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LIZZY woke up in a hospital bed, surrounded by tubes and monitors. The bright white ceiling and bedsheets blinded her for a moment until her eyes adjusted. Someone held her hand and she looked over and saw—her mother. Lizzy frowned even though she knew she should be delighted to see her mother. She guessed she was hoping to see someone else by her side—JJ.
Lizzy's weak face cracked a smile, her eyes dull and lacking the luster of life they used to contain. "Hi, Mom."
"Hi, sweetie," her mother responded softly, a tender hand grazing her daughter's bruised cheek. "I'm so glad you're awake."
"Me too. Where's JJ?" she asked. As she tried to sit up, a searing pain shot through her body and she gasped.
Her mother gently rested Lizzy on the pillows. "Relax, sweetheart. He just left a few minutes ago. The whole time you've been here, he hasn't left your side. He's a really sweet boy."
Lizzy bit her lip and decided she'd attempt to get some answers from her mother as she waited for JJ. "Mom, what happened to me?"
A troubled look crossed over her mother's face until shadows almost obscured her. "We were looking at colleges and everything was going so well. We'd visited some in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York. When we arrived in Illinois, I thought everything would continue going so smoothly. Instead, my worst nightmare came to life." Tears spilled over onto Lizzy's mother's cheeks. Lizzy closed her exhausted eyes as she waited for her mother to continue.
"You went to the shopping center. You didn't tell me why, but I let you go and instructed you to be back by dinner. You left and that's the last time I ever saw you until you were found. Apparently, JJ's cell phone had be taken by his brother Chase when JJ was grounded. He didn't notice it was missing until his mother tried to give it back to him. By then, you had been texting Chase for a few weeks and you thought it was JJ.
"That day, Chase told you to meet him in the alley. You went, and he hit you upside the head and dragged you to his car. This was caught on security tape except when he drove away. If they saw his car, the case would've been solved much quicker.
"Anyway, Chase had you in his clutches and I was oblivious. When it grew dark, I combed the entire shopping center for you but you were nowhere to be found. I even searched the hotel. I finally decided I had to call the cops. At this point, I was still calm. I figured you'd just lost track of time. But then two, three, four days, a week, two weeks went by and I was losing my mind.
"Teagan, Reece, and Mateo flew in from New York so they could help search for you. JJ was probably the most diligent in trying to find you. His mom told me how he couldn't sleep at night, how he planted a rose bush in their backyard in your honor. But then, like I said, you still weren't found after two weeks.
"They found your jacket at a park and searched there. Instead, they found another young girl's body—her name was Halley, I believe. She disappeared a year and a half ago."
Lizzy's blood ran cold. "M-Mom," she said, her teeth chattering, "Halley was with me for the first couple days. And then, she disappeared and Jon wouldn't tell me why."
"Jon?" her mother asked with a quizzical tilt of her head.
"He wouldn't tell us his real name. We had to call him Jon," Lizzy told her mother, shrinking into the pillow. She wanted to forget about her time in Chase's apartment. The screams, the blood, the quiet whispers exchanged between her and Halley. Halley had been one of his first captures, when he first began kidnapping and killing girls, and she had become his favorite. Until she tried to escape one day shortly after Lizzy arrived. "Keep going," Lizzy urged her mom.
"Shortly after Halley's body was recovered, JJ admitted about his connection with you—his cell phone. The police then tracked it to the shopping center you went to before you were kidnapped. They found it beside a dumpster—and they found a witness, a guy who worked at the Thai restaurant on the other side of the alley. He remembered watching you alive and then you being taken to Chase's car. He figured you were taking drugs back in the alley and so he didn't think twice about you. JJ examined the sketch and was horrified when it looked almost exactly like himself. That's what led the police to Chase, Chase's apartment, and, finally, you."
Lizzy devoured the story with a vicious hunger that was similar to the hunger she felt when Chase didn't feed her for a few days. "I'm glad you found me."
"I am too." Lizzy's mother paused. "Someone's here to see you," she muttered softly, and Lizzy opened her eyes to see a ragged boy with a bruised face and silky brown hair watching them from the doorway, a bag of chips in his hand.
"Here, I'll leave you two alone," Lizzy's mother said with a sly grin before leaving the hospital room.
JJ walked tentatively toward Lizzy's bed, unable to meet her eyes; meanwhile, she couldn't get enough of him, her eyes drinking in every detail, every inch, as if she'd been in a desert for a whole year without any water to quench her thirst.
His lean fingers crunched the chip bag nervously. JJ sat in the chair Lizzy's mother had occupied just moments before. He continued to stare at his hands while Lizzy gazed upon the beautiful human in front of her, wondering how she had gotten so lucky.
"I'm sorry," JJ said after a few minutes, his voice scratchy and raw—he had clearly been crying. Lizzy savored his voice. She loved his voice especially now that she finally—finally—was able to hear it in person.
"I don't think we've properly met yet," Lizzy said with a playful smile. "I'm Lizzy."
JJ looked up and his brown eyes met hers, sparkling like two shiny pennies. "I'm Jordan but everyone calls me JJ."
"It's nice to meet you, JJ," Lizzy greeted as they shook hands.
Lizzy couldn't stop staring at him. His sleek hair as brown as dried leaves in autumn. His tanned skin that appeared so soft and radiant. His glimmering eyes that seemed cradle her and protect her. His brilliant smile that spoke of promises and hopes. He was even more beautiful in person.
"JJ," she whispered before reaching out. Her thin body bounded forward and he caught her with ease, her arms wrapping around his neck and his around her waist. His hair tickled her face and she felt himself bury his into her neck. Soft spurts of air left his mouth and caressed her skin. They were so close, the space that once distanced them vanishing into the sky.
He pressed his lips on the crook of her neck, peppering kisses along her bruises until they were nose to nose. His eyes gazed into hers and she soared in the clouds, breathless and weightless, ecstasy flowing through her arteries and her veins and her racing heart.
"Is this okay?" he whispered softly as if she were a fragile vase or ornament that he didn't want to break. She adored how careful he was with her, she adored the freckles that danced across his cheeks, she adored the spiral of his ears and the curve of his jaw. She adored him.
"Of course it is," she breathed out and he closed the space between them, his lips brushing hers. A blast of warmth and giddiness erupted in Lizzy's stomach.
Finally, their two worlds collided but instead of leaving destruction, only love and hope remained in their wake.
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A/N:
YAYYYYY MY BABIES HAVE FINALLY MET!!!! <3 I'm sorry it took 45 chapters to get here, but at least you got a kiss too ;) I promised I would upload the rest of these chapters before 2019 and I'm hoping to stick with that promise! Love ya! Don't forget to vote and comment!!!!!
- Payton
YOU ARE READING
Early Bird | ✓
Teen FictionThe early bird gets the worm. Or, in Lizzy's case, a text.
