The ringing in my ears intensified the longer I stood around in the alleyway. The cars passing along the streets were moving in slow motion; the horns were muffled. I couldn’t see anything clear, just two figures leaning towards me.
“Rosie?” I heard someone’s muffled voice say my name. I couldn’t move my body; everything felt numb. I slowly opened my eyes and saw two silhouettes over me. I start to panic, not knowing what was happening. Red. Red was all I saw as I looked down at my hands. I opened up my eyes, backing away from the two figures in an utter panic.
“Stop! Please! Help!” I began to scream out. The two figures try to calm me down, telling me to keep quiet and that everything was going to be alright. Nothing was ever going to be alright in these situations. I quickly got up, running past the two figures out of the alleyway.
“Rosie!” I hear another voice call out my name; a guy’s voice this time. I ran as fast as I could away from the alleyway, despite the immense amount of pain I was feeling. I didn’t care; I needed to get out of there before things got worse. I turned the corner, trying to catch my breath as I winced in pain. It was like I was coming in and out of conscious as if I was dying and being revived enough to come back to life to do nothing but feel this pain. I slid down the brick wall as my legs began to give out. I felt like I was going to die tonight.
Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. I couldn’t tell what was real from reality anymore. Black. Black is all I saw.
…
I power-walked down the block toward Rosie’s apartment, passing every person that was standing alongside the sidewalk. I told Dani and Tanner to stay with Rosie and call for help without making it a huge scene. Let me handle this motherfucker once and for all.
I looked for visible signs that Prescott was still around nearby. He wouldn’t be dumb enough to just leave incriminating evidence behind. I walked back upstairs, hoping her friend knew anything about Rosie beyond the point of just school. I looked in the crowd of people for this girl. I finally spot her at the corner of the room, talking to a bunch of other girls. Cutting through the crowd of people, I made my way to her friend.
“Yo!” I called out for the girl. She immediately turned around, not amused that I called her in the way I did.
“My name is Nat,” she reminded me. I nodded politely, masking the true emotions running through my mind.
“Sorry, question,” I quickly said. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I noticed the girls look at Nat with raised eyebrows. “It’s about Rosie.” The girls turned their heads away from us, not interested in the topic of choice. Nat walked away with me from the group of girls and outside the apartment where it was quieter.
“You’re a good friend of Roe- Rosie’s, right?” I asked, trying to remain as coy as possible.
“If you mean good enough to help you get with her or something, you’re out of luck,” Nat responded. “She’s–“
“With Prescott Jones?” I finished her sentence, already knowing this piece of information. “You know she’s dating that billionaire guy, right?”
“Yeah, why?” she asked, seeming to be more annoyed than concerned.
“Did you see him here tonight?” I asked her, trying to put together the pieces of this twisted puzzle. “Did you see him come here for Rosie by any chance?”
“He was the one that took her aside,” she admitted. “Literally she came here to chat and then, like, not even 5 minutes after he came and asked if he could borrow her for a second.” I was beginning to panic, not trying to show Nat just how furious I was.
“And you haven’t seen her since?” I asked, looking at Nat directly in her eyes. She tried to read the expression on my face, confused.
“No, why?” she asked once again. I didn’t answer right away; instead I looked out from the balcony of Rosie’s apartment, hoping to see that white Porsche somewhere in the streets. “Micah?”
“Micah!” I heard a girl’s voice call out. Rosie? I walked down the stairs to see it was Dani. She looked panicked.
“You left Tanner with Rosie?” I asked, walking quickly away from the apartment toward the alleyway. Each step I made was progressively faster than the last, which led me to run the closer we got to the alleyway.
“Micah, Rosie–” I stopped immediately once I saw the white Porsche parked on the street across the alleyway. Red. Red is all I saw when turning into that alleyway.
Prescott’s back was faced toward me, looking down at the ground like he was looking for something. Red. Red is all I saw. I walked toward Prescott, unaware what was going to happen next.
“Micah!” Dani yelled out loud, which makes Prescott immediately turn around. I don’t give him a chance to react.
Black. Black is all I saw.
— End of Season 2 —
Letters From Liz. 