Betrothed

Chapter 4: Do I Let It Ring?

It wasn't long before I heard footsteps in the alley, from the pace they were going at it seemed like whoever it was, was running. "Jo?" someone shouted in alarm. I felt someone's hand on upper arms as they shook me trying to get my attention. When they realized I was unresponsive they seemed to notice my eyes were locked on something, or more specifically someone. "Oh God," Austin whispered. He seemed to realize the severity of the situation as he shouted for help, "Zoe! Taylor! Over here!" More footsteps seemed to approach from farther down the alley as they had been called. "Jo, did you see who it was? Did they hurt you?" Austin questioned me, shaking me slightly until I turned to actually look at him.

My voice came out rushed as I picked myself up off the ground and moved away from the body of the waitress, "She's dead, Austin. I just tripped over our waitress' dead body, who for your information was alive less than five minutes ago, and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"Jo, just answer the damn questions," Austin huffed, moving towards me as he stared at me scoldingly waiting for some answers.

"Of course I didn't see who her murderer was Austin! They were gone before I literally stumbled upon her," I said a little louder than intended, "And if I didn't see who it was..."

"It means that they didn't hurt her," Taylor's voice finished for Jo as she placed a hand on Austin's slightly shaking shoulder reassuringly, "Right Jo?" Taylor said her eyes flickering from Austin to Jo for confirmation.

"Right," Jo nodded, starting to blush as she realized that the more she had gone on to answer Austin's questions the louder her voice got and the more she ranted. Taylor had saved her from making herself feeling even more embarrassed than she already was. Yet, her mind was filled with questions as she noticed that when Austin had been getting emotional towards her his body seemed to react with it, revealing his quaking figure fueled by his anger.

Zoe seemed to have realized I was starting to zone out and get lost in my thoughts as she cleared her throat to catch all of our attention. "Taylor, do you think you could walk Jo home? We wouldn't want her walking alone this late at night with a murderer on the loose, would we?"

"Of course not," Taylor scoffed, giving her sister a harsh glare. Taylor pushed herself in front of Austin grabbing my hand before pulling me forcibly behind her. I tripped on my feet at first but quickly fixed my footing before any serious damage was dealt. For such a small girl, you wouldn't think that Taylor was as strong as she was, but as I always said, never judge a book by its cover, after all, there is always more than what meets the eye. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge and I felt admiration growing in my chest that Taylor had proven me wrong, once again the Halls had managed to teach me that I needed to work on not judging people so fast. "Make sure you get a hold of the authorities," Taylor shouted over her shoulder to Austin and Zoe as we rounded the corner, she didn't bother to wait for a response from them as we continued to trudge forward.

It didn't take very long for Taylor to lead me through the back alleys under the dim streetlights to make it to my house as I picked through my thoughts. If anything it had taken about ten minutes of silence between us besides the sounds of our footsteps echoing into the night air and the crickets chirping revealing just how tranquil it was in this area of the neighborhood.

As I made my way up the steps to open the front door of the house Taylor's voice rang out from behind me, "Goodnight Jo, I'll see you tomorrow."
As I turned around with a small smile on my face looking down at the key ring I had pulled out of my pocket I started, "I'll see you to..." My sentence cut off when I looked up to find Taylor gone. I looked up and down the street but it was as if she had disappeared from the face of the earth, evaporating into thin air, in the blink of an eye. Again I got that feeling that something really strange was going on with the Hall family, and my mind once again grappled with the idea of being the one to figure out what the deal with them truly was. Determination filled my entire body as I turned back around to face the door and inserted my house key into the lock. With a twist and push on the door handle the front door opened without any problems.