After a long and agonizing school day for May, she felt somewhat relieved to be in Dawn's car, driving towards her home. With everyone around her acting so weird, it felt good to be with Dawn for a while, the one person that hadn't seemed to change since the accident. And maybe with some work, they could find some answers. The drive was comfortably quiet until they finally arrived at Dawn's house, which also happened to be the biggest mansion in town.
"No matter how many times I come to your house, it's still overwhelming." May chuckled as Dawn pulled up to the large golden gates along the driveway.
"You know better than most that it's not all about the glamor." Dawn teased as she punched in her personal code and unlocked the front gate. The doors swung open and she drove her car inside, parking in the circle drive outside the front door. Both girls piled out of the car and headed inside. As they took off their shoes, they noticed Dawn's mother, Johanna, in the kitchen preparing dinner.
"Oh May!" she smiled. "Good to see you again."
"Nice to see you too Mrs. Bertiz. How are things?" she replied.
"Things are wonderful." Johanna nodded. "It's always good to be home after a long vacation."
"I can imagine." May chuckled.
"I'm guessing Dad is out right now?" Dawn guessed.
"Yes, he had to go back to the office right away. I'm sure a lot of paperwork piled up while we were gone." her mother responded.
"Gee, it's almost like you shouldn't just take random month-long vacations on a whim." Dawn commented sarcastically, causing May to giggle.
"Be nice to your father Dawn." Johanna reminded her. "You know he only wanted us to spend time together as a family."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. We'll just be studying in my room until dinner." her daughter informed her.
"Not a problem. Have fun girls." Johanna nodded. With her permission given, the two girls headed upstairs to Dawn's massive bedroom. May swore sometimes even the size of Dawn's bed dwarfed her own room. But that wasn't important right now. She plopped herself down on the bed as Dawn closed and locked her bedroom door. Her weight shifted the bed and woke the other occupant of the bed, causing a little blue penguin creature to roll out from under the blankets, rubbing his eyes.
"Pip…" he yawned.
"Oops. Sorry, Piplup." May apologized.
"Kinda late for a nap anyway isn't it?" Dawn chuckled before joining May on the bed.
"Lup piplup." Piplup complained as he climbed onto Dawn's head.
"Fine fine." Dawn laughed. May smiled a little but was anxious to get started with their investigation.
"So…where do we start with all this?" May wondered.
"Well, let's start with what we know." Dawn suggested as she pulled out a notebook and started a list on a fresh sheet of paper. "Did everyone mention that they wouldn't tell you what happened because "It was for your own good"?"
"Or something to that effect…" May nodded, prompting Dawn to take notes.
"Alright. And who all did you try to get information from?"
"Well…" May hesitated as she paused and think, making sure she covered everyone. "Everyone in my family, Serena, Chloe, Drew, and Ash…"
"And how about how their behavior is different from what you remember?"
"Well my family and friends keeping secrets from me is definitely different…and Eevee becoming a Glaceon was a surprise…but I guess the people acting the weirdest are Drew and Ash…"
"Won't argue with that." Dawn nodded as she continued writing down more notes. "Have you looked through your phone for clues?"
"Yeah I tried but got nothing since August…so either nobody talked to me for all of September or somebody deleted my messages and pictures. Given what I've seen from my family, I'm guessing the latter…" May sighed.
"Oh someone definitely deleted them. I sent you a text on September 1st before I left and you responded the same day. I have that record in my phone." Dawn informed her, pulling her phone from her pocket. Pulling up her text messages, she showed May her phone and sure enough, May saw their brief conversation right before Dawn boarded her plane to leave and lost her cell service.
"Wow…well I know my phone is still password protected. So whoever did this has to be somebody I've trusted enough to give my password to." May deduced. Dawn nodded and jotted down some more notes.
"Well, everyone we talked to today except for Drew could probably fit into that category." she added.
"Certainly right about that…at least we can probably rule out a random person with a lucky guess." May chuckled softly, making Dawn smile a little. "So where does that leave us?"
"Well, I think there are a few things we can figure out already based on what we know now. For example, since everyone seems to be sticking to the same story, I think we can reasonably assume they've all discussed this. They had to have all talked after your accident and prior to your waking up. And my guess is you losing your memories made it easier to provide that coverage for whatever they're hiding." Dawn explained.
"Everyone seemed genuinely surprised that I had lost my memories. If they did have a meeting of the minds before I woke up, they must've discussed it again after they realized I didn't remember." May added.
"Good point." Dawn nodded, tacking on some final notes before looking them over in full. "Though even still...we don't have much to start with…"
"Yeah…but there has to be a way for us to get more information about what happened last month…" May sighed.
"I think maybe we should narrow our focus for the time being. Maybe we should try and look into the accident itself first and work our way back from there. I mean, no one has even told you what this "accident" was right?" Dawn suggested.
"Right…" May nodded.
"Any accident that was bad enough to cause everyone so much concern and send you to the hospital had to be reported somewhere. If we can find some kind of local news story or newspaper article or something about some kind of accident, it could give us a good starting point." Dawn explained.
"Dawn that's a great idea!" May smiled. Dawn smiled back and then checked the time on her phone.
"The public library is open for another hour. If we hurry we could get down there and look through their newspaper archives of the last week or two. And we could check the web for any local stories without leaving a history on your phone." she offered.
"Sounds good. Let's do it." May nodded. Dawn nodded back and grabbed the notes and her keys as she took Piplup off her head.
"Don't tell Mom what we're doing ok Piplup?" Dawn instructed her partner.
"Pip!" Piplup replied with a salute. Dawn smiled and headed back downstairs with May right behind her, grabbing their shoes from the mudroom.
"Mom we're going to the library!" Dawn hollered as she headed outside.
"Okay drive safe!" Johanna called from the kitchen.
"We will!" Dawn called back as May followed her outside and they both hopped into her car.
After a quick drive across the city, Dawn parked her car in the mostly empty parking lot and both girls entered the library, which was almost completely emptied out for the night.
"Not used to coming this late…" May commented, surprised at how quiet the building was, even for a library.
"Neither am I. But desperate times call for desperate measures. You want computer or newspaper duty?" Dawn asked.
"I'm the faster typer so I'll surf the web." May answered.
"Alright. Just holler if you find something." her friend nodded as she headed into the rows of achieved newspapers nearby. May meanwhile sat down at one of the computers and began searching for any local news stories that could provide an answer. She searched the internet for most of the hour without much success, until finally, she came across a headline that caught her attention. It read "Teen Car Accident: Car Totaled and Teens Hurt" with a date of just a day after she was admitted to the hospital.
"Hm…" May muttered to herself as she clicked on the link and opened the article. Silently, she read a story about how two students from their school got into a severe car wreck after they left a dance late on a Friday night. On the way out, the driver ran a red light and ended up getting t-boned on the passenger's side by a car going in the other direction. There's also a mention of alcohol being involved, but the students were not named because they were minors. "Hey Dawn come look at this."
"Coming!" she called as she put down her paper and walked over, leaning in over May's shoulder to read the article. "Whoa...says that one of the students was taken to the hospital in critical condition…"
"It sure sounds like something that would scare my friends and family a lot if I was involved…" May commented.
"If this article is about you and you were the one in critical condition, then you were the one in the passenger seat. That was the side the car was hit on." Dawn added.
"Then that raises another question. Assuming I'm the critical one, who was the other person in the car?" May wondered.
"More specifically, who was your driver?" Dawn corrected her.
"That's the question…" May nodded as she peered closer at the image of the wrecked car from the article. "Unfortunately the picture is too blurry and dark. I can't read the plate. Heck, I can barely tell what type of car that is."
"Figures." Dawn sighed as she looked closely at the picture as well.
"Is there any way we can enlarge or enhance this photo you think?" May pondered.
"I don't know for sure...I really don't have the computer skills to attempt something like that." the blue-haired teen admitted.
"Someone must know how…" May sighed.
"Oh!" Dawn gasped. "I think I know who can help us!"
"You do? Who?"
"I'll explain later after I asked him. Just trust me ok?"
"Alright. I trust you." May nodded as she looked back at the article. "I just wish they could've published the names so I'd know for sure if it was me or not…"
"We may not know that much for sure, but we did get more clues from this. For example, it does mention that the two students were leaving a dance. That means a week ago there was some kind of school event that Friday night." Dawn said.
"But wait the homecoming dance coming up soon still right? Why would another dance be scheduled so close?" May pointed out.
"Maybe one of the school clubs or something decided to host a last-minute party to raise money." Dawn shrugged. "It happens often enough."
"I suppose you're right. When I get in tomorrow, I'll see if I can find a printed copy of last month's school events calendar. Maybe finding out what event it was can give us more clues." May decided.
"Good idea!" Dawn smiled. May smiled back until she noticed one of the librarians walking up to them.
"I'm sorry girls but we're closing up for the night." the older woman informed them.
"Oh right. I'm sorry." May apologized.
"No worries. Both of you have a good night and please get home safely." she assured them as she walked off to finish shutting the building down.
"Guess that's our cue to go." Dawn shrugged as she grabbed her keys. May nodded in agreement and clicked buttons on the keyboard which sent the webpage to the attached printer. Once the article finished printing, May grabbed the printed paper and headed out of the library with Dawn.
Soon enough, Dawn pulled up in May's driveway after driving her home. May climbed out and closed the door, flashing her friend a smile.
"Thanks again, Dawn. For everything."
"You're welcome. Just maybe keep that article hidden until we're ready to confront everyone." the bluenette reminded her.
"Of course." the brunette nodded.
"See you tomorrow!" she waved as she pulled out and drove off, leaving May in her driveway. The young teen sighed to herself as she heard the front door open, revealing her mother on the other side.
"There you are, sweetie. Why were you out so late?" the older woman questioned her daughter.
"Oh, I was uh, studying." May lied.
"At school?"
"I went to the library with Dawn." she clarified.
"Oh alright. Good of you girls to help each other catch up." Caroline smiled.
"Sure is…" May forced a smile, mentally sighing in relief that her mother seemed to buy the lie for now.
"Well come on inside now. Dinner will be ready soon." Caroline added, prompting May to head inside, careful to keep her news article hidden amongst her textbooks.
The next morning at school, May arrived earlier than usual and looked around, finally spotting Dawn waving her over. She ran up and the two girls greeted each other with a hug.
"How are you holding up?" Dawn asked.
"As well as I can be." May admitted, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Well, I had a thought last night about something else we can do to find some clues." Dawn grinned, piquing May's interest.
"What thought?"
"Well since we already need someone to try and enhance the image of the car, maybe they could also try and retrieve some pictures or messages that have been deleted from your phone." she suggested.
"Oh! Yeah, you're right! But who could do all that and wouldn't blast it to other people?" May wondered.
"The president of the computer club of course!" Dawn announced.
"You mean Clemont?" May asked with a tilt of the head.
"Right. No one knows more about computers than him. And aside from being lab partners with Ash and Serena, I don't think he has too much contact with anyone in our circle. With the right compensation, I think he'd keep this quiet from them." Dawn explained.
"Wow. Dawn that sounds like a great plan!" May smiled.
"I certainly thought so." Dawn chuckled. "I have math with him this morning so I'll ask him during class."
"Dawn you're amazing! Thank you!" May cheered as she hugged her friend, making them both laugh.
"Just keep your eyes open for anything else that might be a clue." the blue-haired girl reminded her.
"I will." May promised as they both gave each other one more squeeze before running to their separate classes.
Later that day at the lunch hour, May ran in quickly and after a quick glance around the room, she noticed that the strangeness of the people around her was carrying over to their lunch seats as well. Instead of the five of them eating as a group at a table, everyone was split apart. Serena and Chloe were at their usual table, but Ash was sitting with his basketball team instead, and Dawn had reserved a table for herself and May towards the back so they could talk. May hated to see everyone apart this way, but she just had to assure herself that once she found out what they were hiding, things would go back to the way they were. She just had to stay strong and find the answers. With that determination, she headed over to the table where Dawn was sitting and sat across from her.
"Hey Dawn." she greeted. "Did you get a chance to talk to Clemont?"
"Yup." Dawn nodded.
"So what did he say?" she asked eagerly.
"He said he'll help us. And he promised to keep it quiet. We just need to meet him in the computer lab after school." she explained.
"Oh, that's so great." May sighed in relief.
"Sure is. What about you? What did you find?" Dawn questioned her.
"Luckily for me, there was one teacher that still had a copy." May answered as she pulled a paper out of her bag. "I guess I should be grateful Mr. Ramos never throws anything away."
"Guess that hippie finally did something useful." Dawn chuckled as she proceeded to read it along with May. As they read, they found that the day of the accident has "Royal School Ball: Presented by the Drama Club" written as an event on it.
"Sure enough. Another dance." May noted.
"They must've decided to host the party in order to get people to help fundraise. Probably so they can buy some new sets and costumes." Dawn shrugged.
"Didn't you use to be in the Drama Club? Before you became a Cheerleader?" May remembered.
"I sure was. So I might have some people I can contact to find out more about what happened that night." Dawn smiled.
"That's perfect. If we can find some proof that I was there, then we can almost guarantee that the article has to be about me." May added.
"I'll talk to some old friends as best I can this afternoon. And maybe we'll get some more proof by working with Clemont later on the pictures." Dawn suggested.
"Hopefully." May nodded as she glanced over at Serena and Chloe, then over at Ash. Her heart sank as she watched him eat, not really paying attention to his teammates and just looking completely miserable. If she knew what was going on she'd help him in a heartbeat. She just didn't know how to yet…
To be Continued...