Over the past few days investigations have been making progress, every day Scott and Tyler would get together and put clues together seeing if anything made sense. Some things did and others didn't, like, did Alice recognize the driver? If she did that's probably why she was so willing to go with them in the first place. Or did they make her get in the vehicle? She could've been scared if that's what happened.

Not knowing much about her kidnapping and murder made Scott uneasy, if he could go back in time and prevent this whole situation from happening he would. He desperately would, but unfortunately, time travel didn't exist. Scott and Tyler thought of an idea, maybe if they could talk and interview someone without their knowledge, then they'd probably rule out suspects.

But who was a person of interest? They couldn't just talk to everyone in town, that'd take way too long and would just drag the investigation on, when really it would cause more damage to the Blair family. So the question was: Who can they talk to? That's when a lightbulb went off in Scott's mind. "What if we talked to the guy at that antique shop, across the street from the swim center?" He suggested to Tyler.

"You mean Derek Rowling?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, he used to babysit Alice whenever me and my parents were too busy." Scott replied.

"Then let's go, I've got to be home in an hour so we should hurry." Tyler said, he and Scott rushed to their bikes and began heading to the antique shop. They both hoped Derek would give them answers, Scott needed to cope, and this was the only way he could. As his parents were distant, and his sister was gone. Tyler's only purpose was to help his best friend, that's how he saw it to say the least.

They soon arrived at the shop and walked in, the place looked empty, it didn't look like anyone was in the building. That was until an older teenager walked from the back room to the front counter, his eyes met the younger boy's. His name tag read Derek, they found their man. They stopped in front of the counter and Derek's face held a sympathetic look.

"Hey Scott, how've you been? I'm sorry about Alice, she was a good kid." He told him.

"Hi Derek, and I'm okay. And yeah my sister was a good kid." Scott said, looking Derek in the eye.

"We were wondering if there was any information you could tell us about the day Alice was taken?" Tyler asked.

"I already told the police everything I know, there isn't anything I can tell you guys, I'm sorry." Derek said. The boys sighed, besides that bullet casing they found, there wasn't any evidence leading them closer to Alice's killer. Scott was exhausted, nothing made him feel whole, he wished he could find out something, anything that could potentially help them.

"Why are you guys asking anyway? Do you have something to tell the police?" Derek asked, he did think it was weird for the two kids to be going around like they were cops.

"We're trying to find out what Alice did the day she died, to see if something is out of place." Scott replied.

Derek nodded, "And you came to me because of the cameras inside and outside the shop?" Both Scott and Tyler nodded, he sighed, knowing his next sentence would lead him into trouble.

"Okay, so I shouldn't be telling you this but, we always have copies of our footage incase the police needed to be involved. I have footage from the night Alice disappeared, but if I show it to you, you can't tell anyone or else we'll be in huge trouble, understand?" After the teens complined, Derek brought them to the back room.

Where they saw the two monitors on the desk, Derek logged them into the footage, they both watched on the monitor, showing how Alice was approached by some person in a red pickup truck, and then they drove off. Nothing about the tape seemed out of the ordinary, besides the fact that Alice willingly got into the truck. That's the only thing that seemed off, Alice should've known that Joyce (Eden's mom) was going to drop her off at home.

So why did she get in the car? "This doesn't make sense man, your sister literally jumped into the car, without zero hesitation." Tyler said.

"Yeah, that's the only thing I find weird about this entire tape. Why didn't she go with Joyce like she was supposed to?" Scott was so baffled, so many questions went through his head. He couldn't believe his sister willingly got into that car.

Tyler turned to his friend, "So what do we do now?"

"We go home." He replied.
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(A trigger warning for those who are sensitive about cutting.)

Once Scott and Tyler returned back to his house, they saw Michael's and Laura's cars in the driveway. Scott silently cursed under his breath, they were gone too long, he looked back at Tyler. Who knew he had to head home before his parents got there, so he left, and as Scott parked his bike, he dreaded walking into the house. Hearing his parents commotion, he walked to the kitchen, seeing his parents.

Anyone could tell by the look they gave Scott they were angry. He knew they knew, and it was time to face the music. "Where were you?" Laura asked her son.

"I was with Tyler, we were hanging out." He replied.

"Well we know you weren't at his house since Maya called to ask if Tyler was here. So again, where were you Scott?" Micheal questioned.

"So now you care? A few days ago you didn't care if I was gone for a few hours, but now you're on my back about it?!" Scott yelled, he was tired of his parents flip flopping around the in between caring too much and not caring enough.

"You are a child, who doesn't get to tell an adult what to do." Laura said.

"That's rich coming from the two adults who argue constantly, you don't get to dictate where I go, what I'm doing, and who I'm with. Since you haven't cared until now!"

"We don't want you to get hurt son!" Micheal shouted back.

"Oh really? Well guess what dad? I'm already hurt! Alice is gone, you and mom won't stop fighting, and I can't get these thoughts out of my head!"

The adults looked at each other and paused, "What thoughts sweetheart?" Laura asked.

"It's nothing, you don't care anyway." As Scott began to turn, Micheal swiftly took a hold of his sleeve, Scott looked back at him and down at his arm, if his dad didn't let go then he and Laura would find out about the cutting, and that was the last thing Scott needed. "Dad, let go." He said.

He tried wiggling out of his grip but it was proven to be difficult. "Dad let go!" When Micheal finally let go Scott fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt. Laura stopped him by talking, "Scott, what's on your arm?" She questioned.

"Nothing, I'm going to my room." He said, but he was once again stopped.

Micheal turned to his son, "Show us your arm Scott." Scott sighed, knowing he was caught. He pulled his sleeve up and there they were, each individual cut he'd given himself, over guilt, anguish, pain, sadness, anxiety, and regret. They were on full display for his parents to see. Some were healed, and others were fresh.

"There. You happy?" Scott rolled his sleeve back down and turned walking up the stairs towards his room.

He left his parents dumbfounded, how could they not know? How couldn't they know their son was harming himself? Laura began to cry, feeling like she failed as Scott's mother. Micheal felt the same, as if he had failed his son, they both were too incompetent and selfish they didn't even realize the struggles Scott was facing. How could they be such awful parents?

Later on the next day they went to Dr. Hendricks, both Micheal and Laura told her everything, about their marriage struggles, guilt over Alice, and Scott's cutting and depression. "I'm not a therapist for adults, but you both need to go to counseling. And all of this about Scott is truly upsetting, I'm very sorry about that, it's clear that his depression is getting worse and he's becoming suicidal." She told them.

"I will change our treatment plan, and begin to find ways to help Scott not harm himself. I'm not going to lie to you, the road to recovery or even him feeling like he's okay and safe is a long one. But if you want him to get better, you need to start fixing yourselves together." And that was the wake up call the couple needed.
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The End of Chapter 15