Ally hadn't slept well that night.

It had taken approximately two hours for the police to complete their investigation of the room they'd been staying in, then another hour for them to gather all the things they needed to continue the investigation from home. Ally had tried to help them (After she finished crying) but it had soon become obvious that she was nothing more than a nuisance. So, she'd retreated to Austin's room, lay on his bed and refused to move for anyone or anything, snuggling with the stuffed dolphin she'd given to him a long time ago.

Trish had left her alone for the rest of the day, and that night. She needed time to think, and Trish knew it. But by the next day, it had become a worrying matter. Trish had tried several times that day to get Ally to move, to talk, to do anything at all. She hated seeing her friend like this, even though sometimes she felt like pulling an Ally and curling up into a ball herself. But that just wasn't her way. Trish took things head on. She was a fighter, and she was proud of it. But no matter what Trish tried, Ally wouldn't budge, and Trish knew, deep down, that the only person who could've pulled her out of her depression was Austin.

Trish had watched Austin and Ally's relationship grow stronger during the year. Sometimes, she was jealous of the effect Austin seemed to have on her self-esteem. Other times, she felt excited over the potential of their growing relationship. Most of the time, she just felt slightly left out. It was something she had in common with Dez- a fact that scared the crap out of her.

Dez wasn't taken Austin's disappearance well, Trish knew. Even though Trish hated him most of the time, she actually knew him quite well. And even though he seemed to be handling the news extremely well, Trish could see the bluff. It was very subtle; he was more scattered, losing track of everything, his laugh was too forceful, and he was trying a bit too hard to comfort everyone else, as if he was talking to himself more than anyone else.

Dez wasn't upset, Trish realised. He was hysterical.

It was hard to see her friends like that, and Trish didn't know what to do. She'd tried her best to talk to them, and neither had responded to her efforts. All she could do at this point was manager stuff, brushing off reporters and fans and taking care of the MMVAs (which Austin was only just missing). Once that was done, it took all of her concentration and positivity not to end up like her friends.

So Trish took up her magazines and poured over the pages, trying to distract herself with the useless articles and tidbits.

Trish stayed like this for the entire day, almost as still as Ally herself, who was in the next room. She didn't notice the sun go down, nor did she notice when the sun rose again. She didn't hear Dez floundering in and out of the rooms, nor did she hear his snores when he finally crashed on Ally's bed. She was in her own world, doing everything in her power to hold back reality.

But she could only stay like that for so long, and reality came crashing down on her when the phone rang.

"This is Trish."

"Yes, hello. This is detective Mark." Trish grunted. That was the name of the detective who was in charge of Austin's case.

"We've been pouring over Austin emails, and we found a few disturbing things. If it isn't a problem, we would like to discuss our findings with all three of you, in person. If you could just come down to the police station."

Trish's heart came crashing down, settling in her stomach. She didn't want to know what they found. Because it had to be bad, or else they wouldn't be insisting on seeing them in person to talk. But she HAD to know. It was very confusing.

"We'll be there in ten minutes." Trish said, trying to imagine what she could say that would get her friends to budge.

"Thank you." And with that, Trish hung up.

Trish made her way over to Ally first. She knew Ally was awake, which was ridiculous, as she was beginning to realise exactly what time (and day) it was since the girl had collapsed on the bed. But she could hardly blame her. Trish hadn't slept either.

"Ally" She said quietly, putting a hand on her friend.

The girl grunted, but made no further acknowledgement of Trish's presence.

Trish sighed. "The police called." She said, still with a quiet voice. "They found some stuff in Austin's email. They want to talk to us."

Ally looked up, and the look on her face told Trish that she was feeling exactly the way Trish had felt earlier. She didn't want to know, but she HAD to.

And that was what finally made Ally move off Austin's bed. Trish decided to ignore the fact that she still held on tight to he stuffed dolphin.

It took the two of them a good couple of minutes to wake up Dez- he was a very sound sleeper. It was Ally who finally woke him up by ringing a cowbell in his ear, making him jump a couple feet into the air. In any other situation, Trish would've burst out laughing.

The three of them got ready in silence, none of them wanting to talk about what they might hear from the police. Before Austin vanished, Trish would've done everything in her power to fill the silence with something- anything. But now, she worried that someone else would break the silence, thus forcing her to talk. No one did.

It took them five minutes to reach the station, which was strange because they had walked. Trish had expected to be mobbed by fans demanding answers the second they left the hotel doors, but there hadn't been anyone waiting for them. Maybe they were being nice and leaving them alone while they tried to sort through this mess- or maybe they were scared of Trish. She figured it was probably the latter.

They'd barely entered the police station when they found themselves being heralded by detective Mark. The three immediately made their way over to him. No one tried to stop them.

"So, we poured through Austin's email account." He started. "And it seems as though he'd been receiving threatening emails of a sort. We've got our best trying to trace the account back to its source-"

"Wait, what?" Ally said, her eyes wide. Trish would've been glad to hear her talk, had it been for anything else. Inside, her heart was breaking. Threatening emails. So he wasn't a random target. This made things much, much worse.

Ally continued before the detective could answer. "He can't have been getting threatening emails. He would've told us- he tells us everything." Her eyes were begging for some sort of mistake.

"Not in this case." The detective said, handing them a paper, which turned out to be a copy of the emails Austin had received.

Hello Austin Moon. I've been watching you. Don't look now- there's nothing to see, anyways. You could never find me. I'm just going to tell you something, and you're going to listen, because if you don't, I'm going to pay a little visit to your redhead friend, and it will be the last time you ever see him. You got my little gift, right? Don't think that I wouldn't. So here it is-stop playing music. Give up your career. Nothing too difficult. Just give up your fame, and I'll leave your little friend alone.

Austin- it seems you didn't follow our bargain. I'd follow through on my promise now, but it seems the redhead doesn't mean that much to you. How about the Mexican? Or both? I'm warning you Moon. No more performing.

Well Austin, congratulations on being invited to the MMVAs! Of course, you don't know that yet, do you? It seems as if you'll be in my home town- all the better for getting close to your friends. But, if you want to keep them safe, I suggest you refrain from coming at all. Consider this your last warning.

Austin. Poor, poor Austin. Don't you care about your friends? Oh but you do, don't you? I'm just not threatening the right friend- the one you care about the most. I've seen the way you look at your cute little songwriter. Ally Dawson, is it? Yes, she's certainly something special. Here's my proposal. Come meet me tonight at the place your parents met- I hope they told you that story. Because if you don't, I will snatch your little songwriter and slit her throat, and film it so you can live every moment of it.

Ally moaned, and sunk to the floor, curling up in a ball. Dez began muttering nonsense. Trish didn't hear them. She couldn't see them. But she knew exactly how they felt. Austin had walked into a trap- for them. Which made everything their fault.