"Sorry, the person you are calling is not answering. Please leave a message after the beep."

"Hey, Sierra," he tried his best keeping his voice down but it turned out to be pretty hard to stay calm when the person you're calling hasn't picked up after 5 times of trying and the last thing you got was a text ominous enough to be in a Criminal Minds episode. "If you manage to hear this, for god's sake call me back. Please." Reece said as he hung up, still standing awkwardly outside the small boutique just across the cinema complex, turning his back to it just in case some observant employee there would recognize him.

His foot tapped rapidly against the white pavement as he couldn't help but check the time every 5 seconds, hoping for the phone to start ringing. But instead, he was staring at a blank screen, silent and empty. Reece's fingers itched to turn the phone back on, give it a final try.

Who knows, maybe the 7th time will be the charm.

'But if she was being chased by a serial killer,' a voice nagged in his head. 'Maybe my calls exposed Sierra's hiding spot and got her caught. Maybe by now, she was-'

"Get a grip on yourself, idiot," he muttered to himself, fingers massaging his temple as he pushed his thoughts back to reality.

Reece glanced at his watch again. It's been 15 minutes since that text.

"I've gotta do something..." he couldn't wait around for a phone call that might not happen.

He looked around, irritation filled him as he saw the dozens of shops lining down the streets as far as he could see and even more people filling up the sidewalks as lunch hour started. There was no way in hell would he be able to somehow spot that cheeky, barely 5 foot-something brunette in the middle of town. And the way things were, he didn't have many options to begin with.
Reece let out a heavy sigh as he zipped his jacket up again, hoping to cover as much of the T-shirt he 'borrowed' from the cinema as possible before crossing the street.

As he approached the building- the lights were on again it seems- Reece noticed the security guards at the entrance and recognized one of them from earlier, a rather grizzly man that looked more than happy to change shifts for his lunch break.

Distracted and fresh off the job; perfectly oblivious.

Reece was just about to approach him when he heard his phone ring.
"Sierra?" he answered the call before it even finished it's first tone, "Where are you? Are you okay?"

The other line stayed quiet and for the next few seconds, the only thing the boy could hear was his own heartbeat that went on much too fast for his comfort. Each second was like some twisted game, seeing how far along could he be tortured by something as simple as silence. And it worked; it felt like hours before Reece heard a soft rustle from the phone that gave him both hope and dread.

"Sierra?" he said a little louder this time, plugging his finger into his other ear as he tried his best to hear something—anything—on the line. "Are you there?"

The response was soft but clear. "Yes."

Relief spread through his chest as quickly as fear replaced it. For the short time that he had known Sierra, there was nothing timid about her. But the voice on the phone was nothing short of a whisper.

"Where are you? I'll be there soon, just tell me where."

And he waited, all the while looking around the streets as if suddenly some sort of Bat-signal would pop out somewhere. Then an uncertain hum filled his ear.

"I'm not sure," she said, clearer now. "I'm in the back streets of something, I only see red bricks." Then another rustle. "And dumpsters."

Reece grimaced; this little town's backstreets still easily stretched out to at least a 2 mile-radius, it would take him until sundown to go running through every each one. "Try to look around you, any signs or anything? Do you remember anything you passed by before?"

Her answer caused him a decade of suspense before it came. "An ice-cream shop? I'm not sure, something... Bex?"

Bex... Bex.. Where the hell did he recognize that name? Images flashed in his head, scouring through every single memory he could possibly pull out in the short span of a second, all the things he remembered seeing in this town from the second he arrived. From the hours he had spent sneaking out to discover every inch of the place where he had to call home.

Then it came, the series of thoughts stopped at the scene of a quaint, pink little shop at the edge of a street.

"Okay, thanks!" Reece immediately broke out into a sprint, turning around the other direction as his legs took him on his way as fast as they possibly could.

Auntie Bex's Ice Cream Parlour was what Halley would describe as a hub for 'Pink Diabetes', because that's essentially what it was known for: sugary pink soft serves that made cavities party in your gums every time you had one. And it was, much to his discomfort, at least 5 blocks away.

There wasn't really any time for him to stop by and ask around where the place actually was, much less struggle his way through Waze, so Reece had to rely solely on his own sense of direction. Which was probably the most dangerous gamble that he had ever played. Luckily enough, Auntie Bex had made quite a landmark in his memories last year. Not her ridiculously sweet ice cream, but the surprisingly bitter owner herself.

She was, after all, one of the first victims in Reece's grand business with Halley.

4 minutes and two almost-wrong turns later, the familliar scene of the 7th street finally came to sight. Little beads of sweat trickled down his forehead- not so much of small drops but noticeable enough for him to feel like a 20-minute shower was in order. Each breath was short and ragged, there was even a cold stain on his jacket from his brief run-in with a rather angry man and his froyo. But at least, he was finally here.

The ice cream parlour was right smack in the middle, an eyesore when you compare its glowing pink with the dull tone of the workshop or gloominess of the run-down bookstore on either side, so it stood out. Sort of.

But then he noticed how the three shops stood closely beside one another, no clear line keeping the tragic colors apart. And the chain of shops continued down the right side of the street- the part where he stood- and they didnt end at the corner, instead the shops faced another direction and went on.

"Shit..." he muttered, suddenly every part of his body felt sluggish. There weren't any lanes in between the stores. The only way Sierra would've been in the back alleys was if she went through the end of the blocks on the left side, all the way down the street and back up on a couple of blocks. "Here goes another round..."

----

"Sierra!" The boy called out with what little energy he had. "Sierra!" It probably wasn't a good idea to suddenly give away her name to the potential creepy stalker that might just be crawling in the dark corners of the brick walls but really, he had to get this done and over with.

Reece looked around, eyes meeting the exposed red brick walls standing on every side. He could see the sign for Auntie Bex's Ice Cream over one of the back doors, neon pink and obnoxious as ever, but the chirpy brunette was nowhere in sight.

Dumpster cans rowed up the alley, identical and equally disgusting, behind each of the stores till the end where he couldn't even see. About a couple hundred yards in and all was simply pitch black.

There was no way in hell was he going to venture out that far.

"Sierra, come on!" he said loudly though the only response he received was the empty echo of his own voice bouncing off the walls. "I did not just run half a mile here in these blood-sucking jeans just to get ghosted by you! Sierra-"

The sudden rustling of plastic stop him mid-way, his head whipped around to his right where the sound was heard. Reece's shoulders squared up and he felt his body go tense, shifting his feet slightly as he readied himself to take off running. There was no use staying around to try and help somebody if you die first, he thought to himself. He stayed still, barely even breathing as he tried to pay attention, focus on everything and anything that he could possibly hear. His eyes darted around, though he could see nothing unusual apart from the odd stains at the side of a dumpster a bit further down. 

But something was there, he was certain of it. Hidden enough to keep from his sight but close enough that he could feel the slow chills travelling down his spine. 

A feeling of dread began to wash over him, like a creeping gray clouds just before the thunderstorm starts flashing around. There was no way to explain it, just the solemn realization that he shouldn't stay for long. And he wanted to; the other end of the alley where the cars zoomed past the wide streets wasn't far, just slightly out of reach. If he just stretched-

Reece shook his head and the thoughts backed away slightly, waiting to approach again. He needed to find her first, he had to. "Sierra!" he shouted one last time. But he got the same reply as he did a few minutes ago: the lonely echos haunting him.

Just this time, something moved behind him, quiet and smooth, before he felt a light touch on his shoulder.

He didn't really know what to expect when he turned around, but anything else would've been miles away from how Sierra looked now. There she was; the cheerful smile stretched on her full lips were gone, no trace of the playful glint in her brown eyes and her body as rigid as stone. 

And in her hands was a crowbar, with something red dripping of its end, filling up the silence more than it ever should.