┊┊┊┊ ➶ CASSIE 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"I don't understand why I can't have today off school," Olive said bitterly as she sat in the back of her aunt's car.

"You have to go to school because you have an exam today, tomorrow is Saturday, you can take tomorrow off." Cassie looked at Olive through the mirror, the young sixteen-year-old was holding it together. By looking at the girl, you wouldn't be able to guess that her father, aunt and twin brother miraculously came back from the dead only two days before. Cassie frowned at the sight. Cassie watched as Olive twisted her long brown hair, playing with the curly locks. She knew Olive wasn't coping as well as she appeared to be. Ignoring her own emotions for the sake of her loved ones was something that Olive Stone excelled at.

Olive rolled her eyes, "My teacher would understand."

"I know he would, but you're still going."

"I like school!" Kayla beamed as she played with her Cinderella doll.

Cassie chuckled, "I know you do, Kayla."

"School's my friend."

Olive grinned, "We know that Kay-Kay."

The toddler smiled to herself proudly as she went back to playing with her doll, Olive went quiet after that. Olive looked out the window of the small car, she watched as trees and buildings stood in front of her, next to her, behind her and then vanish from her sight. She sighed, as she thought about Cal, he's alive but he's still sick, a cruel act of fate. Her brother miraculously survived a plane going missing but is still battling with the same sickness that he was battling five and a half years ago.

"What's on your mind, Ol?"

"Nothing."

Cassie bit her lip as she shook her head, she can't make Olive talk to her, Cassie knew better than anyone that teenage rebellions start with pushy parents.

Olive looked down at her phone, scrolling through her messages, she sighed, "Has mum said what she's going to do about Danny to you? She refuses to talk to me about it, I think she's too scared to make a decision."

Danny! Cassie couldn't believe she had forgotten about Grace's boyfriend, a man who had been like a father to Olive for the last two years. "Grace hasn't said a thing about him to me."

Olive sighed, "Can you let me know when she does?"

"Of course."

When Cassie got to the school she parked in the middle school car park, luckily the primary school and the high school were right next to each other. "Do you need me to walk you in?"

Olive laughed, "Why? So you can flirt with Mr Terry?"

Cassie flipped her hair at the mention of her coworker, "I never flirt with Darius, he always flirts with me."

"Gross."

Cassie chuckled. Kayla looked up at her mother and cousin, "Can I go to school now?"

"Of course, you can say bye-bye to Olive."

The four-year-old girl gave Olive a tiny hug, "Bye-bye Olive, see you after school."

"Bye Kay-Kay," Olive said as she patted the small girl's head, she looked at Cassie, "Have fun at work."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ MJ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"Sisters Hallie and Samantha Pyler of Astoria were abducted from their backyard early Sunday morning. The case has resulted in thousands of calls to NYPD, according to 129th Precinct Detective Jared Vasquez," MJ listened to the car radio as she tried to avoid talking to Amber.

The dark-haired woman kept looking at MJ, occasionally she would go to say something but then freeze up and go silent again, it had been like this in the last two days that MJ had been staying with Christy and Amber.

"We're working nonstop, pursuing all viable leads. Please keep eyes and-"

"It happened so close to us," Amber said, making MJ jump out of her seat.

"What?"

"The kidnapping. It happened only a few suburbs away from us."

"Oh," MJ thought about the Pyler sisters, their kidnapping had been all over the news when the news wasn't talking about 828, it was usually about the sisters. They were only 11 and 7.

'Set them free,' she heard her voice say, MJ shook her head, for the last two days she's been hearing her own voice in her head repeat those exact three words.

"You okay, Mary?" Amber asked as she saw MJ shaking her head, confused about the girl's actions.

"It's MJ," she snapped.

"Right, sorry."

MJ looked out of the window, and as she did she realised that they were already there. "Why did you park across the road?"

"Look at the parking, there's no way I'd be able to find a spot," MJ looked at the parking near the cafe where Christy works and Amber was right, it was packed. They were parked in front of a warehouse, the same one that MJ was looking at when she first heard her voice say 'set them free.' MJ stepped out of the car, and suddenly two big dogs started to bark at her, 'Set them free,' the voice said. 'Set them free, set them free, set them free,' it repeated over and over again.

"Leave me alone!" She exclaimed MJ held her hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the noise.

"MJ? Are you okay?" Amber asked as she walked over to MJ, the nineteen-year-old stood in front of MJ, confused and unsure how to help.

MJ looked at Amber, a flash of panic spreading through her, 'Amber probably thinks I'm crazy! She's going to tell Christy and they'll kick me out!' She removed her hands from her ears and pushed Amber away from her, "Just leave me alone! I don't care that you're Christy's girlfriend, you're still a bitch," she tried to act as if she told Amber to leave her alone instead of the voice in her head.

Amber frowned, "Mary, I'm sor-"

"It's MJ! Only my parents can call me Mary!"

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

'Set them free,' Ever since Amber and MJ visited Christy at the cafe, she had been hearing the voice in her head non-stop. She felt like she was going crazy but at the same time, she knew exactly what the voice wanted her to do.

It took her a while to realise it but the voice in her head wants her to set the dogs at the warehouse free, why? She doesn't know but she has a feeling that this voice won't leave her alone until she does it.

MJ went to bed early, she told Christy that she wasn't feeling well and that she was going to get some sleep. MJ waited about half an hour before she snuck out, leaving the house at precisely 8:30 pm, she was surprised to see that Amber and Christy were already asleep.

With a skateboard and oversized raincoat, MJ rode in the rain, her curly hair straightening as the heavy rain fell onto her face. She skated in the rain for what felt like hours until she didn't know where she was going anymore. MJ came to a t-intersection, "I don't remember this," she said to herself, and she groaned in frustration. MJ looked left and then right but it was too dark for her to recognise anything. "I'm fucking lost, of course!" MJ let out a weary laugh, her body lumping over as she sat in the rain. The thirteen-year-old thought about what she was doing, she was out in the rain, following a voice inside her heading which was telling her to set two random dogs free, the situation was absurd but only an hour ago she was sure that it was what she had to do. 'Set them free,' she heard her voice say, MJ looked around, it sounded like it was coming from her left. MJ stood up and rode her skateboard left, looking around for something that could possibly help her find where she was. 'Set them free' her voice said again as she went past a sidestreet, MJ looked down the street and her eyes widened as she realised where she was.

MJ went down the sidestreet and remember where she needed to go, the warehouse is only two more streets away.

As MJ approached the warehouse, her hazel eyes widened as she saw a car out in front of it, "Shit." MJ slowly approached the car, hiding behind it as she heard a young female's voice.

"You think I'm any happier about this? Who would even want to reclaim my life? Part of me wishes we hadn't come back at all...But here we are," MJ heard the girl say, MJ recognised her voice but couldn't pinpoint where from.

MJ heard footsteps splash in the rain as they got closer to her, her heart dropped into her stomach as she realised she had nowhere to hide, she tried moving herself further away from the footsteps without making herself visible to the woman who was speaking. A man in his early thirties walked over to the trunk of his car, "Who are you?" He asked as he saw MJ hiding.

MJ stood up and she raised her hands in the air showing that she was harmless, the thirteen-year-old looked at the man, he looked so familiar. "I didn't mean to spy."

"Then why were you hiding behind my car?" The man was sceptical, he crossed his arms as he waited for an answer.

MJ looked over at the young woman who was standing near the fence and then back to the man, "Are you related to Cal and Olive?" she asked, remembering why they looked so familiar, at the airport, when Olive pointed out her family, these two where there.

"How do you know my kids' names?"

"I talked to them before the plane, Olive said that you and her mother allowed her and Cal to talk to me."

The man lowered his guard as he realised that MJ was on the plane with them, "Why are you here?"

"I heard a voice-"

The young adult looked at MJ, "Let me guess, it said to set them free."

"Yes! How?"

"We don't know."

MJ frowned at the blonde girl's answer, yet another question. "My name is Ben, that's my sister Michaela. We don't know what's happening but we've been hearing voices, our voice in our head telling us to set them free all day, we don't know why or what it means."

"I heard it on the first day we were released but only once, but when I came here early today I heard it again and it hasn't stopped. It wants me to let the dogs free."

Ben reached into the trunk of his car and grabbed out hefty bolt cutters, "To be clear, this is a felony," he said as he walked over to the lock of the gate.

Michaela followed him, "Yeah, I'm a police officer. I'm pretty sure I know what a felony is."

MJ trailed the two adults as they stood in front of the gate, Ben lined the bolt cutters to the lock and cut it open, "What if they attack us?" MJ asked as she played with her rain jacket, the last thing she needed was a significant bite mark on her that she would need to explain to Christy.

"They'd be doing their job." Ben pulled off the lock and opened the gate, MJ expected the dogs to attack her or to start growling. Instead, the dogs stared at them, their barking stopping and them suddenly seeming calm. After a few seconds of staring at them, the dogs race off down the street, not making a sound or barking.

They watch the dogs disappear, "That was... bizarre," Michaela said as she looked at Ben.

"You think?"

"Now what?"

"I dunno. But hearing a voice in your head one time's a fluke.Twice? Now happening to both of us?"

"Wait?! This is your second time hearing a voice in your head?" MJ asked, she had only heard the voice in her head say set them free, nothing else. "What else did you hear?"

"I was on a bus when I heard a voice in my head say, go slower, it's a good thing that I listened to the voice because a little kid ran in front of the bus and almost got hit."

"Woah." MJ wondered why Michaela's voice helped her save a life while MJ's just told her to break the law and release two dogs.

Michaela and Ben looked at the young teenager, "How are you getting home?" Ben asked, the rain had died down a lot but he was still uncomfortable with the teenage girl wandering alone at night.

"Skateboard," MJ pointed at her board.

Michaela shook her head, "It's raining, did you want a lift?"

"No thanks. No offence but I'm not going to get in the car with two strangers," MJ laughed at the idea of her getting in their car, sure she didn't think they were murderers but she still wasn't going to risk it. "I got here fine, I can get home fine. Thank you though."

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

"MJ, come, sit at the table with us," Christy ushered MJ to the dinner table, Amber had just made dinner, a tuna pasta bake.

MJ shook her head as she held her bowl in her hand, "There are only two chairs, I can sit down on the lounge, it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Totally."

Christy left without saying another word, MJ frowned, she knew that Christy wanted her and Amber to get along but she isn't ready. Whenever MJ thinks about Amber, she still pictures the mean fourteen-year-old who picked on Christy and MJ for an entire year. MJ grabbed the television remote and switched on the TV in an attempt to forget about old-new memories. MJ began to flip through the channels, not recognising half of the movies and TV shows because they were made within the last five and half years. She stopped flipping through the channels when she got to Queens News, MJ's eyes widened as she read the alert line;

KIDNAPPED GIRLS RESCUED, BETHESDA METAL SHOP OWNER ARRESTED.

The news showed the scene where the girls were rescued, a familiar warehouse where she, Ben and Michaela had released the two dogs.

"Today, a miraculous recuse. The Plyer sisters are safe and have been returned to their home. Detective Jared Vasquez and NYPD Officer Michaela Stone, found and arrested the man holding the young girls, forty-five-year-old Patrick Garrison."

"Michaela arrested him," she said to herself, amazed by what the news reporter was saying. set them free, the voice wasn't talking about the dogs! It was telling her to set Samantha and Hallie Pyler free!

Suddenly MJ felt her head spin as a flashing vision of the plane appeared in her mind, "Ah," MJ cried.

"MJ! Are you okay?" Christy ran into the room.

MJ looked up at Christy, her vision was still a bit blurry but it was good enough for her to be able to see Amber standing behind her. "I'm okay," MJ rubbed her eyes, "You can leav- Actually, um... Could I ask for a favour?" The words left her mouth before she even decided to ask them.

"Of course, anything."

"Could you give me a lift to Stewart Airport,"

┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁ 🛩⌇ ｡˚ ✧ ﹐

Amber pulled up in the car park at Stewart Airport, she turned off the car before turning around to face MJ, "Okay, we're here. Why?"

MJ shook her head, her hair up in a ponytail keeping the brown locks away from her eyes, "I can't say."

"MJ-"

"No, seriously. I can't! I just have a feeling I need to be here," MJ opened the car door, she let out a sigh, "I wish I could tell you more but I can't."

Christy nodded her head, "Okay."

"Really?"

"You're my best friend MJ, I'm not your mum or your guardian, I can't tell you what to do or force you to tell me anything."

MJ hugged Christy, "Thank you!" She looked at Amber, "You too."

MJ went to close the car door but before she could Amber yelled out, "Wait!" Amber grabbed out her phone and turned the passcode off, "Take my phone, call us when you need to get picked up."

MJ grabbed the phone before closing the car door, she watched as Christy and Amber drove off. She got an urge to go to the plane, one similar to the one she got with the dogs but there was no voice. A car pulled up next to MJ, she recognized it as Ben Stone's car.

The pair of siblings got out of the car and nodded as they saw MJ, a silent confirmation that she isn't going crazy but they are experiencing it too.

When MJ got to the fence which kept her away from the plane, she saw twenty other people, including Ben and Michaela all standing there and staring at the plane. She shook her head, frustration building up inside her, there is no way 21 people having the urge to see the same thing is possible and yet it happened, as did hearing voices that saved two young girls' lives.

BOOM!