Disclaimer: In my dreams.

~ Chapter Two ~

The news spread quickly, too quickly – Tawni Hart had been murdered. She was gone, lost forever and nobody was sure if they would ever find her body.

Her parents held each other as they cried, hot tears burning their faces as they fell asleep in each other's arms, happy to just be together, just wishing that their daughter could be right next to them.

Nico hid himself away in the prop house, sitting in the corner as tears ran down his face, his arms wrapped around his knees as he tried to think about how much he had loved her, all those chances he had to just tell her – the chances he never took.

Grady sat in his dressing room, staring blankly ahead of him as he tried his best to remember Tawni before she had been chopped up into a million pieces – as the press so kindly claimed. He focused on smiling Tawni, happy Tawni... alive Tawni.

Zora didn't know what to say or do, she was too young to understand but old enough to know what had happened. Tears ran down her small, pale cheeks as she hid herself away in the vents, curled up in a tight ball as she covered her mouth to stop anyone from hearing her sob. She just needed to be alone, she needed to forget.

The cast of MacKenzie Falls had watched the So Random cast break for the week after Tawni had been reported missing, but this time as they looked around the cafeteria – only seeing Sonny there – they knew that the cast was gone, even they were hoping it wasn't for good.

Chad Dylan Cooper watched Sonny as she absently played with her food, a small frown playing on her face as she looked deep in thought. He heaved a deep sigh as he sat down on his own table, wondering why she was on her own, why there was no tear tracks down her face, why wasn't she crying?

He was worried about her, she and Tawni had been close for the past few months, they were best friends. They spent most of their waking hours together, shopping, talking, coming up with new sketches, they did everything together but now her best friend was gone. Surely she should be crying?

Sonny Munroe looked down at the food in front of her, not lifting the fork up to her mouth once as she focused on every single breath she took, she reminded herself not to cry, she wasn't allowed to cry. She had to be strong, she had to pretend like nothing had happened, she had to be okay.

She thought about when her dad had died, she had cried and cried for weeks, she cried so much that it hurt and then it stopped, everything just stopped. Feelings went away, dreams faded, hope was gone. She wouldn't let it happen again, this time she would fine.

She looked up when Nico walked into the cafeteria, the tears evidently still running down his face as he put his hand on her shoulder, shaking her out of her thoughts. She jumped at the touch, knowing that if anyone said anything, or if anyone made her believe that Tawni was in fact.. gone, then she wouldn't be okay. So she had to distance herself from everyone and anyone, it was the only way.

"Marshall wants to see you." He whispered to her, she nodded as she slowly got up, her eyes making contact with Chad for a moment before she put her head down and nearly ran out of there.

"Sonny," Marshall looked at the girl in front of him when she walked into his office, motioning for her to sit down on the sofa on the far side of the room. She bit down on her lip at first, knowing what was about to come, knowing that her cast members - or what was left of them - had expressed their concerns about her to Marshall, she had been expecting this.

She sat down, looking right at the man, not breaking any eye contact as she fought for her self control. She watched him sit down next to her, smiling a little as he struggled for the right words, "We are all here to help you anyway we can." He used the same words he had spoken to Tawni's family a few days before, and Sonny used the same words she had been repeating to every single person for the past few days, "I'm fine."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

"About what?" She tried her best to pretend like she had no idea what he was talking about, bringing out her best acting skills - after all, no matter what Chad said, she was an actress.

"About Tawni." Marshall answered simply, a confused expression on his face, unable to see through the acting skills nobody knew the girl had. He reached out to touch her hand, shaking his head, "Your loss."

"I wasn't aware I had a loss." And just to add to it, she looked around at the sofa, checking her pockets - just to carry on the façade.

Marshall had no idea what to say to her, just a few moments before he had to send Zora home because she was too shocked and upset by what had happened, and he had even just wrapped Nico in his arms as the poor boy cried for his lost love. But here was Sonny Munroe, looking as though she had never lost anything. The only thing that gave away how she was feeling was the lack of a smile on her face, the smile everyone around her had come to depend on.

"May I leave now?" She broke she silence that filled the room, looking up at him as he nodded. She got up and walked out of the room quickly, looking down at the floor as she made her way to her dressing room.

She gulped a little as she got to the door, Tawni's door. She could feel tears about to fall down her face as her hand touched the doorknob, her hand shaking as she tried not to think about it, she tried to tell herself that people die all the time, it was fine, everything was okay.

She closed her eyes as she opened the door, not wanting to go in but knowing there was nowhere else to go at the same time. She opened her eyes, clutching at her chest as tears stung her eyes, she felt like she was suffocating, she could just imagine Tawni being in this room not so long ago.

It hurt too much, and Sonny would do anything to avoid getting hurt. So, she sprinted out of the room, biting down on her lip to stop herself from crying before someone suddenly wrapped their arms around her trembling body.

She was scared for a second, not liking someone touching her, not wanting any feeling to be real at the moment. She gasped at the contact, struggling for a moment before finally letting him hold her, focusing on stopping herself from crying instead.

"It's okay to let it all out." He finally whispered, wrapping his arms even tighter around her as she nodded, she knew who it was, she was grateful for the permission to breakdown. She wanted to be free from the pain of having to pretend, she wanted to be weak, but at the same time she longed to be the strong one.

But Chad Dylan Cooper was holding her in his muscular arms, telling her to cry, making her believe that for once – it was okay to be weak. So that was what she did.

Sonny cried and cried, her fingers curled around his MacKenzie Falls uniform as she collapsed into a heap onto the hard floor, glad when Chad went down with her gently. The tears wouldn't stop as she thought about her best friend,she would never see her again, they were never going to tease each other about boys, they were never going to laugh over something stupid.

No more bright pink.

No more check it out girls.

No more 'I'm pretty'.

No more shopping trips.

No more Tawni.

No more best friend.

She was glad when Chad pulled her onto his lap, her head resting on his shoulder as she closed her eyes to the nightmare that was her life. Her best friend had been murdered and nobody could find him. Nobody would do anything about it.

Somewhere out there a killer roamed free, somewhere out there he could have taken another victim already, somewhere out there justice was to be found. Somewhere.