^Sky and a great song ^

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W E L C O M E

TO THE HALFWAY POINT OF THIS BOOK

Part 52/104

(Reached on 06/11/17 — a very irrelevant day. Though if you mix up the numbers a little bit it will become my 10th birthday how amaze)
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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E

"Sky." Someone was shaking my shoulder. I blinked, and felt someone kneel down beside me.

"Hey." They murmured softly. I turned to see Jameson beside me. His hand was on my shoulder as he squeezed it, trying to calm me.

"We can go if you want." He told me but I shook my head, closing my eyes and letting the tears fall.

"Are you okay?" He asked. He must've realised that it was a stupid question because he let out a weird grunting sound. As if to say: Jameson, what the hell?

I shook my head. "No." But my answer was jarred by sobs. Nothing and no one moved for a few moments, so I opened my eyes and turned to see Jameson just staring at me, helplessness written on all of his features. More tears fell and he watched them. I thought he was going to just stare at me, but then he reached out.

"Please stop crying," he brushed a few away with his index finger, but then his eyes searched mine, as if he thought my life was at risk because he decided his finger would come into contact with my face. He was scared of pushing me too far. I sighed. This is all because of me. I had been defensive ever since I got back here. And now Jameson knew that, and he didn't want to cross my defence line.

"I don't know what to do." He told me, desperation in his voice as he hopelessly watched more tears fall.

"Yes, you do." I replied, cries falling from my lips. And that did it. Jameson leaned forward, wrapped his arms around my body, and brought me close to him. I rested my face on his shoulder and cried into his neck. He scooted closer and held me tighter as I sobbed.

He ran his palm over the surface of my hair, starting from the top of my head and running down to my upper back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and cried harder. It was weird. Because the reason I was crying more so than before was because of something completely contrasting. I felt safe. And that made me cry harder. Because it was something I didn't recognise, something that I hadn't experienced at the right time.

Jameson's arms felt like home.

"It's okay," he murmured, fingers running through my hair as his other hand gently rubbed the surface of my back.

"I'm here, it's okay." My sobs were dying down by the minute. "I've got you." Silent tears escaped from my eyes.

"You're safe." He assured finally and the tears seemed to subside almost immediately. I let out a shaky breath as I pulled away. Jameson held my hands and rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand.

He smiled at me. I ducked my head in response.

"I'm here for you too." Harry called out from where he was sat at his office desk. I looked over at him to see him pulling an odd expression.

I laughed in response, taking a hand out of Jameson's grasp to rub away the tears on my face.

"Do you want to carry on?" Jameson asked hesitantly.

I nodded. "Is it possible to see phone records...say...to the police?" I asked. Jameson seemed taken aback, but then turned to give Harry a questioning glance.

Harry nodded. "We are the Academy Of Zasolnište." He outstretched his arms. "Which means shelter, if you somehow weren't aware," I smiled. "We have just about all the information in the world."

I thanked Harry before turning around and facing the folders once more. I pushed the folder on places in my hometown away from me and peered at the others. Jameson sat back down opposite me once more.

"Why do you need phone records?" He asked, tapping a red folder to his left. I frowned but took it, finding that it contained the phone records. I thanked him as I started to sift through it.

"Because I made a call on the eighteenth of May, and it cost me my freedom." I told him.

No one said anything for a while.

"A call to who?" Jameson finally asked.

"To the police." Confused by the many lines of letters and numbers, I went back to the start of the folder and ran my finger down the index, soon finding the correct page.

"The police don't usually do the damaging." Jameson tried to reason.

I shook my head. "It wasn't the police that did the damage. Someone must have intercepted the call. I know it." I told him. The information on the page blinded me at first. It looked like a ton of numbers and letters, like everything was coded. But I soon found it.

My call.

I turned the folder around on the table and pointed to the correct sentence. "Here." Jameson read it.

'18/05/17 : 15:37'

Beside it was the location of which I made the call, and more random letters. I guessed it was the code of the call or something.

"Is there a way to see who could've heard this call?" I asked Jameson. He pondered this for a while, then nodded. He got up and walked over to Harry's desk, silently asking for permission before he took to Harry's computer, tapping furiously at the keypad.

Harry came and stood beside me. "How's your day been?" He asked as we watched Jameson practically work at the speed of a time-lapse.

"Great. I've been investigating the murder of trees." I told Harry, gesturing to the millions of piles of paper all around the dimly lit room. Harry chuckled and rested his arm on my shoulder. Jameson became as acutely aware of Harry's arm as I was, and seemed to work even faster.

"I've got it." He finally said as Harry's arm started to slip slightly, as if he was going to place his palm on my shoulder. I moved out of Harry's grasp and walked over to Jameson, leaning over to read the details on the screen.

"That's got to be it." I whispered.

"Well, we can listen to it." Jameson told me. I sat up straight in shock. Jameson peered over to me and pressed play. I held my breath.

"Hello, emergency service operator, which service do you require? Fire, police, or ambulance?"

All three of us watched the screen, as if my response was going to pop up on the screen.

"All three."

Jameson turned to look at me. I let my hair fall to hide my face. It was my phone call. But Jameson hadn't turned the recording off.

"I'll just connect you now."

"Hello, where are you calling from?"

My crying was audible through the recording. "I have no idea."

Jameson was still watching me. But I didn't know why.

"Your town, street, house number or any other distinctive features around you?"

You could hear the gush of wind from my side of the recording. "My town is Chichester, but I'm not sure where I am right now. I've just come from a really big house, almost like a mansion. And now I'm running through a gigantic forest."

"What is the nature of your emergency?"

I froze. No. No. No. Harry and Jameson can't hear this. God no.

"I was abducte–" In a flash, my hand had shot out, and I hit the pause button. They can't know what I did. Jameson can't know what I did.

"It's my phone call." I announced, piercing through the silence. No one moved or said anything for a while. Then, without warning, Jameson grasped onto my hand and held it. I looked at him and he squeezed my hand, as if to say: "I'm sorry". I smiled back at him but didn't let go of his hand.

"Can we see if anyone else heard that phone call?" I asked to no one in particular. Harry hummed before taking charge of the keypad. He tapped around for a few moments before he tapped the screen.

"Here's your eavesdropper." Harry said and both Jameson and I leaned in to peer at the screen.

"That's the number?" I asked. Harry nodded. With his free hand, because he was still holding one of mine, Jameson took control of the mouse and clicked around for a while. A name, birth date, origin, etc, displayed on the screen.

Before I could register the profile fully, Jameson leaned back and his hold on my hand began to tighten.

"Jameson?" I prompted him, giving his hand a squeeze.

"I know that man." He said, voice sounding nervous. But nervous isn't a thing that Jameson knows. I tugged at his hand, seeing Harry watch the action out of the corner of my eye, and stood in front of Jameson.

"Who is it?" I asked. Jameson appeared to gulp. His eyes weren't meeting mine. But when they did, they displayed nothing but fear. But it was hardly recognisable on Jameson.

"One of the people involved in my abduction when I was eight."

And then the fear in his eyes made sense.

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DUN DUN DUNNOOO

so here's Monday's chapter

Not too late I reckon

Okay so I'll try to get everything up by Sunday since I have a strict schedule to follow in order to post the trailer on Sunday on the second post :)

This is because I want to get to a certain point in the book before I release the trailer :))

So props to me I'm so great at updating 👍🏼

(To be fair I'm sleeping rather than editing and sleeping is far more important—OKAY IM SELFISH, BE WHAT IT MAY [eh?])

Also

Did y'all like my gift 😭😭

#skyson

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Next update: before Sunday
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CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO SPOILER:

Our trio carry on from this exact point, and nothing can cloak the shock in the room.

Will the three be able to make any links?

Or is the idea too sinister for their already dismantled minds to handle?

Sky and Jameson may have dusted off their hearts in this chapter, but how can you stay on the shore when the currents get rough?