Chapter 5: Surroundings

A notification pinged on the screen of a blue-cased phone, alerting its owner of a message from Cole Lochlyn.

"You ready for the next drop? This Friday good?" the notification read.

The phone's owner snatched it up, pressing her bitten nails to the screen to unlock it.

As Taylor's phone buzzes, she glances up from the screen and looks around her surroundings. She's standing just outside of the school grounds, a spot that she and her friends often use as a hiding place to skip class. She sighs and responds to Cole's message,

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll be there."

She puts the phone back in her pocket and looks around again, seemingly on the lookout for someone or something. But a thought flashes through her mind, reminding her to shoot Cole another message:

“You on your way? Mel wants confirmation today. 2nd period and after school.”

Cole responds: ”On bus. I’ll get there when I get there.”

Taylor rolls her eyes and just puts her phone back in her pocket, not caring to respond. A twig snaps, and Taylor’s attention is brought to her left. A trio of girls seem to be walking in her direction, or the direction past it. Perfect.

“You actually liked it, Ella?” One of the girls asks her friend.

“I mean… It wasn't a ground-breaking movie but it just felt, I don't know, cute.” Ella responds.

“I get it but come on… The last twenty minutes just ruined it for me-” The third girl says.

“What’d you watch?” Taylor blurts out, revealing herself.

The trio jumps back, and the minute they see her, their faces go a pale white.

The second girl who had spoken responded with a stutter,

“The- The Notebook-“

“I wasn’t asking you.” Taylor replies harshly before turning her attention to Ella.

"The Notebook, eh?" Taylor says with a smirk, leaning against a nearby tree.

She was clearly trying to intimidate Ella, and judging by her reaction, she succeeded. The other two girls continue to look spooked, but Taylor doesn't let them off the hook, batting them with a rude glare.

"What did you think?" She asks, turning her attention back to Ella.

The others watch in silence. Ella takes a deep breath and gulps down her nerves.

"I liked it, actually." She offers with a nervous grin.

So, it was safe to say, it was a rather pathetic gulp.

“Oh course you did. I think it’s funny that that’s what you choose to talk about.” Taylor steps closer, to which the girls take a step back.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ella asks nervously, looking up at Taylor.

She's trying to act tough, but the fear is still visible on her face. The other girls seem too off-put to speak up, but they're listening intently to the exchange between Taylor and Ella.

“I don't know, maybe your blossoming career as Brooklin High’s new slut.” Taylor retorts with venom in her voice.

Ella looks back up at Taylor with a shocked expression, but she doesn't have a response. She's stuck between knowing she should stand up for herself, but also being smart enough to avoid provoking Taylor. Her friends, however, look like they’re beginning to have enough.

“But you're right, I guess you should be more concerned about some sappy flick.” Taylor says.

Ella doesn't understand her previous insult even though it hurts, so she decides to pry.

"What did you mean?" Ella asks, trying to act tough even though she's clearly still discomforted.

"What did I mean? What do you think I meant?" Taylor asks, her tone still harsh and intimidating.

“I haven't done anything wrong- Nor have I even slept with anyone!” Ella exclaims.

“You were Brock’s squeeze, right?” Taylor asks, a sudden gleam of excitement in her hazel eyes.

“…Tanner?” Ella asks softly.

“Ya, Tanner fucking Brock.” Taylor replies.

Ella looks taken aback by Taylor's use of the word "squeeze", but she doesn't let it distract her. Instead, her eyes begin to soften as her mind lingers on the memories she shared with him.

"Yes, I was with Tanner, but I’m just not sure anymore. That was then and this is now. I still haven't seen-" She says before her words are cut off.

“Oh okay, sure. But for someone he’d never shut up about, you seem awfully fine about your boyfriend’s disappearance.” Taylor retorts.

Ella's expression turns to one of slight confusion, and she takes a moment to process Taylor's words.

"What? His disappearance has been hard on all of us. Just because he’s gone doesn't mean I no longer care about him-" She says with genuine emotion in her voice.

“Then where are your tears, little care bear?” Taylor asks with malice in her voice.

Ella tries to keep her composure, but the pain and discomfort she's feeling about Tanner's disappearance are visible on her face. Taylor’s words are beginning to bring everything she’s worked so hard to keep down, back up.

“I... I’m not trying to break down in front of you-" She says with a shaky voice.

Taylor's eyes narrow as she seems to recognize Ella's emotional vulnerability.

"Oh, I see... You don't want to give me the satisfaction, is that it?" She asks in a menacing tone.

“Because from where I stand it looks like you know damn well that I’m right. I think you didn't care about him enough to begin with. I wonder if you even tried calling him once he disappeared… Of course, with him gone, I'm sure you would've used that as an excuse to look for the next best thing.” Taylor remarks.

The two other girls have been watching this exchange in silence, but now one of them steps forward and stands up for Ella.

"Taylor, fucking stop it. You have no idea what Ella's been through! She's allowed to deal with her grief in her own way! Just because she doesn't show it to you, of all people, doesn't mean she didn't love Tanner or that she doesn't care about what’s happened to him!" The third girl, Olivia, says angrily.

“And did she tell you that, Olivia?” Taylor asks, to which Claire, Ella’s other friend, immediately cuts in,

“Of course she did! She told both of us! We tell each other everything. It’s not our fault if you doubt that! Maybe if you had actual decent friends you’d know what trust is like.”

"I don't need friends like yours!" Taylor snaps back, her tone still sharp and hostile.

Ella's not backing down from the confrontation, she’s standing her ground as best she can. With Taylor’s anger flaring up, the girls back up. They know her reputation. They know she’s damn well capable of winning fights, especially the ones she goes out of her way to pick. The bruises on her knuckles give away that much anyway. But just as quickly as her heated anger rose up, it died down. Taylor’s goal came back to mind,

“Well, if you trust one another so much and whisper about every little stupid fucking event in your carefree lives, then I'm sure Ella told you about the photos, right?” Taylor says with an impish and cruel look on her face.

"Photos?" Olivia asks tentatively, waiting for Ella to explain.

"What photos?" Claire says, sounding suspicious of Taylor's words.

Ella looks at Taylor with a nervous expression, but surprisingly, she doesn't deny anything. Nor does she even say anything. There was a few heartbeats of silence before Claire broke it,

“Ella, what photos?” She asked her friend, a prompt tone in her voice.

There was a look of uncertainty and yet complete guilt. A look that both Claire and Olivia couldn't speak for. The two girls waited, their friend’s face looked more stressed out than it ever had before. Taylor watches with a sick smile on her face before pulling out her phone,

“Trust, huh? Well, it's safe to say Tanner trusted me enough to screenshot his conversations with you. For what it’s worth, he was genuinely obsessed with you… I can't believe I indulged it.” She rolled her eyes before unlocking her phone and scrolling.

The blonde girl was looking through her gallery at the exact pictures Ella shrank over. After a few tense moments of silence, Ella finally manages to choke out a response.

"I... I never wanted him to share those. He knew they were private." She says softly, her guilt and stress evident in her voice.

Olivia looks at Ella with a mix of sympathy and confusion, "Ella, why didn't you-"

Claire's eyes narrow in anger as she stares at Taylor, "What does this have to do with Tanner's disappearance!? Why are you even bringing this up now!?"

“Other than the satisfaction, absolutely nothing. But hey, I'm sure it's great to keep Tanner in your head a little longer. Maybe now his disappearance won’t affect your memories together. Or the school’s...” She says cruelly.

Ella’s eyes snap at Taylor.

“B-but those are private!” She exclaims!

“Ya, but we need to keep the memory alive, don't we? Besides, I'm sure the school will welcome your title as Tanner Brock’s little slut.” She says full of venom, a glint of sadism in her eyes that would soon be heightened.

Full of panic and fear, Ella steps past her friends and reaches her hand out to Taylor’s phone with a shout,

“Don’t!”

Taylor immediately socks Ella right in the face! A trail of blood gushes out of her nose as she falls to the ground on her ribs, a loud thud arising from the grass below her body. Claire and Olivia stare down at her in complete shock and horror, but they shake it off and go to reach for their friend.

“Stay the fuck back! You know who I am! And you know damn well what I’ll do to you twats if you even think of interfering!” Taylor sneers as she goes to loom over Ella.

Claire and Olivia don't move from their positions, trying to process what they just witnessed. They're beyond scared of Taylor and they know what she's capable of, everyone does. But they're also concerned for Ella and they don't want to leave her. They're unsure about what to do, and they're torn between wanting to help their friend and wanting to stay safe. Ella lays on the ground, blood gushing from her nose as Taylor looms over her. Her friends are completely frozen, stunned by the sudden violence.

Taylor's harsh words had cut through the air like a blade, practically forcing them to stay there, paralyzed by fear. Taylor looks down at Ella on the ground, her face filled with vicious anger. She glares at Ella and drops her weight on Ella’s stomach, to which Ella attempts to push her off. Taylor, however, is on the chubbier side of appearances, using this to her advantage with ease. The smaller girl’s arms flail as Taylor tries hitting them out of the way. Much like Ella’s previous attempt to stick up for herself, this one results in another punch to her face.

Olivia watches in horror as Taylor lands another punch on Ella's face, causing even more blood to gush out of her nose. Claire takes a step forward, seemingly ready to help Ella, but she's quickly halted by Olivia grabbing her and pulling her back.

"Please, Claire… You know you’ll make it worse." Olivia says with a worried tone.

Claire looks up at Olivia, her eyes filled with fear and concern, but she hesitantly nods her head. She's determined to help Ella, but Olivia is right, they can't take any more risks. Taylor's vicious assault continues as she pins Ella to the ground and punches her repeatedly. Olivia and Claire are frozen in shock, unable to process what's happening in front of them. Despite their fear, they're also deeply concerned for their friend, as if that would add anything to their situation. Ella's salty tears mixed in with the blood now smearing across her face.

Taylor didn't seem to want to stop. A small and hardly noticeable smile on her face began to form in the midst of aggression, and some kind of pent-up anger. As each punch began to sound more damp than the previous one, Ella’s friends were about to act until Taylor’s attacks slowed. Within seconds, she stopped.

Claire and Olivia didn’t let out a collective sigh of relief when Taylor stopped attacking Ella, but instead, couldn’t seem to breathe at all. They stand frozen for a moment, staring at Taylor, who still sits on Ella’s stomach.

Ella lays on the ground, the blood on her face slowly drying out as the adrenaline slowly fades away. She lays there motionless, her eyes closed, as the physical and emotional pain begins to settle in. Claire and Olivia are shaken by the sudden violence and are still unsure about what to do. They want to make sure Ella's alright, but they're afraid of provoking Taylor again. Taylor lets out deep breaths of air. Her larger body heaves up and down as she glares down at Ella’s disoriented and slowly breathing.

The silence isn't loud enough to hide her damaged breathing. Blood begins to take its place within her breaths, birthing a wet and disturbing sound. Olivia and Claire look down at her with absolute guilt, frozen in fear and standing motionlessly, their faces a pale white. Taylor pushes herself off Ella, making her way to stand tall over the scene. Looking at the two girls with an emotionless glare, she just watched them. Their eyes quickly look to the side, filling with tears.

Without a single word, Taylor walks away with her fists covered in Ella’s blood, covering her bruises. Each step she takes against the grass fades from the other girl’s ears. The sound of her victim’s violent breathing slowly dies away, replaced by the faint sounds of wind and the rustling of leaves. But underneath this peaceful, natural soundscape, another sound can be heard: the quiet sobs of Olivia and Claire. They're now left alone to process the shocking scene they just witnessed. Ella is still alive, but she’s badly hurt.

The atmosphere is punctuated by the sound of their breaths and their quiet sobs. The grass around them rustles slightly with each breath of wind, but the sound of said wind is now almost completely drowned out by the sounds of grief.

Once Taylor is far from her assault, she keeps her eyes on the ground, grabbing her earphones and putting them in. Grass begins to turn slightly yellow as she nears the pavement, making her way to the parking lot up ahead. The pavement comes into view and Taylor pulls out her phone to press play on a song she was previously listening to.

A sharp electric shock snaps at her eardrums!

With a flash, Taylor pulls out her earphones by the wire with a quiet hiss of pain. They fall toward the ground, hanging below her as she squints her eyes and presses her fingers against her ears. With an expression of confusion and pain, she looked back down at her phone, only to see the song she was about to play had vanished. There was a faded image of the cover art for the song on her screen but it looked… wrong. Distorted.

A feeling of unease travelled along her body… With a quick glance, she lifted her head up and looked around. Only now did she notice how painfully empty and quiet everything was around her. There was a chilling sort of breeze she felt, but the more she listened, the more she stuck her hand out for a feel of gust, there was a complete absence of wind.

Taylor stands in the middle of the empty parking lot, trying to process the odd events playing out around her. The sound of the wind has disappeared, replaced by an unnatural quiet. The eerie silence chills her to the bone as she surveys her abandoned surroundings.

She pauses for a moment, her emotions a mix of confusion and fear. What happened to the world around her? She looks down at her phone, noticing that the distorted cover art has now completely disappeared.

Something is fucking off.

She stands still, trying to get a grip on the situation. Looking up at the sky, she only now notices the cloud's presence over the sun. It must've happened during her little brawl.

But… Why did she feel like they had eyes?

Or was it even the clouds?

Something felt terribly off.

The unnatural silence begins to fill Taylor with a sense of dread. Something's wrong, something's really, really wrong. She has no way of explaining it, but her instincts are telling her to run.

She looks around, searching for answers. But the seemingly empty grounds of Brooklin High don't offer any clues as to what's happened to the world. Taylor's confusion is palpable.

She listens.

With a creeping presence, she hears something.

Breathing.

Quiet, unnoticed, broken.

It starts quiet, but as the milliseconds pass it becomes uncomfortably louder. As if to replace wind, it creeps.

A sudden stop makes her blood run cold. A build-up to something now halted. It's silent.

A sharp and singular raspy breath pounds at her ears from over her left shoulder!

Snapping her neck to the left, she freezes. Watching a small set of trees, Taylor feels out of place. Amongst the trees, she feels as if her eyes can't move from them. There's something there. Something hiding amongst them.

Taylor doesn't know what it is. A haunting feeling sends chills to her bones. She stands rooted to the spot, overwhelmed by what's happening around her. The silence has been replaced by a subtle, yet eerily noticeable damp sound of breathing. A familiar sound. Taylor is in a state of utter fear and confusion.

Just as she feels she’s about to see it, a loud text alert deeply frightens her! Her grasped attention is freed from the sight of the trees and once more intentionally pulled to her phone. But not wanting to let her guard down, she quickly looks away, placing her attention back on the trees as her phone screen flashes on from the notification that read,

“I’m there.” -Cole Lochlyn

The loud text alert may have completely snapped Taylor out of her trance and broken her focus, but she's still shaken up. She finally looks down at her phone. The text reads:

"I’m here." -Cole Lochlyn

She quickly looks up and realizes that the trees are completely empty. Whoever or whatever was there, it's gone now. She’s safe. Taylor takes a deep breath to try and calm herself down. The sudden text may have broken the tension, but she still has no explanation for what just happened. Everything seems back as it was before this all went down. With the hair on Taylor’s neck still standing, she once again looks down at her phone and finally unlocks it to respond.

Without giving another look over her surroundings, she once again continues her walk.

She should’ve looked.