Chapter 4: Cigarettes and Glass Hearts

The windshield wipers thumped rhythmically from side to side as the rain pounded against the windshield. We had left the main city lights 20 minutes ago. The ride was silent, I don't think either of us really knew where to start.

Jeremy's knuckles were white against the steering wheel, his eyes glancing from the road to the rearview mirror to me and back again. I'm not sure what was going through his head. He has to worry about his family. Not only can he not lose this internship, but his mother was friends with Sarah. The wounds I reopened… maybe this wasn't the right thing. I kept Jenni anonymous and I think that was the best decision I made on this journey.

What hurt the most, though I honestly should have expected it, was my own mother leading the town against. Me. If Jeremy was telling the truth, my mother would have allowed them to hurt me if they got the chance. I was rubbing my arms as if I was cold, digging my nails in every so often. I wanted a tiny bit of control over what I was feeling. Everything kept running through my head. I got so lost in my thoughts.

I know my parents and I aren't close. We both have different dreams for my life and neither of us are willing to give any room. But I would never, and I mean never, helped organize a mob against them that would hurt or endanger them.

The next thing I know, I feel a soft palm grip my hands tightly. I looked to see my arms covered in sticky red lines. Jeremy's right hand gripped mine tightly. When I looked at his face, his eyes were focused on the road, but his jaw was clenched so tight that the muscles in his neck bulged and defined.

"Jeremy. Why did you come pick me up?"

There was silence for a little while. The tires crushed gravel under us as we turned onto a back road. The path narrowed significantly the further we traveled. The trees weaved themselves into each other and weighed each other down. My heart started to leap into my throat.

"Jeremy…"

"Do you believe this story is worth it?"

"What?"

"Do you believe that pursuing this story is worth it? That attempting to prove Sarah was murdered is worth the danger?"

My mouth slacked for a second at his question. In that moment, I believe my heart took over and answered, "It's our job! As reporters, as…as storytellers. It is our responsibility to find the truth. Sarah deserves justice if we can give it to her."

I watched Jeremy's face, a wave of emotions crashing over him. Slowly the truck stopped. At the change in movement, I looked out the windshield to see why. In front of the truck, about 75 feet away, was a cabin in a slight clearing. It was well kept, not too big, and looked like it was frequently visited.

"Jeremy?"

"If you're going to work on this story, you're not doing it alone. We're safer in numbers. And if we're going to work on this story, we need a safe place away from town to do it. Do you trust me?"

I was silent.

"If you don't, I will turn around right now. I will take you back to your house and we will never talk about this again. You have a choice, right here and now."

I leaned back in my seat. Did I have a choice? I already published the story. If I don't continue, I will have opened old wounds and set out accusations for no reason. Outside of that, if Sarah was murdered, she needs our help. She needs closure. I slipped my messenger bag over my head, tucking the bag safely under my arm. Popping the truck door, I stepped out and headed towards the cabin.

The driver side door opened and closed behind me. Jeremy's boots crunched on the dead leaves. "I'll take that as a yes."

The door was stiff and warped from the elements. The inside however, was sturdy and fully stocked for use. Almost everything inside looked handmade with various signs of use. Was this Jeremy's? If he makes all this…I don't know why he doesn't sell them.

"Mr. Gregory lets me live here. I am slowly paying it off. Mom found a new boyfriend."

"Is that good or bad?"

Jeremy shut the door behind me and turned on the lights. He was ignoring my question so for once I decided to drop the subject. I know enough about the situation that I am glad Jeremy is out on his own now.

Something snapped me back to the situation at hand when my bag strap broke. I walked quickly over to the dining table, setting the bag down and moving to the windows. I glanced out to see if there were any easy access points besides the road that we came in on. Seeing none made me more nervous. It is easy to hear a vehicle approach. There are a large amount of avid hunters in this town, which means they have vast knowledge, we won't be safe out here for long.

That is regardless of if Mr. Gregory gives that location of the cabin away. The allotted time we have here before we have to move is determined by how fast those who are upset find out that Jeremy is helping me. I didn't realize I was mumbling some of this out loud as I was closing the curtains when someone spun me around by the shoulders and shoved a warm cup into my hand. There was a silent request to go calm down so we could continue the story. A few minutes later we were sat across from each other.

"What were you ever told about Sarah?" I asked, tapping my nails on the side of my cup.

"Mom doesn't like to talk about Sarah. She would shut down any time one of us asked. Mom has some sort of guilt for her death, Mom was the last person to talk with Sarah before she ended up at Tapiki Bride."

"That's awful.."

Jeremy nodded quietly. The look on his face showed he had a few questions of his own.

"Where did you get the letters and the evidence of Sarah meeting someone?"

I chewed on the inside of my cheek slightly, quickly deciding to keep Jenni's name out of the conversation for as long as I could, "I received an anonymous… I can't even call it a letter, so I guess just an anonymous request to meet because someone had proof that Sarah was murdered. We all know there have been rumors since it happened. That and Sarah had become sort of an urban legend for the town at this point."

"You met up with someone without telling any of us? What if you had been killed? Kidnapped! Anything!"

"I think kidnapping should have come first…" I tried so hard to keep that comment in my head, "I'm sorry."

He raised an eyebrow to hint I still needed to explain myself.

"Yes, I went without telling anyone. Clearly that was a smart move on my part because this story would have been shut down and my first source would have been run out of town. Not only that, I had to make sure it was legit. With Sarah being turned into an urban legend by the kids before us, there have been plenty of prank calls and notes left with the police and the school. You and I both almost got arrested due to Cherry McCarthy trying to ____ us for the 5 calls and the package she sent to the police!"

"They didn't even try to arrest Cherry after it was proven that she did it all. She got off scott free just because she is the daughter of the principal. She was the one tagging the lockers of everyone. They left me in a holding cell for 3 days anyway." Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Plus…why would someone use the story of Sarah to attack someone else?"

Jeremy looked down at my question. The rain drops on the rooftop grew louder as the storm moved slowly across the sky. As the silence blanketed the room once again, I began to survey the cabin a little closer. There was a small amount of family photos clustered by the kitchen. Everything started to make a bit more sense and I saw a lot of Mr. Gregory's personality still left over in the cabin. The sound of something lightly being tapped on the table broke me out of my studying. Jeremy had pulled out a pack of Calcite Blues. They were a brand of cigarettes from a small business a few hours away. I smiled sadly at the flood of memories in my mind. He shook a cigarette out of the pack half way and brought it to his lips. In one swift movement he pulled the cigarette out, looking up to catch me staring. A sly smirk pulled at his lips, the cigarette hanging daintily on the other side. I blushed slightly, frozen as the pack was held out to me. He looked so much like someone I had met in college that my heart was trying to beat out of my chest. On a strange autopilot, I took the cigarette.

He reached into the inside of his jacket, producing an antique looking lighter. Still slightly embarrassed at getting caught staring, I focused on my bag strap, playing with it. I placed the cigarette in my mouth, holding out an absent hand for the lighter. I heard Jeremy shift in his chair, a shadow casting on the table top. With a delicate touch, his hand raised my chin up, making us lock eyes as he touched the lit end of his cigarette to mine. He pulled away slightly and the smirk graced his lips again. He let out a breathy chuckle, "Sorry, the lighter is finicky."

I stuttered out an intelligible response, dragging on the cigarette to try and hide my awkwardness. Jeremy walked away briefly to the kitchen, coming back with a crystal ashtray in his hand.

"Mr. Gregory allows you to smoke?"

"Well, I'm buying the cabin from him. He said I could do whatever I wanted with it. I'm about 3/4ths done with the payments."

"That is amazing. I am really glad to see you doing better."

"Well, since you want to continue with your investigation, will you be willing to share the information that you found?"

I nodded and gently set my cigarette in the tray. The letters and journal still held the musty smell from the shoebox. They scattered out onto the table.

"I am sure these are…Look, there is a lot of doubt cast on the original case. I have a lot of photos, but those just seem to be mementos."

He picked up one of the letters and scanned it quietly. I picked up my tea and took a sip. He seemed to continue going through letters, so I decided to give the journal a deeper look. I rubbed my eyes in frustration after the first few entries. I couldn't pick up on anything different. She was happy, excited for her senior year, and nothing was going to stand in her way. It was another few minutes when I heard an angry scoff come from Jeremy. I peaked over the edge of the journal and raised an eyebrow waiting for an explanation. The skin of his neck flushed a bright red, the color spreading up into his face. His fists clenched the paper. Shit, if he damages it we could lose evidence.

"Jeremy!' I shouted at him leaning over the table to try and get the letter. He moved before I could react and in the blink of an eye I was shoved away from the table and he was back against the wall. I had only seen this once before with Karson and his mother.

"Jeremy, take some deep breaths. Focus on the cabin or my voice. We can't save her from what happened but we can bring her justice. Jeremy, we need to focus.."

He closed his eyes. I took the chance to go around the table, to try and get close enough and ground him. I got a few steps away when there was a loud knock or the door.