Crestwood Murders

Chapter 3: Fractured Bonds

Emma awoke to the sunlight filtering through her curtains, her mind already buzzing with the secrets uncovered the night before. The weight of what she read on her mind and desire to unearth the truth fueled her morning routine.

As she washed her face, thoughts of the stabbings and bags were on her mind. Emma decided to confront the thoughts head-on and seek answers from the people on campus who might know more. The slow build of suspense lingered in the air as she prepared to dive deeper into the murder cases surrounding Crestwood University.

In another corner of the campus, Michael paced around his room, the weight of the revelations heavy on his shoulders. Unable to contain his frustration, he dialed Tyler's number, the phone ringing through the morning stillness.

Tyler, already immersed in further research, shared the details of what he had discovered. The slow, deliberate exchange between them revealed the gravity of the situation. They needed to find the killer, not just for justice but to protect others from the same fate that befell Kayla and Jessica.

Meanwhile, Joshua found an outlet for his emotions on the baseball field. The sound of baseballs hitting the bat echoed in the quiet morning, a physical manifestation of his inner turmoil. Teammates Kevin and Matt approached cautiously, discussing Jessica's death and drawing Comparison to Kayla's tragedy. Michael, overwhelmed, lashed out, demanding they stop talking about it
"Shut up both of you I don't wanna hear about that right now!"
Kevin and Matt both not wanting to anger Joshua more both walked off and away from him in his batting cage area

As the day unfolded, Hannah, sensing Joshua's distress, approached him with a peace offering a black coffee from Starbucks his favorite, while she carried her own pumpkin cream latte. She asked "are you feeling any better today yet Joshy?" We can go to the mall and then a movie after!" Attempting to plan a day together  however, she was met with Joshua's distracted mind as he told her "I can't I have a baseball game in a few hours and I'm still upset about what happened yesterday, I need to just focus on this for now". The slow build of tension between them hinted at the strain the investigation and mentions of the past had placed on their relationship.

Later that evening, under the glare of stadium lights, a baseball game unfolded. The tension in the air mirrored the emotions swirling within Joshua. The slow build of suspense reached its peak as the final moments of the game arrived in the 9th inning down by 1 with 2 runners on bases In a mad wave of determination, Joshua stepped up to the plate, the echoes of Kayla's memory and the pursuit of justice spurring him on in his head mixed with his anger and emotions.

The crack of the bat against the ball filled the stadium, and the crowd erupted into cheers. Joshua's winning home run cut through the night, a symbol of triumph amidst the darkness that enveloped Crestwood University as the audience had something to cheer for tonight.

Hannah had showed up to the game since she had nobody to shop or go to movies with and she enjoyed seeing her boyfriend Joshua get the game winning home run as she ran onto the field to hug him in celebration.

Meanwhile Michael, Tyler and Emma had all met up to discuss everything they all knew and Tyler discussed how he could try to look into the college computer with his computer skills, and Emma started to tell them both how she talked to Mrs Whittaker earlier and asked what she knew about the situation and she told her about how there was somebody in the library the night of Jessica's murder that mentioned going to see her and might know something about what happened.

Michael excited for a lead
"That's awesome news, who's the student that was going to see her?"

Emma then told both Micheal and Tyler that the student who went to go see Jessica on the night of her murder was somebody the group knew and they would go to find out first thing tomorrow.

Meanwhile the campus of Crestwood was now quiet again after winning the baseball game and celebrating the students were back to lighting candles and talking about Jessica who was just murdered the day before.

Everything has gone by so fast in the 2 days since the murder.
And time might be running out to catch them if the friend group doesn't work together soon and find out.

Joshua came up to Emma, Tyler and Michael right before they left to go to their home dorms and he asked if they had any leads on Kayla's death.

Michael told Joshua everything that Tyler and Emma had discovered while looking into it and has told him already and Joshua was thankful and told them all thank you and apologized for almost getting into a fight the day prior and said he shouldn't have said he didn't need to and he will work on his anger.

Michael accepted his apology and said they had bigger worries and it was okay and he appreciates it.

Emma asked Joshua where Hannah was and he told her that she went out after the baseball game because she was tired and didn't want to have to discuss the murder anymore.

Emma was annoyed at this point by Hannah wanting to ignore the past of her dead best friend. She knew it was her current boyfriends ex and all. But that didn't make it right.