Meanwhile...
With Bridgette now...
She was happy to know that she was safe to exit her own house, now that it was morning. She already had herself some breakfast, and it was only a matter of time before she went off to her job. The girl wanted to be alone, so she went outside.
Bridgette sat there on the porch swing, as it was rocking back and fourth. She kept thinking of how things went before she and her mother went here. The words she overheard from her parents bedroom when she went back home from surfing with her friends.
'I'm sorry, but I cannot except this, Phil. The moment I saw you with that woman at your workplace, I had no other choice but to do this.' Bridgette's mother's voice said in her daughter's head.
The girl remembers her father, talking and defending himself after the divorce was mentioned to him. But it was clear, despite Bridgette not seeing him, it was all in crocodile tears. 'Sweetie, you know I would never want to hurt you this was. It was a mistake.' Bridgette remembered her father saying that.
'What about your own daughter? Don't you know how she is going to feel hearing that you did this to us?!' All Bridgette remembered after that was said was hear coming into the room, alerting them that she was back home already, and she ran off, crying while her father was calling out her name.
Those memories were still burnt in Bridgette's thoughts as she sat there on the porch swing. She still could never forgive her father after something like that happened to her. Not now, and Bridgette doubts ever. Now she was in this town at the worse possible time.
"Hey Bridge!" Geoff's voice shouts from the front gate.
The surfer looks up from the porch, staring at her boyfriend from where she was sitting at. She stood up from the swing, walking over to the partier as he remained standing by the gate of her house. He stared at her kindly, as he rubs a hand through her hair.
"How are you holding up?" Geoff asked her. "I was worried when you and I didn't continue talking last night?" Bridgette sighed, placing her hands in her jacket pockets.
"I-I'm sorry...I should've continued talking with her last night. But...then I saw somebody outside..." Bridgette said to her boyfriend. "It's not the person I saw at Duncan's house. It was that...one girl...Gwen. She was holding crossbow, and...she was out trying to take down that...guy by force." Geoff's jaw dropped hearing that being said.
"Gwen was trying to go after that guy? Is she mad?!"
"I don't know. She seemed pretty serious when she was ready to go after him...or her...or...whatever." Bridgette sighed, before placing a hand on her own head. "Genuinely, I did NOT want to come to this town, having any of this happen. It's bad enough that this year has not been good for me and my family, but..." Bridgette groans under her breath, then looks off to Duncan's house again. "I'm...I'm sorry, I shouldn't be too bitter about this. After all, Gwen was trying to save the town, somehow."
"At least. But..."
Popping out the side of the fence, Izzy came out of nowhere, shocking the couple in their spots. Izzy had her Detective hat on her head, as she stared at Bridgette and Geoff, overhearing the whole conversation that they were having. Bridgette raises an eyebrow, wondering what this girl wants.
"Uh...you mind telling me what you want?" Bridgette asked, bothered by Izzy being near them.
"I'm just keeping my eyes out for anyone who's suspicious around town." Izzy said, as she glared at the couple. "Also, because I am helping Gwen, Noah, Cody, and those other two girls out with this mystery that they are trying to figure out." Bridgette frowns, before groaning in annoyance.
"Is my conversation between me and my boyfriend really THAT important to you?" Izzy nods her head to that. "Can you not get me or Geoff involved in this? It's bad enough that I saw the figure in Duncan's house the other day, and I was endangered of being caught by him or her in the process."
"YOU were in Duncan's house?! What were you doing in that house?!"
"Just..." Bridgette felt like she was going snap any moment out of pure frustration. "...Can you just stay the hell out of my life right now?! Okay?! I was wanting to ask Duncan if me and my mom were safe in this town, and not in danger because..." Bridgette screams, before storming off to her front door. "GOD DAMN IT, I'M SICK OF TALKING ABOUT MY PARENTS DIVORCE!"
Bridgette runs off to her front door, angry and annoyed, as Izzy stood there dumbfounded. Geoff stares at the usually crazy girl, before he held up his hands with concern.
"Sorry. She's through a very difficult time right now." Geoff said, before following his girlfriend into her house. "Hey Bridge, hold up!"
"Well, guess that could've gone better..." Izzy said, before she ended up tripping over something that was in the ground.
Izzy sat up, rubbing the side of her head, wondering what she tripped over. It appears to be a package. But it didn't say who it's from or does it really have an address on it at all. Looking around it, Izzy stood back up, taking a good look at this box, before looking around the streets, wondering who left this here. She was starting to get fearful.
'Okay...at first, I was getting into this kind of stuff, because it's all awesome, and stuff, but...now it's starting to get a little bit creepy now...' Izzy said in her thoughts. 'Oh well, at least I get some sort of present out of it.' Izzy said, before beginning to head back to her house. 'I wonder what's even in here anyway.' Izzy headed home, which was a couple blocks away from Bridgette's house.
Back at Mike's house...
Mike closes the door behind himself, as Noah, Cody, Emma, and Kitty were all finally inside of his house. The four who entered went over to the living room, where Zoey was sitting on her boyfriend's couch, eating some popcorn. She looks behind herself, seeing that Noah and his friends were here now too.
"Oh, hey guys." Zoey said. "Hey, isn't that...one girl with the goth look with you guys? I don't see her anywhere."
"Well...I decided to go to her house after I get some answers from you two, if you don't mind that at all." Noah said, walking over to one of the armchairs in the living room, then sitting down in it. Zoey was a little confused by that being said, until Noah continued to talk. "I believe that you two know about all the crazy bullshit that's been happening around Leafton, right?"
Mike enters the living room, and then sat down on the couch, next to his girlfriend. "All of this isn't a secret, you know? I doubt the whole town hasn't heard of what's been going on, at least not all of them, anyway." Mike said. "Why are you asking us this?"
"Okay, let me be frank about what I'm going to tell you...so, Scott, Lightning, and Jo are dead, right? Well, I've been trying to figure out who this culprit is who's doing this to everybody in town. Whether they are getting everyone in Leafton or just Duncan and his friends." Noah then leans forward, onto his own knees. "Just to ask, do...both of you know who Duncan is, from college, I mean?" Mike points at his head.
"Is he the guy with the green mohawk?"
"That would be correct."
"I don't know the guy personally, but he sure is a complete...well, jerk." Mike held up his hands, shaking them after he said that. "I mean...if you're friends with him too, don't tell him I'm told you, because...I don't want him to kick my butt for telling you something that...is completely hearsay, or..."
"I'm not friends with the bastard, I'm trying to save his ass from getting killed from whoever it is, going around, killing his friends."
"Well, when you put it that way...sorry." Mike then looks over to Zoey, feeling a bit worried for their safety being in this town. He held her hand, before looking at Noah once again. "Just...get to the point already. What do you want?" Noah sighed.
"Look, I only wanted to know if you had anything to do with those deaths, and...I know it seems like I'm coming onto you two rather quick, but...the only reason I asked this, is because you weren't exactly seen hanging out with other students, Mike. So...that had me a little anxious." Zoey raises an eyebrow, feeling like what Noah asked is in complete poor taste. She glared at the boy, shaking her head.
"How dare you accuse somebody like Mike of doing something so vile!" Zoey said, angry at Noah. "Mike would never do something like that." Mike silently nods his head, before speaking.
"Zoey, please seat down for me. I'll handle this." Mike said, before he scooted closer to the left, closer to Noah. "Look, I know I've been alone a lot back in college. But just because Duncan went after me at times, doesn't mean that I'd go and...do all of this. Even I wouldn't go and think of something like this." The boy then points at Noah, speaking some more. "Not to mention, if I did go after Duncan, why would I go after his friends? I didn't know anyone he was even friends with at all."
"Oh..." That was all Noah could say.
The boy looked down, feeling terrible for coming to this house to accuse Mike of such actions. Taking a sigh, Noah stood up. He looked over to the couch, seeing Mike staring at him with a blank expression, while Zoey was glaring at him, still disgusted by the boys words. He held up his hands, feeling terrible for what he ended up doing here.
"I-I'm so sorry...I should just...leave you two alone...and, thank you for...your time, you two." Noah said, before passing by the two on the couch, and heading out of the living room. "Damn it, I feel like an asshole..." Noah mutters, standing next to Cody.
"I told you that all of this was nothing more but a misunderstanding." Cody whispers to him. "So it really looks like Mike doesn't really have anything to do with something like this."
"Not really." Noah then looks at the photos again. "It looks like the photos caught me off-guard...guess it really is either Harold, or Cameron, or Sam, or...whoever else...it's got to be one of the other people that Duncan's been bullying in the past that has done this to his friends."
"Agreed." Cody then pats Noah on his back. "...Look, about Mike, don't worry about him. I bet he'll give you a call, and you two can sort things out later on." Noah nods his head.
"T-Thank you, Cody." He sighed, before the four of them walked out of the house, leaving Mike and Zoey to stay behind, watching the movie they were watching once again.
At the police station...
Gwen was told to sit at Chris's desk, as the detective himself was sitting in his regular chair. Trent was standing the door out of the office, leaning on the wall, feeling uneasy about being inside of the detective's office right now. Trent had nothing to say, but hoped that his girlfriend wasn't in any sort of trouble with Chris.
After a couple moments of silence, Chris finally spoke. "I believe you have read that note I found on the crane, and hope you got a good enough explanation about all of this?" Chris asked her, glaring at her. "Somehow, this killer knows you out of all of the people in this town. So...you mind telling me why your name is even in this note?" Gwen gulps, looking at the note Chris found again.
"Detective McLean, I...I genuinely don't know how this person knows me, but..." Gwen stops herself from talking. Chris spoke up again.
"Not to mention, and this is probably something that I should've asked first, but...why is this dude saying that you were attempting to stop his plan once? If I didn't know any better, by the sound of it, it sounds like you were trying to act like you can be some sort of town hero, and stop this guy yourself. Not to mention, YOU CHASED JO TO THE CONSTRUCTION SITE, THEN SHE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU?!" Gwen shook her head, holding up her hands.
"Hold on, me chasing Jo there was an accident, Detective! I don't know how the hell he or she did it, but...I didn't know we'd end up at the construction site! I admit to the fact that I was walking around town trying to get this guy myself, but...Jo was in the shadows, and...I chased her by accident as well!" Gwen then points towards the window. "I wasn't even alone when Jo died either! Noah was with me, he saw the whole thing!" Chris looks behind himself at the window, he often stares out of, before glaring back at Gwen.
"Guess we'll never figure out the truth there...Noah's not here to back up this claim."
Gwen tried to speak up, but lowers her head, not wanting to speak any further against Chris. She knew arguing more would result in her being thrown behind bars or something like that. Chris grumbles something that Gwen couldn't make out, until he finally spoke aloud for her.
"Well, I can't say I'm a little disappointed in you, Gwen." Chris said. "Because you seriously look like the only sane girl I've met in this town out of Noah and Cody. Next time I hear you were trying to be some sort of hero, you're going to be behind bars until this guy is captured. Are we clear?"
"Clear as day." Gwen mutters. "I won't do this again."
"Alright." Chris then points at her. "Remember, If I see walking around the streets, trying to act like a hero..."
"Heard you the first time, Chris. No need to repeat yourself." Gwen said, standing up.
Leaving the police station, Gwen had her hands in her pockets as she was heading out the door with Trent. The boy didn't really say anything, since Gwen seemed pretty angry at her argument with Chris. He had no idea what to even tell her after that conversation went down.
"Can you fucking believe this, Trent?" Gwen asked her boyfriend.
"Well...you did go out there while the police were out there, so..." Trent said, only to get a glare from Gwen in response.
"Oh don't side with him...he doesn't know that he's not any better. Three of Duncan's friends are now dead, and he isn't doing shit about that. Failing sounds like what he's doing..."
"Yeah, but still...doing what you told me back at the house. You risked your own life to try to take down some guy you don't know can overpower you in seconds or so..."
"That prick isn't afraid all because I brought a crossbow to a crowbar fight. Not to mention...when whoeverthat was saw me back there at the gas station, they seem pretty shocked to see me."
"That's because they know you somehow. Chris said that."
"It's like they were afraid of me when they saw me." Gwen rubs the back of her neck as the two approached the bus stop. "It's just weird. That's all."
Gwen has no idea who it was still. But wondered how somebody like Jo's death seemed well set up before one could know she'd run into the construction site. That seriously confused her, because that seems pretty impossible for somebody to have ahead of time.
"Hey Trent, I hope you don't mind. I need to go back to the construction site later on. You mind coming along?" Gwen asked him. Trent's eyes widened.
"What?! Did you hear what Chris said back there? Play hero and then be behind bars." Trent said.
"But he didn't say continue to be Detective. He said to not go out there and try to take this guy down by crossbow." Gwen glares forward, looking out to the distance. "If I do run into this guy once again, I'm keeping my crossbow with me when I go."
"Gwen...listen to me, I love you and all, but you seriously shouldn't go out there at night. Just listen to me this time."
Trent places a hand on Gwen's shoulder, signaling her to not go anywhere tonight, so that she won't be in any danger. Gwen stood there, looking at his hand, before closing her eyes, seeming as if she was going to give in, and just not go anywhere. Trent felt like Gwen was actually going to change her mind on this one, before she held his hand, taking his hand off of her shoulder.
"I'm sorry Trent. But nothing is going to change my mind on trying to take this guy on by hand." Gwen said to her boyfriend. "You can try to change my mind all you want, but there's no way that I'm sitting back and letting whoever the hell this is get away with all of this bullshit." Gwen turns around. "I'm sorry if I'm completely going against you on this one, but somebody's gotta protect this town." The goth girl started to walk off, leaving Trent behind as she did so. Trent wanted to try to call out Gwen, but to him, knowing her, there's really no changing her mind on anything. So he had no other choice but to not stop her on this one.