┊┊┊┊ ➶ MJ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"Aren't you supposed to be at school?" The Uber driver asked as MJ tried to ignore him, she had earphones in and although there was no music playing she was pretending she couldn't hear him. "My daughters are at school, they're a bit younger than you."

MJ looked out of the car window and watched as the houses went by. Kelly Taylor lives in an upper-class neighbourhood where all the houses look the same and the grass is always green. MJ found Kelly Taylor's address while watching a news coverage of the murder, the video showed the house number and had the street name on a sign in the background.

"Okay, we're here. Cash or card?" The Uber driver turned off the car as he turned around to face MJ, waiting for her to pay. She grabbed out $50 and gave it to the driver, he gave her change before she left the car.

MJ looked at Kelly Taylor's house, it's a double-level house with freshly cut green grass and a car out the front. The police must have already taken all the evidence and crime scene photos that they needed because there were no police cars out front. The Taylor house looked like every other house in the neighbourhood and nothing like the horrible tragedy that had just happened the night before.

"You again," MJ heard a voice come from behind her, she turned around her eyes widening as she saw the familiar face of the siblings who helped her free the dogs.

"What are you doing here? Are you following me?!"

"No! Of course not."

"Michaela had a calling."

"So did I. 'Own your truth'?"

Michaela nodded, she looked at Kelly Taylor's home, "Kelly must have had the same calling. All week she's been on the news talking about how she needs to own her truth."

"I don't like this. you and Mick having the same calling, that got Kelly killed," he shook his head, "It's too dangerous."

Michaela sighed, the thought of her being in danger was one thing, but the thought of a kid experiencing the same callings that got another passenger killed made her sick. She looked at MJ, the young girl who always managed to be at the same callings as Michaela, she was there when the plane exploded, with the dogs and now. Michaela wondered if MJ had someone who worried about her when she was gone. She shook her head, that was none of her business.

MJ walked up to the front door, leaving the two adults behind, "I'm finding who the fuck killed Kelly Taylor before they find me. I already died on my friend once, I don't plan on doing it again."

Michaela grabbed her badge, "Okay. But follow my lead. I'm the only real cop here."

Ben raised his arms defeatedly.

Michaela knocked on the front door, she had her badge visible on her waist to waver any suspicions about them not being real cops. A lady opened the door, taking both MJ and the Stone siblings aback, they hadn't expected anyone other than Mr Taylor to be home. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can actually. I'm Detective Michaela Stone with the NYPD, these are my colleagues, and we just have a few questions about Kelly Taylor. Is Mr Taylor home?" Michaela lied about Ben and MJ being cops as if it was nothing, the words rolling off of the top of her tongue as she said them a hundred times before.

MJ grinned, she had never been the biggest fan of the police, but seeing Michaela lie without a second thought made MJ mildly impressed.

The lady at the door looked at Michaela, noticing her badge, and then at Ben before finally looking at MJ. "Aren't you a bit young to be a cop?"

"I'm a prodigy," she said, trying to sound as confident as possible. She held out her hand for the lady to shake, "My name is MJ. I'm so sorry about your loss, I promise we're going to catch the person that killed Mrs Taylor."

"Patrick is in the kitchen. He has family coming over so be quick."

Ben nodded, before entering the home, he and Michaela had been there only shortly after Kelly was killed, so they remembered where the kitchen was.

The lady walked away, leaving the three passengers in the home where a passenger was killed.

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

A man who MJ assumed was Kelly Taylor's husband stood in the kitchen as he dried already dried plates. MJ tilted her head to the side as she watched the middle-aged man go through the unnecessary motions, she wondered why he was wiping the plates. MJ found it weird but then again she was in no place to judge how a person grieves, she had simply decided to ignore her grief, knowing that at any moment it was going to hit her hard. "We have people coming over, family," Patrick told the three, he looked in the living room and shook his head. "I had to cover the blood stains on the carpet with a throw rug."

MJ flinched, the idea of Kelly Taylor's blood being on a carpet only a room over from her made her sick.

"Do you recall Kelly ever using the phrase, own your truth?"

Patrick nodded, "As of two days ago, all the time. She was saying all kinds of crazy stuff after she came back."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Patrick put down the plate that he was drying, "The house was too fancy. We have too much. She wanted a simple life. I bought her this gorgeous necklace, I had to beg her to wear it. Then all of a sudden she's on TV, talking about the government? She hated politics."

"Did Kelly ever feel like she was in danger?"

"Or like she was being watched?" MJ added, "I mean, aside from the new reporters lurking out the front."

"You're talking about the clicking sound on her phone? Black SUVs on the street?" MJ looked at Michaela and Ben, the two siblings seemed to be familiar with what Patrick was saying but she had no idea. No SUVs have been following her, no clicking sounds coming from her phone. "My housekeeper saw them too. Christine, the black SUVs?"

The lady from the front door walked through the door, "All day and night," she told them. Christine turned to Patrick, "Vern and Susie are here."

The man looked at the siblings and MJ as if he were waiting for their permission to leave the conversation. Right, she's a cop.

"Go, go. We can see ourselves out."

Patrick left the room, leaving Michaela, Ben and MJ alone with his housekeeper. "It's been terrible. Reporters at the door, those people outside with their candles. Did you see them? They refuse to leave."

"What can you tell us about the last few days? How did Kelly spend her time? W-was there anything unusual?"

"It's all been unusual. The press appearances, avoiding the followers. Yesterday she got her hair done at the mall. She- when she came back, there were bruises on her arms and she looked upset. She said she'd fallen."

MJ looked at Ben and Michaela, she was no detective but bruised arms could be a sign of an encounter with someone unhappy about her return, maybe the same person who killed her last night or just another person claiming that flight 828 passengers are alien shapeshifters. Ben met MJ's eyes, his eyes thinking of a similar situation. MJ watched Michaela, the detective. The blonde-haired cop didn't take the chance to look at MJ and Ben, to see if they were thinking the same thing as her, instead, she kept her eyes on Christine. "Fallen how? What else did she say about that?"

Christine went to say something but stopped when she heard Patrick call for her.

"Okay this is now officially inappropriate, let's go," Ben told the girls as he began to walk out of the kitchen.

MJ followed behind him, an awkward realisation hit her when she entered the living room. Grieving family members huddled around, some crying, others standing around uncomfortably. MJ had walked into a wake. She had never been to a wake before but she had seen enough of them on TV to recognise one.

MJ was almost out of the room when she realised that the blonde adult behind her had stopped walking, she turned to face her and found Michaela frozen in place. "Come on."

Michaela's breath hitched as she looked at the grieving family members, she froze, unable to move. MJ realised that Michaela was having a flashback, stuck in a negative memory from the past. MJ grabbed Michaela's hand, "Michaela, we gotta go."

MJ pulled Michaela's hand softly, this seemed to pull Michaela out of her thoughts because she stopped staring at Kelly Taylor's family and the girl. "Right, sorry."

"You okay?" Ben asked. Michaela nodded, taking a deep breath before trying to move again.

When they got outside MJ felt like she could breathe again, the awkwardness of being in the middle of a wake was finally over.

Ben ran a hand through his dirty blond hair as he looked at his sister, Michaela was breathing heavily, as if she had just faced her biggest and made it to the other side.

"So we know one thing for sure," Ben started as he looked over at a black SUV out the front of Kelly Taylor's house. He lowered his voice, "She was under surveillance by the government, by Vance. Her phone was probably bugged, ours too."

MJ shook her head, "My phone doesn't make that clicking noise." She pulled out a cheap Nokia phone that Amber gave her, "It's not technically mine, that might be why."

"Put it away," Ben stood in front of MJ, shielding her and her phone away from the black SUV that was on the side of the street.

MJ crossed her arms, "Why? You're not the boss of me. It's my phone."

"There is a black SUV parked behind you- Don't look at it! Just hide your phone, if they see it, they will bug it too."

MJ put the phone in her pocket before looking at the SUV, she wondered if whoever was in that car knew she was living with Christy and Amber, or if she had Amber's phone. Ben and Michaela both are being watched, so why not her?

"Ben, I need to get to work."

"Right. MJ, do you need a lift?"

MJ bit her lip, she doesn't like getting in cars with strangers, it's dangerous, especially for a teenage girl, that's what her parents taught her. But something in her gut, maybe something to do with the callings, told her to trust the two siblings. "Yes, please. Just to my school."

"What's the address?"

"Er- North Town Middle?" MJ didn't know the address off by heart, in the two times she has been to her school, she was less than thrilled to be there.

"I know the place, our sister works there," Michaela said with a grin.

"My daughter goes to North Town High, I know the way."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

MJ is beginning to regret giving Michaela and Ben her phone number. MJ always used to love Christy's mother's cooking. Christy's mother was Italian and made the best Risotto. So when MJ sat down to eat her dinner she was more than excited but her phone ringing stopped her from enjoying her dish.

Christy and Amber looked at MJ as her phone rang, they were completely clueless as to who might be ringing since the only contact they were aware of MJ having was Christy. "I gotta take this."

MJ excuses herself from the table as she walks into the living room, "What is it? I was about to eat my dinner."

"Mick has a lead about Kelly, we're going to her mall now."

"Now? Can't it wait?"

"Not while you and Michaela are both having the same calling as Kelly, it's too dangerous."

MJ sighed, she looked in the dining room, Christy and Amber were looking at MJ, undoubtedly trying to read MJ's lips. "Fine, I'll message you my address."

"See you soon."

The male on the other side of the phone hung up before MJ even got the chance to say bye, she frowned, putting the phone back in her pocket before walking into the dinning room. "It was a friend, I gotta go."

"Now? But it will be dark soon," Christy looked at Amber, she bit her lip as MJ cleared her plate. Christy and Amber know that they can't boss MJ around, they were lucky to get MJ to agree to go back to school.

Amber shook her head, telling Christy not to make a big deal out of it, "You're already made a friend?"

"Er- yeah."

Amber smiled, "Good job."

MJ shuffled uncomfortably, she didn't need to be congratulated by her ex-bully about finding new friends.

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

The drive to Kelly's mall was a short and quiet ride. Michaela was the only one who spoke, she would fill them in about stuff she found out about Kelly Taylor while Ben didn't speak, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

MJ hasn't known the blond man for long but in the short time that she has known him, she hasn't seen him so distracted.

MJ looked around the mall, it was a small shop in comparison to the many others in New York. There were about fifty stores, a grocery shop, a Chinese food place, a salon, a tobacconist and many other small businesses. MJ shook her head, nothing about Kelly Taylor would suggest that she would even walk into a shop like this.

"I don't know, does this really look like the place that Kelly 'Bling' Taylor would come to get her hair done?" Ben asked.

MJ crossed her arms, "I doubt Kelly would come here if it was the last mall on earth."

"Fair point."

The three continued to walk through the mall, passing an ice cream place and many other deserted shops. MJ stopped as she saw a collage of photos on the front window of a Tattoo Parlour. Right in the middle was Christy and Amber getting their names tattooed on each other's back. MJ looked at the writing on the top of the collage, she expected it to say 'happy customers' or something like that but instead it said, 'own your truth.'

"Ben, Michaela. Check this out."

The two siblings hadn't even realised that MJ had stopped walking until they heard her voice. Ben turned around and looked at the collage, confused about why MJ took special interest in it.

"You're not getting a tattoo," Michaela chuckled, "Your parents would kill us."

"Well they're dead so I doubt they would care."

Ben and Michaela looked at each other, a small glance of understanding in their eyes.

"They died two years after the plane disappeared," MJ's voice cracked, speaking about it makes it true, makes her think about just how messed up her family has become. She kept her focus on the photo of Amber and Christy getting their back tattooed, "It doesn't matter," MJ wiped her face before pointing at the message, "What does this say to you?"

"Over a 100 happy customers a day."

"What about you Michaela? Does it say the same?"

Michaela nodded, "Yeah, I don't get-"

"For me it says own your truth."

Ben crossed his arms, "Like a calling?"

"Exactly."

Michaela looked around the shop, walking up to lady the in uniform, "Excuse me. Can we have a word?"

The lady looked at Michaela and smiled, but as the lady looked down and saw Michaela's badge her smile dropped into a look of terror. The lady ran, faster than MJ had ever seen a person run before, "What the hell?" MJ asked as she saw Michaela and Ben run after the lady.

"Hey, stop!" Michaela cried as she swiftly ran out of MJ's sight, MJ wondered how Michaela learned to run that fast, maybe it's a thing that you get taught when learning to become a cop. "We just walk to talk!"

Ben ran after his sister, running much slower than the two girls, "You didn't say there would be any run!"

MJ was the last to chase after the lady, she followed the three, being seconds slower then the others.

The lady ran into a room, slamming the door behind her, Michaela, Ben and MJ followed.

When the three caught up to the woman, she looked as if she was about to cry. She put her hand on her head and knees on the floor, MJ had seen enough cop shows to know that this lady thought she was about to be arrested. "What are you doing?" MJ asked the lady.

"You're going to deport me, you are a cop right?" The lady looked at Michaela.

"Oh- no, no. I'm not going to arrest you. Get up, we just want to talk," Michaela put away her gun that she had grabbed out of habit, MJ glared at Michaela, grabbing her gun probably isn't the best way to get an innocent person to speak to you. 

"What's your name?" Ben asked, as he helped the lady up.

"Tami."

"Why did you run Tami?"

Tami looked around the room, as if she was calculating the risk of her next sentence. She hid her hands in her pocket as she spoke, "Mr. Taylor, he only rents to illegals. He takes 40% of your profit, and if you don't pay, he calls immigration."

"And is this why you attacked Kelly?"

Temi's eyes widened, she shook her head frantically as she stood up, "I didn't attack her, I was trying to get away. I push her and she fell. I didn't have the money, I thought she was there to collect, but she wasn't. She said she was going to stop him now that she's back. She said she was sorry.

"Did she say anything about owning her truth?

"Those were her exact words.

Michaela turned away from Temi, she whispered to Ben and MJ, "She followed her calling. She started shutting down the family business."

"You think it was the husband?"