Switched Fates

Who were you?

Elara started heading back to the pack territory keen to start trying to piece together Elodie's past as soon as possible.

"I know you asked me to drive so you could go through everything first." She complained.

"We are making a detour, here we are going to these co-ordinates." Emmerson plugged the details into the car's navigation system.

"Where are we going?" Elara questioned.

"It is listed as her home address for when she is in high school. But it looks to be in the middle of nowhere. There is no listing of it ever been up for rent or for sale in the last twenty years. "

"It could be like her cabin!" Elara exclaimed.

"Yeah but it would be like her mother's right? Maybe it will be connected to her in some way?" Emmerson said, looking like he was deep in thought.

"Yeah it could be" Elara responded.

It was only 15 minutes outside Fernestshire, when they were directed to turn on to a dirt road.

"I hope this SUV can go off road." Elara sighed. "I didn’t even see a letter box, Where is this place?"

It was a couple of minutes through the woods on a dirt road before a clearing appeared.

"Another cabin in the woods, she definitely has a trend, doesn't she." Elara said

The wooden house was a lot larger than the one that was back in the pack territory. Over grown weeds had taken over the front yard. They were up to Elara's waist and in some parts were up to her shoulders. Elara parked the car and they both got out and started walking towards it. The house looked completely abandoned and gave off a very eerie unpleasant feeling. It was quiet unnerving almost chilling. Not like the one Elara had grown to love over the past year. That one was comforting, even though it was falling apart. This one was still completely in tactic with modern furnishing, like a screen door and gutters on the roof. But there was something deeply unsettling about this place. Elara was walking up to the front door, when they saw it was blocked off by some kind of make shift barricade. It had been hammered into the door frame, preventing the door from being opened.

"Huh that’s weird." She turned to Emmerson who also had a confused look on his face. They walked around the side of the house, and were able to spot a back door. It also had the same make shift barricade, and not far from it a an open and broken window.

Clang! "what was that?!" Elara almost jumped out of her skin, this place had made her on edge. She turned to Emmerson who was some feet from her.

Emmerson had stopped and was looking at the ground he must of stepped on something under all the weeds.

"Gas canisters" He said has he pulled one up from the ground.

"Empty ones and there are a lot of them."

Elara froze. "Emm" she trembled. "Remember when Elodie said that the baby's dad betrayed her…. But not in the being with someone else way, but in the burning at the stake way."

Emmerson's eyes widened.

"She was joking right." Elara couldn't hold herself together, her eyes stinging.

"No one would actually.."

Emmerson pulled back the high weeds from the house. Black scorch mark lined around the house.

But from the looks of it the flames never got past the window sills. Elara slapped herself to get back her focus. Although that barely managed it do it. Don't think about it Elara, she told herself. We are just here to get information to help Elodie who is still alive.

Emmerson had his back to her, she could tell he wasn't coping and that neither was Cypress.

She pulled herself up into the house using the broken window. The house was dirty covered from leaves and mud coming from the broken window and dust. Other than that the place had been untouched. There was even a coffee cup still sitting kitchen bench. But then Elara saw something that made her skin tighten.

"Leave now" Eira spoke up from within her. In the dust were foot prints heading to a closed door at the other end of the long corridor of the house, and there were no foot prints coming out. Every fibre of Elara screamed at her to leave now.

She mind linked Emmerson, we are leaving now. Someone is here.

"How?! I can't sense anyone, and Cypress and I can.."

"No Emmerson! Get in the car" Elara darted back out the window and raced towards the car.

"Every fibre in me is screaming at me, we need to leave now."

"They might know where Elodie is and it’s the middle of the day!"

"Emmerson please just trust me!"

"Fine!" Emmerson surrendered. Cypress must have picked up on something to convinced him too, as he hurried towards the car.

"I'm driving" Emmerson said and Elara slid into the passenger seat.

"Did Cypress say anything?"

"Yeah said we need to leave now. I think it's Lance. Elara. If Cypress is saying we should run in the middle of the day. What the hell is he! And How is anyone meant to stop him!?"

He started the car and shoved it in reverse, spinning it around and putting his foot to the floor.

"I don't know" Elara said almost out of breath.

Emmerson slammed his hand on the stirring wheel. He didn't need to say anything. Elara knew what he was thinking. How bull s**t this all was. How they thought they were going to find answers but all they did was get more questions than anything else, leading them to square one again. Elara shook her head, she refused to give in to that type of thinking. She would figure this out, slowly but surely. She started to flip through the year book. She quickly found a photo of Elodie in the community section. She was in the community garden taking some kind of herb out of a pot about to replant it into the soil. She was smiling up at the camera. She was so young and happy. This was Elodie before the world turned against her and she lost everything. So young and full of life, the caption read Elodie Swinton - Fernestshire High Senior, helping with the Fernestshire community garden. Elara marked the page, folding the corner. She knew Emmerson would want to see this page as well. She was absent for the grade photos listed as one of the absentees. But there was a photo of her at the school dance, with a young man, and he had that a familiar bewildered look in his eyes, just like Michael from bar did last night.