Seven.

November.

As we walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand, cups of coke in our spare hands, I felt me and Amelia had never been closer.

"Where do you want to be in 5 years?" Amelias words bring my steps to a half for a split second. My brain whirring to find an answer, but only one word sprung to mind

"I don't care where I am, what I'm doing or who I'm with" I mutter out softly, her hand grips mine again and she brings us to a slow paced walk. "I just want to be content" I finish my sentence and nod to myself.

"Not happy? Just content?" The confusion was thick in Amelias words and I turn to look at her as we walk, opening my mouth to reply but my words catch in my throat as I stumble over a brick on the sidewalk.

"Shit Ember" Amelia cusses as I trip completely, just as I was ready to accept the pavement I feel hands grip my arms, bringing me to a standing position.

I gasp loudly and fluster my arms around wildly, freeing myself from the grip of the unknown hands and distance myself from the t-shirt clad human infront of me.

"Germaphobe?" The mysterious person speaks, words holding amusement as my eyes scan his attire and up to his face.

"No. Just don't like strangers putting there hands all up on me" I growl out angrily, running my hands up and down my arms as I nervously pick a thread on my sweater. The look in his blue eyes made me nervous, I wasn't too sure why, I was sure he was a good person. I just didn't like male eyes on me anymore, I felt, vulnerable.

"Ha ha" an awkward laugh sounds from next to me. "what she meant to say, was Thankyou" Amelia speaks from between gritted teeth and elbows me lightly in the arm. I smile at her, making sure it was sarcastically large as I turn to face the handsome stranger.

"Yes, what I meant to say was Thankyou, for touching me without my permission" I grit out and smile at him widely, showing my teeth, I turn to Amelia and nod my head for her to carry on walking.

"Sorry! Next time I'll ask permission before stopping you from eating the pavement!" His words mock me, I clench my fists to stop myself from turning back and giving him a piece of my mind and continue to stomp down the sidewalk. Amelia chuckling lightly beside me.

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Later that week we were sat in a coffee shop, tucked away in a booth in the corner and in our own little world. I hadn't been to college, or even near campus since the police investigation began and I was starting to feel safe in my little bubble.

I saw Amelia everyday because she lived with me, Asher dropped by ever now and then and I felt more and more comfortable around him as time went on. I didn't get nervous when his eyes met mine, or when I was in shorts around him. I was starting to feel almost normal.

Until the phone rang, Officer Hopkins had rung and asked us to meet her here. So here we are, sat in the small coffee shop, the sound of steam hitting cups drifting through the air and Amelia chewing her nails nervously meets my ears.

"Mel stop that's gross" I slap her hand away from her mouth and she smiled sheepishly at me.

"Sorry I jus-"

"Hello girls! Lovely to see that you're well" Officer Hopkins takes a seat across from us at our little booth and places a file down on the table. My heart sinks instantly as I read the name on it.

Logan Healy.

"Yes were doing well, may we ask why we needed to meet so soon? I thought it would take weeks to build a case" My words are shaky, eyes still glued to the file with his name on it. My mind was ablaze with reasons why she'd called the meeting.

Was the other officer right, was this a wrong thing to do? Should I have dropped the charges.

I was so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"I thought it would take a while, but in truth. The evidence was quite easy to compile. There was very little of it" her words were quiet, small and shy. Almost like she was afraid to say what was coming next. I braced myself for the blow, the blow of her saying there was nothing they could do.

"We've surveyed CCTV of the house around the time the crime happened, we have footage of you entering the party and everyone leaving. We couldn't find you leaving, so we searched later and later and found the evidence of you stumbling out at 4am"

Her eyes turned abit teary as she scanned over me.

"Just the footage of you leaving that house, the way you acted, the way you walked, well ran. It- it was devastating and any judge would be able to come to a conclusion from that alone" her words set a fire within me. This was good news, this was amazing news!

"That's incredible news! We can't thank you enough, where do we go from here?" Amelias words were excited, fast paced and you could feel the eagerness dripping from here.

"It's not quite that easy" Officer Hopkins paused and I braced myself for the impact. "There was a problem with the CCTV footage, someone erased it" she gulps down a part of her drink as me and Amelia take in the information.

"That's not all, we have reason to believe there was a witness there. That saw you leave. If we find him, we can build this case" her words were final, held determination and made me hopeful that she'd do anything to find this mysterious man but my brain couldn't stop thinking. What if we don't?

"What if-" Mel pauses, thinking over her words as she side eyes me. "What if we don't find him?"

"I don't want to think about that just yet, just know. We're doing everything we can" With those parting words, Officer Hopkins stands from her chair and leaves us, sat in silence. The aftermath of a bomb exploding, my brain working on overdrive. A witness?

Someone could've seen me, helped me, saved me.

If I ever find out who this guy was, I'll cuss his ass to hell.

Officer Hopkins was doing anything to find him and I was about to be too.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───