Your protagonist discovers they've been wrong about the most important thing in their life

Word count: 2970

This story includes topics of mental health and suicide.

Pulling the Thread

By Alyssa Harrison

Remember 91.

Sadie gazed at the text message, her hands curled around a mug of hot chocolate. She pulled up the screen, but it bounced back. A lump rose in her throat and she slammed the phone down on the table in front of her.

‘Sadie?’

She looked up to find Kate watching her worriedly.

‘I’m fine,’ she snapped.

She glanced across at Alex. He stared down at his hands, not saying a word.

The kitchen was silent apart from the ticking of the clock.

Eventually, Alex stood up, his chair scraping backwards. ‘I’m going to bed,’ he said, and trudged out of the room.

The kitchen seemed to grow darker, with just the light from the fridge illuminating a small patch of the room.

‘It’s not suicide,’ she said hoarsely. ‘It doesn’t make any sense.’

Kate was silent.

‘You do believe me, don’t you?’ she asked, her throat tightening. She hated how desperate she sounded.

Eventually, Kate spoke, her voice soft. ‘Look, as your aunt, I don’t want you getting involved in anything you shouldn’t. But you knew James better than anyone. If you believe there’s something else going on here, trust your gut. Keep pulling the thread.’

She stood up, gripped Sadie’s shoulder tightly, and left the room.

Sadie’s knuckles turned white as she tried not to look at that godforsaken message and the timestamp at the top.

Last seen 12:18.

**

‘Alright, here are the newspaper archives you asked for,’ Bobby said, the library disappearing from view as he led her downstairs. ‘Although I don’t know why you’re not using the perfectly good set of computers upstairs.’

Sadie shook her head. ‘It’s impossible to narrow anything down on the Internet, especially on this town.’

‘Fair enough. What is it you’re looking for?’ he asked, flicking on the low-hanging light.

Sadie squinted. Rows and rows of cabinets surrounded her.

She hesitated, then said, ‘Do you know if there have been any other suicides at Bluewater Ridge?’

He sighed. ‘You’re asking because of James Lee, aren’t you?’

‘Bobby.’

He raised his hands in appeasement. ‘Alright. There’s only been one other one that I know of before that poor kid.’

She straightened. ‘Who?’

‘Hang on, let me see if I can find it for you.’

He rifled through several cabinets, muttering under his breath, before pulling out a folder and handing it to her. ‘Here we go. Matt Thompson. Bizarre case, that one.’

‘How do you mean?’ she asked, taking the file from him.

He leaned back, and his chair creaked. ‘Well, from what I remember, the police didn’t know what to make of it. He had straight A’s, a good home life, and his psychological autopsy didn’t seem to point to any pre-existing mental health issues. I guess you can never truly know what’s going on with a person, but –‘ he shrugged helplessly. ‘It just seemed odd.’

‘When was this?’ she asked.

He exhaled. ‘Oh, it must be, what – thirty-five years ago now? It should be in that article there.’ He peered forward and tapped the newspaper. There we go. Matt Thompson. Died 1991.’

She froze.

‘You alright, kid?’ he asked, glancing at her.

‘Can I have a look at the rest of the newspaper archives from that year?’ she asked.

‘Knock yourself out.’

**

Sadie hurried across the street, hitching her backpack more comfortably on her back.

Morning sunlight poked through the canopy of trees above her. As she headed for the corner newsroom, she glanced down the road. She could still see four police cars parked there and the yellow tape stretching from the trees.

She pushed open the door, and the smell of coffee hit her. Kate glanced up from the back of the room, gave her a grim smile, then turned her attention back to the wall in front of her.

‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ Sadie asked. An entire investigation board had sprung up overnight, with red string stretching haphazardly across it.

Kate sighed. ‘Another body was found this morning. Shot,’ she added, answering Sadie’s questioning gaze.

‘What?’ Sadie stared at her. ‘How come I didn’t hear anything about it?’

The police are keeping it under wraps,’ she said, taking a sip of her coffee and not taking her eyes off the board. They’re afraid it’ll throw everyone into a panic and they’re probably right, so you didn’t hear this from me, okay?’

Sadie grinned. ‘So how did you hear about it?’

Kate took a long sip of her coffee, averting her gaze.

‘Jack?’ Sadie guessed.

Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Right in one.’

Sadie shook her head, bemused. ‘So who is it?’

‘Lucy Highland.’

‘Lucy Highland?’ Sadie said, taken aback. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Why, you know her?’

‘She was our school therapist. And…oh my God.’ Sadie stared at the board. ‘I’m pretty sure James was seeing her at the beginning of the term.’

Kate grinned. ‘If twice is coincidence –‘

‘Three times is a pattern,’ she finished.

The bell jingled overhead, causing both of them to jump

Jack came into the room, followed by Alex. He held up two plastic bags, grinning. ‘I’m off shift, so thought I’d bring some backup.’

Kate grinned. ‘You’re a lifesaver.’

Jack and Alex moved to unpack the bags, the smell of pizza wafting over to them.

Kate leaned over to her. ‘You want to check out the school with me this evening?’

‘Seriously?’

‘Only if you promise not to tell your mom when she gets back.’

Sadie grinned. ‘Deal.’

**

‘I never thought breaking into the school is something I’d be doing on a Saturday evening,’ Sadie muttered, sweeping the flashlight across the dark, cluttered office.

‘You and me both,’ Kate said. ‘Jesus Christ, I haven’t been here in a long time.’

‘Trust me, it probably hasn’t changed.’

She went over to one of the cabinets and, out of wishful thinking, gave it a tug. She sighed.

‘It’s locked.’

‘Here.’

Kate bent down and took two bobby pins out of her pocket. With her tongue between her teeth, she wiggled it around. Sadie’s neck prickled and she peered out into the dark corridor, but there was no one there.

‘Got it.’

Kate slid the cabinet open and bent over to look through it, but Sadie handed her her flashlight.

‘Let me look.’

Kate stepped aside and Sadie rifled through the files, her stomach in a tight knot.

Abbott, Barnes, Campbell, Davidson, Evans, Fox…

She flipped through them, her eyes darting from one file to the next. Come on, come on, where are you –

She froze.

James Lee.

Her hands shook as she pulled out his file, her chest tight.

‘Sadie? Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look at that? You might not like what you find,’ Kate said, her voice soft.

‘No, I –‘ her voice hitched. ‘I need to look.’

She flipped it open and scanned the front page, until her gaze fell on Lucy Highland’s notes at the bottom.

A numbness spread over her. She almost wasn’t sure she had read the words correctly, and yet they remained unchanged when she looked at them again.

Abusive father?

Insomnia

Thoughts of suicide

She stared at the words, and her vision began to swim.

Had she been wrong about everything this entire time, just grasping at straws that weren’t even there?

‘Sadie?’

At that moment, sirens tore through the air and they both jumped. They stared at each other, then scrambled up and raced back through the dark corridors, bursting out into the cold night air.

Sadie’s cheeks stung. Three police cars roared past, one after the next, their flashing red and blue lights cutting through the darkness.

Kate stared after them, her face pale.

‘I have to go,’ she said.

‘What? What the hell are you talking about?’

‘I’m sorry, Sadie, I have to find out what’s going on. I’ll call Jack to pick you, but you stay put, alright? Stay here!’

Kate hurried off into the darkness, leaving her standing there, numb.

She wasn’t sure how long she waited there, an uncomfortable lump in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. But eventually, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

‘Sadie?’

She turned. Jack hurried towards her, his forehead knotted in concern.

‘What the hell are you doing here? Are you okay?’

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. To her horror, a sob rose in her throat.

‘Whoa, hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.’

He gripped her shoulder tightly, and without thinking, she turned and buried her face into his jacket.

**

Sadie slumped down at the kitchen table, her eyes itching with tiredness.

Jack gripped her shoulder tightly. ‘I’m going to go check on your aunt. Alex, keep an eye on her, okay? And don’t go anywhere.’

Sadie massaged her forehead. She could feel Alex’s gaze on hers.

‘You okay?’ he asked eventually, his voice taut with worry.

‘I don’t know, Alex, I –' her voice hitched. 'I feel like I’m going crazy.’

He pulled up a chair next to her. ‘But you do think there’s something else going on here. With James.’

She shook her head. ‘I think I was wrong about that. About everything.’

‘How about we figure it out together?’ he said quietly.

She hesitated, then pulled her backpack towards her and dumped a stack of folders on the table.

‘These are all the newspaper archives I could find from 1991.’

‘Why 1991?’

‘Remember James’s text message? I think this is what he meant. It wasn’t just a number, it was a year.’

‘Jesus Christ. That’s going to take forever to get through,’ he said, leaning forward.

‘No, it won’t,’ she said. ‘Because I’ve already narrowed it down. Here.’

She spread out a few of the newspapers in front of her. ‘Matt Thompson was the last person who died at Bluewater Ridge. He died in October. That narrows it down to that month. I looked around that time to see if there was anything else out of the ordinary, and there were only two other incidents that stood out to me.’

She took a breath.

‘Two weeks before, a girl called Emily Lynch went missing. A week later, Jason Walker died in a car crash.’

Alex’s eyebrows knitted together. ‘But how do we know that that has anything to do with Matt Thompson’s death?’ he asked. 'That it points to foul play?'

‘We don’t, except that nothing else happened before or after that month.’

‘Okay, so –‘ Alex rested his elbows on the table. ‘What does this have to do with James?’

She leaned back in her chair. ‘I don’t know.’ A deep exhaustion settled over her. She stared at the newspapers, the words swimming. Then she stood up and scooped the rest of the newspapers up from the table.

‘What’re you doing?’

'Come on. We're going to Kate's.'

She strode across the room and stepped out into the brisk, cold air. She breathed in deeply – just as hand clamped over her mouth. Her eyes widened and she tried to struggle, but already her arms were going limp. She fell slack and sank into a dark fog.

**

Soft voices murmured next to Sadie. She peeled her eyes open and a bare room slid into view. Kate sat on a couch opposite her, holding a cassette. Alex stood in the corner, his arms folded.

She heaved herself up. ‘What’s going on?’ she squinted. ‘Where the hell are we?’

‘It’s an old bunker. Your mom found it a while back and decided to use it as a base.’

‘A base for what?’

She sighed. ‘Sweetheart, this goes far back, and it’s about time you know the truth. I think it would be better for me to show you.’

She leaned forward and turned on the cassette.

A voice crackled through the static.

‘My name is Matt Thompson. I am twenty-three years old, and I witnessed the death of Emily Lynch.’

Sadie stared at her. ‘Emily Lynch? The girl who went missing?’

Kate nodded.

‘If you’re listening to this, I need you to know that it was not an accident. It was not just a game of Russian Roulette gone wrong. It was deliberate, and I –‘ his voice broke. ‘I was complicit in covering it up.’

When he continued, his voice was stronger. ‘But that is not why I made this tape. This is not a plea for sympathy or an attempt at absolution. This is the truth.’

He exhaled, and his breath crackled. ‘Jason Walker killed Emily Lynch. He will do anything to cover it up, but you cannot let him get away with it. You will find her body near Bluewater Ridge.

The tape clicked, there was a whir of static, and then it fell silent.

‘I don’t understand,’ Sadie said, her forehead throbbing.

Kate leaned forward. ‘Emily Lynch was in my year, year ten. I didn’t know her well, but I knew she was dating Jason Walker, the sophomore.’

Sadie straightened. ‘The one who died in a car crash?’

‘Yes, that’s correct – how did you know?’

She shook her head. ‘I’ve been doing some digging. But how did you get this?’

‘Haven’t you guessed? Your mother.’

‘She’s had this the whole time?”

‘Sadie, she was there when it happened. I still remember her sneaking off on that godforsaken night, asking me to cover for her. When she came back, I’d never seen her that shaken, her hands covered in dried blood.’

‘So why did she never say anything?’ a quiet voice came from the corner and Sadie glanced at Alex. It was the first thing he’d said.

‘She was going to. She wanted to, but she was scared.

‘The day after it happened, Matt sent her this. We don’t know if she was the only one, or if he’d sent it to everyone. Lucy, Melissa, Jason, all of them. But what we can say for sure is that he was about to confess to the police because three days later, he was found dead at the bottom of Bluewater Ridge.’

‘So why do something about it now?’ Alex asked, frowning.

Kate hesitated, then sighed. ‘James’s death,’ she said. ‘She was planning to send this out to the newspaper and police but had still been putting it off. James’s death was the trigger.’

She blew out between her teeth. ‘We think James may have overheard something from his dad,’ she said. ‘He was a smart boy to send you that message.’

‘So you’re saying – you think his dad killed him?’ she felt sick.

Kate shook her head. ‘We can’t know for sure,’ she said. ‘I think his dad was talking to someone, because James must have overheard something. We reckon that that is the same person who killed Lucy, Boby and James –‘

‘Wait, Bobby?’ Sadie cut in, nauseated. ‘He’s dead too?’

‘Oh God, sweetheart, I’m sorry. He was the one the police were heading to while we were at the school.’

The room fell silent.

‘So what now?’ Sadie asked, her throat tight

.

Kate sighed and stood up. ‘Now we’re going to get you someplace safe. We’ll meet up with your mom outside of town.’

She stood up and Sadie caught a glimpse of a gun holstered on her belt, hidden by her jacket.

‘You going to use that on us?’ Sadie asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Just get in the car.’

**

‘Damnit. Goddamnit.’

Kate revved the engine again and the car lurched forward.

Sadie and Alex glanced at each other but didn’t say anything.

Kate sighed. ‘Alright, back in the bunker. I’m going to have to ring for help.’

They all got out. Sadie stretched and was about to take a step when she heard a sharp click.

She glanced up and went numb. A familiar figure stood in front of them, his face glistening and his breathing shallow. And, pointed directly at them, was a gun.

‘Jack,’ Kate said, her face white. ‘What’re you doing?’

‘Take off your gun,’ he said, his voice hoarse. ‘Put it down.’

She lowered the gun. As she placed it on the ground, Jack lunged forward, grabbed Alex and pressed the gun to his temple.

Sadie surged forward but Kate pulled her back, her face white.

‘No, don’t,’ she whispered.

Nausea rolled in Sadie’s stomach. None of this made any sense –

And then a sickening realisation jolted through her.

‘Jason?’ she asked, her voice hitching. ‘Jason Walker?’

A muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘Don’t call me that.’

‘But that is your name,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it?’

‘Jack?’ Kate stared at him. ‘Is that true?’

‘No, no, I didn’t –‘ Jack twisted his neck, as though trying to get rid of a crick. ‘This wasn’t – your sister did this to me!’ he snarled.

Alex whimpered and the ground tilted under Sadie’s feet.

‘Whoa, okay - it's okay,' Kate held up her hands, her face ashen.

‘She stole Emily from me.’ His veins strained against his neck. ‘She stole Emily, and I – I had to do something. That last bullet was meant for her.’

‘Melissa was trying to protect her, from you,’ Kate said, her voice twisting in disgust. ‘You killed Lucy. And James.’

‘He shouldn’t have been listening in,’ he said. ‘He shouldn’t have been listening in.’

His voice broke. ‘Why couldn’t you have just left it buried?’

Sadie stepped forward and her foot nudged against something. She looked down.

Kate’s gun.

Her heart slid to her stomach.

She looked up at Jack, but his attention was on Kate.

She bent down slowly and picked it up, trying not to make it noticeable, but her hand shook violently.

‘Jack –‘ Kate began, but he pressed the gun harder against Alex, and Alex shrunk against him.

Tears burned in her eyes, and she bit back a sob.

I’m sorry, Jack.

Her hand went completely still as she squeezed the trigger.