accidentally meeting you [rilaya au]

14

   riley didn't want to go to kermit's house. she had no choice in the matter, though. she had to find maya, and there was no way that kermit didn't have the slightest bit of information on maya's disappearance. maybe riley was looking too far into this. maybe maya just got lost and her phone died. maybe maya now believed that riley was the missing one, but it seemed so out of place for maya to disappear like that. she wasn't where she said she would be, and maya even had riley's number memorised. she could've used another individual's phone to contact her if her phone had died. anything that it could be, riley did not want to lose maya. she couldn't live with herself if she lost her in any type of way, especially in the sense of her going missing.
   the scenery on the way to kermit's house was dreadful. the farther the car drove, the more and more the trees appeared dead and scarce. the vegetation was disheveled from the careless of the people living near it. no one in this area cared for themselves or their houses, so why would they care about a few trees and bushes? not only was the scenery a sad sight, but it seemed that the sky had dimmed and the air quality had gotten poor.
   minutes had seemed to turn into hours and hours into days as they finally arrived at their long awaited destination. the car came to a sudden stop, stopping in front of the paved driveway of the sad place someone had called a home. the look of the house was even sadder than the scenery that riley had witnessed on their way there. the lawn was almost as bright as yellow acrylic paint. the trees had brown leaves scattered around them. the drywall of the house was cracking and falling apart. a careless touch could possibly make the entire house become dust.
   they unbuckled their seatbelts before topanga spoke, "what's your plan? we can't go in there blindly. this isn't a horror movie, and i'm not going to be the dumb girl who gets killed first."
   riley laughed dryly. she couldn't find the energy to even crack a smile. she appreciated her mother's efforts, but riley didn't know how to smile with the knowledge of maya being in danger weighing upon her shoulders.
   "i was planning to search around the house to see if i could find some type of shed or other material that could be used as evidence or clues. going in to talk to him right away seems like an idea destined to end in failure."
   topanga patted riley's back, nodding before stepping out of the car. riley followed shortly after, and they shut their doors in unison. they motioned to the way that they would search. there wasn't a lot of ground to cover, but they wanted to be sure to get their search done as quickly as possible.
   this is something riley never saw herself doing. she never believed that she would have to search for someone, but here she was, completely broken, searching for someone she held dear to her heart. she had never let anyone in since she broke up with lucas and lost her friends. she didn't want to trust anyone at the time, but she had learned to trust maya. she had learned how soft and sincere the girl was, deciding that that was the type of person she needed to complete her.
   the brunette looked up, seeing how close she was to the house.  she hadn't seen it in over a month, and she always thought that she would never have to see it again. it even seemed to stare back at her with beating, cold eyes. she unlocked her gaze before the eyes of this house could consume her. she wasn't here to dwell on her feelings and trauma. she was here to figure out what happened to maya, and if anyone knew anything, it had to be kermit. even if someone doesn't care about a person, that doesn't mean they would just easily let them go after all of the things they did to them, and that means that kermit definitely wouldn't let maya get away from him that easily. silence was his enabler, and maya was no longer silent. she had become more of a threat than he had ever been in his entire life.
      snapping herself out of her thoughts, she searched around outside. the backyard didn't ben have a fence around it. it was just open terrain. absolutely nothing was in site. just heaps of rocks and dirt that had piled up and been shifted around. she fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands. maybe she was wrong. maybe kermit knew nothing, leaving maya in even more danger than she had thought. a deep breath and a hard swallow was all it took to finally bring riley to back up onto her feet and on her way to kermit's front door as her mother followed shortly behind her. this house held such tremendous power over her, and there was nothing she could do about it besides deal with it. as she knocked on the front door, she could feel how bad the energy was around this house. she wasn't one to believe in things like auras and different energies, but if she had to decide what was coming from this house, it would be anything but good.
   the door swung open like it did in a horror movie. no one was behind it as it seemed to move all on its own. the girls both made eye contact as they hesitantly stepped into the house. topanga had never experienced the house, and she especially didn't experience it in the way riley would, leaving topanga to never understand the true vile nature of the place. topanga took a hold of her daughter's hand, squeezing it sincerely as they continued to make their way into the home.
   "kermit," riley spoke, finally breaking the eerie silence. "we need to talk about your daughter."
   there was no reply.
   "if you don't speak now, i will have no choice but to call the police. you have the chance to speak now before you are behind bars for the rest of your life.
   still nothing.
   "we know you're here."
   a creek of old hardwood flooring was heard down the hallway as footsteps began to grow with their sound. a silhouette of a lanky man appeared from around the corner as both riley and topanga flinched in unison. the silhouette maintained its position down the hall from them, and all that could be seen was his hand moving as if he were signally the girls to speak.
"tell us where maya is."
kermit scoffed before walking closer to them. "i don't know where she is. why are you in my house?"
riley stomped her foot down softly in anger. "to find out where maya is. not like you care, but i do."
kermit motioned them into the living room as they followed him with caution. he sat on the couch, almost sinking into it as his arms slung over the back. the girls stayed on their feet, facing the filth-covered man sitting in front of them.
"i don't trust you when you tell me that you don't know where maya is."
"even if i knew, why would i tell you guys?"
"because that's the only way you'll maintain your freedom. don't you want that?" riley coaxed kermit, trying to break him.
kermit wasn't hiding his lie very well. even though his eyes held no emotions, his body language was reminiscent of someone filled with guilt. he had gotten skilled at hiding his emotions in his face, but he lacked skill when it came to his body. that's where all emotion is held, and he didn't even seem to know it.
"why would i even want anything to do with her? she was weighing down on me," kermit argued.
before riley could answer, topanga interrupted, "listen, kermit. no one here is asking for you to give up everything you know. all we want to know is what happened with maya. we know you don't love that little girl, but i do and so does riley. you no longer have to worry about her; i will. i'll step up and be the parent you never wanted to be. i just need maya here with me so i can do that. if you tell us, you'll remain free, and we will keep maya away from you. if you don't, we will have absolutely no choice but to call the police, and if you were to try and deny anything, this entire conversation is being recorded. if you tell us where maya is, we will delete it."
riley just nodded in agreement. what her mother had said was better than anything riley could've conjured up in her head. if she were in kermit's shoes, it would most definitely be something that would get her to break. it was the perfect form of manipulation. riley knew that topanga was going to call the police as soon as they got what they wanted, but kermit, knowing how brainless he was, probably thought that she wouldn't do anything she was saying.
kermit stammered, "i don't know anything about maya. how many times do i have to tell you the same goddamn thing?"
kermit stumbling over his words gave him away even more than his body language did.
   "kermit," riley said. "just tell us. you're not losing anything that way."
   kermit got to his feet, inching close to the girls. realising this, they both began to walk backwards to try to slip away from him before he could do anything. it didn't work. kermit had them back into a wall as his arms served as barriers to block them.
   "i don't know if you heard me. i said that i did not know where that pathetic waste of human life is. if you do not leave now, you will regret it."
   riley wanted to listen to the man blocking them from freedom, but topanga was not going to go down without a fight. she would never allow herself to do so. she came here to accomplish one thing, and that's what she will leave with. nothing less; nothing more.
   topanga placed her hands upon kermit's chest, pushing him onto the floor. the thud from his fall echo throughout the house and especially within riley's ears. she stood there, unable to formulate any coherent responses to anything that had just taken place. instead, she watched as kermit's eyes lit with rage. he slammed his fist into the floor, and this time, riley heard nothing. her brain had began to block out all noise around her. as this happened, everything began to unfold in slow motion. she could tell that her mother was yelling and that kermit was holding back the aggressive attacks he wanted to partake in. riley's heart raced as topanga's fist collided with kermit's cheek. riley's hands shook as kermit slammed her mother to the floor. her ears began to ring as topanga screamed back in retaliation. her stomach turned and churned as topanga pushed kermit off of her, slamming her knees into his gut. with every single shift in movement that the two had done, riley's panic attack worsened. she wanted to help her mother, but her brain had somehow began to hold her back. it tied ropes around her mind, pulling it back every time she tried to move or speak. it was awful. all she could do was stand and watch as everything unfolded, hoping that her mother would be the one that won.