“Jace!” My father’s voice comes in a bellow that wakes me up from the light sleep I’d finally fallen into after one whole night of tossing and turning in my bed. I shoot out of the bed at the sheer volume of the proclamation and immediately get reminded why such an idea could be considered really bad for a man with my predicament.I moan as I hold my pounding head in between my arms, feeling a thousand hammers pummeling me from the inside of my skull, and close my eyes tightly because the brightness burns my corneas.My mouth is drier than the Sahara Desert, and I smell like a dumpster truck full of week-old cat food. I feel like all kinds of shit I could even think of, which is not a pleasant image, at all.As I hold my head and try to get ahold of myself, I get reminded of why I’m in this position in the first place. And just as quickly, all the feelings I’d subconsciously tried to keep at bay returned, and there was nothing I want to do than succumb back into the blanket nest I’d f

Out of all the people to appear out of thin air and get me out of the funk I found myself in, my father was the last person on the list. Even if he made the list.But that is what happened. He fed me some passable spaghetti, and made me wash the dishes while he helped himself to some of the brandy from a bottle I’d opened, grumbling about me breaking into his prized collection even after I begrudgingly apologized, egging me on to call the university and cite reasons for my absence because apparently, they’d been trying to reach me after noticing that I had been skipping classes, but because I’d neglected all my calls whenever I saw they weren’t from Coraline and he even made sure that I called my friends so I could burrow their notes.I lied and told Mal, Louise, and Annabelle that I’d been down with the flu, and then politely turned down their offers to come to visit with food. I did not want anyone to know that I’ve been wallowing after a breakup like some teen girl in a coming-of-a

If it’s any other time, I would be mortified at having left the house in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants with a pair of cracks on my feet. I don’t even feel the chill in the evening as I rush towards the car my father had decided to drive rather than use a driver until Gerald comes behind me, looking utterly exasperated with it all while looking worried, which results in a strange expression overall.“Jace, for the love of God take your wallet and your phone! What if Coraline tries to contact you out of wherever she is? Also, wear these socks, we don’t want you ending up sick on top of it all!” he shoves everything he’d just named at my hands, huffing under his breath about stupid friends and their kids as he rushed past me.“Right, sorry,” I reply quietly, feeling emotions swell within me, and follow him to the car Gerald gets in the passenger seat next to my father rather than me like usual, but this time I’m thankful for that, because there are currently tears runn

We call the police precinct that is in charge of our stalker case because although none of us dares to voice it, we all have that concern ringing in our heads. Also, none of us trust the Grangers’ home precinct after what happened with the whole Astra Development case.When I explain the suspicions we have surrounding her disappearance, the police officers are understandably distraught. They immediately patch us through to the detective who is still in charge of our case, one Hank Reverend. The call is in speaker, so everyone in the dining room could hear what the detective has to say.“What happened? Tell me everything from the start to the finish,” the detective demands as soon as the phone line connects.“Look, I wasn’t there when it happened, none of us were. Coraline had been missing since this afternoon.” I reply, “she’s not taking any calls, and she’s not answering any texts. When we try to call her, we get the response that her line is dead.”“It’s too early to file a missing

I hear footsteps coming from the stairs and Lemon’s expression stutters.“So now you know, I’ve got nothing to do with this case. If I give my name to the police, there is a possibility that my family would find me, and I don’t want that to happen. I left New York because a friend told me that someone had the bright idea of putting my picture on social media with the name of the bar I worked at. I had no plan at all coming here,” he says quickly, “but you guys took me in, and became my friends. That’s…that’s amazing. I never had anyone trust me so much before, especially when they had all the reasons to distrust someone, they barely knew suddenly barging into their lives with no warning whatsoever! And rest assured I’m not going to break that trust. I’m going to do whatever I can to help you find Coraline, and if that means jeopardizing my location, then so be it.”He turns on his heel and leaves the room as the Grangers return to it, dressed to travel to the police station in demure