A/N: Back again to slide you the halfway point of this little story, hope y'all enjoy!
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"Kara!" called a voice, dragging me out of sleep. I shot up, gasping for air. "What did you see?"
"More of the same," I groaned, falling back onto Hadley's bed. "This isn't working."
"Maybe I'm waking you up too soon?" she asked, looking over at me nervously. "I just don't want you to stay there too long."
"Hadley, we've been doing this for hours. It's not working." We'd been having me fall asleep and try to get a bearing on either the lab where Thea was being kept or the person keeping her. All it was really doing was depriving me of sleep and making me only half as traumatized as I would be if I tried to sleep soundly. "Maybe we should just give up on the dream thing."
"No, the dreams are the only thing we have that we know is concrete! You knew that Thea was gone before anyone else! You knew everything that happened to Josh before they found the body! If we want to get anything this is the only way."
"I know but-"
"No but's!" She wrapped the blanket around me as she spoke. "This time we'll go an hour. Don't focus on Thea, focus on what's happening around her. Get me some information."
I sighed and rolled over, closing my eyes. Hopefully, I would be able to actually fall asleep before the hour was up.
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Screaming. Thea was still screaming. This would be a lot easier if she fell unconscious or something. There was a stabbing pain somewhere in her calf. Then it went numb. Oh god. What was happening that it needed to be numbed first?
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Please don't do this! Please!" Tears were rolling down her face as she thrashed back and forth. Then I looked at her leg. Oh my god. They were cutting it off. I could hear the saw whirring. Jesus Christ, no.
I tried to breathe. It's okay, Kara. Focus on your surroundings. Okay. It's cold. Really cold. It's dark everywhere but the table, so the windows must be covered up. Unless-
She screamed. Oh god. Her leg. Then the screaming stopped. She was out. That meant the pain was gone. I could focus.
"Kara!" I shot awake again. I sweating. "Did you see anything?"
I nodded slowly, trying to remember everything. "It was cold. I don't think there were any windows either."
"Anything else?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah," I replied. Hadley grinned eagerly. "I don't think we're going to be able to go back in."
"Why not?"
"I think- I think she's dead." Hadley pulled me into a hug, trying to soothe me.
I didn't go back to sleep that night.
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I was right. Thea's body was found in the woods that morning by a couple that was hiking through. She was missing half of her leg. I threw up when I heard. School was canceled for the day to give everyone time to grieve. It was nowhere near as much time as they gave for Josh. I think that they thought that no one else was going to die. Guess they were wrong about that.
Hadley and Gavin were going to come over. We had decided to look more into the two victims and see if they had anything in common. At the moment it felt like they didn't but you never know.
My parents had left me alone all morning. I think that they were worried I would have another break down like I did with Josh. I was currently avoiding that reaction by stuffing all of my emotions down and pretending they weren't there. That tactic wasn't working too well. I heard a knock downstairs and the door open. Voices filled the house and then there were footsteps on the stairs.
"You ready to get started?" asked Gavin as he walked into my room. "We've got some deep history to sort through on these two."
"Ready when you are," I replied, rolling out of my bed. I needed a distraction.
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"God! These two have nothing in common!" complained Hadley from my bed. She was right. Our current list was very short, as in it had two items on it. They both lived in Midvale and both went to Midvale High School. That didn't narrow down the playing field at all.
"Maybe we aren't looking in the right places?" Gavin prompted. "What have we looked at so far?"
"Hobbies, athletics, religious practices, and friend groups," I reported in a dull monotone.
He tapped his chin in thought, "Grades?"
"Can't access those," Hadley called from across the room.
"Medical history?"
"Gavin that's illegal," I reminded him from the floor.
"Family history?"
No one said anything. It wasn't illegal to do family history. Hadley piped up, "I bet there's something on the internet about their families."
Gavin started typing in the laptop and Hadley and I got up to see what he could find in the library's newspaper records. He tried Josh first. Pages about his death covered the screen.
"Can you get rid of the results from when he got missing forward?" I asked. Gavin nodded and then started doing some sort of technologically inclined things. I didn't try to pay attention to what it was.
"Okay," said Gavin, clicking the top result. "Josh Butler wins the civil war football game for the Midvale Titans. That doesn't sound helpful." He moved on. "The Butler family welcome Joshua, age 8, and Dean, age 6, to their family! Be sure to wish the new family well!"
"Wait," said Hadley, "Josh was adopted?"
"When was that article published?' I asked, peering at the screen.
"The newspaper was from November 13th, 2001."
"Do you guys think that Thea Hannigan looked anything like her parents?" I asked turning to Hadley. She smiled and shook her head no. I turned back to Gavin. "Search for Thea and adoption."
He did and lo and behold that was an article from August 27th, 2001, welcoming 7-year-old Thea to the Hannigan family."
"That's not a coincidence," said Gavin triumphantly. He and Hadley high fived and I smiled at them.
"I can't believe we found the link between them- and wait, Kara, weren't you adopted in 2001?" asked Gavin.
"Oh no, it was 2002. That's when we started going to school together, remember?" I laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not the next target in some weird murder tirade. I promise."
"Well good, because that means we can celebrate!" shouted Hadley, jumping up onto my bed and dancing around. Gavin laughed at her and I cracked a smile.
"Actually," I said, stretching my arms out and yawning. "I'm pretty tired from last night so I'm kicking you guys out."
They grumbled in protest but I convinced them to leave by promising to buy them pie for a party the next time they came over. As the pulled out of my driveway, however, my smile faded. I had lied to them. I didn't want to worry them too much, they were so excited. It was pretty obvious that I was adopted. I looked absolutely nothing like my dark haired parents, but I never thought that being adopted made me special. Someone else did, though, and they were cutting through kids to find the one they wanted. What was so important about being adopted in 2001?
I climbed the stairs and went back to my bedroom. Turning off the light, I laid down without putting on my pajamas. The only special thing about being adopted in 2001 was that one couple got a bundle of joy who could headbutt a tank, fly with the birds, and run at the speed of sound, and if the person who killed Josh and Thea was looking for that kid . . . Josh and Thea died because of me.
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I rubbed my eyes, trying to keep them open. I hadn't slept a wink last night after the whole "You're part of the only thing linking the two victims of a crime together" thing. It could really put a damper on your sleeping schedule. I had managed to survive the majority of the day but it was starting to get to me. Resting my hand on my chin, my eyes started to flutter closed. Maybe I could just sleep a little bit.
In what felt like only seconds, the bell started ringing and kids started to leave. I got up too, packing my things. As I was zipping up my bag, I heard a voice.
"Kara, could I talk to you for a minute?" asked Dr. Kane, standing across the table with a perky smile. I slowly nodded. The smile was definitely fake, but my brain couldn't process why it would be.
"I don't want to keep you from your next class," I said, slinging my backpack onto my shoulder and coming to a full stand.
"Kara," she laughed, "this is the last period of the day."
"Oh, right. I forgot." She gestured to a chair near the front of the classroom and I sat in it cautiously. She leaned against the front desk, folding her arms. An intimidation tactic.
"You fell asleep in class today."
"Sorry, I didn't get any sleep last night," I replied. "It won't happen again."
"It's really fine, Kara. I was more worried about your health than the content you're missing. You excel in this class." I mumbled thanks before she went on. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, it's just with the murders and all, I've been having nightmares," I told her, tucking a hair behind my ear.
"I'm sorry to hear that, just know that I'm always here to listen if you ever need to talk." With that, she stood up fully and went back to her seat behind the desk, shooing me away. As I reached for the doorknob, I paused.
"There actually is something I'm a little worried about," I said turning around. Kane raised her eyebrows at the statement and I went on. "The murders didn't really make sense to me, so I tried looking for some type of connection between the two kids, because murders usually have a type or something, right?" She nodded at my question, looking more interested. "And I found out that they were both adopted in the same year and I'm really worried because I was adopted in that year and-"
"Kara," she said, cutting off my rambling. "I'm sure the police are already well aware of that. It's going to be okay."
"But what if it isn't okay? I just-"
She grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes. "Kara, I promise. You'll be fine."
I nodded my head, trying to get everything straight. Quickly thanking Dr. Kane, I scurried out of the classroom. Pulling out my phone, I sent Hadley and Gavin an emergency meeting text. This wasn't going to go over well.
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"You what?" asked Hadley, staring at me with a blank expression. I groaned inwardly.
"I told Dr. Kane about the connection between Thea and Josh," I repeated, squeezing my hand into a fist. God, why the hell did I do that? "She said that the police probably already know so I shouldn't worry-"
"That's not what's important here. You told our prime suspect that we're investigating the murders!" She retorted, throwing her hands up as she spoke.
"When did she become our prime suspect?" I was accusing more than I was asking.
"Well," started Gavin, "we were talking after you left us here for bringing it up and it just makes a lot of sense Kara."
"I can't believe you two! I thought we were doing this as a group!" I accused again. It might have sounded rude but they had gone behind my back.
"We are, Kara. You've just been kind of moody and distant recent-"
"Well, yeah!" I exclaimed, cutting off Gavin. "You would be too if you were seeing people you know get tortured every time you went to bed!"
"Can we have one conversation without you bringing that up?" interrupted Hadley with an annoyed expression.
"What?" I asked, caught off-guard by her comment.
"Every time we talk you just complain about it! We get it! You're special! Can we move on?"
"You didn't seem to mind when you were exploiting it to further your stupid investigation!" I shot back. She was not going to sit here and degrade me.
"Guys people are staring-"
"Shut up, Gavin!" snapped Hadley, quickly turning back to me. "If you can't look at this logically maybe you should go, Kara."
"Seriously, Hadley? We just spent a night where you forced me to watch someone get tortured just so you could learn some information and I'm the one not thinking logically?"
She opened her mouth to retort. I didn't let her, grabbing my bag. "Maybe I should go."
I started to go, but a hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. I grabbed their wrist and squeezed, hard. I looked them in the eye and Gavin was staring back with a shocked expression.
I quickly let go and mumbled out a sorry before dashing out of the restaurant. Barely checking my surroundings, I ran and leaped up into the air as tears started to brim in my eyes. Hadley was mad at me. I hurt Gavin. Dammit, I hurt Gavin. He was just trying to help me.
Looking down, I saw forest running beneath me. Shit, I was flying too fast. Dropping altitude, I started to slow down but I misjudged the landing, sending myself crashing through the branches, bouncing across the dirt, and straight into a wall.
Using my hands to push myself up, I groaned as I sat up, leaning against the wall I hit. I sat there for a minute, making sure I could move all of my limbs and nothing was broken. After a thorough assessment, I decided I was just going to be a little sore tomorrow, and used the wall to help me stand up. Then I wondered, what the hell is a wall doing out in the middle of the woods.
Backing up, I realized that I had crashed into an old barn left behind from years ago. The wood was faded and weather-beaten. Walking around to the back, I picked up a rusty pickaxe and gave it a swing. The head popped right off went flew into a nearby bush. My eyes widened in surprise and I dropped the handle back where I had found it, continuing my loop around the barn. I came to the front and stood there for a moment, sizing up the chipping white paint on the door and the way the whole building seemed to tilt to the left. Strolling up the door I went to pull it open but found it locked. I grabbed the lock and turned it over in my hands. It was bright and shiny without the signs of weather that the barn had. What the hell was a brand new lock doing on a barn in the middle of nowhere?
I backed away as a million different thoughts started to burst in my head. Fight or not, I needed to call Hadley. An old abandoned barn being put into use around the time that two kids get tortured and murdered was suspicious, especially since it was in the same strip of woods where Thea and Josh were found. It was a coincidence I couldn't look over and just thing to get Hadley on my good side again.
A/N: I'm super sorry it took so long for this chapter, I rewrote it a million times, I hope it's a good halfway point!