Episode 25: Heartfelt Thanks and 3 A.M. Snacks

Aubrey Lance, S.S. (Supernatural Sleuth) -- Season 1, Episode 25: Heartfelt Thanks & 3 A.M. Snacks

We found my parents in the living room, and I got them up to speed on what Lockley, Collin, and I had uncovered. 

Mom and Dad looked up at us from the couch, intensely interested, as I explained the notebook pages and the hidden messages we’d found—dare I say they even looked impressed. 

“So you think this is a clue Emery left you?” Mom asked when I’d finished explaining. There was an excitement in her eyes I hadn’t seen there in a long time.

“Yes,” I said, growing more confident by the moment. “There has to be something in that locker she wanted us to find.” 

Mom and Dad exchanged a glance, then Dad looked back at me. “This is excellent work, Aubrey. I don’t think anyone but the three of you could’ve deciphered that. This might be our first real lead.”

Excitement sparked in my chest. “It’ll be difficult to investigate the lockers during school without drawing attention unless we skip class, which would also draw attention,” I said, “and besides, we need to look into this right away. We’ve already lost too much time.” My anxiety over all the time we’d wasted not discovering Emery’s clues was only increasing the longer we sat around talking about it.

Dad’s brow furrowed in concern. “Surely you aren’t suggesting you break into the school tonight to check those lockers?” 

I paused, because I’d just been about to suggest that very thing. “I—well—”

“Why don’t we go to school early, tomorrow morning?” Collin suggested. “The football and cross-country teams often show up early for extra practice, so the school will be open, and I don’t think we’d draw much attention.” 

My dad relaxed. “That’s a good idea.” He smiled at Collin and Lockley. “I’m grateful Aubrey has both of you. The three of you seem to make a great team.”

Collin shook his head. “Lockley and Aubrey make a great team. I don’t do much.”

“Ah,” my father said, “You’re doing more than you realize, Collin. You’ve been there with Aubrey when she needed support, even before she let us in on what she was doing.” He glanced at me.

I winced, but my father’s words weren’t angry. 

“She must trust you,” he said, holding my gaze for a moment. 

I was a little shocked to realize he was right. When had I come to trust Collin so much? 

Collin’s eyes met mine, and I suddenly felt a bit exposed. 

I looked away.

“Besides,” my dad continued, turning back to Collin, “I can’t very well go poking around a high school without drawing notice, but I’d be nervous for Aubrey to be looking into these clues alone. Your presence means a lot to this father’s heart.” 

“Thank you, sir. I mean—you’re welcome,” Collin stammered.

I glanced over to find he was blushing. 

Weird.

Collin looked right at me and I looked away again. Why was this sincerity stuff so awkward? I felt like we were in middle school again. I cleared my throat. “Um, yes. Thanks.”

My dad broke the awkward moment by smiling at Collin. “I truly am glad she has the two of you to look out for her.” He looked at Lockley. “Both of you.” 

“Always,” Lockley said, squeezing my shoulder. 

I turned to look at her, and found her giving me a look of solidarity that, in my current exhausted and overwhelmed state, nearly made me melt into tears right there. 

“Thank you, Lock,” I squeezed out. 

She pulled me into a hug that smelled like vanilla body spray. 

When she released me, I was a moment from completely falling apart.

I drew a long breath. 

My dad’s eyes locked on me. “You okay?”

I almost said yes automatically… but I’d decided not to keep things from my parents. 

I sighed. “I’m just—I mean—” I paused, trying to find the words, and then they came spilling out. “I can’t stop worrying about how long it took me to find what Emery left for me. I mean, what if—” 

I stopped, because with both of my parents staring right at me, I just couldn’t bring myself to voice my very real fear that maybe Emery had been waiting for us to help her, and that because of me, that help might come too late. 

My mom rose in one swift motion and pulled me into a hug. “What if it isn’t too long?” she said quietly near my ear. “What if, because of you, we all get our Em back again?” 

I pulled away from the hug, my throat tightening. “But what if we don’t? What if we do find her, and she’s—”

My mom placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me right in the eye. “Then her condition will be nothing more than what we already feared it might be, Aubrey—and what you already believed it was. Wishing otherwise cannot change reality.” 

I gaped at her.

But she was right. The truth hit hard and hurt… but she was still right. I drew a breath through my nose, then exhaled—and the tears I’d almost had contained just started spilling out.

“Aubrey.” Mom pulled me back into a tight hug, her fruity scent enveloping me. “We’ll get through this, sweetheart. Whatever we find, wherever this leads, we’ll face it together. I hope with all my heart together includes Emery, but even if it doesn’t—” Her voice cracked. “If it doesn’t, we still face it together, okay?” 

I nodded into her shoulder, then pulled back and wiped my eyes, meeting my mom’s weak smile with one of my own. “Okay.”  

I felt a little embarrassed for having yet another meltdown, until I glanced over and saw that Lockley had started crying, too. Even Collin was wiping at his eyes. 

My mom looked up. “Oh dear,” she said warmly. “Come here, all three of you.” She spread her arms wide. 

Lockley and I went right into them, and Collin joined awkwardly a moment later, wedged between Lockley and me in a group-hug my petite mom’s arms really weren’t big enough to contain. 

My dad sniffed, then chuckled from the couch. “Well, I can’t miss out on this warm moment, can I?” He rose and wedged in right next to me, pulling me close to his side, then reached an arm over Collin’s shoulder.

There we stood, the five of us, a family made partly by blood and partly by friendship, in an embrace that would’ve been awkward in any other moment…. but in that moment, it was exactly the comfort I needed. I wasn’t alone. I’d never been alone, really, but now I could actually see it.  

I’d carried an abysmal, crushing tension in my chest for so long, I’d stopped even noticing it. But right there, in the middle of that group hug, I felt it unclench. 

For the first time since Emery had vanished, I could freely breathe.

****

Lockley and Collin headed home for the night, with plans to pick me up early for school in the morning. 

After the day we’d had, we all needed rest… but for me, rest wouldn’t come. 

I lay awake in bed for several hours, replaying the days’ events and everything I’d learned, feeling alternately nervous and excited—or both—about our plan. 

What if including Lockley and Collin just put them both in danger? Should I try to push them out to protect them, even though they wanted to help? 

What if we checked the lockers, but nothing was there? 

What if we thought we understood Emery’s hints, but were wasting time chasing down the wrong clues?

What if we did find something, but it made no sense to us? 

And what about Chloe? Would finding Emery help us find her, too? 

Right now, we thought they were connected… but what if we were wrong? 

What if Chloe was out there, hoping for help that wasn’t coming because we were all too busy chasing down Emery’s clues?

 Should we split up and some of us try to find leads on Chloe, just in case, or would separating put us all at more risk? 

And then there was the biggest, most painful question that kept resurfacing in my mind: What if none of this even mattered anymore, because we were already too late? 

After a while, I gave up on sleeping and went downstairs to make a snack.

I was halfway through slathering peanut butter on graham crackers when a tapping on the kitchen window made me jump. 

I turned to look, and saw a face staring in at me from the moonlit porch. 

I hurried to the back door near the window and cracked it open as quietly as I could, so as not to wake my parents. “Collin?” I whispered. “What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” 

Colin peered at me through the cracked opening. “No,” he whispered back.

His expression didn’t seem like anything was wrong. I relaxed a bit. “Then…”

“Then?” he asked innocently, still keeping his voice hushed.

I stared at him. “It’s like 3 a.m., Collin,” I hissed. 

He glanced at the butter knife I still held. “Ah, yes, and clearly I interrupted the deepest phase of your sleep where you walk downstairs and make a peanut butter sandwich.” His sarcasm came through loud and clear, even in hushed tones. 

I gave him a deadpan glare. “Graham crackers, actually.” 

He smiled. “Even better. Have extra?” 

I groaned quietly. “Collin. Why are you here?” 

“I had an idea.” He shrugged. 

I raised an eyebrow. “You know there is this thing called texting…” 

Collin rolled his eyes. “Yes, and there’s also a thing called human interaction. You know, where you actually look at someone and say words out loud to their face?” His eyes locked on mine. “Murder board revelations are a face-to-face type of conversation, Aubrey.”

“You had a murder board revelation?” I felt a spark of excitement. “Why didn’t you say that?” I started to pull the door open further, then realized it probably wasn’t the best idea to invite Collin inside in the middle of the night without my parents’ permission. “Oh,” I said, stopping awkwardly midway through the motion. “I—” 

“Let him in, Aubs,” my dad’s sleepy voice said from the stairway. 

I spun to find my Dad holding his laptop under one arm and giving me a tired smile. I winced. “I’m sorry. Did we wake you?” 

“I was already awake,” he answered with a shrug, then turned to Collin. “It seems none of us are getting that good night’s sleep we needed. Come on in, Collin. You and Aubrey can talk at the kitchen table. I’ll be in the living room researching those names Archibald gave me of his contacts in Europe. It’s always best to know as much as possible about a person before reaching out with questions—especially when you’re poking around for sensitive information.” 

***

Click here to read the next episode!

Want to reread a previous episode? Click here to be taken to the main Season 1 menu, where you can see all available episodes!