Something Complicated

28/09/2022

Download my Graphic Novel! (Based on a true story 😀)

How Happy Hippies Could Be Dangerous in Traffic Jams, A small crowd had gathered around an old beat up truck that was stopped at a red light. The driver, who was being questioned by police on his radio, said that he and two others were out for dinner when they were hit by a car while on their way back to their vehicle. He didn’t know how many people there were but from what little could be seen of the scene, there seemed to be about thirty bystanders. It looked like the driver wasn’t hurt too badly but there were no leads on who would have done this. The man had asked for his cellphone number so someone from inside the car could contact him later. Police were currently questioning one of the passengers, also trying to figure out if anyone else was missing. As soon as the lights turned green again, the man stepped out of his vehicle and walked towards the police officers. He was wearing a dark blue hoodie over a grey shirt underneath and black jeans. His face was bruised but he looked calm. When the officer asked where he was going he replied without hesitation, “I live a few streets down.” With that, the policeman nodded, waved him through, and continued questioning the passenger until he left.
In the corner of the photo, a young woman can be seen leaning against her mother’s knee with a look of concern on her face. She’s dressed in casual clothes but she looks serious about something and it makes her look almost intimidating. On her wrist is a simple silver band. Beside them is a small white box. There are only three words visible on either side of the picture. They read, “Lily, July 23rd 2014”.
The girl next to the woman in the photo has long straight blonde hair and big hazel eyes. Her name is Jessica and she works as a nurse at an old mental hospital near their home. One of her friends, who works in IT, found the photo on her desk and showed it to her.
“You’re not gonna believe this,” Jessica told her. “It came from Lily’s phone.”
Jessica took out Lily’s phone and handed it over to Jessica. She looked surprised but quickly put the pieces together and gasped softly. She pointed at the words and then typed in Lily’s phone number. After some clicking, she held the phone screen up to Lily. On the screen, there was a text message from a number that she recognized immediately.
“It’s her number,” Jessica exclaimed. “She sent this to me!”
As soon as Jessica finished texting the other girl, they both realized that something was wrong. A few minutes earlier, the three girls were in their apartment watching tv while eating pizza and drinking soda. They started getting into it and Jessica ended up taking a video before she called it a night. Then the whole thing just disappeared and neither of them knew anything about it. All three of them went searching for clues but nothing came up. They even tried calling the number but no one answered.
At this point in time, everyone on their street is aware about what happened and the news media was already broadcasting the story. The story is still unfolding but everyone knows enough to avoid getting hit in traffic jams.
After putting away her phone, Jessica stood up and headed to her room. She took off her jacket and hung it up in the closet. She grabbed a pillow and tossed it onto her bed. Next, she sat down and began scrolling through Twitter. After seeing a post that was retweeted, she smiled and decided to share the tweet. Then she started talking about the latest news.
Her roommate and best friend, Amy, heard her enter the room and turned around, curious what happened. She saw her girlfriend sitting beside her on her bed holding her phone.
“Who did it?” Amy asked, still confused.
Jessica laughed a little and explained to her what happened while they were waiting for their food. Then, she showed her best friend her Twitter account and the conversation from earlier. Amy shook her head and replied that she doesn’t even want to think about the implications of what she just saw. Jessica nodded and returned to scrolling through her phone.
Amy noticed the lack of response from Jessica and thought that she should do the same. As she scrolled down Twitter, she saw tweets about the accident. A couple people tweeted the fact that they lost their phones but most of the tweets related to what happened to Lily and Hannah. After reading them all, Amy felt bad for Lily. If she hadn’t gotten out of bed, none of this would have happened. In addition, her heart ached for Hannah because it seems as though Lily cares deeply about her. While thinking about Hannah, she remembered what she did earlier.
She reached for her phone and pulled up the text that Lily sent her earlier.
“You don’t have any idea how relieved I am that you aren’t dead” read the text.
Amy frowned as her thumb hovered above the keyboard for a moment. After typing out an answer, she pressed send. She was going to add more but stopped herself. She really wanted to tell Lily everything. But telling her was risky because she could get into trouble herself.
“Hey Jess, do you mind if we go grab some coffee?” Amy asked, getting up from her bed.
“What? Coffee?” Jessica raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Well, I haven’t been able to sleep lately… And Hannah’s been acting weird…” she confessed. “I was thinking maybe a cup would help.”
Jessica sighed. “Yeah sure! We’ll meet you downstairs in five minutes.”
Amy got dressed and went downstairs to wait for her girlfriend. The cafe she worked at was right beside their building. It was a small shop owned by her best friend since childhood. It wasn’t very crowded during the day so they usually met here after work or to talk. Amy was excited to see her friend. Her mood improved slightly when she heard Jessica and Hannah approaching the cafe door.
When they walked inside, a group of four women looked up when they entered. The women looked at Jessica and greeted her with smiles. Jessica acknowledged their greetings with a short smile. The girls at the counter glanced at Hannah before looking back at Jessica.
“Hi Jessica,” said one of the ladies. “We haven’t seen you around here before. Do you come in here often?”
Jessica let out a small chuckle. “Sometimes… Not always though.”
One of the girls nudged Jessica and giggled. “Oops. Sorry.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “It’s fine. You were just teasing her.”
“Oh well. I’m Rose, by the way.” She gave Jessica an apologetic grin. “This is Jade and Brooke and lastly Emma.” She gestured towards the other four people that had just spoken.
“Nice to meet you.” Jessica nodded her head politely.
Rose motioned to a table where three empty chairs were set.
“I’ll go order first,” she said. “Be right back.” She left with Jade and Brooke behind.
“So Jessica, you work in IT?” asked Emma.
Jessica looked at Emily. “Yes. How’d you know?”
Emma shrugged. “I’ve seen your work schedule.”
There was silence for a second before the conversation resumed.
After a minute, Rose rejoined them with a cup full of hot chocolate and two plates stacked with cookies. “Here,” she said. “And these are for you and Hannah.”
Jessica was thankful for the offer but Hannah didn’t drink cocoa. Still, she thanked her nonetheless.
Emily watched as Alice took another sip of her hot chocolate. “So, how exactly did you two get together anyway?”
“Oh right,” said Amy. “Tell us about it.”
Jess smiled. “We’ve known each other for years now. We met while I was working at Stark Industries and we’ve just been inseparable ever since.”
Emma chuckled.