by Jesse Grey
Lissa couldn’t stop laughing. When she had met the new kid of Westbrooke High in her AP Algebra class, she hadn’t expected to hit it off with him right away, but they had an instant rapport. And she couldn’t lie, it helped that Sumner was totally hot. Plus, their whole way to lunch, he kept making her clutch her stomach from laughter.
She couldn’t wait for Sumner to meet her friends. He’d fit right in with their social dynamic. Once they made their way through the lunch line, Lissa led Sumner over to her friends’ lunch table, the one right by the back door of the cafeteria.
“Guys,” she started as they approached the table. “This is Sumner Shadows. He’s new to Westbrooke this semester.”
Her three friends looked at him with noncommittal curiosity as they sat down at the table. But Lissa saw something else flash across Mercer’s face that turned his handsome features dark and thunderous. She thought she recognized anger among his chiseled looks.
“Sumner, this is Bridge, Mercer, and Abram.” She told him, going around the table.
“Nice to meet you.” Bridge smiled.
“Yeah, welcome to Armor Falls.” Abram chuckled lightly.
“Thanks,” Sumner said, shifting in his seat slightly. “I’m not exactly new to Armor Falls though.”
“Really?” Lissa’s interest peaked as she started to eat her salad.
Sumner nodded. “My dad owns Arclan, that asylum that shut down decades ago?”
“Seriously?” Bridge said as he finished his Sprite.
“Yeah, we moved back from Hanover so he could open it back up.”
“Okay, enough.” Mercer growled. “Are you seriously going to continue like you didn’t blow me off earlier?”
Everyone stared at Mercer at first, then at Sumner and the scrunched up look on his face, confusion seemingly spreading like a fiery plague.
“I’m sorry,” Sumner spoke softly to Mercer. “Did I do something to upset you?”
“Oh, please. You know what you did.”
Sumner hesitated in a dramatic display of facial contortions. “I do?”
“Does ‘drop dead’ ring any bells? This morning, by your locker?”
The tension around the table was a spring aching to attack, which Lissa feared there was no coming back from.
“I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re going on about. I’ve never met you before now. I didn’t even know your name before Lissa introduced us.”
“Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding.” Lissa breathed cautiously, hoping to put an end to the current unrest.
“I’m really sorry if I did anything to upset you. I really just wanted some friends upon my return to Armor Falls.” Sumner sighed. “My apologies.”
Lissa thought Sumner was going to leave the table when he grabbed his tray, but Mercer scoffed and put up a hand in defeat, that somehow deterred his thoughts of exiting.
“It’s whatever. Being the new kid sucks.” Mercer gave him a weak grin. “Forget it.”
“Cool.” Sumner smirked, causing Mercer to wonder if he had orchestrated the entire apology.
About three weeks later, Sumner was practically a long lost friend they never knew was missing from their group. Sumner had somehow become their de facto leader, something that Mercer couldn’t help but resent. Before him, they were all best friends, just hanging out and having fun. But ever since Sumner had entered their inner circle, he’d become their unspoken ringleader, wrangling his circus acts to attend to his bidding. Which was why Mercer was reluctant to go to Sumner’s sleepover. He’d arrived with Bridge, who was trying to get him to quit being so obtuse.
“Merce, relax.” Bridge began as they walked up the long driveway to the archaic Shadows Manor. “I know you’ve been cautious of Sumner ever since that initial lunch, but—”
“He told me to drop dead, B! I swear, I don’t know why he lied, but—”
“But drop it. Give Sumner a chance. You have to admit, he’s been pretty awesome to us these past few weeks.”
Mercer sighed. From the spontaneous weekend trip to New York to sneaking them into the hottest clubs in New Hampshire, befriending Sumner definitely had its benefits. Maybe Mercer was being too hard on Sumner. Maybe it had been a misunderstanding that first day. He just needed to just accept that Sumner was their friend now and he was a good person.
“Alright, I’ll let it go.” Mercer finally accepted.
“That’s the spirit, Elsa.”
The two pals laughed as they quickly made their way up to the enormous mansion and knocked on the front door. After a beat, the door opened and Abram stood before them.
“Hey Abe.” Mercer smiled.
“Come on in,” Abram grinned. “Sumner and Lissa are downstairs.”
“Making out probably.” Bridge laughed as they entered the Manor, letting the door close behind them.
Abram shuddered. “Dude, I just came up for a snack. Don’t ruin my appetite.”
Just then, a middleaged woman came out of the nearby kitchen with a tray of freshly baked brownies on a silver platter.
“Hello,” she smiled at them. “I was beginning to wonder when Sumner’s other friends would arrive.”
“Mercer’s always late and I always end up having to wait on him.” Bridge laughed, earning him a playful shove from Mercer.
“Thanks for the brownies, Mrs. Shadows,” Abram nodded, holding out his hands to take the tray, which she gleefully obliged. “I’ll take ‘em down.”
“I’m Bridge by the way.” He waved lightly.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Shadows.” Mercer added.
She smiled at them and returned to the kitchen, leaving them alone in the foyer.
“Follow me.” Abram led them with the brownies in tow, descending to the basement which composed of Sumner’s entire bedroom, save that for the small laundry room tucked away in the corner. Lush carpet met their shoes and expensive antiques assaulted their eyes. It was as if Sumner’s room was an Ikea.
“Wow.” Mercer and Bridge said in unison.
Sumner and Lissa seemingly materialized out of nowhere, grinning up at their friends.
“Hey guys,” Sumner spat evenly. “Welcome to the best part of Shadows Manor; my room.”
From his California king bed to his fullsized refrigerator, Sumner pretty much had everything. The latest MacBook. Air hockey table. Giant sixtyinch TV. Walk in closet complete with clothes that truly belonged to some photoshoot that would have been perfect for the likes of Joseph Gordon Levitt rather than Sumner.
“Jesus, Sumner,” Mercer barked. “This is insane.”
Sumner laughed as he took the tray of brownies from Abram and set them down on the huge table in the dining room niche of his room, taking one and biting into it. “It’s pretty great, right?” he smirked. “I have a secret passage behind the fridge too. I love a damn secret passage.”
“Ooh, let’s see it.” Lissa smiled.
“No, no,” Sumner chuckled. “Only I’m allowed to know about where the passage leads.”
“You and your secrets,” Lissa shook her head. “BMerce, you have to see the bathroom.”
Calling them by their collective moniker, Lissa pulled Bridge and Mercer toward Sumner’s luxurious bathroom. Abram found himself in front of the TV that had been playing softly in the background.
“Hey, isn’t that the asylum your dad’s opening?”
Sumner joined him, grabbing the remote and turning up the volume as the newscaster on TV showed footage of Arclan Asylum.
“Arclan Asylum was shut down in the late eighties by Arclan Shadows, the original owner of the establishment, but his son, the renowned business mogul Hendrick Shadows, is opening it back up in just three days.”
When she continued to drone on about psychological studies, Sumner turned off the news and tossed the remote on the ottoman just in front of the couch.
“I have a genius beyond Einstein of an idea.”
Bridge, Lissa, and Mercer came back from fawning over the bathroom,
catching the remark Sumner had just finished making.
“What idea?” Bridge asked.
Sumner smirked. “We sneak into Arclan.”
They all looked at him like he was being committed to Arclan as opposed to breaking into it.
“What? Why?” Lissa crossed her arms, an apparent sign of her disapproval.
“Big, empty asylum left for us to explore! Come on, you guys. It’ll be just like we’re on American Horror Story.”
“People die on American Horror Story, Sumner.” Mercer croaked. “Literally every episode is murder central.”
“Come on, Mercer. ‘Asylum’ is your favorite season.”
“Doesn’t mean I want to live it!”
“It would be a little cool,” Bridge commented. “Merce, you love this kind of stuff.”
“I have to say, it’d be pretty awesome.” Abram admitted.
“I guess I’m in.” Lissa sighed nonchalantly.
“Don’t be a wet blanket, Merce,” Sumner cooed. “It’ll be fun.”
After a prolonged pause, Mercer scoffed. He really didn’t like the idea at all, but he didn’t want to bail on his friends.
“Alright,” He caved, stirring echoes of excitement from his friends. “But if we get caught, you’re all getting thrown under the bus.”
“But how are we going to bypass your dad and stepmom, Sumner?”
Bridge nodded at Lissa’s comment. “And what about Arclan? Is anyone there working security?”
“We don’t go now, crazos.” Sumner gave a faux theater class face. “We leave, under a clove of darkness. Midnight is our only friend now.”
“You’re mental.” Mercer said, laughing with the others as they took some brownies and waited for the stroke of midnight to break into Arclan Asylum.
“Can we stop now?”
Detective Alston Dagger sighed to himself. Ever since he had agreed to move to Armor Falls and take on the ever confusing Sumner Shadows case, he knew he’d have to ask the witnesses to retell years of detail surrounding the young attempted murderer. What he hadn’t anticipated on was the extreme whining of the said witnesses.
Over the past several days since Sumner’s former friends had notified the police about the possibility of Sumner being back in Armor Falls, Detective Dagger had been interrogating his friends relentlessly, determined to find something in their stories that contradicted their earlier reports. He had even been inspecting them separately to compare their stories. But now that the first week of school was done, Dagger was afraid he’d never solve the Sumner Shadows case.
“We’ve been at this for two hours.” Mercer continued.
“I think we’ve told you enough about how we first became friends with Sumner, detective.” Alex agreed.
“Do you two realize how serious this is?” Dagger banged his fists on the table Alex and Mercer were sitting at, causing them to jump in fright. “Shadows has been missing for nearly seven months. He almost killed you and your friends! Who knows what other crimes he’s committed since.”
“Look, we’ve come here right after school all week to answer your questions and—”
“And you’ve complained the whole time! This is an ongoing investigation and I will not rest until I have every detail of this case memorized by heart and—”
“Detective Dagger,” The door swung open to reveal a stern, but beautiful brunette cop staring at Dagger with combustible rage. “That’s enough.”
“Do I need to remind you again about interfering with my investigation, Officer Llewellyn?”
Adelaide Llewellyn scoffed. “Captain’s orders. He said you have ten minutes with Wheaton and then your time is up.” She then gave a small smile to her son and Mercer. “You two can join Abram and Bridge across the hall until all the parents arrive.”
Much to Dagger’s chagrin, Alex and Mercer got up and exited the interrogation room with Alex’s mom. Once outside, Alex gave her a nod.
“Thanks, Mom. He was getting pretty intense.”
“Alston’s always been intense,” she sighed, clearly knowing the detective in some aspect. “Just wait here.”
As she left them, they watched as another officer escorted Kirby toward the interrogation room with Dagger. Mercer’s gaze wandered in her direction, a desperate desire to talk lingering in her eyes. All week, Dagger had told the five of them to have no contact outside of the police station, at least until the end of the week during Dagger’s reign while he began his investigation. All Mercer wanted was to tell Kirby how sorry he was for dragging her into the darkness that followed the name Sumner Shadows.
Without a word, Alex lead Mercer into the other interrogation room where Abram and Bridge were talking amongst themselves. They sat down at the table, their conversation turning towards the others.
“How was Dagger?” Abram smirked as Alex and Mercer took their seats and huffed.
“More irritable than usual.” Alex admitted as he crossed his arms.
“He’s interrogating Kirby now.”
Their eyes rested on Mercer, glancing between each other before Bridge spoke up.
“Merce, I know we all haven’t been able to talk to each other since Dagger took the case, but do you think maybe you’ve misjudged Kirby’s innocence in all this?”
Shocked, Mercer’s mouth fell open. “You all still think Kirby helped Sumner back into town? Are you joking?”
“Think about it. She shows up just in time to have a picture of Sumner at the cemetery and she just so happens to bump into you on coincidence?” Abram explained.
“I think what they’re trying to say is that your judgement is clouded.”
“By what?” he snorted.
“By your crush on Kirby.”
Mercer gave Bridge an even look. “Excuse me?”
“It’s obvious,” Alex laughed lightly. “All week you’ve been sneaking glances at her, acting like you want to drop everything and talk to her.”
“I don’t have a crush on her, I just met her.” Mercer said, setting the record straight. “I tried talking to her in our history class but she’s been avoiding me. I know Dagger told us not to talk, but I hoped she’d let me explain.”
“Dude, you totally like her.” Abram laughed.
“Shut up,” Mercer smirked. “I just wanted to explain everything to her. Before all this, I thought we could have been friends.”
Mrs. Llewellyn barged into the room then, giving them all a shaky smile. “Time’s up. Let’s go.”
Eagerly, the four friends got up and followed Alex’s mom through the police station until all their parents were staring back at them at the front entrance.
“You’re all free to go.” she told them.
“Addie,” Mrs. St. James came up to Mrs. Llewellyn as the kids dispersed from the adults. “We’re still meeting at your place?”
“Absolutely.” she nodded.
The four friends glanced among each other, jumbled looks among their collective features. Mercer looked around, seeing Bridge start to walk over and talk to Mrs. Llewellyn. He started to wonder over to the rest of the Llewellyn family, apparently leaving with them, but Mercer grabbed his arm.
“Where are your parents?”
“That’s a conversation for later.”
“Why are we meeting at your place?” Abram whispered to Alex as they approached their parents.
Alex sighed. “Knowing my mom, to be told the terms and conditions.”
About an hour later, the four friends and their respective families were gathered up in the living room of the Llewellyn residence. Adelaide Llewellyn had quickly changed into civilian clothes and hurried back downstairs to her guests. She found herself in the kitchen to grab some water for everyone when she found her children already doing so, bringing a bleak smile to her lips in spite of the detrimental circumstances.
“You both read my mind.” she beamed at them.
Her twins gave her the same sort of wobbly grin as they finished gathering everyone’s drinks.
/> “Mom, what is this all about?” Faith questioned, finishing putting the drinks on a couple of platters.
“Does it have anything to do with the visits to the station?” Alex asked.
“In a way,” their mother said, letting her words drift farther and farther apart. “You’ll see soon enough.”
Helping her children, the Llewellyns brought their guests the drinks and sat them down together on the massive coffee table surrounding the circle of seating in the living room.
Abram sat with his sister and their parents, both siblings twiddling their thumbs nervously, an apparent family trait. Mercer and his two dads were talking amongst themselves, almost like Mercer was arguing with them about something. And Bridge’s parents were absent completely, as he had ridden with Alex and his family for reasons unbeknownst to practically everyone in attendance.
In a quick manner, Bridge made his way over to Mrs. Llewellyn as Alex and Faith found seats next to their father. “Before whatever it is that we’re here for happens,” he began in a hushed whisper. “I think I should tell everyone about why my parents aren’t here.”
Adelaide looked surprised, not that he could blame her. After all, she was the only one besides Willa that he had confided in about why his parents weren’t there tonight. It was going to have to come up sooner or later with everyone’s parents here. Might as well rip the bandaid off in front of everyone all at once.
“You’re sure?”
Bridge nodded sheepishly. “Can you tell everyone else while I tell them?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
Turning around, Bridge glanced at his friends. “Guys,” then he gestured toward the dining room off to the side. Bridge walked in, leaning on the dining table for sudden support as they quickly piled into the luxe dining room.
“What’s going on?” Abram inquired.
“Do you know what all of this is about?”
Bridge shook his head at Alex. “No, I’m just as in the dark as you guys.” he sighed. He really didn’t want to do this, tell them such a heart heavy secret, but it had to happen. “I just wanted to tell you guys about why my parents aren’t here.” He gave himself a pause before he decided to just get it over with. “They’re missing.”
Horrified faces, as he expected, met his own.
“What?” Mercer gasped.
“What are you talking about?” Alex gawked.
He sighed, preparing to tell the story he’d been dreading to depict.
“It was a couple of months ago, during the summer. They went to visit some of our family in Europe, while I was at basketball camp. They were supposed to be in St. Petersburg for a week.” Bridge paused, choking back tears before he could continue. “They never called me back all the times I tried to get in touch with them. They never showed up at the airport.” Bridge swallowed his sobs. “I don’t even know if they’re alive.”
“Wait, back up.” Mercer said with his hands up in confusion. “What about the relatives they were visiting? Didn’t they see what happened to them?”
Shaking his head, Bridge scoffed. “My parents never showed up at their place.”
“B,” Mercer sighed, his voice ladened with sadness.
“I told Alex’s mom. She promised to keep it quiet. They’ve tried looking for them, but there’s no trail. No evidence. Nothing.” he took in a chilling breath, an attempt to cleanse his lungs of his heartbreak. “The only person I told was Willa, and that was only a week ago.”
“You’ve been sitting on this, going through this alone, all summer?”
Somberly, Bridge nodded. “It’s been rough. I feel so helpless.”
“B, I’m sorry.” Mercer breathed heavily. “About everything. I shouldn’t have said I had to stay away from you.” he stopped, looking at Alex and Abram. “From all of you. I’ve been such an idiot. I think we need to stick together from now on.”
Abram nodded. “Especially if Sumner really is back.”
“I’m really sorry about all of this,” Alex cleared his throat. “But I’m not sure about this whole High School Musical, ‘All In This Together’ bit. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“Do you really want to face Sumner alone if he ambushes you?” Abram said.
Alex sighed. “Well obviously, I don’t.”
“Then we need to be together, all together if we’re gonna survive this Sumner thing.” Mercer concluded.
All too silent, Alex agreed, shaking his head positively. They all smiled at each other, sharing a brief group hug, only detaching when the loud blare of the doorbell rattled their spines. They joined the rest of the group in the living room while Mr. Llewellyn grabbed the door. As everyone rejoined their families, Bridge noticed a couple of nodding condolences from his friends’ parents, silently sending him their support.
Adelaide was about to open her mouth, starting the explanation on why they were all there, but her husband cleared his throat as a tall, beautiful, blonde woman in a gorgeous vintage Chanel blazer and skirt appeared in the living room entryway, her face taut and her gestures stoic.
“Athena,” Adelaide smiled. “I thought you had reconsidered when you didn’t arrive earlier.” She paused to ask Faith to grab two more chairs from the dining room. “Thank you for coming.”
And right behind her was Kirby.
"This is Athena Wheaton and her daughter Kirby.” Adelaide told everyone.
The Wheatons gave everyone small blinding smiles as they took their seats.
“Alright,” Adelaide said, readying herself between a couple of quick clean breaths. “I know everyone is wondering why we’ve brought you here.” She told the children. “We know it’s been a rough first week of school with the investigation, but we think it’s best if you all keep some distance from each other.”
The shock hit the four friends like a building had just collapsed on them.
“What?” Alex spoke first, rage aggressively woven against his tone. “We just told each other we’d stick together through this.”
“We all, collectively, think it’s best if you all stay away from one another. Even Ms. Wheaton agrees with our decision.”
Kirby’s mouth plummeted. “What? Mom, you can’t be serious.”
“We just moved here, Kirby.” Athena scoffed, clearly done with her daughter’s resistance already. “I don’t want you mixed up in this investigation. We don’t need this after what we’ve been through.”
Wincing a little bit at her mother’s comment, Kirby furthered her argument. “Mercer’s the only person I’ve met here in Armor Falls that hasn’t treated me like a freak,” she glanced at him, giving him a feeble smile, one he quickly returned. “It’s not fair.”
“I think it’s perfectly fair considering the fact that your picture is now police evidence.”
Kirby instinctively gave up as she sighed, knowing that to defy Athena Wheaton was to defy gravity.
“You can’t do this,” Abram stood up, turning around to face his mother and father, rage taking over his usually handsome facade. “It’s a condition of my release to be surrounded by the support of my friends and family.”
“Abram, you have your sister and now Ben.” November told him.
“Ben is a glorified babysitter, Mom. He’s not my friend.”
“Well, he’s going to have to be now.” Steven said sternly.
“This is for everyone’s best interest,” Adelaide interfered, taking back the reigns of the conversation. “And it’s not forever, just until Sumner’s caught.”
“Who knows when that’ll be.” Mercer scoffed.
“Oh, and there’s a curfew. For all of you. Nowhere but school, before and after, pending any extracurriculars.”
Every one of the teenagers’ mouths dropped.
“You’re joking!” Willa shouted.
“This is happening,” Adelaide nodded. “A new beginning for all of us.” She gave another weak smile, her best at trying to diffuse the tension. “Welcome to lockdown.”
; 6
STAKE OUT