Hidden in Plain Sight

*Third Person*

It was the longest night for everyone. Carly and Jaime especially. Carly lay on the cold hard excuse of a bed in that jail cell. She lay there awake all night. Fear wrapping itself around her and squeezing her to the brink of suffocation. She couldn't close her eyes, scared of what might be in front of her when she wakes. She felt sick to the stomach. She felt the constant threat of wanting to vomit but she couldn't. She was too scared.

But what she didn't know, is that Jaime felt the exact same. He lay in Carly's bed, Charlie cuddled up beside him. Jaime could tell something was wrong. He is Carly's dog. Jaime lay wide awake having cried himself to the point of wanting to be sick. He was devastated, worried, scared. He was forced to stay at home. He was forced to be alone, without anyone for the entire night. How could they just do that to him. The love of his life was just taken from him and they made him stay alone.

It was the longest night. He stared at the clock, every minute that passed felt like an hour. And every hour that passed felt like an eternity. He felt like daylight wouldn't come and he wouldn't be able to go rescue Carly, and see his friends. But soon it had finally come. 5:30am dead on, Jaime jumped out of bed.

Until 6, he stared at his phone. Just waiting for someone to call him. No one called. He had lost hope. Maybe the cops didn't call his friends last night. He felt betrayed at that thought. He needed his friends. He needed them right now. Surely if they had gotten the call last night they'd be over wanting to see him or even talk to him. But it didn't seem like it.

Jaime let Charlie eat his breakfast inside today. Carly would never allow this, but Jaime felt scared without having anyone near him. And Charlie was the closest he could get to Carly, he didn't want to let the dog go. Jaime lay his bowl in the kitchen, where any mess could be easily cleaned. Jaime sat at the counter watching the dog enjoy his meal.

Jaime didn't want to eat. The thought of food made him want to gag. He felt too sick and worried to eat, but he knew if he didn't, it will surely cause future problems, but today wasn't the day to care. He cleaned up the dogs small mess and sat back in the lounge room.

7:00 am. No one had called. Not his friends, not the police, no one. He was starting to think that they didn't really care, that they were all still peacefully sleeping. Sleeping as if the call they got last night was all apart of their dreams and everything wasn't real.

Jaime wished this wasn't real. That the police, the handcuffs, the tears, the screams, the lights, the sirens, the pain, that it all wasn't real. But Jaime could feel it. He could feel the reality of it all. This is no dream. And it felt like a fucking knife into his chest. A huge bloody knife that was heavily forced into his chest and is slowly turning in circles in his chest, tearing his heart into pieces.

The pain was real. The pain was so real. The tears that fell like waterfalls were real. The calloused hands that grabbed his skin so tight and pulled were real. It was so painful, so painful that he was numb. He was numb to everything but the internal pain. He was do numb to the outside world, that he didn't see or hear everyone burst into Carly's house.

His barely breathing body and blurry vision could see and feel a presence around him. A figure was crouched in front of him but he couldn't see. He could only see hints of long brown seeming hair and bright eyes. Upon his shoulders he could feel strong hands. Hands that held him so tight. Hands that held him so tight it began to bring him back. They brought him back slowly.

He began to breath again, and his tears quickly slowed. His body soon figured who was around. Vic was crouched in front of him, talking to him. Vic was cooing the sweetest words to calm him down. But it was Tony's hands he could feel on his shoulders. Tony's hands held him tight and made him feel alive and that's what brought him back.

Jaime lay on the floor, curled up and reduced to the slightest of heavy breaths. Tony and Vic sat either side of him and Mike and the girls crouched around the broken man. They could all feel Jaime's pain. They could all feel the void. They could all the void that was Carly's presence. They all felt a hole between them. Soon enough, Jaime had calmed entirely, but his body was still numb. It needed rest.

"I miss her" Jaime whispered from the floor.

"We all miss her too Jaime" Tony cooed from above.

"I just don't get how this could happen. You all know her. She is the sweetest thing ever. She could never do something like this. She's been falsely accused!" Jaime began to grow angry again.

Vic placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "We know she didn't do this. We'll get her out of this Jaime. Don't worry. We are all going to be right here next to you every step of the way".

Vic's words warmed Jaime's heart. Or whatever was left of it. But it was warmed. Inside, Jaime was smiling. It faintly showed on the outside. Jaime could feel everyone else being warmed by Vic's words. They were all smiling. And with that smile, Jaime fell into a light doze. He had that warm and calm feeling that he needed to rest. He needed it.

While Jaime was content on the floor, everyone moved to the kitchen as to not disturb him. Tony served them all a warm hot chocolate drink and they all sat in silence. Even will Carly's house full of people it felt so empty. Even the dog could tell it wasn't right. Everyone was holding each other sipping at their drinks, until Tony broke the silence.

"So... What do you guys think of this?"

There was no instant reply. He expected that. Everyone was gathering their thoughts on it, having not reflected on recent events.

Mike was next to speak. "I am just, confused I guess" was all he had.

"It just doesn't make sense. We've all been around Carly almost constantly since we met her. She is one of us. She couldn't have" Vic spoke. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but didn't Jess and Carly have some tension before her passing?" Alysha spoke having known Jess for years.

"Yeah Jess was sceptical of Carly being Jaime's boss and them becoming friends. Jess didn't like Carly much" Tony spoke. He knew inside and out of the situation, having been there for Jaime when he was going through this.

"But didn't Carly always try making up with Jess? Jaime told me that Carly visited Jess one day and talked it out. He told me that they were friends, even Carly told me so" Vic responded.

"Even if they didn't get along, Carly could never have killed anyone. She is too sweet and caring to do anything wrong to anyone" Danielle perked up from Vic's arms.

Tony took in a deep breath, having realised something. Everyone gave him a questioning look.

"Aren't we all forgetting something! Jess' death is mystery. No one knows how she died. We were all there when she died. It was probably be on the clubs video when she died. No one knows now she died. She wasn't stabbed, she wasn't raped and murdered. We were all there and we are all confused as each other."

Tony had a point. It stumped everyone. But he was right. Absolutely everyone was there when she died. There was absolutely no possible way that Carly murdered.

But even with that thought, their minds weren't a ease yet. There is always something around the corner.

Notes

Tony has a point doesn't he?
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