I initially planned for this story to be a one-shot, but I've decided to continue it. I honestly was uncertain about posting it in the first place, but I am very happy with the response that I have received. Ironically, this story has come easily to me. I can't say the same for my other stories, which are on a different fanfiction account.
Thank you. I don't know how long this will be, but my best guess is no more than five chapters.
Chapter Two:
The blaring of the alarm clock woke her up from another restless sleep. She rolled to her side and her hand, habitually, shut off the alarm. She rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling blankly. Begrudgingly, she sighed and sat up in her bed. Her eyes glanced at the alarm clock once more, reading the date. She choked back a sob.
Two years. He had been missing two years, today.
She still remembered that morning she found out about his disappearance. She had woken up to her phone ringing. The caller ID had read his mother's number. Mrs. Moon rarely ever called her. Curiously and anxiously, she had picked up the phone.
She regrets ever picking up the call.
"Is Austin with you?" Mrs. Moon's frantic voice had sounded from the other line.
With those four little words, her whole world had crumbled.
They had spent the night writing a song in the practice room of her father's music store. When the clock hit around 11, she decided that the both of them needed to call it a night. Austin had been reluctant to stop; they were almost finished with the song and he wanted it to be done at the end of the night.
She convinced him that they were at a good place. They were nearly done with the bridge, and the song would be complete. He gave in and offered to walk her home. Her house was only a twenty-minute walk from the mall. He lived only a few streets away from her.
Little did she know that that night would be the last time she would ever see him again.
Panic had filled every bone in her body after Mrs. Moon's phone call. She had frantically got dressed and ran out of her house, not even bothering to have breakfast. She had jumped into her father's car and had driven as quickly as she could to the mall. Barely putting the car into park, she had run to her father's store and fumbled with the keys and the stubborn back door. Eventually getting the door open. She ran up the stairs to the practice room, hoping with every bone in her body, that the blonde would be there. That he had gone back there after walking her to her door and that he had fallen asleep.
He wasn't.
The police had searched endlessly and tirelessly, as soon as his parents had reported him missing. They looked at every lead they could find, tracking down any witnesses that spoke up. However, none of the few witnesses offered any help to the search effort. There was no trace of him. It was as if he had completely disappeared off the face of the planet, never to be seen again.
The whole world had been shocked to its core at the blonde's disappearance. Headlines of every big time newspaper read "Teen Pop Sensation Missing Without a Trace."
There was a country-wide search. Of course, he was famous, everyone looked for him. Missing persons posters were plastered seemingly everywhere. Every news channel ran hourly updates on the case. Every and any website posted about the disappearance. Telephone hotlines were set up by the police and advertised everywhere, hoping that someone would speak up.
The search lasted longer than it typically should have, just because Austin was famous. It seemed like the entire world demanded that he be found and anyone he know of his disappearance come out and speak up. The search had even been spread out to other states and even other countries. Everyone wanted him to be found.
No one more than his friends and his family. Mr. and Mrs. Moon appeared on every news channel, begging and pleading for anyone with any information to speak up. They promised not to press any charges, as long as their son was safely returned to them.
She had been dealt the brunt of the shock. She was his best friend, his partner. Her heart was shattered into a million pieces as soon as it was officially announced that he was truly missing. Until that point, she had refused to accept the fact that he was gone. To this day she still didn't believe it.
All eyes were on her. She was the last person who officially claimed to have seen him. The police had instantly ruled her out as a suspect, but that didn't stop the press. Ruthless and heartless journalists and paparazzi constantly heckled her, following her everywhere she went, asking questions about his disappearance and her involvement with it.
That broke her heart even more. How could people even think she would be responsible for Austin's disappearance? He was her best friend. She would never hurt him.
Trish and Dez handled the paparazzi and journalists, pushing them aside and telling them to mind their own business. They were the only ones who were helping her get through it, albeit barely. All three of them were emotional wrecks throughout the ordeal.
Still, her two friends did little to ease how helpless and broken she felt. Her best friend was missing and she could do nothing but wait to see if the police would find anything.
The wait itself was painstaking and unbearable. Waking up each and every day and turning on the news channel, praying and begging to see headlines about the blonde being found. She spent every chance she got at the police station and the Moon residence, waiting and praying with the Moons' for the safe return of their son.
However, after a long, agonizing year with nothing but dead ends, with a heavy heart, the Police Chief had pronounced him officially dead at a news conference. Her already broken heart had shattered even more at the announcement.
Everyone was forced to accept it then. Austin was gone. No one was ready to accept that he was dead, but the police announcement made it official. The ordeal had worn everyone down and the search and effort were proving to be a lost cause. Everyone had lost hope in finding him alive.
On the anniversary of his disappearance, he was officially presumed dead.
The funeral had been a week after the announcement. But was it really a funeral? She didn't see it as one. The service was just to provide closure for the emotional and painful experience. It wasn't even really for Austin. It was for everyone else - his family, friends, and his fans. A day dedicated to his memory and a chance for all of them to say goodbye and finally move on with their lives.
But, she hadn't feel that way. She couldn't. How could they move on? How was that – a funeral – moving on? They were burying an empty casket and digging a grave, for someone who might not even be dead.
He could still be out there, somewhere, wondering if people remembered him. Wondering if people were still looking for him. But, they weren't. They all thought that he was dead.
She had felt numb and empty during the service. She had felt no closure. How could she? She had felt like a part of her was missing. She had lost her best friend and her partner, and now she just had to accept that fact that she would never see him again.
But, she couldn't accept that. How could she? He couldn't be dead. He had to be alive. There had to be a chance that he was. He couldn't be dead. He wouldn't leave them. He wouldn't leave her.
No one really knew if he was dead, but they had all lost hope a long time ago. The chances of him coming back became slimmer and slimmer with each passing day of the search, until eventually everyone had just given up on finding him.
The police reasoned that if he were in fact still alive, he would've been found by then. They had used up all of their resources trying to locate him. They couldn't keep spending time looking for him, when other cases called for their attention. She had understood their reasoning, but it didn't make things any easier.
During the middle of the funeral, she remembered standing up from her seat and walking over to the brown casket. A picture of his smiling face had stared back at her. With a heavy heart and sorrow-filled eyes, she had looked down at the empty coffin.
Seemingly far away, she heard the priest giving a speech about how Austin was in a better place now. She couldn't help but internally scowl at the religious figure. He didn't know that. He didn't know that Austin was actually dead. He couldn't possibly know. For all they knew, he could still be alive, suffering and begging for help. Her help.
That had killed her.
How could she just sit there and accept it? How could she move on without knowing if he was truly okay? He could be alive right now, in unbearably pain. He could be screaming her name, but she would never know.
She couldn't give up on him. She wouldn't. She couldn't.
Tears had streamed down her face and her body had racked in sobs. Within moments, she had felt two pairs of arms wrapping around her protectively. Trish and Dez. Trish had been whispering words of comfort in her ear, trying to calm her down, telling her that everything would be alright. But, Ally hadn't believed her. She couldn't accept that things would be okay. How could they be?
Austin was gone. Nothing could change that.
She had felt her body give up on her, as she dropped to her knees. Trish and Dez had caught her and knelt on either side of her. She had cried uncontrollably, her sobs echoing off the walls of the mortuary.
For months during the search and after the funeral, she cried herself to sleep, each and every night.
A part of her was missing and she would never forget that. She could never recover. She would never be the same.
One day, while she was looking through pictures of her and the blonde, she finally realized that Austin wouldn't want her wallowing her days away with sorrow. He wouldn't want her to cry over him. He would want her to live her life to the fullest. He always had an optimistic approach to everything, always seeing the good, even in the bad. He wanted to enjoy life each and every day. Since he couldn't, she would live for him.
With a heavy heart, she started trying to move on with her life. It was a difficult process. Every little thing reminded him of her.
But soon, instead of crying over his memory, she began to smile. She would think of the good times that they had shared, all of times when they would end up on the floor laughing over some silly thing that Dez said or did, the long nights spent finishing songs.
Still, she never forgot about him. She couldn't. She never stopped thinking about him. She would never give up. She would never lose hope. He was alive. He had to be. She believed that with every bone in her body.
She walked through the school doors, met with hundreds of pairs of sympathetic eyes. Everyone in the school, the county, the state, the country, and the world knew that today marked the second anniversary of his disappearance.
Keeping her head down, Ally briskly walked through the hallway, before reaching her locker. Everyone in the hall parted, giving her room to walk. The redhead and Latina were already there, by their own lockers. Her locker was in between theirs, right next to his.
Trish smiled sadly at her, as she saw her approach. "Hey." She said.
"Hi." Ally answered quietly, turning all of her attention to opening her locker and taking out the book she needed for her first period class. Her eyes habitually glanced over the locker right next to hers. A smiling picture of the blonde hung on it. The words "Rest in Peace Austin" written below the photograph. The school had dedicated the locker to him as a memorial.
"How are you holding up?" Dez asked, on the other side of her.
She looked up at the redhead. Her eyes giving him the only answer he needed.
"Sorry." He apologized. "Standard question."
"If you want to leave, I'm sure none of our teachers would mind. They would understand." Trish said. "You don't have to be here. None of us do."
She hated this. Them, treating her like some fragile doll made out of china or glass. As if it wasn't already enough that the rest of the world treated her like this, she didn't need her friends doing it. It had been two years after all. Everyone had moved on. Just because she had taken Austin's disappearance the hardest, didn't mean that she wasn't okay.
People would walk on eggshells, whenever the topic of him was brought up around her. It was as if they were all waiting for her to break down. As if they wanted her to.
"It's fine. I want to be here." She said, taking her English book out of her locker. From the corner of her eye, she saw other students watching her warily. She knew they were probably whispering about her.
"Are you sure?" Dez asked, cautiously.
School and music were the only things that brought her joy, since his disappearance. She had always excelled in school; it was her safe haven. A place she knew she belonged. Music was her escape from the world around her.
She had stayed away from music during the search. It reminded her of the blonde and their shared passion for the art. However, music became an escape for her. It let her express herself in a way that only she understood.
She wrote songs for the blonde, keeping them in a safe place until he returned. So he would have new music to perform. She also wrote songs for herself, songs that would never see the light of day. Songs about the pain and darkness clouding her days during the search, songs of the emptiness she felt in her heart each and every day.
"Yes." She shook her head. She needed to be here. "That's what Austin would want." She couldn't stop the quaver in her voice as she said his name.
The whispering seemed to pick up at her mention of his name. More eyes fell on her.
"There's nothing to look at!" Trish yelled in her defense. The wondering eyes quickly turned away.
"You don't have to yell at them." She told the raven-haired girl.
"This is difficult for all of us. All of their gawking isn't helping." Trish reasoned.
"They mean well." Dez spoke up. "They knew Austin, too."
"No, they didn't." Trish snapped. "They didn't know him like we did. We were his best friends, they were all just fans. They didn't know a thing about him."
"They can miss him too, Trish. Austin was a part of all of our lives."
"Stop it." Ally cut in, her voice so loud, she almost sounded like she was yelling.
Trish and Dez closed their mouths, looking at her in surprise.
"Stop referring to him in the past tense. He's still alive. I know he is."
Dez placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ally, you have to move on. You have to let go. I know this is painful for you, but Austin was my best friend. I knew him better than anyone, and I know he wouldn't want us crying over him."
"But he's not dead. I know he isn't." She replied.
"Ally." Trish sighed, placing her hand on the brunette's other shoulder. "You need to move on."
"I have moved on." Ally's voice quavered. "I just know that he's alive somewhere. The police never found anything to prove his death. There's a chance he's still alive somewhere."
"We've been over this before Ally." The redhead spoke softly. "The police have presumed him dead. He would've been found now."
"What if whoever has him doesn't want him to be found?"
"Ally. Y-" Dez started to speak.
"I don't want to hear it." She cut him off. "He's alive. I know he is." She shook her head defiantly, closing her locker just as the bell rang. Without saying another word to either of her friends, she turned on her heels and disappeared into the crowd of students making their way to their classes.
No one believed her now, but one day that all would. She knew it. Austin was alive.
She was at her locker at the end of the day, putting away her textbook from her last class. It had been a long day, everyone sending her sympathetic glances. Even teachers sent her their sympathy, offering to let her leave class.
She refused. Austin would've wanted her to enjoy her life and enjoy learning, like she had before he disappeared. She was determined to keep her internal promise to him. She had appreciated the sympathy and the condolences, but she didn't want to be treated like broken glass for the rest of her life. Yes, Austin, her best friend, was gone. They may think that he was dead. But, that didn't mean that she was.
After the long day, she couldn't wait to go to his grave. Even though she knew he was alive, she still visited the grave every so often. She needed to talk to him somehow and talking to his grave seemed to be the best way to do that. Somehow, visiting his tombstone made the process of moving on easier.
Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps running down the hall. Dez ran up to her, out of breath, Trish trailing closely behind him.
Ally looked at the both of them, her heart instantly racing. The redhead and Latina stopped in front of her. She stared at the both of them, a feeling of worry growing inside of her. Addressing the redhead, she asked, "Dez, what happened? Is everything okay?"
Dez shook his head. "They found him, Ally. Austin's alive."
Thank you for all of the support.
~ The-Queen-of-Misery