Hide and Secret (Wattys2015)

(27) Taylor's POV

I was floating.

No, not floating.

Falling.

But I wasn't sure what I was falling towards. It was an endless stream of nothingness, darkness. I was alone, with nothing stopping me from an endless abyss.

Until suddenly, the images faded. I was lying down on the grass. There was sunlight streaming in my eyes. However, despite the fact that this beautiful day would normally consist of happy, playing children, I was the only one outside.

"Taylor? Can you hear me?"

I looked around, but I saw nobody. The grass stretched for miles, but no people were to be found.

"Taylor?"

I looked up at the sky. Nobody was there? Was I dying? Was my conscience speaking to me? "Hello?" I asked. My voice echoed in the emptiness. Nobody was there. I was going crazy.

"She's waking up."

Who was speaking?

Slowly, the scene faded and my eyes opened, the faces of Serena, Jill, and my mother were clearly visible. Their faces turned to relief when they saw that I was awake. "Uh... Hi," I said, my throat feeling dry.

"Hey," Serena said softly. "You feeling okay?"

I nodded, then instinctively reached my hand to my head. I could feel a huge lump on my head underneath the sort of bandage my head was wrapped in.

Meanwhile, my mother was pacing, wringing her hands and generally looking like a nervous wreck. I stared at her with concern, wishing that I could take away the pain she was feeling. It was always difficult to see someone you loved getting hurt. "Taylor? Do you need anything?" she asked me nervously.

I was about to tell her that I was fine, but then I noticed Serena and Jill. From behind my mother's back, they were giving me little nods, as if to say yes. They had to tell me something. "Yeah. Uh, could I have a bottle of water, please?"

Mom nodded, and then raced out of the room, ready to serve my need even if it required something illegal.

As soon as my mother was out of earshot, I turned to Serena and Jill. "What happened while I was out? Any news?"

"Well," Jill began to reply. "If anyone asks you, we went to a teen club that served really good pizza."

My eyebrows furrowed, and I was left completely lost. I scanned my brain, trying to figure out when pizza was ever mentioned before this. "What?" I asked finally, confused.

Serena stared at me, wide-eyed with an emotion that I thought would never cross her face: Fear. "The police are interrogating us about what happened up to us getting hit by the car. Jill and I almost got caught lying when she mentioned teen clubs and I mentioned pizza. So... we went to a teen club that serves pizza."

Something didn't make sense to me. "Wait... Why can't we tell the police? This person, just by almost killing us with the car, is clearly a psycho. Since this person is truly dangerous, why are three teenage girls trying to figure out who this psycho is?"

Jill's eyes turned wide. "Taylor, I got a message on my phone that told me..."

"I don't care about any damn message! We've been getting text messages for a solid two months now!" I ranted. My voice got a little bit softer. "All I want is to feel safe again, y'know? And telling the police will help us with that."

Jill shook her head, and Serena bit her lip. "Taylor, if we tell the police, us and everybody around us will get hurt," Jill pointed out.

I stared at her in disbelief. "But the police could protect us."

"Not if they think we're nuts," Serena interjected. "Plus, we would need to reveal all of our secrets that the sender knows about. Do you really want to reveal that you had an eating disorder to a bunch of cops?"

"I know that I don't want to reveal about everything I did," Jill said quietly.

I stared at the two of them, before realizing that they were right. Jill was the only one who'd done anything really illegal (Although, Serena had consumed alcohol underage). But it was true. If we ratted out the sender, all of our secrets would come out too.

"Okay," I said slowly. "So no talking to the police." Suddenly, a thought struck me. "Hey, does Theo know what really happened?" It only made sense to me that Serena would call him and tell him, but I couldn't be sure.

Serena quickly looked down at her feet. "We broke up," she admitted.

I tried to hide my surprise. Despite their recent struggles, I had thought that Serena and Theo were going to get through everything and remain happy. Had they broken up because of something I had inadvertently caused?

Serena gave me a small smile. "Taylor, you would be a horrible poker player. I can see every emotion on your face. The break-up wasn't because of anything you did. It was just... complicated."

I breathed a sign of relief that it wasn't me, and then moved to try and comfort Serena. It was a bit difficult, and it hurt a little, but I succeeded in giving her a pat on the shoulder. She smiled gratefully.

It was Jill who brought us back to business. She decided that it was her job to bring me up to date on everything that was going on. "So, the sender's going to be at my party," she commented. "And I know they'll be in blue."

"So, what do you say to doing a little bit of sender finding at the party?" Serena suggested to me.

I nodded in agreement, and then proceeded to describe the two blue outfits I had found in the sender's costume closet when I'd gone to the lair first. Jill and Serena listened intently.

When I finished speaking, Jill smiled. "What do you say about catching this bitch... or douche, if it's a guy... at my party?"

Serena cracked a small grin. "I like the idea."

They both looked at me, and I nodded solemnly.

"It's time to take our lives back."

A/N

Filler! Do you hate me yet? :) THREE MORE CHAPTERS UNTIL THE END!!! Next chapter is most certainly not a filler chapter, I promise. ;) You WILL find out the identity of the sender in the next chapter.

~Charlotte <3