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Ch. 4 A Horror Film Coming to Life Piece by Piece

(OWEN)

After learning that Alli was found dead this morning of an apparent suicide Clare seems to go into shock and passes out. Her eyes roll back into her head before she suddenly drops like a dead weight. Drew, Adam and I all reach for her but I get her first, catching her and picking her up. Jake lets out a breath once Clare is in my arms.

"I think we shouldn't be here, we were at the school memorial yesterday and barely made it through that, and now with Alli…" Adam's sentence trails off before he says she's dead.

"Let's go to our house, I'm sure Mom won't mind," Drew speaks up just as Clare groans in my arms. Her eyes blink open and she looks at me.

"What happened?" She questions, her voice is pretty weak.

"You passed out," Adam tells her.

"Don't worry, I got you," I assure her, smiling from one corner of my mouth. She doesn't ask me to put her down, doesn't even try to get out of my arms, just puts her head on my chest and her arms around my neck.

"We're going to our house Clare, we don't need to be here," Adam tells her and then looks at Officer Turner. "Can you let our parents know that we're all going to our house, and let Dave know he can come over too."

"I will," Officer Turner nods. "Let me escort you kids out first. Are you okay Clare?"

She doesn't respond, just hides her head in my chest some more and sobs. We get escorted to the parking lot and I tell them we can all go in my SUV. Since Jake is on crutches I give him the passenger seat. When Drew is sitting in the back I give Clare to him and she rides on his lap. She barely lifts her head and just cries on his shoulder all the way to the Torres house.

"Clare, we're here," Drew tells her when I park.

I hear her sniffle and see her wipe her eyes in the rearview mirror. She gets out of the car, Adam puts his arm around her as we walk inside. Drew unlocks the front door and comes down to let the rest of us in waiting at the basement door. We let Jake hobble in first and get a seat, Clare sits next to him and Adam next to her. Drew next to his brother, I take a seat next to him and Bianca next to me. For several minutes we all just sit there, silent.

Clare is the first to break the silence, "Now Alli's gone too. I should have called her yesterday or gone over, talked to her."

"Don't start thinking that way Clare, you had just as much responsibility for Alli's actions as I did for Mo, Marisol, Katie and Jenna's death. If she was set on killing herself after Jenna's death there's nothing you could have done. If you blame yourself you could drive yourself to do the same," I tell Clare. She nods but doesn't seem convinced, we're silent again until Dave comes through basement door. Clare gets up and hugs him tightly.

"Did you see her yesterday?" Clare asks Dave.

"No, I called her before school to ask if she wanted me to pick her up for the memorial and she said she wasn't going. I tried calling her after and she didn't pick up. I should have gone over anyway, I thought she just needed to be alone," Dave says solemnly as he sits down and Clare takes her seat again.

"Did your dad say how Alli…all he told us was that it looks like she committed suicide," Adam remarks.

"Pills, he said there was an empty bottle of pills near her," Dave replies.

"I can't believe Alli would kill herself," Clare exhales. She's beginning to tear up again, I reach over to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Neither can I, but she was devastated after Jenna, maybe after everything losing Jenna too was just too much for her," Dave says though he doesn't sound very sure himself.

We go silent again, sitting there nearly motionless and in silence until our parents begin to arrive because the memorial is over. They brought us lunch, but no one is very hungry, and Audra tells all the parents we can stay here tonight. At some point someone turns the TV on, at some point they order us pizza for dinner, other than that the only thing I remember about the day is people crying. No one cried all day, but most of us cried at some point during the day. I think Clare cried the most, mostly on Adam, and all he can do is hold her. There's nothing any of us can do, a part of me is just in shock I think. A part of me keeps thinking I'm going to wake up and it will all have been a horrible dream.

I don't remember going to sleep, no one brought down pillows or blankets or got ready for bed, we all just kind of fell asleep on the sofa to the TV. When I wake up Sunday morning I feel heavy, and exhausted even though I didn't do anything yesterday. We spend most of the day at the Torres house again, but by mid-afternoon everyone has gone home or been picked up by their parents. Bianca was one of the first to leave, I asked if she wanted to stay at my place tonight, but she shrugged and left. I'm sure she'll sleep at Chloe's again tonight and may not come to school tomorrow. I'm the last to leave and when I get home the house is surrounded by reporters.

"Any comment on the events at your family's cabin?"

"Owen, did you know the men that attacked your friends?"

"Why weren't you at the memorial yesterday?"

The reporters fire off questions and I ignore them, running into the house. If I don't ignore them I'm going to hit one of them. I'm beginning to hate the media, there are some things they really don't need to report on but do anyway, because of people's morbid curiosity and that seems to be the only reason they swarm around desperate for any tidbit. I wish they'd just leave us alone.

I lock the door as soon as I'm inside, I don't see Tris or Dad, but Mom is in the kitchen. She comes over and hugs me tightly. Mom gets me some dinner, I don't eat very much of it, Mom gives me her worried mom look when she takes my plate, but she doesn't say anything. After eating all I can I take a shower, going to bed early and feeling exhausted, it takes me a long time to fall asleep however.

Even with some trouble getting to sleep I wake up pretty early on Monday morning after a nightmare. It's so early my parents aren't even up, but I don't feel like hanging around the house until it's time to go to school. I decide to go to The Dot and hang there until school opens. I get ready and leave a note on the bulletin board that I'm gone, and Tris will need a ride or to take the bus this morning. I open the front door and thankfully it's too early for even the reporters to be outside. Something else catches my eye though, a note taped to the door with my name on it. I rip it down and open the folded piece of plain white paper to read it.

There was twelve.

Now there's seven.

And when you're gone there'll be six.

It's clearly a threat, I start to get angry and crumple the note but stop myself. I hop in my SUV, but instead of going to The Dot I go straight to the police station.

"This was on my front door, we're being threatened," I inform the officer at the front, tossing the note in front of him.

"Have a seat son someone will be out in a moment," he replies callously without looking at the note.

"I want to speak to Officer Turner," I demand taking the note back.

"He doesn't come on shift for another four hours, now sit down."

"I don't care when he gets on shift call him and get him down here. If his son is being threatened don't you think he wants to know about it?" I growl louder than intended, but I'm angry.

"What's going on out here Peters?" A man asks coming out of the back. He must be a higher rank than this guy because he's wearing a suit.

"This kid was saying something about Turner's son being threatened."

"I'm not a kid, and it's not just Dave being threatened I think it's all of us. I'm Owen Milligan, my family owns the cabin where the crazy men killed some of us and now we're being threatened," I say handing the note to the man in the suit. He looks at the note before folding it again.

"Call Reggie in and get this to evidence," the man in the suit says to the cop at the desk and then looks at me. "I'm D.C. Wheaton, you can come back with me until Reggie Turner gets here. Wait at the door and I'll let you back." After giving the officer at the desk a "so there" look I walk to the door and D.C. Wheaton let's me in. I follow him back to a desk and he motions for me to sit down. "Tell me exactly how you found the note, oh and we'll need your fingerprints for elimination. Did anyone else touch the note?"

"Not that I know of, I was going to leave for school and saw the note taped to my front door. I read the note and came straight here."

"A little early to be going to school isn't it?"

"Yeah, we'll I woke up after a nightmare and didn't want to hang around my house. I was going to hang at the café near my school until I could go to school."

"There were twelve of you that went to the cabin?"

"Yeah, twelve of us. Me, Drew and Adam Torres, Clare Edwards and Jake Martin, Bianca DeSousa, Dave Turner, we're the only ones still alive. Katie Matlin, Mo Mashkour and Marisol Lewis died at the cabin, or near it. We never saw where Mo and Marisol were killed. Jenna Middleton died in the hospital and Alli Bhandari committed suicide on Saturday, or so we were told."

"Mo and Marisol's partial remains were found about a mile from your cabin. It looks like animals got to them. We're still waiting on autopsy results for Jenna and Alli both. Has anyone else received threats that you're aware of?"

"No, no one's said anything to me if they have, but it leaked to the media that it was our cabin. Marisol's mom yelled at me last Friday after the memorial at school. What about the men that killed our friends and held us hostage, do you know who they are?"

"There was no ID on them, their fingerprints aren't in our system. Their general descriptions do match two men from a group that was on a crime spree in and around Ottawa, we have no confirmation of that though."

"Lou? What's going on? Carl called and said to get down here," Officer Turner asks coming in. "Owen? What happened?"

"There was a threatening note on his door this morning. I sent it down to evidence. The note was pretty threatening, not just to Owen, but all the kids at the cabin. Even though it's only been in the media that it was Owen's family's cabin the other kids have been seen and the other families know who went to the cabin. I don't think it was one of the families, or the media trying to stir something up, more than likely it's just a nasty trick. You know how these things get. I'll put a patrol on the school today and the houses of the other kids in case our note writer visits them as well. Your son was at the cabin as well, so that will include your house. We need to get Owen's fingerprints to eliminate them from the note, I touched it as well. After he's fingerprinted he can go, but you should escort him to school, I'll have another officer escort Dave."

"Come on Owen I'll get your fingerprints," Officer Turner says. I get up and follow him to the little fingerprinting station. Officer Turner asks what the note said, I tell him, when I'm done he just nods. "Lou is right it's probably just a nasty trick," he says but I hear worry in his tone.

"Yeah, well if it is a trick the person playing it has one sick mind. We're hardly getting any sleep as it is, now we gotta worry about crazy mean people with nothing better to do than taunt us," I remark trying to wash the ink off my fingers. Turner gave me an alcohol wipe, like the kind in first-aid kit, to get the ink off, but it's not entirely working.

"We'll find out who it is, you heard Lou there will be a patrol at the school and your houses. You know the school doesn't open for almost an hour still."

"Yeah, I was going to The Dot, I could really use some coffee right now."

"I'll follow you in my patrol car and I'll call Archie Simpson, have him open the school early. We'll get you all to the school early, you'll be safe there."

"Great, let's go get some coffee first, I have a feeling I'm going to need it today."

(CLARE)

"Honey, wake up," Mom says shaking me gently, "you and Jake need to get to school."

I groan and grab my phone from the nightstand to check the time. When I see the time, I groan even louder. "Mom, it's not even six yet, the school isn't open."

"I got a call from Audra; all you kids need to get to the school. Glen will drive you now up young lady."

I barely slept at all, but I know something is going on, so I get up. We don't eat breakfast, just do the minimal to get ready for school. Glen drives us in Mom's car and I let Jake have the passenger seat. When Glen starts driving I see the police car pull out behind us.

"Glen, what's going on? Why do we all have to be at school so early and why are we being followed by a cop car?" I ask. Jake looks behind us to see the cop car, and then looks at me with a worried expression. I think we both have the same terrible thought.

"We were just told to get you to the school to keep you safe," Glen replies.

"Keep us safe from what Dad?" Jake asks.

"We didn't ask," he replies, and Jake looks back at me.

"Did someone else die? Are we being put on suicide watch?" I inquire.

"I don't know Clare. We're almost at the school," Glen responds.

I pull my bottom lip into my teeth and begin rolling my lower lip with my teeth, chewing on it nervously as the last block to school seems to last forever. When we get to school Glen pulls up to the ramp, I see three more cop cars and the cop that followed us parks and walks in with us. We're taken to Principal Simpson's office. When we enter I see not only Principal Simpson, but Officer Turner, Drew, Adam, Owen and Bianca, I'm so happy to see them alive I hug them all. Dave is the last to arrive and I hug him too, at least I know everyone is still alive.

"Okay, we're all here, someone want to tell me why I was dragged out of bed so early?" Bianca yawns while Dave is being hugged by his dad.

"Because some sick fuck left a threatening note on my door this morning, the note made it sound like we're all in danger. The cops agreed with me which is why we all had the police escorts to school this morning," Owen informs us.

"The protection is a precaution, we do believe it was someone playing a trick to be mean or to scare you. Sadly, in these situations there always seems to be someone that thinks it will be funny or wants to make themselves feel powerful or in some cases trying to extort money. We've done what we can to keep most of you out of the media, however you have all been seen together, the families know who went to the cabin and I imagine a lot of the kids at this school. There's an undercover unit posted at each of your houses just to be safe," Officer Turner tells us.

"You're safe at the school, and Officer Turner will be here all day. A unit will be patrolling, and more uniforms will be called in if the media shows up again," Principal Simpson informs us.

"I need coffee," Bianca says and most of us nod.

"Let's go to the caf, it's not as good as coffee from The Dot, but it's better than nothing," Dave remarks.

We move as a group to the caf, going slowly because Jake is hobbling on crutches. Officer Turner stays a few paces behind us and even stays in the caf with us. We all get coffee, we sit and begin sipping the coffee silently.

"You look worse than I do," Bianca says to Dave after a few silent minutes.

"Couldn't sleep at all last night, if my eyes closed I either pictured Alli killing herself or watching that psycho toss Jenna down the steps," Dave replies.

"They're waiting on autopsy results for Jenna and Alli," Owen speaks up.

"When did you hear that?" I inquire.

"This morning when I was at the police station. They still don't know who the men were or why they found us. They did find what was left of Mo and Marisol, they think animals got to them," Owen informs us.

"Did they tell you anything else?" Adam asks.

"Not really, just that the men might be part of a group that split up after a crime spree in Ottawa. They aren't sure that the two men were a part of that group though. That was it, they talked about the note and I got fingerprinted so they could eliminate my prints from the note."

"What did the note say?" I query.

"It had my first name on the top, inside it said; there was twelve, now there's seven and when you're gone there'll be six. Sounded to me like someone was saying we were getting picked off one by one."

"That's scary, I do hope it's someone playing a nasty trick," I remark. Everyone else nods in agreement. "We did kill those men, right? I mean there isn't anyone that could be picking us off one by one, could there?" I ask in a voice tight with fear.

"We killed them, they're dead. Dave and I watched the last one die. I don't think you get resurrected from an arrow in the chest or a couple of bullets," Drew says. After this everyone falls silent.

"Eli's coming," Adam whispers to me. I saw him on his phone, but didn't realize he was texting Eli, too caught up in my thoughts I guess. Sure enough, a couple minutes later Eli enters the caf, Drew moves over so that Eli can sit next to Adam.

"So, you guys are being threatened now?" Eli questions.

"The cops think it's a mean prank, which I hop it is, but whoever has that sick of a mind needs to have it pounded out of their skull," Owen growls.

"You're all welcome to hang at my house, any time, I know my parents won't mind," Eli says.

"Thanks Eli," I grin.

The closer it gets to the first bell the more students come in and out of the caf. I can't help but look at each one and wonder if they're the one that left the note on Owen's door. It might be my imagination, but it also seems like everyone that enters the caf looks at our group. When the bell does finally ring we all get up and split up to get to class. Drew walks with Jake, Bianca walks with Owen and Turner follows them. Eli comes with Adam, Dave and I to our homeroom before he goes to his. The three of us have the same second period too, K.C. never comes to second period but I see him leaving Principal Simpson's office at lunch.

"K.C., why weren't you in second period?"

"I'm leaving DeGrassi, Mom and I have been talking about moving to Vancouver for a while. Her sister is there, and we can stay with her. I was going to wait and finish my year here, but with Jenna gone…" his sentence trails off and he starts to tear up.

"I'm going to miss you," I say hugging him tightly.

"I'll miss all of you too, but I'm only an e-mail or text away," he reminds me. He hugs Adam too and then says he's going to go find a few other people to say goodbye.

"I'm not that hungry, I think I'm going to go to the music room," Adam tells me when K.C. leaves.

"I'm not that hungry either, think I'll check with Jake and see if he needs anything."

"Just don't go outside alone," Adam tells me, and I nod.

He walks off and I text Jake, he says he's good and Bianca's with him. I don't know Owen or Drew's numbers, so I text Dave, he says he's eating in the caf with Connor and Wes. I'm not hungry either, and definitely not in the mood for Connor and Wes. I start walking sort of aimlessly, I find Eli or maybe he finds me. We sit in the memorial garden and I watch him eat while we talk about little things. He tries to get me to eat, but I just have no appetite. My mind is trying to wrap itself around the events of the last few days, the problem is none of what's happened makes any sense.

I really am not paying attention in either afternoon class, but no one seems to notice or care. When the bell rings I go to find Jake, Glen brought us to school and never said anything about how we would get home. Adam comes with me, and except for Dave, we find the rest of our group at Jake's locker.

"I told Jake I'd take you two home since you got dropped off. I'm going to hang out to do some homework too," Bianca informs me.

"Thanks Bianca. You know it might be good if we had each other's numbers, in case something else happens," I comment.

"Here," Adam says typing on his phone a moment and then mine alerts me to a text, "that's Drew's."

"Thanks Adam. Drew this is mine and Jake's, you have Dave's, right?" I ask while preparing the text.

"Yeah, from basketball. And this is Owen and Bianca's," Drew says replying to my text with their numbers.

"I'll get yours and Jake's at your house, you can give me Dave's too and I'll send them all to Owen," Bianca remarks.

"I'll give Adam your numbers at home," Drew comments.

"I can send it all to Dave later. Has anyone seen Dave?" Adam queries.

"No, but Officer Turner is near the front doors we can ask him," Owen replies.

We all walk to the front, Officer Turner is waiting, he tells us Dave went home early, he was escorted by a police car and he knows Dave made it safely. The rest of us not only get escorted to our cars by a uniformed cop but a patrol car follows us home. If the media wasn't sure who else was at the cabin at this point I'm pretty sure the police escort just tipped them off.

Once we're home the patrol car leaves but there's supposed to be an undercover car parked near the house. I unlock the door and hold the other door open for Jake. He comes in and goes right to the sofa to sit down. Bianca follows him in and sits with him on the sofa, I text Mom and Glen that we're home safe. Then I text everyone else that we're home safe because I feel a need to. Within a moment they all text back that they are too. Jake and Bianca already have their books out and seem to be doing homework. I start to go upstairs to do my own homework, but there's a knock at the front door. I turn to see who it is, it looks like a flower delivery man, so I turn on the stairs and go down to open the front door.

"Can I help you?" I ask. I can feel Jake and Bianca watching from the sofa.

"Flowers for Clare and Jake Martin," he says handing me the long box.

"Thanks," I say as he turns to leave. He doesn't look back, and apparently I don't need to sign, so I close and lock the door again. "Someone got my last name wrong, but sent us flowers," I tell Jake as I set the box on the dining room table. I pull the ribbon off the box, open the lid, pull back the tissue, and when I see what's in the box let out a blood curling scream!

Ooh, I am sooo mean and I'm not putting up another chapter this round so you have to wait. This story also has one or two chapters left and will be ending next round. Since I hate decisions and I'm waaaaaaaay to busy with the move to make any at this point I think I will have you guys vote on the short story that will replace this. So, keep an eye out for the announcement that a poll is up.

Anyway, the update for this will pick up from here. Next to go up will be the last chapter of Salvaged & Saved.