I clutched onto my phone as I sunk back into the seat of my car. I typed vigorously into the search bar.

Johanna Creonte, Eldbourne PA

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Johanna Creonte, Philly PA

Intoxicated Teen Driver Takes Three Lives, Leaving Child Orphaned

"Bingo."

Carson Harris, teenage resident of Eldbourne, went driving while under the influence. His actions resulted in a tragic car crash, resulting in the deaths of a Philadelphia family. The parents, Elisa and Norman Creonte, perished immediately, with the youngest, Joshua Creonte, dying in the ambulance due to a punctured lung. The teenage daughter, Johanna, was taken in by authorities. She will be placed temporarily in a local shelter until her new guardians, sister and brother-in-law to Elisa Creonte, arrive from Maine.

Carson Harris will be facing...

I pressed my phone to my chest. "Gotcha."

"They're shipping me Philly, Avery Carter," Xander Masefield drawled. "That's where they took my old man."

"Rory Masefield, right?" I asked. I wouldn't let him be in control of the conversation. Stay five steps ahead of him. Xander's bright orange prison uniform clashed against his dull, gray eyes. But when I mentioned his father, his eyes were lit with a frightened spark. "Do you really wanna end up like him?"

"I'm already there, Avery," he said with a solemn laugh.

"You're not six feet under," I replied, folding my arms and breathing heavily. Inhale, exhale. You're in charge. Inhale. Exhale.

"What do you want, Avery Carter?" Xander demanded, his eyes trailing off. His hands absentmindedly traced the scar that etched across his face. I bet he was wishing for his wolf mask.

"I bet you didn't kill Carson, Xander. But you know who did. It's that friend you're protecting," I deduced.

"I'm never telling you their--"

"If I guess their name, then you have to tell me if I'm right. Okay?" Xander smirked and nodded.

"Sure. Go crazy."

"Landon Thompson."

"Nope."

"Katherine Summers."

"Nada."

"Liam Montgomery."

"You're not gonna guess right, Avery--"

"Johanna Creonte."

Xander's smirk dissipated off of his smug face. His shoulders slacked as he was hit with the words of my accurate guess. "How'd you--"

"You were put into a shelter temporarily after your dad was jailed and your mom was killed. You met Johanna Creonte. She was shipped up to Maine. You guys became friends. She wanted Carson dead for killing her family, and you helped her because she's the only person you have left."

Xander bore his soulless eyes into mine. He abruptly began to clap, his handcuffs clanking against each other. "Good job, Avery. You got it."

"I...I got it?"

"Yeah, you proud of yourself, kid? Lemme know if you can find Johanna, then."

"I'll find her. I don't know how, but I'll find her," I promised. "Hey, last time I was here, you yelled my name. I left before you could say anything."

"Oh. I was just gonna tell ya that I'll see you on the other side," he smirked. "What, think I'm gonna be in here forever? I'll be out. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a few years, maybe right before I die. But I'll get out of here."

"Xander, why don't you just let Pierce help you? Just tell us where Johanna is and you can--"

"HE CAN'T HELP ME!" Xander bellowed. "He's a son of a bitch! He put my father in jail!"

"Your dad deserved it, Xander!" I retorted. "He killed your mom! Why are you defending him?"

"He was all I had left, Avery! He promised he would take care of me! That's where we were going that night--we were gonna go somewhere safe. It's not his fault that the little girl died."

"What...what little girl?" I asked. A guard signaled to Xander that his time to speak to me was up.

"Go ask Mr. Prescott," he spat. His face contorted into a sly smile and he uttered, "See you in Hell, Avery Carter."

"Xander, please--"

His face was suddenly full of sorrow. "Tell Mr. Prescott that my dad...he's sorry. He didn't mean to."

"Didn't mean to what?" I demanded. "Xander, didn't mean to what?" He refused to look at me as the guards escorted him away. "Didn't mean to what?" I screamed. "Didn't mean to what? Didn't mean to what?"

I sped down the streets of Eldbourne, honking slow cars out of my way. Pierce'll know what to do, I reassured myself. Everything's gonna be okay.

My phone lit up. I glanced over to see what the text read: im sorry. It was from Katherine. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," I grumbled. What the hell did she get herself into?

I pulled into Pierce's driveway with immense difficulty--there was just so much damn traffic. What's going on here? I locked the car, flash drive in my hand and tape recorder in my pocket. When I turned the corner of the house, I realized that blue and red lights were flashing in the street beside Pierce's house. "Oh, oh no," I whispered. I dashed as fast as humanly possible to Pierce's door. The door knob didn't budge when I attempted to enter, so I bashed my fist against the red paint, wincing as my palm was assaulted by stray splinters. "Pierce, open up!" I yelled. I noticed Officer Eliza groan as she exited the police car. "Pierce!"

The door swung open. Pierce grabbed me by my arm and slammed the door shut behind us. "This is bad, kid. This is very, very bad."

"Pierce, what the hell is going on?"

My phone buzzed. he did it.

"They found it. Fuck, I don't know how they found it, but they fucking found it, Avery," Pierce stammered. His tie was loose, his suit wrinkled and littered with a booze stain. His hair flew in every direction as he scurried across his shambolic house.

"Found what?" I demanded. When he didn't answer, I grabbed his shoulders and stared him down. "Breathe."

He violently shook his head, gyrating on his heel and rushing towards the window. "Fuck, they're here."

"Why are the police here, Pierce? What the hell happened?" I asked. He grumbled something to himself in response, locking the door and shoving a chair underneath the knob. "Pierce, Mr. Summers showed me something. It's a flash drive--it's footage of that night. Someone stole my car, Pierce. They've been framing me this whole time. And Xander Masefield?--he was working with Johanna Creonte. We've gotta get her down here from Maine somehow. She's behind this, I'm sure of it." Pierce didn't seem to follow any of the information that I had bestowed upon him. "Pierce, please. Tell me what's wrong so that I can help you." I set down the flash drive on a counter beside me, following Pierce into his office.

"Avery, they fucking found my tape, they found my tape. I don't know how. I don't know, but I'm going down Avery. They're gonna find this, and then every shady fucking thing I've done since then."

"Pierce, I'm cashing in that favor you owe me," I declared. Somehow, that seemed to gain his attention. He snapped his head towards me, brushing his hair with his hands, and cleared his throat with a painful grunt.

"What is it, kid?"

"Don't...don't be mad at me."

"Why would I...it...it was you, kid?" Pierce asked. I shamefully withdrew the tape recorder from my pocket. He took it from me, handling it like it were a fragile newborn.

"I put it back. I don't know what's on it. Katherine took it, so I brought it back here--"

"She called them," Pierce deduced. He burst into spontaneous fits of laughter. "Oh, wow. She fucking won. You know, I told you not to trust her, Avery! She's fucked us both over!" A fist pounded on the door.

My phone buzzed yet again. avery im sorry but pierce did it. he said it over the tape recorder. hes not as clever as you think he is.

"Eldbourne Police! Pierce, open up! Don't make this harder than it has to be!" Eliza demanded. Pierce frantically looked around the room, as if something in there could save him. He snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

"Avery, I'm trusting you, okay?" he speedily said. I had no choice but to nod. He careened over to his laptop. He unplugged it from its charger and thrust it into my arms. "The password is 'Rosemary.' Capital 'R.' No spaces. Got it? What's the password?"

"Rosemary...with a capital 'R.' Pierce, what're they here for?" I asked yet again.

"Avery, you have to get out of here, okay? Out the window." Pierce bolted to the window and threw it open. "Out!"

"Pierce, please."

He sighed. My heartbeat was in sync with the ramming that was attacking the door.

"They're gonna arrest me, kid," he admitted with a stressed smile. He grabbed a tumbler from his desk, took a prolonged sip, and then chucked the glass at the wall. It shattered into a million pieces, getting lost in the grimy ground.

I exhaled deeply. "It's gonna be okay, Pierce. We'll get you out of there, okay?"

"Not this time, kid. Not this time," he muttered. Suddenly, he threw his arms around me. He hugged me tight. I thought I could hear him softly sobbing.

"Pierce...?"

"You made me wanna live again, Avery Carter. Thanks for putting trust into a sick son of a bitch like this one," he whispered. He grabbed the tape recorder from the counter and stuck it into my hand. He smiled--he genuinely smiled at me. He ushered me through the window, shutting it right after I crawled out of his office.

I covered my mouth from squealing as I pressed myself against the side of the house. I arched my head towards the office to get a better sound of what was going on.

i called the cops avery. he did it he killed carson he fucking did it i told you we couldnt trust him HE FUCKING KILLED MY CARSON

"Pierce Prescott, you are under arrest for hindering an investigation, withholding evidence, and the...the murder of Carson Harris," Eliza proclaimed.

My. Heart. Skipped. A. Beat. And I couldn't breathe for the merest of moments.

I could almost hear Pierce's smirk. "I'm sorry, Pierce. I really am." She read him his rights and escorted him out of his home. I heard the shuffling of footsteps, searching for evidence to incriminate him.

"Well, this looks pretty damn bad, doesn't it?" Officer Eugene remarked.

"Sloppy for him...too sloppy," Eliza agreed. "'I killed Carson Harris. Stay out of my way or you'll get hurt too,' along with the bullet itself."

I wanted to scream at them. They had found the bloody confession note that the killer had left me in that stupid fucking box. That's not his! He didn't kill Carson!

avery? avery plz dont be mad at me. avery???

What...what if he did? He's lied to me before. He was gonna find someone to put the blame on to save himself. He was gonna put Xander in jail to save himself. He lied. Pierce...Pierce murdered Carson. He did it. He did it. He did it he did it hedidit.

When I saw the police sirens fade in the distance and tires screech down the street, I allowed tears to escape my eyes. I gripped onto Pierce's dumb little tape recorder and played whatever had encouraged Katherine to call the police.

The first thing I noticed was that his voice was scraggly. The second thing was that he sounded younger.

"Son of a bitch...son of a fucking bitch," he groaned. "He's...he's fucking gone. Good fucking riddance. He should've died in the goddamn crash. Son of a bitch is dead...I'm fucking sorry, Rosie. I'm sorry that I lost you. He's gone now, don't worry. Son of a bitch is dead. I got rid of him for you. Should've seen the look on his face..."

I rewound. "Should've seen the look on his face."

I rewound. "Should've seen the look on his face."

I rewound. "Should've seen the look on his face."

avery?

avery are you ok?

avery why arent you replying

(1) Missed Call

(2) Missed Calls

avery?

avery??

AVERY