Cross Fire (Book #2) GirlXGirl

Epilogue

"Anna are you coming with us or not?" I yelled up the staircase.

"I'm putting on mascara!" she answered.

I looked at Melissa. "You could swear she's going on a date."

"She's a teenage girl, Alexa. Cut her some slack," Melissa said.

"We're literally going down the street," I complained.

She just gave me a "chill out" look before taking a seat on the couch. I decided to join her.

"So how are you feeling today?" she wondered.

"Better," I admitted. "It gets easier every day."

I had been out of the hospital for about three weeks now. At first most of my days consisted of lying in bed and watching old show reruns. Melissa would visit every day, which made the time pass easier. Anna would come straight home after school and talk about her day while mom distracted me with stories about work. They all made it a little easier to bear.

But now it was the weekend before Christmas and I was nearly healed.

Anna trotted down the staircase with a smile.

"Okay now I'm ready," she claimed.

"Oh wow, finally," I teased.

She shoved me on the way out.

We were currently still living with Derik and Mia but they were visiting some of Mia's relatives who had recently moved to Texas. Mom was out Christmas shopping which left the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner up to yours truly. The list looked like a novel.

"Thank God your dad let you borrow his truck," I said to Melissa.

"What would you do without me?" she sang.

We made it to the store where we unloaded from the truck and raced to the front of the store. I pulled the list from my pocket and began to feel overwhelmed with the task at hand.

"Jesus I don't even know where to start," I said.

"Let's just start at the back of the store and work our way up," Melissa suggested.

All three of us took off into the store, Anna pushing the basket behind Melissa and I. There was something comforting about the situation, but I tried not to look into it so much. I'd rather just enjoy it.

But as soon as we made it to the back of the store Anna complained.

"I forgot my phone in the truck," she claimed. "Can I have the keys?"

Melissa just gave her a look. "You can't just wait till we're done?"

"Matt's gonna wonder why I'm not texting him back."

I rolled my eyes. Fifteen-year-olds.

Melissa looked at me for approval.

I shrugged. "Sure."

Anna smiled before running off towards the front of the store.

Melissa nudged me as I pushed the cart. "She's really not that bad."

I smiled. "Trust me. I know. You should've seen me at that age."

"Oh yeah?" she wondered. "What were you like?"

"Nothing like Anna, I can tell you that."

Melissa smiled. "I definitely think you were full of attitude."

"Pair that with the idea that the world was out to get me and you're spot on," I finished.

She laughed as we continued to throw things into our basket.

"I'm actually glad Anna is the way she is," I praised. "She could've turned out so much worse, but she's not. Sometimes it makes me feel bad for giving her a hard time."

"Well remember that the next time you wanna roll your eyes because she wants to hang out with Matt," Melissa defended.

We continued to shop but I couldn't help but notice Anna taking longer than usual. She should've found us by now, right?

"What's taking her so long?" I thought aloud.

"She probably just ran into someone she knows," Melissa comforted.

I sent her a quick text and waited, but no response. If she had made it to the truck to grab her phone, she shouldn't take long to reply. The phone never left her palm.

"There's something wrong," I stated. I could feel it in my stomach.

Melissa tried to diffuse the situation. "Well why don't you go see? I'll finish shopping."

She took the list from me and allowed me to run off. After seeing a therapist that Chapman recommended to me I had been told I was over-analytic and that I worried excessively. I hadn't really believed them. That was until now.

But Anna wasn't into the front of the store. I decided to head to the parking lot.

I nearly sprinted to the truck, but when I got there my heart sank to my knees.

The backdoor was ajar. Anna's phone sat in the middle of the seat where she had ridden on the way up here. Her jacket hung off the backseat. I noticed the shoulder was ripped at the seams. There had been a struggle.

My pulse was so loud in my head that I couldn't hear the cars and traffic around me. Everything was a blur. As if I was in a dream. Or more accurately, a nightmare.

My trembling hand picked up her cellphone and noticed it was open. There was a note typed in the message box, addressed to me.

It read, "Oh Alexa, you should've known better than to let me out of your sight. Now nanny Paige must take care of me."

My started to shake so hard that Anna's phone slipped right from my fingers and onto the ground. I collapsed against the car next to Melissa's truck as the air in my lungs vanished.

This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

But Anna was gone, and Paige had her.