At work that day, Calleigh could feel herself releasing the stress and tension of the last few days. She relaxed into her work, and hardly thought about her strange stalker. She got through most of her evidence, both in trace and in ballistics, and all morning she had no problems. It was about lunch time that her trouble struck. She was in the break room, sitting at a table with Natalia and Ryan, discussing how a night-shift girl, Alice, hadn't shown up to work since she'd disappeared at the airport, when Natalia finally said what they had all been thinking. "You don't think Alice had something to do with your kidnapping, do you Calleigh?" she said quietly, and the blonde didn't respond. The answer was already there, even though it hadn't been spoken. Calleigh immediately felt the weight return to her shoulders as she ate, but her hunger had vanished.
Calleigh's stomach began to turn at the new thoughts, making her feel ill, but after a few minutes she realized that it wasn't the stress... she was going to vomit. "Oh God..." she whispered, and stood up, holding her stomach as she made her way to the near by washroom. Thank goodness she hadn't eaten much. She rinsed her mouth, and sighed, staring in the mirror and thinking over the text messages. Her dirty little secret... Eric's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Calleigh? Are you okay? I saw you run in here." he said quietly, opening the door. She nodded when he could see her, and ran her hands through her hair. "Yea, I'm okay. Do you have any gum on you?" she asked, smiling. He laughed a little, and handed her a piece, which she chewed as they walked out of the bathroom together. "Eric, we need to talk.." she was forced to hold her tongue when Natalia ran up to them. "Guys! You need to see this!"
They were led into the break room, where every screen in the room was flashing the same message. "Secrets make for dirty cops." over and over and over. Calleigh froze, backing up a step into Eric. He gave her a look, wondering why she had reacted so extremely. "Cal? Are you okay?" Everything was muffled in her ears, Eric's voice sounded far away, and when they all looked at her, all she could see in their eyes was hate, scorn, embarrasment, all those bad things, and all she could do was run, away, out to her car, and drive to the middle of nowhere, get out, and keep running. It was a familiar place, one that she always went to when she needed some space, a little meadow surrounded by lush trees, and with a view of the beach. She threw herself onto the bench shaped rock in the center, and cried.
Next chapter will most likely be the last one. :'( I'm gonna miss writing this story. ~Admin