the escape

-01-

6:00 am - Lew's Residence

The teens fixed the messy living room coming from the party last night. Plastic cups and paper plates were scattered on the floor, cushions with food stains, pieces of broken vase that Gabe hit accidentally, indeed it was a mess. Sean's parents were out of town and he was left alone until he invited his close friends to come over. Turns out a lot of people heard about his "party" and decided to crash his place. Not just that, they brought liquiors and cigarettes which made Sean horrified. He and his friends never drink, and seeing  random people coming from the dance community, mostly Tati's friends chug down all those bottles of alcohol made them cringe. It was a lot of work for them to bring all of those drunk teens home. With the help of Josh and Julian, everything is sorted out. But now, all six of them have to fix everything back to normal before Sean's parents arrive.

After a lot of scrubbing and mopping, they've finally finished the cleaning. Sean cooked them breakfast as a way to thank them. They talked about random topics like their class schedules and video concepts. Right now, Sean's in front of the door motioning his friends goodbye.

"Thank you very much for helping me. I really couldn't do this without you guys"

"No problem Lew. We got you"

-

"Kaycee" Sean knocked on the guest room's door.

"Kaycee, your parents are here"

He heard a little "coming" from the girl but still not convinced.

"I'm coming in Kaycee"

He went inside and saw his bestfriend peacefully sleeping. He'd be lying if he said that she isn't beautiful. Although, he didn't think of her that way. He's used seeing her face almost everyday but never gets tired of it. He just have the prettiest bestfriend ever.

"Rice wake up"

"Five more minutes shamu" the girl mumbled.

"You can't. Your parents are waiting"

"Can you tell them I'm staying over?" she said, eyes still closed.

"No Kayce" he chuckled.

"But it'd be easier for them. I could just come with you instead of them driving me to Alex's class"

"Did I say you can come tho?"

The girl opened her eyes and threw him a glare.

"Easy dood! Ok fine I'll tell them"

She quickly turned to the other side and continued her slumber.

"What? No "thank you"? manners Kayce" Sean act offended but he was replied by her soft snores.

"Great"

-

"So you're saying Alex's class is cancelled?"

"Yeah he's food poisoned. That's what you get for eating froyo at 3 in the morning" Sean said jokingly

"Rude! And don't you try hit on me cuz you know that WE eat froyo at 3 in the morning while we watch friends"

"Whatever you say"

"Anyways" she said ending the topic "Are we taking Erica's class instead?"

"When is it"

"8:00 pm"

"Nope, I'm still driving you home, thanks for your lazy ass. We're probably gonna finish late"

"Then let's take Will's then. It's at 5:00 pm, imma"

"Sure Jan"

-

Imma was filled with chatter and laughters as the students waited for the class to start. Sean began to stretch while Kaycee's on facetime with Tahani. Not long after they're all complete and class started. They went through the routine and an hour later Will clapped his hands for his students attention.

"Always push yourself in every class you take. It takes time to be as versatile as the other dancers but it doesn't matte-"

The studio's lights turned off, interrupting their choreographer Will's speech. Confusion went on all of his students' faces, still not knowing the sudden happening.

"Guys, chill out. It's maybe something with the wirings- hold on!" Will patted Janelle's shoulder, asking her to watch out for their students. He then sprinted out of the room and whispers were imediately heard.

"Maybe its electricity cut off" Josh said

"No, if it was, then why are the ACs still on?" Bailey replied.

"Doods, Will said he's gonna take care of it. We just need to trust him" Sean said.

"Right"

The students waited patiently for Will and killed the time by practicing the routine. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours but there's still Will no found.

"Ok I'm really trying my best here to lessen my impatience but it's been 2 hours! Where the heck is he? I just wanna go home already!" Tahani complains as she lazily lay her head on Kaycee's lap.

"Chill Hani. Lemme just go check on him" Kaycee suggested as she slowly pulled away from her bestfriend's grasp.

"I'm coming with you Rice" Sean said, a huge grin on his face.

Kaycee rolled her eyes as she gave in, ignoring the smirks coming from her friends.

They walked through the halls to find Will only for them to see him in a janitor's closet, his body wrapped up in duck tape only his face full of knife scratches to be seen. The both of them were too shocked that they didn't have the ability to move.
Once their minds register what was happening, they let out a loud scream as tears starting flowing down on their faces. Sean watched as Kaycee started hyperventilating. He quickly wrapped the girl with his embrace and let her soak his shirt with tears.

"Kaycee breathe. I'm here ok? We're gonna find out who did this. Everything's gonna be ok" Sean whispered.

They immediately heard footsteps coming there way. Janelle along with Bailey, Tahani, Josh, and Julian watched the two hugging each other more like Sean comforting Kaycee from afar.

"Guys! You two ok? What's happening?"Janelle asked with concern.

She heard a loud gasp from the teens and made a confused look. She then turned around and with that, she passed out.

"Janelle!" They all cried

"Guys call the police! We're calling for back up!" Josh and Julian said

Tahani and Bailey did what they said and right after that went to Sean and Kaycee and engulfed them with a hug. They cried together, telling each other comforting words. Will was not just a teacher. He was their second father. He's one of the reasons why they've come this far. He encourage them to never stop dreaming and keep theirselves on the ground. To use their platforms as a way to encourage others, not for clout.

Minutes later the ambulance came and the police captured the scene before they took Will's body out of the closet. Janelle woke up afterwards and didn't let go of her husband's hand. The police marked the closet as the crime scene, placing boundaries on it.

"Can we ask who saw this first"

"Us" Sean and Kaycee said

"We will be needing you guys for interviews. Meet us at the station tomorrow, 9:00 am. You may now leave while we check and investigate more. Tell  the others to evacuate the area"

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