𝙞 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙙.

𝗡𝗔𝗜𝗔𝗥𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔 hole through the door of the house. A house she was once familiar with, but now was nothing but a stranger. She turned briefly and faced her car, contemplating walking back to it, getting into the drivers seat, then driving away. Her fist made the decision for her, rising to the door and connecting three times.

Will was quick to answer, his eyes red and bloodshot. "The doctors wont tell me anything, Naiara. I need to know something." He pleaded, tears filling his eyes, for what Naiara assumed was not the first time that night.

Naiara stepped past her old friend and into the now strange house. It was the Mercer family house, where the friend group used to hang out as kids. The Mercers were the first of all of the group to leave Austin, but everyone still visited them in L.A whenever they could. Naiara and Theo both were very young the first time they stepped foot in this house, the last time Naiara had stepped foot inside, she was 18. It was different, strange, new. The walls were a different color, the tacky yellow flower wallpaper replaced by barren white walls. The full of life, bright decorations replaced by woven baskets and Rae Dunn-esque decor.

"Naiara, please." He pleaded once again, closing the door behind them both. "I'm begging you, Nai, please." Naiara turned at this, slightly irritated that he was begging her to explain something to him, when he would never listen before.

Despite this irritation, Naiara placed a gentle hand on the shoulder of her once-friend, "You'll want to sit down, William." That's the way she told him she was overtly serious, the full name. And in return, his face dropped, the corners of his mouth falling into a pout and tears pricking at his eyes.

He didn't let the tears fall, though, holding onto whatever composure he had remaining and led Naiara to the living room, which, too had been transformed from bright and lively to bland and white.

The two sat down on opposing sides on the couch, Will pulling his knees to his chest, falling back into a habit he had as a child, curling up into a ball whenever something bad happened, as if his knees would shield him from the pain.

"I'll start from the beginning, you deserve the whole story, at least what I know." She stated calmly. Will nodded slowly and began biting at his thumb.

"I'm sure you remember the motel fire and uhm," she paused briefly, pondering how to properly begin. "I don't fully know if you remember the police sergeant that was there that night, Sergeant Grant?" Will nodded, signaling that he did, in fact, remember her.

"Well, she's married to our captain, so she's kind of a friend, and I was able to get information about the fire, and Tessa, and her arrests." She continued.

"Arrests? Multiple?" Will trembled, running a hand through his hair.

Naiara nodded, "Multiple." She then dropped her head, sighing. "The motel fire was started by her. A meth lab gone wrong. She wasn't using it, but she was dealing it. However, she was using drugs, some sort of weird cocktail of coke and heroin and something else, fentanyl, I think." She then rubbed one of her hands over her face.

"Will, she's been using since before the dorm fire. Sergeant Grant pulled her records for me, for you. She was arrested a few days before the fire for possession. Your parents bailed her out." Will's expression faltered, as if he suspected, but never had the confirmation until now.

"She's been arrested quite a few times between then and now, and time and time again your parents bail her out. I have no clue if she's tried to get help, Will." She explained gently, a solemn look on her face.

Will nodded along, tears now silently rolling down his face. "What about this time? What happened this time, Naiara?" His voice was hoarse and quiet, yet still pleading.

"I was with two of my coworkers, we were hanging out and driving to the store. On the way, there was a cop car in front of us and at one point another car drove up beside it, swerving and just driving recklessly. The cop car had to swerve to avoid that car. It swerved off the bridge." She recounted the incident from mere hours earlier.

"So, as first responders, the three of us ran up to the edge and started figuring out some way to help, but I didn't think, I just jumped." She ran a hand through her damp, tangled hair.

"I was able to help the cop out and then I noticed Tessa in the back. When I got her to shore, she wasn't breathing. She had fresh track marks on her arm."

A sob then released from Will's throat, leading Naiara to shoot a sympathetic look his way.

"The doctors didn't tell me much other than the fact that she overdosed in the water and is now in a medically induced coma." She explained, her voice now lower.

Will squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his knees closer to his chest. "Why didn't they tell you anything else?" He asked, opening his wet eyes and leaning forward slightly.

"I'm not family." She stated, her voice still low, but a hint of sadness now lacing it.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "But you are. You are family, you've always been-" His rant was quickly cut off by his phone ringing on the coffee table. The two both glanced over, seeing a smiling picture of Nora on the screen.

Will quickly reached for his phone and swiped to answer it, "Hey, babe." A small pause. "No, no, Nor, it's true."

Naiara swears she could hear a silent, "How do you know?" From the other side of the line.

"Uhm, Naiara. She's here, she explained everything to me."

Another pause.

"I- I'm not sure, actually. One sec, Nor." He then dropped his phone to his shoulder. "What hospital?" He asked.

"Presbytarian." She answered swiftly.

"Presbytarian." Another pause. "Yeah, yeah, of course. I'll be right there." He then hung up. "I have to go pick up Nora, we're gonna go to the hospital, go see Tess."

Naiara nodded as they both stood up. They then both walked to the door and out to the driveway. Naiara stood by the driver's side door of her Jeep as Will walked up to the curb to his car. "Hey, Will?" She called. He turned, "Keep me updated, okay?" He silently nodded and sent a kind smile her way, before getting into his car and driving away.

Naiara released a breath, still staring at the side of rhe road where Will's car no longer was, watching as some sort of construction vehicle, carrying metal materials in it's truck bed pulled into the sloped driveway opposite of the Mercer home.

She ran her hand through her hair again, this time as a futile attempt to get some of the knots out that the lake had given her. She then glanced around the neighborhood, one that she never thought she'd be in again, and one that she had a suspicion that she wouldn't be in much more in the future, before opening the driver's side door, and getting into the front seat.

She reached towards the start button of her car, but hesitated to start it as she heard the telltale beeping of a reversing vehicle, and a few panicked no's. She looked up at her rear view mirror, adjusting slightly to see what exactly was going on behind her. She dropped her hand to her side, just as the construction vehicle came into view of the mirror, quickly reversing backwards towards her. She began reaching for her belt buckle.

Then sounded a crash and the screeching of metal on metal, a lot of metal on metal, before Naiara's vision went black.