he took silently, nodding at him once.

the two detectives soon left along with the police, leaving robin to try and comfort the girl in his arms. "jae, what happened..?" he asked in a soft tone, rubbing her back.

the girl sniffled and pulled away slightly so they both faced each other. robin cuffed her cheek and used his thumb to wipe away her tear stained face. "take your time. you don't have to tell me right now."

it was times like these where she was super grateful for robin. he was always there when she needed comforting, and vice versa. so, she wiped away her tears and the two sat on the couch.

she took a deep breath in and out before telling him everything that happened in the past half hour or so. from waiting for billy to show up, to all the questioning until he showed up.

and of course, robin listened intently. not daring to interrupt her until he was sure she was finished. when she was, he could tell she was trying not to cry again.

he knew she hated when people saw her cry. it made her feel vulnerable. weak. but robin always told her that sometimes it was okay to let it out. but it would always result in her telling him how much of a hypocrite he was and the two laughed it off.

"i just can't help but feel like it's my fault, you know? like i could've been there a few minutes earlier, just to see where he went or what happened to him." she spoke quietly, fiddling with her necklace.

robin shook his head, "don't ever say that, jaelin. it's not your fault and i'm sure billy wouldn't like you blaming yourself. you couldn't know for sure that being there a few minutes before would change anything."

"yeah, but-"

"no buts, jae. stop saying it's your fault when it clearly isn't." robin spoke with a gentle, yet stern voice. jaelin scoffed before leaning her head on his shoulder with a sigh.

"you're so stubborn." she rubbed her eyes with a slight laugh, already feeling a little bit better. robin wrapped an arm around her with a grin, "i know."

"we heard you trying to get in. at first i thought it was a random person asking what was going on, but then i realised it was you. i told detective wright to let you in." she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"i'm glad he opened the door- honestly, i was trying to be polite but i saw his white ass reaching for his tazer. if that wasn't racially motivated i dunno what was." he laughed slightly.

jaelin's jaw dropped, "he did? fucking hell...i'm glad you kept your composure though. but i bet you wanted to roundhouse his ass huh?"

robin let out a laugh, "you know me a little too well covey, it's creepy."

when he didn't get a response, he looked over to his side, seeing jaelin with her eyes closed trying to fall asleep. he smiled a little before getting comfortable, trying not to disturb her whilst doing so.

eventually, her warmth was enough for robin to fall asleep himself. today's events were enough to make them tired, and it was only around nine am.

୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ iloveblondead speaks ! ⋄ 𓍯

bless jaelin :(( i love how
he easily comforts her omg😕🫶🏼

me when i found out
robin was supposed to be
alive but the writers changed
the script last minute:
😟😒💔🧍‍♀️🤧

༺❦༻