Chapter 1
It wasn't suppose to be like this. I wasn't suppose to be like this. I never imagined this was the way I'd live my life, never imagined the terror and anxiety I would have every time I heard a single noise. But I have the feeling that... this isn't the end.
It was a normal day in the small town of Stockbridge, the birds chirping, the sound of cars in the distance and yet all Lily could think about was what life would be like if she had never lived here. She never thought she would be born in a small town like this and not a big city like Manhattan in New York. She wondered why her luck was so crap, after all she was a 17 year old girl who had insecurities and had to try and fake a smile so no one asked her if she was okay.
It was hard to do that everyday, hard to act like nothing was wrong with her. She had hoped and prayed that no one would find out she was like this, she didn't want everyone's views on her to change. She had always been seen as the nice, quiet girl who always hung out with the same group at lunch and break. The thought of people seeing her as the insecure, little girl who was sensitive scared her. It made her blood freeze and her body tense.
Her friends were the only people she could trust with her secretes and her worries. They had been there for her since day one, when she was getting pushed about in the hallways of school and no one would help her. That day had been hell for her, she had been late to nearly all her classes and had to skip lunch because she had no where to sit. It was only after lunch that they had introduced themselves to her, not knowing their lives would be changed forever.
The first one to introduce themselves to her was a girl called Tory, the name kind of reminded Lily of Tory Nichols from Cobra Kai. God how she loved that series. Tory was a strong witted girl, she didn't take bullshit from anyone and pray for someone if they talked shit about her or her friends.
The second person she was introduced too was a guy called Jayden. He was very good looking and Lily could tell they'd be very close friends in the future, maybe something even more. He was creative and loved to read, he wrote song lyrics in his spare time and plays the electric guitar. 'god he's just my type.' Lily had thought when she first met him.
There were two more people who had introduced themselves to her, one called Robby and the other called Lucas. They both had the same personality as one another, slightly weird but funny to be around. They vowed to protect Lily from the first time they saw her in the hallway being pushed about like some outcast.
Lily adored all her friends, they were the light of her life and the reason she woke up in the morning with a smile on her face.
It was now back to the present tense, Lily's eyes staring out the window of the car her parents had gotten her for her birthday. The sound of honking had bought her out her daydream, realising she had stopped at a green light she had quickly winded her window down and put a hand up signalling that she was sorry. Her foot pressed down on the gas peddle pulling up to the parking lot of the school, noticing the huge amount of reporters and the facial expression of worriedness plastered on the students faces.
'What the hell is going on?', she thought as she got out the car, noticing her friends and her boyfriend in the distance. Walking over to them felt so long, the amount of people whispering and barging past her made her feel like it was her first day again.
As she finally stopped in front of the her friends, Jayden (who actually became her boyfriend) pulled her over to the fountain and sat her in between his legs. She put her backpack on the ground behind her legs and leaned back into her boyfriends arms.
"Do any of you know what everyone is whispering about?", With confusion plastered on her face, all her friends look at her with wide eyes. Creeping her out a little until Tory speaks up.
"Wait- you're telling me you don't have a clue what's going on at all?", Her voice sounds a little confused and Lily could hear a little bit of disbelief forming in her sentences. "Did you even watch the news this morning?"
Lily shakes her head, her eyebrows furrowing at the fact she was getting asked if she watched the news this morning. She never watches the news when she wakes up.
"Well maybe you should start to watch the news Lily.", Her eyes trail over to Robby who had just started to talk before Tory had the chance too. "If you watched the news you would have known that there's a killer in Stockbridge."
In that moment Lily felt her mouth dry, a killer in Stockbridge? No way. Why would anyone want to murder people in a small town? If anything it would be in a city where crime rates are high.
"He's right Lily, there's a murder going around. Chloe died last night. The news said that she died at around 10:30, found her behind her car.. she was all bloody and her insides where on the outside.", Lucas resists a gag as he explains how they found her. Lily also feeling the bile rise in her throat as he talks.
Silence takes over the group, a tense atmosphere suffocating them like all their oxygen had just been taken away. Lily's mind goes blank, the only thing in her mind being the way she would have pictured they found Chloe. Blood puddles around her, her pink insides on the floor beside her... her hair tangled and the darkness that surrounded her.
