JUSTIN THOUGHT QUICKLY and opened the door, pulling me inside with him into the darkness. The door clicked shut just as voices were heard.The two men were now talking just outside the door, and it was nerve-wracking. Every word of theirs seemed dragged, like a YouTube video playing at 0.75 speed. They could open the door at any time—which really wasn't helping my anxiety.The closet was dark and musty with a slight reek. It was almost pitch dark—I was only just able to see Justin's silhouette from where I stood a few feet away from him."It'll be alright," he said, and although people usually lied when they said that, I believed him for a blissful second.I hadn't noticed, but I was breathing hard, almost gasping. I ran my hands along the wall to look for a light switch, and when I found one, I flicked it on immediately, leaning against the wall. The people were still outside.The bulb was faulty and only sputtered light unsteadily, but I would take what I could get to shove away the

"WHAT'S WRONG?" he asked, voice filled with concern. And it seemed so genuine."It's nothing," I said with as much nonchalance as I could muster. I opened the door and got out of the car, aiming to go inside, but Justin, apparently, had other plans.Shocker."What is it, Autumn?" He was blocking my way, just as I reached the porch. He walked forward until we were almost touching. His fingers skimmed my cheek, making my throat run dry.I took a not-so-subtle step back."What makes you think something's wrong?" I looked away from his face, because I knew that if I did, everything else would peel away, layer by layer, until it was just the two of us-vulnerable and too overwhelmed with desire to think straight. I didn't trust myself when it was just the two of us."Are you serious? There's clearly something wrong, I just don't know why you won't talk to me about it."."I don't want to," I blurted out.He froze, and then moved closer, tilting my chin up to look at him. His blue eyes were ic

THE NEXT MORNING was quite like the previous one. I had kick Justin out of my room before Drake or Parker woke up, and then I went to work on time for the first time in very long time. Rita was shocked at my early appearance and had made sure I heard the mocking in her 'good morning'.Downtown Diner was full for the first time in ages, and I was glad to find something to distract myself with. It had been boring working here for the past few days.The only new things I could have done in here a few days ago to excite myself would have been shifting from the bar stool to the diner chairs.There was a time that I would have thought getting paid for doing nothing at all would be a dream, but now I sure as hell didn't.Except for the fact that I almost dumped a bowl of soup on a customer's head and had a mental breakdown when someone rapped out a really complicated order to me, everything was fine.Josh walked in at noon, looking glum. He had bags under his eyes and his shoulders were slump

HE GOT OFF of the couch he had planted himself on, wincing as his feet touched the ground, which usually happened when you'd been sitting for too long, and I suspected that part of the reason he didn't want me to see what was on that drive was that it would require him to go retrieve it.I sat down in his spot just to taunt him."What does it have? Files? Emails?" I questioned Parker, my curiosity getting the best of me when Drake hadn't come back for a long time.Justin chuckled like he knew I would crack, and I elbowed him. Parker spared a curious glance before turning his attention back to what I asked."It's CCTV footage. Blurry, but evidence indeed," he said.I wondered why my father would have committed murder knowing he would be captured on a camera. He couldn't have been that stupid. Even if there were cameras, he would have seen to it that the footage was completely obliterated.Parker seemed to catch onto the silent question, because he answered, "William had set the cameras

WHEN A BLACK Mercedes that I knew all too well pulled up in the driveway at an alarming speed which was likely to leave tire marks, I got in before the driver could get out.Al stared at me for a good minute and when he finally opened his mouth to say something, I cut him off."Just drive. We have to be quick." One of them may come home soon.He must have sensed the urgency in my tone because he immediately started driving away from that cabin-like house that I'd started to consider my safe haven. I looked at it until the last of the brown wood it was made of was camouflaged into trees.That's what I liked about Al—he saved the questions for later because he trusted me, and it made me feel worse about not telling him about all this.He drove at top speed for a few minutes before he pulled up at the side of the road; curiosity brimming."What happened?" he asked, looking ahead. He must have anticipated that it was something bad. "Did they hurt you? Because if they did—""No," I whisper