| “We’re not asking for anything in return, Piper. To me, keeping what you believe in, aliens, UFO’s, is good enough for me. As long as you carry on the legacy and tell others to believe, you’ve helped me more than I could ever express.” Mulder said. Scully smiled knowing Mulder wanted everyone he could to believe in aliens. It was his life-long quest, besides finding his sister and revealing the conspiracy. Piper’s thoughts were jarred when she heard the telephone ring. After it stopped she heard her name being called from the top of the stairs. Piper ran to her computer table and picked up her telephone. “Hello?” She asked into the phone, wondering who would know she was home already. “Piper…it’s Hannah.” The voice said rather excitedly. “Hannah? How did you know I was home? It’s so good to talk to you!” Piper screamed happy to here her friend’s voice. “I didn’t think you were home so I was going to leave a message with your parents. I’m having my birthday party early this year, cause my mom got the day out of work. It’s going to be tomorrow from 5:30 to 10:00 PM.” Hannah said. “That would be awesome! It’s so great to hear your voice and to actually talk to someone. I can’t believe I’m home, it’s just too good to be true. I’ll be there.” “You can invite Mulder and Scully if you want. It can by my birthday slash a reunion for Piper party, if you want.” She offered. “That would be great. Thank you, Hannah.” Piper said. She hung up the phone and faced Mulder and Scully. They smiled realizing how happy Piper really was. She had eaten in the past few days and she hadn’t slept anywhere but on the floor. Piper turned on her stereo and placed a CD inside. The words flooded the room. Call my name and I’ll be there, There’s nothing like the laughter that we share, Whenever you need someone or a shoulder to lean on, Call my name and I’ll be there “What’s the song from?” Scully asked. “The Sailor Moon soundtrack. It’s called “Call My Name”. I think that it expresses the things I feel towards my friends. Those are feelings that neither I nor the best poet in the world could express using words, like that song does. I’ll always remember my friends when I hear that song and that’s what I want to remember right now. Out of all the people things I’ve seen, the inside if a jail cell is the worst.” “Was that Hannah on the phone?” Mulder asked. “Yea, she’s having a birthday party tomorrow. Her real birthday is December 30, but it’s so close to the holidays sometimes she holds it early. If you guys want to stick around, she invited you, as well.” Piper said. “We need to make sure that no one else is going to be hurt before we decide to go back to Washington.” Scully explained. “What do you think happened to those girls?” Piper asked, sighing. “The detective who held you is under some suspicion. He moved in here about the time that the murders began. He held you against the law and he seemed to be denying evidence.” Scully said. “What do you mean denying evidence?” Piper asked. “We found bodies of both Judy and Erica under the floorboards beneath where the Christmas tree fell. The question that leads me to believe he had something to do with this is he didn’t even bother moving the Christmas tree from where it fell. This tells me he had something to hide.” Scully said. “There’s also the thought that it could be those girls were looking to get away from their lives. They could have committed suicide or it could have been two coincidental accidents.” “There are many theories to what happened.” Mulder explained. “Each girl appeared to die next to a memorabilia of a lost family member. I’m thinking the family member they lost was trying to bring back with them into the dead world.” “You mean the family member’s spirits were trying to kill those girls?” Piper asked not sure if she believed the theory that Mulder had come up with. “The truth is we don’t know where to go on this case.” Scully answered knowing there could be a million answers to what really happened to the innocent teenage girls. “Well, if you’ll excuse me I’ve dying to write this entire episode down. It would make a great story, possibly a best seller. The real stories are always the best.” Piper said. She walked over to her computer and turned it on. “The party starts tomorrow at 5:30. You can come to my house and we’ll bring you to Hannah’s.” That night, Piper laid in her bed and thought. She stared up at her glow-in-the-dark stars and letters. Her ceiling said such things as Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Piper’s room, and Mulder, and Scully. She put everything that meant something to her on her ceiling. She rolled over and looked at her clock. It was 3:00 AM. She could hear Lynn coming up the stairs, since she could never fall asleep before four. College life had done that to her but she never seemed bothered by it. Piper heard a knock on her door. “Come in.” She said. The door opened and Lynn answered. Piper put her fingers to her touch lamp and a light turned on. She blocked her eyes from the light at first but then got used to the light. “How are you feeling?” Lynn asked. “I feel a lot better to be home. You know, I’m really tired but I just can’t seem to fall asleep. I’m afraid if I do, I’m going to come home and the whole thing will end up being a bad dream. Like, if I wake up I’ll be back in jail on that cold floor.” “Do you know what’s going on with Erin?” “What happened to Erin?” Piper asked concerned. “After the police found out she helped you get the messages to the press they think she might stand a trial, or something.” “They can’t do that. All of that was my fault. I asked her to do that for me! Who told you that?” “The detective. He called this morning.” Suzanne said walking into Piper’s bedroom. She sat down on the end of Piper’s bed, as she moved her feet. “That detective can’t be credited. You already know what he did to me was illegal. What makes you think he has any right to do this to Erin?” Piper sighed. “You know, that man is worse than a murderer. He punished innocent and makes them suffer. I would rather have died than spent one day in that jail.” Lynn desperately wanted to get off the topic of jail. “Have you talked to any of your friends yet?” She asked. “Yea, Hannah called earlier. She’s having a birthday party tomorrow. I told her I’d be there, I figured mom and dad would let me go.” Piper said, glad Lynn decided to change the subject. “What are you doing up?” Suzanne asked knowing her youngest sister usually went to bed early and woke up early. “I just came up from downstairs. I wanted to write down everything that happened in at least an outline form so I could use to write a story later. I turn everything that I find interesting into stories.” She explained. “So, that’s what you do sitting downstairs hour after hour.” Lynn said. Both she and Suzanne both knew Piper loved to write but they never knew she wrote about real things. “You learn something new everyday.” She yawned. “I’m going to bed.” Suzanne and Lynn stood up and walked out of Piper’s room, closing the door behind them. Piper listened as they both closed their doors to their own bedrooms. She snuggled closer under the blankets, thinking. Did everything happen for a reason? Was she put in jail to find the truth? Thoughts and memories flooded her mind but she knew she needed to sleep so she did. The next day, Piper woke up to the sound of her mother’s voice calling her name. Piper replied with a groan and her mother continued to shout she had a phone call. Piper looked to her bedside and saw it was eight o’clock in the morning. She groaned again and rolled out of bed. Piper walked across a landing and up a small flight of stairs to her parent’s room. Piper felt a chill sweep over her as she took in what she was wearing. It was shorts with a blue tank top. It totally didn’t match but that wasn’t why she would be angry if someone she knew saw her. It was the dead of winter and shorts and a T-shirt was not something you saw regularly. She walked into the room and picked up the phone as she plopped herself on the bed. “Hello?” She said tiredly into the receiver. “Piper, this is Agent Scully.” The voice said. "Agent Mulder and I thought it best to tell you what’s happened. Do you know a girl named Karen Ardwell?” Scully asked. “Yes, she’s an acquaintance of mine. Not quite a close friend but a friend none the less. Why?” “Piper, Karen’s dead in the same fashion the other two died. I’m sorry but we need to question you. Agent Mulder and I are on our way to your house right now. We’re going to be there in about five minutes.” “Will you put me back in jail?” Piper asked knowing she could never face that place again. “I don’t think so, but we still need to question you.” She said. Piper hung up the phone and ran down the stairs. She passed her parents, who were eating breakfast at the table. They called her name but Piper didn’t stop. She went down another flight of stairs and sat down on the floor. She put a tape in the VCR and smiled. The TV had a picture of her, her cousins, and Anastasia. Her older cousin, Bianca was sitting next to her brother, Jeff. Piper was behind the camera and Erin was sitting on the floor. In the basement, Piper leaned her back up against the couch. She put a blanket over her knees and held the remote in her hands. Tears began to flood her eyes and they dropped down her face. She didn’t bother wiping them, knowing more would follow. Piper sat there watching the TV. It was just random things that either of the people decided to do. It was a tape they had decided to make the day of Lynn’s graduation. The tape showed them down in Piper’s basement listening to music from the radio. Each person took turns explaining him or herself in front of the camera. Piper stared at the TV wondering if she would ever have those good times again. |