"I'm a dumbass," Hadley chastised herself, shaking her head. "Such a dumbass..."

Beck hesitantly glanced towards his twin sister, slowly closing their front door behind. Cannoli's feet skid against the floor at a fever pitch as the corgi ran to greet his owner's.

"Okay, you repeated that the entire drive home," Beck gently implored. Hadley's head was hung low to her chest, a curtain of apricot curls covering her face. Beck bent down, stroking Cannoli's head before starting to remove sneakers. "Wanna tell me why?"

"Because," Hadley groaned, shaking her head. She was silent as Beck pulled loose the laces, then a forlorn whimper left her. Beck froze and glanced up, concerned. Tears were slipping down silently down his sister's freckled ace. Hurt twisted his heart.

"Had, what's wrong? Don't cry," His tone softened, standing to his height. Growing worried, he softly took hold of Hadley's cardigan-clad shoulders, which trembled with her sobs. "Talk to me, hey, I'm here," He squeezed her arms reassuringly; yet, she wouldn't look at him. "I'm right here."

"I'm just fucking stupid!" She cried, eyes squeezing.

"You aren't," He avowed.

"But I am!" Hadley groaned, stomping her foot. He wasn't seeming to alleviate her tensions.

Beck's fingers loosened their grip on Hadley's arms as he observed how irritated she was growing. The trembling in her skin was now from anger, he knew. Beck gulped.

"Have you taken your Risperdal yet?" He inquired cautiously. It was a mood stabilizer medication for her Asperger's.

While Hadley was on the autism spectrum, she was generally high functioning - with the exception of her ability to understand social cues, or maintaining anger. When she didn't take her medication, her anger was often a laborious thing for Beck to calm.

"You're supposed to take it in the evening. Let's eat and you'll take it," He attempted to guide her into the kitchen but her arm yanked from Beck's grip. Her feet stubbornly remained frozen in place.

"Stop, Beck," Hadley growled. Her nostrils flared as her temper escalated, chest heaving, hands balled into fists.

Beck licked his lips.

"Had, I just," -

"I'm fed up with Aurora, okay?"

Beck's melted honeyed eyes averted her sister's. She released an frustrated sigh.

"I know you don't want to hear her name, I know, but,"-

"Had, why don't we go eat, okay?" Beck gently but quickly put a stop to this. Hadley was right, he didn't want to hear about her. "Come on, I have lots of leftovers from last night," He attempted to put his arm around her shoulders and guide her, but Hadley quickly squirmed loose from his grip.

"It's not about the shit she did to you! It's what she fucking did to me!" Hadley seethed, jabbing a finger at herself.

Profound confusion fled the threshold of Beck's body.

"You? She did something to you?" Beck's concern returned.

"She lied to me! I thought I knew her, but I was deceived! How fucking could she?!" Hadley cried, drawing in a shaky breath.

"Had, just breathe, okay?" Beck's eyes widened at Hadley's paranoia. "Tell me what happened."

Her hands flew to her head as she anxiously gripped and ungripped her hair. On their own accord, her feet stomped themselves into the living room. Beck cautiously followed a few steps behind, gnawing on his lower lip. As Hadley began to pace, his eyes darted around the room, trying to see if there was an extra bottle of Risperdal around besides the one in Hadley's bedroom. He secretly pulled open a random drawer but shut it quickly when Hadley turned to face him.

"I spoke to Aurora's boyfriend today, right?"

'Great', Beck thought to himself. 'I get to hear about her boyfriend now, too.'

"Well, rather, he bombarded me like a fucking baboon slamming his fists around on the table."

Beck's jaw flexed aggressively as the flames of his own rage were stoked.

"He what? Hadley, we both know this man is some sort of fucked up. I can't believe he fucking went up to you, "-

"Just...just listen," Hadley laughed maniacally, raising her to pointer fingers up.

Beck swallowed harshly, unsure of why she would laugh following what she said. The whole ordeal was disturbing.

"Here's where the real kicker comes in. He's the good guy. Aurora's the real villain here. He told me Aurora's been faking her entire identity, paying her way through it, and is essentially a fraud. I mean, who knows if Aurora is even her real name?"

Beck's features softened as he analyzed Hadley's information. His eyes averted hers as they darted to the floor, consuming what she had said.

"How do you even know this guy is being legit?" He murmured, taking in his bottom lip with his teeth.

"Because it makes sense, Beck!" Hadley emphasized, eyes widening. "I-I mean, think about it: How secretive she is, how he's always ushering her out of school quickly, why she never talks about her boyfriend."

Beck's lips rolled together and pursed tightly.

"You and I always speculated he was abusing her," His eyes met Hadley's.

"I know," Hadley scoffed, shaking her head. "Can you believe how worried you and I were for months? I-I mean, I told you they broke up so she would leave him for you. Meanwhile, she was in a perfectly safe, healthy relationship."

Her brother bristled his lips loudly, a hand running through his red velvet ringlets. On its own accord, his head shook back and forth.

"Wow," He muttered.

"I can't believe it, I-I just can't believe it!" Hadley seethed. "You and I both. She played us, both of us."

"Had,"-

"No, Beck, I don't need my medication. This has nothing to do with my Asperger's, I have every right to feel upset, angered and extremely betrayed right now. We invited her into our home, we looked after her, I was worried sick all the time for her only for to play some sick, twisted game on us both! I mean, silly me, silly Hadley for once thinking someone would be my friend, after the trauma of being socially outcast my whole life. And it's all some sick joke. She never really cared about me or being honest with me. Fuck her!" Hadley shrieked, turning sharply and sprinting towards her room.

"Hadley!" Her brother called out for her, only to sigh as she slammed her room door.

The uncontrolled rage in Hadley manifested in a thumping heart rate and a hot flash overtaking her face. As if it were an out of body experience, she forcibly tore open her top desk drawer. Pulling it out until it nearly unhinged from the desk, she sifted her hand around until she found it - the bonfire photo booth strips. Her fingers tore the paper down the middle multiple times as they fluttered to the ground in broken pieces. Then, she peered up at her wall above her desk. Pictures of her and Aurora in face masks from their sleepover hung up which Hadley printed from her laptop. She reached up to tear them down, groaning as she slashed those in halves too, throwing them to the ground.

Sprinting to her bed, she grabbed the giraffe stuffie from the Fall Back by the neck and flung it to the ground. She anxiously spun around, panting, to unveil her lower desk drawer. Her hands fished around, desperately searching for the Photo Booth strip from the Fall Back. She had been so happy and drunk that day, taking pictures in their costume. Now she just felt so stupid and used. A scapegoat to keep Aurora's secret identity a secret.

"Fuck," Hadley hissed, unable to find it.

The strip was lost among many things - pencils, post its, house keys, makeup, hair clips, and piece of napkin. Recognizing the picture of a green leaf on it, she knew it was a Green Gatherings napkin. She felt slightly disgusted to have a napkin piece in there, wondering why it was even there in the first place, and lifted it to throw it out. Only, she quickly caught a glance of writing on it. Hadley turned it over, seeing, "H" written on it. She was brought back to two months ago, the first time she brought Aurora to Green Gathering's...

"And don't worry that you don't have money on you, seriously, I told you I'm cool paying," Hadley had smiled sincerely at Aurora, their first time at Green Gatherings. She was genuinely filled with adrenaline to have made a friend.

"Okay," Aurora reluctantly agreed, looking as though she felt guilty.

"Welcome to Green Gatherings, where in this establishment, we got no beef with youuu!" Beck approached, making Hadley snort.

"You're such a nerd!" She giggled, hitting her twin with a menu. "I can't believe they still make you say that."

"Can I start you ladies off with something to drink?"

"Uh, cups," Aurora stammered out.

Hadley gave a strange look to Aurora's nervousness. In that moment, she knew Aurora had a crush on her brother. A sinking feeling settled in her stomach. Already? It had literally barely been one day of her knowing him. Hadley watched Beck's lips quirk into a smirk, his head tilt, and Aurora's cheeks grow bright red as she giggled. Hadley withheld a sigh, feeling so small in that moment. Beck always managed to charm everyone, of course Aurora was already infatuated. This always happened when Hadley made a friend, they simply wanted to get close to Beck. Hadley forced herself out of her head to stop thinking or assuming the worst; She wanted to trust Aurora, who seemed different. Maybe her new friend wouldn't use her to get close to Beck, like the others did.

"Think someone's been studying for too long," Hadley laughed, grinning at Aurora, before turning to her brother. "I'll have raspberry iced tea."

Aurora's cheeks blossomed in a cherry pink blush as she smiled, her eyes averting down.

"Got it," Beck quickly scribbled the order down, smirking. With that, he left the girls.

"You know, to be honest," Hadley said as she set her chin in her palm. "I'm not much of a...girl's girl. I don't really make friends, but you seem different. Beck was always the really social one growing up. When we were younger, he kinda made friends for us. But as we got older, I kind of got more closed off, fell off the social wagon, was kinda content being alone most of the time. But...I actually really like talking to you."

"Me too!" Aurora gushed.

As the two had finished their food, Aurora picked up a crayon from a little tin container on the table.

"Uh, those are for kids," Hadley laughed.

"Are you mocking me, Hadley?" Aurora teased, feigning being offended.

"No, I mean, by all means...doodle on the napkin," Hadley said as she leaned forward with a crinkled brow to examine. "Yeah, uh...do that," She giggled, leaning back.

Aurora tore off a piece of the napkin, handing it to her.

"Here, for you. H, for Hadley."

Hadley snorted. The simple gesture was somehow incredibly endearing.

"I'd throw something like this out. But for you, I'll keep it A."

--

In present day, Hadley bit her lip while looking at the 'H' napkin in her hand. She set it on her desk, feeling nostalgic and hurt. She didn't even want to rip up the Fall Back photo strip now; Instead, now that she remembered the lettered napkins, she wanted to see the rest. Even though she knew how painful it would be, something was pulling her to. Her hand fished around in the drawer until she found the next one; turning over the napkin she saw the letter 'E' written.

"Oh, hey, do you need a napkin?" Aurora had asked at their lunch the day after receiving the 'H' one.

A little perplexed, Hadley shrugged. "Uh, that's random. Sure."

Aurora took out one of the napkins from grabbed from the cafeteria, then a pen and started writing on it. While the pattern of writing on napkins was quite odd, the strangeness of it flew over Hadley's head. She wasn't great at picking up on social cues and what was really going on in situations, so Hadley didn't think too much of it. While it was perplexing, Hadley was moreso overjoyed someone was doing a gesture just for her as her friend.

Right when she was about to clean her hands, she squinted at the napkin.

"Okay," She laughed. "Yesterday you wrote H on a napkin you gave me, for Hadley, and today..."

"E," I giggled. "For even though Beck asked me to come over, I totally wanna do a girl's night with just you."

Hadley doubled over in giggles as her nose crinkled. "Okay, these are so cute, and I'm sensing a trend that you do this every time we have lunch so... I'm gonna keep this one too, it's a cute memory," She said putting it into her bag.

--

A certain eerie, nervousness clawed its way into Hadley's nervous system. Something about the notes suddenly made Arlan's story harder to believe. Hadley was over the moon to recieve the cute little notes from Aurora at lunch; It was their tradition, it was incredibly affirming that Hadley was wanted and desired as a person, something she rarely felt with no parents around and no friends.

She set the 'H' and 'E' on her desk, kneeling quickly and sifting through the drawer with both hands. After everything Arlan had told Hadley today, her wheels slightly turned. What if the notes Aurora gave meant more than what Aurora claimed they did? Hadley wondered if she hadn't picked up on the correct social cues due to her Asperger's. What if Aurora really was telling the truth, and these notes were cryptic?

Hadley pulled out the 'L P' note.

"The day couldn't have been slower! I'm so excited!" Aurora bounced up and down. 'And here," She passed Hadley another note.

"Me too, girls night! L P?" Hadley had questioned Aurora.

"Loves pizza," Aurora giggled.

"Holy shit," Hadley whimpered, in present day, shakily rising to her height.

Tears smarted her eyes, vision a blurred haze. Her ears rang and her skin buzzed. Bile rose to her throat as she slowly placed the note on her desk. Though she could barely make out her vision, she knew. The tears dripped hotly past her waterline.

H E LP.

It wasn't about pizza or girl time or Hadley's name. These were about safety. These weren't a cute nostalgic gift for remeniscing their early friendship; Hadley was now realizing the severity of it all. She was essentially playing detective, completely having misread the situation and Aurora's danger.

Arlan manipulated her.

So what was the real situation Aurora was in? It was becoming unbearably overwhelming for Hadley; She almost didn't want to check the rest of the notes. Yet, she knew she had to. Her trembling fingers quickly searched around her desk drawer, pulling out the last two notes. Hadley held them in her trembling fingers, crushing the paper in her grip. The words faced away from her, and she could not recall what they said. Her heart hammered in a fever pitch against the front of her throat and drummed in the pit of her stomach. She gulped, turning them over while placing them on her desk. The air sucked out of Hadley's lungs.

"BECK!" She screeched, fingers trembling. Knees trembling. Body trembling. Black spots slowly appeared into her vision. "BECK!"

"What, what?" Her brother shouted, bolting into her room. A set of panicked eyes met Hadley's terror-struck glossy eyes. "What, is everything okay? What's going on?" He yelled, his eyes growing.

"Look!" Hadley wailed, pointing her finger at the desk. Sobs crumpled from her body, her vision eclipsing in and out.

H E LP IM KID NAP.

Unable to register what he saw, his feet froze, glued to the floor. His heart seemed to deadpan.

"These are those notes from Aurora?" He barely got out.

"Come on, fuck, we gotta go!" Hadley cried, grabbing his arm. "Call the police, start the car, something! We have to find her!"

***

Four chapters left