AN: Thank you so much to everyone who has submitted a review. Don't worry this story will definitely be a TRORY.
Diclaimer: Of course, you all know it, I don't own GG
Rory spent the weekend hibernating in her room, hiding from her mother's questions about the party. Truth was, she didn't remember that much. Of course she remembered puking in the garden with Liz holding her hair back. She cringed every time she did. And once he got over being pissed about her drinks getting spike, Jay saw the funny sight ad wouldn't let it drop. In a crank, Rory took her own car back to Chilton on Sunday night. The next day was a public holiday but all students were expected back on campus by five p.m. on Sunday anyway. Monday would be study hall for the last half of the day anyway.
"What the fuck happened to you on Saturday night?" Louise demanded when Rory walked in the door. She grunted in response and flopped face-down on her bed.
"…Because I heard," Louise began, "that someone got a little intoxicated and had to be taken home"
"ishwoznmyfowd" Rory mumbled.
"I beg your pardon?" Louise asked with flourish, pirouetting to Rory's bed and bouncing on it. Rory groaned and rolled over.
"It's wasn't my fault" She repeated. Louise looked at her sympathetically.
"I'm sorry I should've looked after you better"
"It's okay" Louise looked thoughtful.
"Um…you didn't puke on my clothes did you?" Rory rolled her eyes before pulling the freshly laundered outfit out of her duffel bag.
"They're clean" Louise smiled and clapped brightly.
The girls sat together at dinner the next day after study hall. Paris had Rory talking about Saturday night. She was well into a rant about the "moronic intellect" of "little boys" who would find that funny when Louise announced that she thought something was wrong.
"Look around guys" For the first time Rory looked about her. It was true that something was going on; two tables were huddled together talking with teachers. Rory caught sight of a worried looking Jay and her heart lurched. What was going on?
"I'll try and find out" Louise whispered and slunk off to a table near Jay's. Not wanting to wait, Rory made her way towards Jay as he had the same idea. Meeting her half-way he grasped her arm and whispered urgently in her ear.
"Have you seen Liz?" Rory frowned.
"What?"
"Have you seen Liz today?"
"No, why?" Jay dragged her out of the dining hall, trying to avoid being seen by teachers.
"She's missing" He whispered when they got into the hall.
"What?" Rory cried incredulously.
"Shh, they're keeping it quiet. She might've just gone into town or something"
"What's going on Jay?" Rory asked firmly. He sighed and winced.
"She left her dorm room late last night and no-one's seen her since"
"What are you two doing out here?" Mr. Phillips, a biology teacher barked. The twins, looking guilty, skulked back into the dining hall. Rory made her way b to the table where Louise was telling the other girls what had happened.
"She's probably off somewhere with Tristan" Paris scoffed.
"Swipe denied Gellar, Tristan's up there panicking with everyone else" Madeline whispered. The bell sounded over the PA and the students saw Headmaster Charlston at the front of the dining hall waiting for everyone's attention.
"Students, students" He clapped his hand. "Each dormitory building that I call out, would you please follow your house mother to your dormitories? You are to stay there until you are told you can leave" The students sighed but obeyed.
From there it escalated, spinning out of control around Rory. Rumours flew through the dormitory building as the girls were hearded in. Rory sat on Louise's bed by the window and watched as the police arrived, four squad cars.
"What do you think is going on?" Louise asked nervously. Rory shrugged.
"She'll just be visiting someone won't she?" Rory asked. Louise looked up miserably.
"Liz has been sneaking out of her dorm for ages to go to visit Tristan…but she always came back". Rory felt as though she should have noticed something. Liz lived in the dorm-room directly below hers and Louise's, with Summer. Rory felt as though she should've woken up when Liz gently closed the door, knowing Summer would have heard it anyway. Have been looking out the window when Liz slipped her hood up on her jacket and hurried to Tristan's ground-floor room. Should have heard his window open and Liz's giggle as she kissed him on the cheek. She was scared Rory realised, really scared.
It was five a.m. when they found the body. The body, such a cold way of describing a person. It was five a.m. when they found her, twisted and naked in the woods outside Chilton, strangled. The school tried to shield the students from the details but they still found them out. Disfigured so that her own parent's barely recognised her when they finally arrived. Covered in cigarette burns, slashes from a switch blade, her clothes nowhere to be seen. Her hair matted and wet. Her eyes, frozen open, glassy like those old-fashioned dolls. And worst, worst of all for beautiful Liz, violated, in every way you could be. Rory threw up for an hour at six a.m. when they re told to take the day off, that their parent's would be contacted. Louise sat on the bathroom floor with her and they cried together. They cried for the beautiful girl who Rory had disliked until she'd been so kind, so good. They cried for Tristan, for the girlfriend he'd lost. Hell they even cried for Summer, the school bitch who'd lost her best friend in the cruelest way. And they cried for themselves, that they belonged to a world where something like this was possible.
Jay found them in the girl's toilets on their floor and held Rory while she cried, Louise too at one point.
"Do you want to go home?" He finally asked his twin.
"No" She finally choked out.
"No I want to stay here with…with everyone" Jay nodded and held her again.
AN: This was always going to happen, it was how I got the idea. But I kind of got attached to Liz when I started writing her, so I'm sad too.
Document: 1011575.doc
Author: Heath Maconachie
Save Date: 25/05/2006
RMIT UniversityPage 2 of 2
