=Avery's POV=
(Sunday, January 4, 2020)
[Berk; Raven Point Park-The Cove]
A new year began four days ago, and though its frigid weather outside; I come to The Cove in Raven Point Park to sit at one of the picnic tables and reflect on past years that led me to where I am now in life. I was born on May 10th, 2000 at Berkian Island Hospital to Calvin and Arianna Hofferson. I've known the people I call my friends now since Kindergarten, except for Hailey and Drew; I didn't meet them until High School when they moved from Berserker Island. I always forget what happened to make them change islands, but I think it had something to do with the mother running off with some other guy, then their father was killed overseas in the Archipelago Islands Navy. I believe Hailey wanted a new start, so they moved since Drew was her legal guardian as listed in their dad's will. Hayden Haddock was one of my first friends, and he introduced me to the others, and his cousin Shane Jorgenson. I maintained an A/B grade throughout school, and graduated June 2018 with Hayden, Shane, Hailey, Tyler, Rylee, and Fisher. I always hoped I'd get the opportunity to tell Hayden I liked him as more than a friend, but with the events that took place in August 2018 where we all abandoned Hayden after seeing his friendslink profile statuses talking shit about us; I felt like that chance was long gone now.
I developed a crush on Hayden in Sophomore Year, but never said anything because I felt like he wouldn't return my feelings as Hayden showed zero interest having a love life, or at least that's what it felt like to me. I'd even tried flirting to see if I'd get a reaction, but nothing. Was it wrong that I still liked him even after everything the last year and three months? I felt like something was off about Hayden's posts; they didn't sound like him at all, but the nature of the things said caused drama between everyone and it was decided to confront Hayden, then end all friendships. We never gave him a chance to explain, and then in October 2018; we didn't believe him the day he said he had been hacked. It wasn't until Director Dustin Raseri of Archipelago Law Enforcement informed Spencer, Vivian, my friends, and me that Hayden's profile was one of the many affected, and also that Hayden losing his job wasn't his fault. In August 2019; we learned Hayden joined the Marines and was going overseas, and currently, that's where he still is. My friends and I all have careers too since graduating High School.
Fisher works as Veterinarian for Hearts and Hugs Second Chance Sanctuary, which Vivian Haddock is the owner of. Shane works in his parent's gym; Jorgenson Fitness as a trainer. Rylee and Tyler work at Thorston Design Depot, inherited from their parents who retired early and moved to the main island. Drew and Hailey own Bazirk's Heavenly Day Spa, the two siblings run it together, but they help out too. Hailey is a full Cosmetologist while Drew is a licensed Masseuse and Yoga Instructor. Me, on the other hand; I'm an officer of the Berk Police Department. Spencer is my boss, but I don't mind. I've known this man since I was about six-years-old. All of us friends typically get out of work around the same time each night, but the weekends vary for each of us. It seems that our lives are going great; we just wanted Hayden back. My friends and I have said it plenty of times since learning the truth; we want to make it up to Hayden for how we treated him, and then walked away without letting him explain things. I wasn't sure what Spencer and Vivian were going to do; I know that they saw Hayden once in April, but ended up arguing and hurting Hayden more. We didn't know the whole story, just that Spencer grabbed Hayden's arm hard, and Hayden hasn't spoken to either of his parents since.
"Avery?" I heard Hailey's voice pull me from my thoughts. I turned my head and glanced over.
"Hey," I greeted with a soft smile as I saw the rest of my friends coming up.
"We thought we might find you here," Shane mentioned. "Thinking about Hayden again?"
"Just trying to make sense of things," I admitted.
"Him doing everything he has?" Rylee wondered.
"Why he was here that day with the family gun," I stated.
"Avery; we might never get that answer unless we talk to Hayden," Fisher sighed.
"And right now; he doesn't want to speak to any of us because of what happened," Drew added.
"Aside from the fact he's over two-thousand miles away in Syria," Tyler reminded.
"I know. I just wish we could talk to him," I muttered.
"Unfortunately; I don't think that's going to happen until he comes home for leave or the tour ends next February," Hailey put her hand on my shoulder.
"I found Hayden on Skype and sent him a friend request, but they haven't been answered," Shane informed.
"I think we have all done that," Fisher remarked.
"You know what else is weird?" I mentioned as they looked at me. "Since when are Gabriel and Dustin pals?"
"What do you mean?" Drew questioned.
"I could see if Gabriel worked on Archia Isle and was a cop and worked with Director Raseri, but that's not the case. Am I the only one who thinks that it's a bit odd they were working together to prove Hayden's innocence in all that stuff from Summer of 2018?"
"I guess it does sound strange. And Gabriel called Director Raseri by his first time too as if they were old friends," Hailey said.
"I feel like Director Raseri knows more than he's letting on; he was far too calm to learn about Hayden's disappearance last January. We were all there. Director Raseri explicitly stated that he had a feeling Hayden was doing fine and we should trust him. And it seemed like Dustin was trying to deter Spencer and Vivian from starting a search by throwing in all that legal stuff about Hayden being eighteen, and choosing to leave," I continued thinking about the matter. It didn't make sense to me at all.
"Avery, I'm sure you know you can't just go accusing the Director of Archipelago Law Enforcement of having knowledge about where Hayden was at the time we thought he was missing," Fisher sighed.
"It's just a personal feeling," I rolled my eyes. "We know that Gabriel knows everything; that seems to be the only person Hayden speaks with," Suddenly, there was a round of cell phone notification sounds while we all blinked at the timing, then pulled out our devices. I looked at my Skype where it said; TheVikingWarrior_0019 has accepted your request and shared contact details with you.
"You guys get a Skype notification about Hayden accepting our requests and sharing details too?" Rylee questioned.
"Yep," we all replied.
"Should we say something to him?" Tyler wondered.
"Let's start a group chat; might be easier for him?" Shane suggested, then paused reading the screen. "TheVikingWarrior_0019 has added you to a group chat with six other friends. Well, I guess he beat us to it," he blinked in surprise.
"And it says he's typing a message too," Hailey informed. The group of seven sat in silence before whatever Hayden said came through.
TheVikingWarrior_0019, 4:17 PM-1/04/2020; I know you were told the truth about what happened by Director Raseri, and he informed me that you all looked incredibly guilty when you realized I was telling the truth about my profile being hacked. I decided to accept your requests as I appreciate the honest effort to speak with me about things. Understand that this action does not mean I've forgiven you, and it does not mean we're friends, but you did earn yourselves a place on my contact list, for now. Everyone deserves a second chance; this will be yours. I'll talk when I'm in the mood to do so and when I can as I'm incredibly busy over here. If you start asking questions about two years ago; you will be deleted and blocked, then lose any remaining chance you have earning my trust back. -Hayden.
The friends looked at one another. "You don't think it's possible that Hayden went to Dustin about the hacking thing and losing his job just to bring it to our attention since we wouldn't listen to him?" Rylee asked.
"Well, Gabriel went to Dustin about the police incidents to clear Hayden's name, so yeah; it's entirely possible," Fisher reminded.
"I'm sensing a timeline," Drew remarked.
"Glad I wasn't the only one," I grabbed my notebook from my bag. "Hayden moved out October 8, 2018, then we were informed by Gabriel on Hayden's nineteenth birthday that Hayden had been on Archia Isle since January 2019, so that means Hayden had to be staying in Berk October 2018 to January 2019,"
"And we know now that Hayden joined the Marines in November 2018," Hailey added.
"But he didn't get sworn in until December of the same year," Shane interjected. "And the overall training took five months to complete, but I did some research on Infantry Warriors. It says they all attend Boot Camp for twelve weeks, and there is an additional week at that start called Receiving where they get their tag, uniforms, and what not,"
"What did it say after all that because Hayden was home in early April 2019," Tyler asked.
"Right. I saw that Warriors break off to attend School of Infantry in two groups. Members not doing Infantry go to Marine Combat Training for thirty days, but Infantry goes on to Infantry Training Battalion for sixty days. There is a ten-day leave between Boot and SOI," Shane informed.
"Alright so if Hayden left for Boot in January, then being home for ten days in April makes sense, then he went on to SOI until June," Drew shrugged.
"But then he suddenly got deployed August 2019 for eighteen months in Syria," Fisher pointed out.
"So where was Hayden staying during the ten-day leave, and June to August? Here on Berk or on the main island?" Rylee asked.
"That's not the question we need to be asking," I closed my eyes. "It's when and how Gabriel and Dustin came into the equation,"
"Dustin made his first appearance in January, informing us about the hacking and job thing," Drew said. "As you said Avery; Director Raseri seemed calm and assured Hayden was fine," he added.
"Correct, and Gabriel came on Hayden's birthday," Shane enlightened.
"Yeah, but remember how Gabriel was when he showed up? Gabriel didn't seem the least bit surprised when Spencer said that Hayden hadn't been home in three months. Also, was more than confident Hayden would call," Hailey reminded.
"And he knew about the hacking and job incidents already; asking us if we finally realized that Hayden never did it," Fisher put a finger up. "Also, Gabriel was well informed that Hayden had been on Archia Isle since January because the way he said it was that he assumed we'd known,"
"There is something else that should have raised a flag right away," I stated as they looked at me. "Gabriel said that Hayden called him Private, so how were they video chatting? You can't use that feature on a private, blocked, or restricted call,"
"So Gabriel lied to Uncle Spencer and Aunt Vivian," Shane mumbled.
"Because Hayden told him to. You didn't notice Gabriel look down and check his phone right before Spencer asked what Hayden's number was?" Tyler informed.
"And then the last dates on the timeline are May 2019, when Dustin and Gabriel were both at Raven Point Park telling us that Hayden was not to blame for things between July and September 2018. Oh, and when Hayden called Gabriel in August to tell him about the deployment," Drew said as I wrote it down.
"And the starting point of this web is the day we saw Hayden here at the park when he was visibly cold and upset; that's when we found the Haddock defense gun an hour after Hayden assuming was in this area," I reminded. "I'm sticking to my-,"
"Avery?" Hailey cut me off. "Doesn't Director Raseri have a teenage son?"
"Yeah; his name is Troy I believe and about the same age as us. Why do you ask?" I inquired. Hailey turned her phone to reveal a blown-up version of a male with black hair and green eyes.
"Is this him?" Hailey wondered curiously.
"Mmhm. Yep, that's Troy. Older child to the Raseri family; they have a young son too who is attending our old High School," I informed with a nod. "Why did you want to know?"
"Because if you blow up Hayden's profile picture on Skype," Hailey started as she tapped something and turned it around again. "Troy and Hayden are seen with their arms over one another's shoulders and smiling,"
"Oh, my Gods! You're right! Both of them are in their combat uniforms, and the background looks like a barrack; this must have been taken within the last five months because that's how long Hayden has been deployed. Troy and Hayden know one another!" I exclaimed.
"Avery, as impressive as this is; it doesn't matter," Shane sighed. "In case you forgot; Hayden is giving us another chance, and if he finds out we're trying to figure things out behind his back using the information we have access to because he accepted our requests then he's gonna be hurt, and pissed off for not trusting him. I know it sucks; I want to know everything too, but we have to let Hayden come to us or we're going to lose him for good,"
Sadly, we knew Shane was right. If we managed to get into Hayden's forgiveness and make up for the wrong we did, maybe Hayden would tell them everything. However, if Hayden found out we were skulking around his profile after he gave them a second chance; all bets were off and Hayden would erase them from his life. Our only hope was to try and become his friends again, but that wasn't going to be easy with Hayden still mad at us, and deployed for another thirteen months. Also, it was silently agreed among us that we would not tell Spencer and Vivian about this new information.