It was a few days after Cassie's meet with Joseph, and in the days that filled up that week, Cassie's curiosity grew stronger and stronger, and it did not help that one more mystery had been added to the plate; Brianna. She had made efforts to begin her investigation on who she could be, but she lacked a vital piece for the investigation to go anywhere, she was clueless. She had no idea where to start from, she had even tried searching for her on google and Facebook, but she was faced with thousands of Brianna's and lack of knowing what to narrow her search down to, left her frustrated. She felt like a wind of cluelessness kept pushing her backward and further away from the answers she needed. It did not help that she still had not figured out what the code meant either, she felt so useless and like she was failing at something she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing.

Interrupting her thoughts was a knock at the door, she dragged her body off her bed and slowly walked to the door to reveal Phoebe who scrunched up her nose once she saw Cassie's unflattering appearance. Cassie had on an oversized shirt and her hair tied up in a rough knot. "Geez Cass it's noon, why aren't you looking as gorgeous as me yet?" Phoebe asked with her hands on her hips, which made the bag that encircled her wrists to hang beside her hips, and then pushed past Cassie to enter the room.

"I'm mad at you," Cassie said still by the door, she crossed her hands over her chest and shut the door with her foot before walking to meet Phoebe who had already gotten comfortable on Cassie's bed.

"I know, but I have ice-cream," she rose up the bag she brought in with her, and then pulled out a tub of ice-cream and two plastic spoons "and I'm not getting fat alone so you'll have to endure my glorious presence for the meantime." She flipped her hair and then stretched out her right hand with a spoon and waited for Cassie to take it from her. Cassie, after a moment of rolling her eyes at Phoebe took the spoon and sat down beside Phoebe who had already started helping herself with some ice-cream. "so,' Phoebe said softly with her shoulders sunk a bit low "you know everything I told you last week was the truth, wouldn't have said it if I didn't care."

Cassie ignored her and continued with the ice-cream, which is where all of her focus was. "I don't think I'm mad at you Phoebes," she finally spoke, and looked up at Phoebe who then dumped her spoon into the tub "I think I'm mad at the truth, and the fact that you were the one who said it stung a bit, you're not exactly a saint."

"Aren't we all mad at the truth about ourselves?" she laughed slightly "I mean, I'm mad at the truth that I'm way more fabulous than everyone because anytime I see someone, it makes me feel bad that I make them feel insecure, you know?"

"Yeah, that's totally what I meant," Cassie rolled her eyes "I'll try to be more truthful, but if I need to tell a lie to keep us from getting killed or arrested, don't judge me," she pointed her index finger at Phoebe warningly.

"I won't judge," Phoebe laughed and rose up her hand in surrender. "I'm meeting Danny for lunch soon, by the way, he called me last night yelling at me about how I never spend time with him," she pouted. "Wanna come?"

"Sure," Cassie smiled, "I love Tyler and everyone else, but I live for those moments when it's just the three of us."

"Me too." She rose her right hand up in the air. "Well I'll be downstairs getting some fashion tips from your mum, she has better taste than me, it's sad." Phoebe faked a sob. Cassie laughed and watched Phoebe leave with her tub of ice-cream placed close to her chest, as though it were her child.

Both Cassie and Phoebe walked into the restaurant, which was a nice small restaurant that had a rustic feel. It had a lot of old-looking wooden furniture, a calm ambience, and dim lights. They immediately spotted Danny with the back of his head, he had his phone in his hands and used that to entertain himself while he waited. They walked over to him and when they got behind him, Cassie placed her hands over his eyes. "Cassie?" he laughed, while he lifted her hands up and brought her around, and then she sat down on the space beside him, to the left and Phoebe sat down beside him to the right, and they both placed their purses on the seat right opposite Danny.

"How'd you know it was me?" she pouted.

"Because anytime Phoebe does that, her perfume almost suffocates me." He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and took a sip of water from the glass cup placed on the table.

"Gosh, I know right," Cassie exclaimed, as she adjusted her shirt "I honestly almost died one time when Phoebe walked into the room. Ever since she got back from Paris, she feels the need to poison us all with her perfume."

"That's how I make my amazing presence known," Phoebe smiled and wiggled her perfectly carved eyebrows playfully.

"Oh, and she's been even more full of herself too," Danny added and then laughed. He then picked up one of the menus that was already placed on the table, the others followed suit. He was going through the menu and glanced up for a bit only to see someone looking their way, staring at them. He focused his eyes back on the menu and rose it up a bit, enough to cover his mouth and part of his nose. "It's either I'm crazy or there's a woman opposite us staring at us," he leaned forward a bit and whispered.

"What?" both Cassie and Phoebe said, and then, trying not to be obvious, they turned their heads a bit and caught sight of the woman who was indeed staring at them.

"Okay, I'm totally creeped out," Phoebe said through her teeth "Danny do you have a crazy lover we don't know about?"

"I don't do crazy, and I'm not even sure she's looking at us anymore, I think she's looking at Cassie."

"Me too," Cassie said breathing a bit heavily "and I'll find out what the hell she wants," she said, and with no warning, she stood up from her seat and made her way toward the woman. She strutted toward her table confidently, the woman watched as Cassie walked to her but soon got up and ran out, Cassie picked up her pace and ran after her but by the time she got outside, the woman was nowhere in sight. Her eyes traveled to every corner but she could not find her anywhere. She stomped her feet on the ground and turned her body back around forcefully and walked back into the restaurant. She got a few stares when he got back in, because of the way she ran out. She walked back to her seat where both Danny and Phoebe waited. She sat down and placed her left leg over her right with force.

"I lost her," Cassie sighed.

"Have any idea who she could be?" Danny asked.

"No, never seen her before," she started, but then she stopped talking all of a sudden and left her lips slightly apart and her eyes wide open. "I'm sorry guys, I can't stay, there's something I need to do," she said and then got up.

"Where are you going to Cass?" Phoebe stood up.

"I'm not sure,' she replied before picking up her purse and speed-walking out the door.

As soon as she was out, she dug out her phone from her purse and went to her call log where she knew she'd find Joseph's number. She immediately called him and walked further away from the restaurant as she waited for the phone to ring. She still scanned the area as she walked just in case she came across the woman again. Joseph soon picked up the call, "we need to talk," she told him "I think I'm being stalked, and something tells me it's Brianna." She waited for a reply but did not get one, she pulled the phone off her ear and looked at it to see that the call had ended. She was about to call him back before a text message distracted her, she opened it up to see a text from Joseph; an address. She held her phone tightly and let out a breath before walking over to where she parked her car. She punched the address into her GPS as drove with its leading.

When Cassie got closer to the house, she could not help but feel a sense of familiarity in the neighbourhood, she felt like she knew the place too well. Everything from the houses, the trees, the small stores around felt familiar and as she got even closer. It soon dawned on her why it felt so familiar to her. It felt familiar because she had been there a lot as a child, it was indeed Avril's neighbourhood, and as she got even closer, she was faced with Avril's house. It was the exact same way as she remembered. The same colours, the same flaws. She always assumed that Avril's parents sold the house a long time ago, it came as a surprise to her to find out that the house was indeed still in existence.

She parked her car and sat there for a while to just drink in everything that her eyes beheld, memories of she and Avril running around the neighbourhood, just being kids and having the best time of their lives. No worries, no serious thoughts, they had no idea of important things going on around in the world, they were just in their own little bubble with no care in the world, at least that is how Cassie felt. In her thoughts, as she reimagined Avril, she no longer saw a carefree happy child just having the best time of her life, she then saw a troubled child with so many secrets weighing her down, who somehow had the strength to cover it up with a smile. She admired that young girl because of how much strength she had and her heart broke that she could not do anything to help her. She also felt so vacuous for not being able to see beneath Avril's smile. She beat herself up for not asking more questions, for not pressing her enough, for not being the person that Avril could tell all her secrets to. Her guilt was one of the things that pushed her to follow any leads she got and made her go behind her friends back, made her channel the memories she locked away for so long, it gave her the fortitude and will to go on.

She got out of her car and walked quickly to the front door before some hesitation would make her turn around. She got to the door and froze, she suddenly felt like she was not ready to move closer to Avril and her past. She shut her eyes and took in a breath knowing that it was something she had to do to maybe somehow get over Avril and the guilt. She felt like to move on  she had to come face to face with everything about her past with Avril. She brought her hands up with her eyes still shut and knocked lightly on the door, and then she moved back a bit as she waited for Joseph to open it. To her surprise, when the door was pulled open, it was not Joseph she saw, it was an older woman that she knew too well; Avril's mother.

Cassie's mouth hung open and then she cleared her throat and her eyes flickered a bit "Mrs. Castle," she said "I'm not sure you'll remember me but it's me, Cassie. I was friends with Avril."

Avril's mother stepped forward a bit and tilted her head to the side slightly, and then smiled a Cassie. She lifted her hands and stroked Cassie's hair slightly, which made Cassie a bit nervous, she just smiled shyly. "Of course, I remember you," she smiled with sad eyes "Avril loved you so much, she would always glow when she hung out with you. She didn't have too many friends. You were special. Very special"

"Thanks," Cassie smiled awkwardly "I loved Avril too," she nodded her head in assurance.

Cassie noticed Avril's mother staring at her wrist, Avril's mum picked up Cassie's wrist and gently stroked the bracelet around her hand. "I remember when Avril got this for the both of you," she smiled melancholically "Avril was buried with hers, I knew she'd want a part of you to be with her in her eternal rest."

Cassie didn't know what to say and so she just jumped to the reason why she was there. "I'm actually here to see err Joseph, is he here?" she asked awkwardly.

Avril's mother's eyes lit up "I didn't know you two were friends," she had a shocked but happy expression on her face.

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends," Cassie laughed awkwardly.

"Oh. Well come in," she put her hands around Cassie's shoulders and brought her into the house. "I'll go get him," she said but Cassie was busy being distracted by everything in the house. She knew Avril's parents were gone for a really long time, and so she found it strange that everything about their house was exactly the same. There were rumours going around Freetown that they would not return, so she assumed that they had sold the house. She felt like the coming back of Joseph and Avril's mother was somehow linked to the picture that was sent to her. It felt like somehow everyone in Avril's life was returning, and she did not understand why.

She walked over to the shelves where a lot of family pictures were displayed. She had seen them before and thought they were lovely, but as she looked at them again, she found some things a bit peculiar about the pictures. In every picture, it felt like Avril did not want to be there. Avril, in most pictures, had her hands folded and her face hard and angry looking, and there was always a bit of distance between herself and her parents. She also saw some old pictures with a younger Avril than she knew, and there was a young boy in those pictures too, and she then realized that it was Joseph.

"That was before I was sent away," Cassie heard Joseph say and then she turned around.

"I figured," she said and then turned around to face Joseph.

"So what makes you think you're being watched by Brianna," he sat at the edge of one of the four couches and rested his hands on the backrest.

"I caught someone staring at me today," she walked closer to him "it makes sense that she's looking for me just like you did. I just don't understand why she ran off."

"Well, I guess we have to wait to find out if it's Brianna she'll reach out soon enough. If it's not Brianna, then someone might just be trying to murder you as well."

"That's not very comforting."

"I know," he winked and then she rolled her eyes at him.

"Do you have pictures of Brianna? That's why I wanted to talk to you in person."

"No, if there's anyone who'd remember her it'd be my parents. I was too young when I met her. Follow me," he said and then got up and made his way toward the staircase.

"Where are you taking me?" Cassie asked, unmoved.

He turned around and looked at her with an annoyed and impatient look on his face, he did not answer her question and then kept walking up the staircase. Cassie knew she would not get anywhere by asking more questions, so she just rolled her eyes and walked after him. She followed him up the steps, and she still surveyed the whole area like she had just walked into a fascinating building for the first time. Joseph walked to the end of the corridor and Cassie knew exactly where she was being taken to. She walked behind him until he was face to face with Avril's door, he stood for a while and turned around to look for at Cassie who was behind him. He stood for a while before pushing the door open. Once he opened it, a chill air attacked them and Joseph quickly walked over to shut the slightly open window.

"That's odd," he referred to the open window, he then turned to Cassie who remained frozen beside Avril's bed. She knelt down beside her bed and stroked it, a tear rolled out her eye but she quickly wiped it off. "It's my first time back here too," Joseph confessed and then took a seat on her bed. "It's my first time back here in fourteen years."

"It's my first time back in seven years," Cassie said. "Avril and I made a lot of memories in this room," she smiled, "we had so many sleepovers, fights, games, talks."

"hmm," he said, slightly uninterested, as he cracked his knuckles and hardened his face. "I didn't bring you in here to reminisce, you're here because I want you to look and see if there's anything here that will make more sense now in trying to figure out what happened to Avril." He got up from the bed.

"This place brings back memories of a friend I loved and lost," she walked up to him, till she was only inches away from his face "what the hell do you expect me to do?" she asked through gritted teeth. He looked down at her for a while before walking around her and walking to the desk in Avril's table to search.

"Start looking," he said.

If she still had doubts that Joseph and Avril were related, that day cleared away all clouds of doubt she once had because he was acting exactly like Avril. He seemed normal when she saw him earlier that day, but then he turned back to the cold, unbearable person she met at the restaurant and gym. She couldn't read him or figure out his thoughts or actions, and somehow, that gave her a bit of comfort knowing that there was a bit of Avril's character still alive, even if it was alive in someone else, someone she wasn't too fond of.

She went straight to Avril's closet because it reminded her of the time she used to play dress-up with her. It was a shock that even Avril's closet seemed untouched, she pushed all her clothes aside, nothing seemed odd to her, nothing seemed like it could be a clue. She kept on pushing the clothes aside until she came across a dress; one she got for Avril for on twelfth birthday. She remembered Avril squealing for joy when she gave it to her. Cassie's mother helped her pick out the dress, it was a white knee-length dress. It was decorated with so many big red hearts, and one of the hearts was a pocket. Cassie pulled the dress off the hanger and hugged it tightly. Avril wore it all the time. Almost too many times.

"Found anything?" Joseph asked.

"No, Cassie turned around with the dress close to her heart. "Just a dress I gave Avril, she loved it so much," she told him.

"I'm sure she did," he said casually and continued looking through some of Avril's stuff. Cassie continued hugging the dress, she knew she was acting a bit creepy but she couldn't help it, as she hugged it, her hands touched something a bit rough, she felt the dress properly and realized that there was something in the pocket. She dug her hands into the pocket and pulled out a bracelet; the same bracelet she herself she had on; the same bracelet Avril died wearing.

Avril looked dazed as she walked to Joseph with the bracelet in her hand. "Found this in Avril's dress," she rose the bracelet up "it's the exact same one I have on," she showed him her wrist with the bracelet around it "Avril gave it to me the night she was killed. She died wearing this same bracelet and I was told she was buried with it."

"Maybe you were misinformed," he said, and then took the bracelet from her hand.

"No, your mum literally just told me today that Avril was buried with hers."

"She's probably confused."

"No, she's not."

"So you're saying someone dug Avril's grave to steal a bracelet only to bring it back here?" he shook his head unbelievingly as he spoke.

"I don't know why, but this is obviously some sort of sign," she pressed on and took the bracelet from Joseph and looked at it in awe. She compared it to hers, it was the exact same one

"Maybe Avril had another one," he said but took a pause and held his hand up before speaking again, with his right hand grasping his left arm. "As odd as it is, my mother does Avril's laundry frequently. Even when she was gone, she'd sneak back into town a few times to make sure Avril's room was clean. She would have seen it." He rested his chin on his knuckle as he thought.

"Do you know the last time your mum did Avril's laundry?"

"When we got back two weeks ago, I believe."

"Which mean from then till now, someone must have snuck in."

"The window was open when we came in, I found that odd. But I later assumed either of my parents left it open."

"You don't remember any strange noises that sounded like someone could be breaking in?"

"If I did, don't you think I would've checked?" he asked but didn't wait for her to answer before speaking again. "And I don't live here, I only stop by some days, like today, so I wouldn't know."

Cassie kept on staring at both bracelets to see if she would find anything even stranger and she did. One of the charms had been taken out. "I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but one of the charms is missing from Avril's."

"Which one?"

She held Avril's bracelet up and put her hand on the space the missing charm once was "the ring."

+++++

HEY GUYS!

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. SO SORRY FOR HOW LONG IT HAS TAKEN ME TO UPDATE, I HAVE BEEN SO OCCUPIED LATELY, I BARELY HAVE TIME TO DO SOME OF THE THINGS I LOVE.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS SO I KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS, AND VOTES WOULD BE NICE TOO ;)