"I feel a little crazy for agreeing to this."

I roll my eyes at Jared. "Well, I guess we're all a little crazy.

Cody sighs from beside his cousin, glancing around at the mansions lining the street. "So, where do you guys think we should start?"

I shrug, almost jumping out of my skin as an orange cat scampers in front of me. It enters a yard, making itself comfortable on the very large porch.

"See, that's why this is ridiculous! There is no evidence to find!" Jared scoffs, kicking at the concrete with the point of his sneaker. "It's not like something is just going to pop up out of no where and lead us to Autumn."

Glancing at Cody, I see his shoulders slump. His feet seem to drag against the sidewalk, and his previous excitement has slowly ebbed away. He remains mute, eyes mainly cast in front of him and not venturing anywhere else.

"Yeah," I agree with my boyfriend, "it's not. I guess that's why we need to look for it."

I can see the frustration in Jared's eyes as we turn a corner, the slight breeze ruffling his otherwise tamed hair. "Where do we start, Ev?"

My mouth opens, then drops closed once again. Honestly, I don't have an answer for him. There is no exact place to look. There is no neon sign screaming "check here!" I'll admit, all of this is based on a whim and a little spark of hope left within us.

As we continue to walk in the darkness, I spot the cemetery in the distance. Just being there again causing me to shiver, leaning towards Jared. He tightly clutches my hand and I'm pretty sure I cut off his circulation.

"So," Jared starts, seeming as though he's not quite sure how he will finish his sentence. "This is where you found the note?"

I nod, walking up to the fence. I reach out my fingers and touch it, knowing the electricity is no longer on. The boys follow my lead, and we just stand there in silence for a moment. It's a moment full of internal battles and pent up emotions.

Finally, I sink down to my knees, feeling the soft grass beneath my fingertips. The boys, once again, follow my lead, and we use our watches to shine light upon what we are searching. By touch and sight, we search, but there is nothing left to be found. Of course, I didn't think there would be. After all, I'm lucky to have found that single note.

"Now what?" Jared questions, pulling himself to his feet and brushing himself off. He offers me a hand and I gladly take it, hoisting myself up.

Cody starts walking into the cemetery.

"There is no way I'm going in there! Do you know how creepy it is?" Jared protests.

I'm already walking ahead of him as he whines, following Cody onto the property. A sea of headstones surround me and I involuntarily shiver, wrapping my arms around myself.

My footsteps on the grass seem too loud, and I feel like something is bound to pop out at me. I know my fears are unreasonable, yet there's something eerie about searching our body's final destination in the dark blanket of night.

Once again, Jared's hand is clasped in mine. As Cody glanced back at us, I can see the hurt and longing flash in his eyes. As quickly as he turned around, he turns back, aimlessly walking around as we follow behind him.

I feel sorry for Cody. I can still remember the brighter days when him and Autumn were always together, laughing and chatting. I can remember when all of us would have smiles on our faces as we hung out together, as we made each other laugh.

I remember when Autumn and I talked that one time before we became friends, when I read her amazing poems. Her kindness is what urged me away from the friends who didn't really care about me, but rather how I made them look.

I remember getting ice cream with her for the first time. We both had so much fun. Then, Jared came along, and she already had Cody, and everything blossomed from there. I thought everything was finally perfect until my best friend was cruelly ripped away from me.

Shaking my head to stall the tears, I snap back to reality. We're walking through the cemetery, the boys sighing and grumbling about how they didn't see anything out of the ordinary. 

As we head back to the entrance, I spot one headstone that makes me feel uneasy: Ashley Morales. That headstone belongs to Autumn's cousin, who we learned isn't dead after all. But, the rest of the population doesn't know that. That's why her headstone is still there.

A thought pops into my head and nearly makes me stop in my tracks. If Ashley wasn't really dead, then where is she now? After Chips were eliminated, shouldn't she have come back to the rest of us?

I brush that thought aside. Maybe she died for real, or something happened. There is no way to know the truth, just like with Autumn. We just need to keep searching, keep hoping. There's a new fire within me, and it wants to keep burning all night, wants me to keep searching until I find something useful.

Yet, I know that can't and won't happen. I need to sleep. So, I let Jared tug me aimlessly around the city until my watch reads midnight and until the boys have run out of topics to discuss. Before I know it, I'm being dropped off at my doorstep with Jared kissing me goodbye.

I walk in the door and close it, staring straight ahead until I hear footsteps rushing towards me. I turn around just in time to see Lily wrap her arms around my waist. Crouching down to her level, I return the hug, sighing into her soft hair.

Once I pull away, Lily smiles.

"You get to tell me a bedtime story! Come on, Evie, I've been waiting for you! Do you know how tired I am?"

Do you how tired I am?

Smiling at my little sister, I allow her to climb onto my back. She giddily laughs as I bring her to her room, dropping her onto the single bed against the wall.

"Once upon a time," I start as she snuggles into the covers," there was a brave little girl named Lily."

Her grin widens as she tucks the covers up to her chin.

It's always been a tradition to make up a story rather than read it, and it feels good to continue it after all that has happened.

I continue on with the story until my sister's eyes flutter closed and her breathing becomes steady. Smiling, I lightly kiss her forehead and exit the room, making sure to shut off the light on my way out.

Peeking into my mother's room, I find her sound asleep, which is good. Sometime's I'll find her weeping over dad, and it worries me a lot.

Signing as fatigue overtakes me, I stumble into my room, not even bothering to change. Instead, I fall back onto my bed and allow myself to drift off to a place where my emotions can no longer strangle me.

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Yay, another update! What do you guys think? Do you think they're going to figure it out soon? Thanks for reading, guys!

Remember, I update every Thursday!

-Sarah