Chapter 59 THIS HAS TO STOP
Alex
The police searched for hours. Checked security footage. Canvassed the neighborhood. Found nothing.
Ashley had vanished.
“She’s good at this,” the detective said. “Knows how to avoid cameras. How to disappear.”
“So what do we do?” Alex asked. “Just wait for her to show up again?”
“We’re doing everything we can. Patrol units are watching your building. Your work. The campus. If she surfaces, we’ll get her.”
But Alex didn’t feel safe. Not in their apartment. Not anywhere.
They stayed at Katie’s that night. Her couch was lumpy. The walls are too thin. But at least Ashley didn’t know where she lived.
“This can’t go on forever,” Katie said over breakfast. “She has to mess up eventually.”
“Or she doesn’t,” Alex said. “Or she keeps doing this until something terrible happens.”
Elias was quiet. Had been quiet since the fire alarm. His coffee sat untouched. His eyes were distant.
“What are you thinking?” Alex asked.
“That we need to end this. Really end it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. But hiding isn’t working. Running isn’t working. We need to do something she won’t expect.”
“Like what?”
“Like going public. Really public. Telling our whole story. Everything Carter and Ashley did. Make it impossible for them to keep hiding in the shadows.”
“You want to go viral again? After what happened last time?”
“Last time we were defending ourselves against lies. This time we’d be telling the truth. Our truth. With evidence.”
Katie leaned forward. “You mean like a video? Or an article?”
“Both. Everything. The letters. The harassment. The hospital. The false complaints. All of it.”
“That’s risky,” Katie said. “Could backfire. Could make things worse.”
“How could they get worse? She’s already stalking us. Already escalating. At least if the story’s out there, if people know what she’s really like, maybe someone will come forward. Maybe someone who knows where she is will turn her in.”
Alex thought about it. About going public. About telling strangers their most private moments.
It felt wrong. Exposing. Vulnerable.
But Elias was right. Hiding wasn’t working.
“Okay,” Alex said. “Let’s do it.”
They spent the day writing. Alex drafted the narrative. Elias gathered evidence. Katie helped organize everything chronologically.
By evening, they had a document. Ten pages. Every detail. Every message. Every threat. Screenshots and police reports and hospital records and restraining orders.
The whole ugly truth.
“This is really happening,” Alex said, staring at the final draft.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Elias asked.
“No. But I want Ashley caught. And if this is what it takes, then yeah. Let’s do it.”
They posted it at midnight. Medium article. Twitter thread. Facebook post. Everywhere they could reach people.
Within an hour, it had been shared a hundred times.
Within two hours, a thousand.
By morning, it was everywhere. News sites are picking it up. Bloggers are analyzing it. People debating in comments.
But this time, the response was different.
“This is horrifying. I hope they catch her.”
“Carter and Ashley are both unhinged. Those poor guys.”
“I can’t believe they survived this. That’s real love.”
“Everyone who blamed Elias before should apologize. This proves he was the victim.”
The support was overwhelming. Strangers offering help. Offering to spread the word. Offering information.
And then, at 2 PM, a tip came through.
Someone who’d seen Ashley. At a motel twenty minutes outside town. Recognized her from the photos.
The police moved fast. Surrounded the motel. Found her in room 114. Arrested her without incident.
The detective called at 3 PM. “We got her. She’s in custody. No bail this time.”
Alex couldn’t speak. Just handed the phone to Elias.
“Is it really over?” Elias asked.
“For now. She’s being charged with stalking, harassment, violating a restraining order, and making terroristic threats. She’s looking at serious time.”
After hanging up, Elias and Alex just sat there. Not speaking. Not moving. Just processing.
“It’s over,” Alex said finally.
“It’s over.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Me neither.”
They went home that evening. Back to their apartment. The building felt different. Lighter. Safe again.
Des and Sana came over with champagne. “You did it. You actually did it.”
“We survived,” Alex corrected. “That’s all.”
“That’s everything,” Sana said.
They drank cheap champagne and ate pizza and laughed for the first time in weeks.
When everyone left, Alex and Elias stood on their balcony. Looking out at the city. The October night was cool but not cold.
“What happens now?” Alex asked.
“Now we live. Really live. Without looking over our shoulders.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Sounds perfect.”
They went to bed early. Exhausted but peaceful. For the first time in months, Alex fell asleep without fear.
But at 4 AM, his phone rang.
Katie. Her voice was shaking.
“Alex. Turn on the news. Right now.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it.”
Alex turned on the TV. Local news. Breaking story.
Ashley had been found unconscious in her cell. Pills. Smuggled in somehow. She was in critical condition.
“Oh my god,” Alex said.
Elias woke up. Saw the TV. “No. No no no.”
The reporter continued. “This comes just hours after a viral post detailed months of alleged harassment by Ashley and her boyfriend, Carter , who attempted suicide last month. Questions are being raised about the justice system’s handling of mentally ill defendants.”
The comments were already rolling in online.
See what public shaming does? You drove her to this.
Elias and Alex should be ashamed. They pushed her too far.
Two suicide attempts in two months. This is what happens when you destroy people online.
Alex felt sick. “We did this.”
“No we didn’t. She did this to herself.”
“Did she? Or did we push her? With the article? With going public?”
“We told the truth. That’s all we did.”
“And now she might die. And everyone’s going to blame us.”
“Let them. We know what really happened.”
But Alex couldn’t stop shaking. Couldn’t stop seeing the comments. The accusations.
They’d won. Ashley was caught. The harassment was over.
But at what cost?
At 6 AM, another update. Ashley was stable. Survived. Would face additional charges for the suicide attempt.
Relief flooded through Alex. Then guilt for feeling relieved.
“I don’t know how to feel,” Alex said.
“Me neither. Glad she’s alive. Angry she tried. Guilty for maybe pushing her. All of it.”
They didn’t go to work or school that day. Just stayed home. Processing. Trying to make sense of everything.
Des came over at noon. “Stop reading the comments.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. None of those people knows the whole story. They don’t know what you’ve been through.”
“Some of them do. We posted everything.”
“And some people will still find a way to blame you. That’s the internet. Ignore them.”
But ignoring was hard. Especially when the messages started coming in.
Not from Ashley. From strangers.
People who’d read the article. Who had questions? Who wanted to help. Who wanted to condemn.
One message stood out.
From an unknown email address.
You think this is over. But it’s not. Ashley’s in jail. But I’m still here. And I’m going to finish what she started. - A Friend
Alex showed Elias. “There’s someone else.”
“Or it’s a troll. Someone is trying to scare us.”
“What if it’s not?”
“Then we deal with it. Like we’ve dealt with everything else.”
But the fear was back. Looking over shoulders. Waiting for the next attack.
They’d caught Ashley. But maybe Elias was right.
Maybe this would never really be over.