Chapter 1: lost Sisters <3
Laurel came down the stairs of her two story home in Camden, Maine. IT was around midnight, and Laurel couldn’t sleep at all, maybe it was because of Char, or school starting in two days, but whatever it was made her on edge. She went through the hall and past the living room to the kitchen, which was only lit by the moonlight streaking through the windows. She sighed as she walked across the cool tile in her socks, and turned on a light over the counter. Then she opened the cabinet to get a glass, and then closed the cabinet with no sound, she didn’t want to wake her parents. She walked over to the refrigerator hummed as Laurel got a glass of water. She leaned against the counter, loving the way the cool water made her feel refreshed. She gazed back at the refrigerator seeing all the pictures of her and her friends, and Char. The thing that hit her most though was Chars last report card that hung at the top corner of the fridge. Her perfect “A” grades, the way she was the best in all the classes, just like Laurel. The only difference was that Char would be a freshman this year, and Laurel would be a sophomore. At least Char would be a freshman, if she where still here.
Char and Laurel where the closest of sister, they did everything together, had all the same friends, it was great. Until Char went missing three weeks ago, the police searched for her, and are still searching, with no luck at all though. Which really made Laurel wonder why her sister would want to run away in the first place, they had such good lives, and Laurel was sure that Char would have told her if she was going to run away? Or…Maybe Char didn’t plan this, maybe it was something more than just a run away, maybe she was murdered.
Laurel brushed the thoughts away, feeling sick that she would even think like that, of course her sister was alive and well somewhere in the world. Tears started to fill Laurels eyes, until she heard footsteps on the stairs. She carefully set the glass in the sink, and opened the fridge to give her more light without disturbing anyone who was asleep. And all of a sudden, Blake walked into the kitchen, but stopped short when she saw Laurel. Blake was Laurels other sister, who was a senior this year. Blake was also the sister that Laurel was never that close to. Blake had her long brown hair pushed up into a ponytail, and she was wearing light blue sweat pants, with a while t-shirt. Laurel slowly crept around her to the hall; she really wasn’t in the mood to talk to Blake at the moment. When Laurel had returned to her room, she put her long wavy blonde hair into pigtails, and changed flopped down on the couch that preoccupied the left side of her room. She stared out the window looking at the stars, wondering how she could be so tired, and yet not be able to sleep. And like that, she closed her eyes and drifted into sleep. She woke that morning stiff from sleeping on the couch, and being awakened by the sunlight. She walked over to her computer and got on Facebook. She logged onto her account and saw that someone had started a group named the “Help Find Charlotte” she accepted the request, and skimmed through the comments. Some people had said how much they missed her, and some people said how great a friend she was. Laurel clicked the home page, unable to read another comment. It seemed to her that people had already said there goodbyes, like they had just assumed the worst. She logged off, feeling worse off than she had started. So she decided she would go for a drive to clear her head.
She jammed the keys into the ignition, and turned them till the car revved. She pulled out of the driveway slowly, then faster till she had backed into the road. She turned on the radio, and the first three songs she played had started out with a line about death. She started to feel like it was a bad omen, but she just shook it off, she was done with dumb superstitions. She drove around the corner of the suburb, taking turn after turn past beautiful houses like hers. The last corner she turned, she saw maybe five or six police cars in front of the woods that surrounded the suburb. She turned the corner and pulled up to the curb, launching herself out of the car as fast as she could. A small group of people had started to gather around the yellow police tape, Laurels heart pounded. Laurel felt a hand on her shoulder, and jumped without reason, spinning around to see who it was. Her friend Jade stood there behind her, her eyes red and puffy, it was obvious she had been crying recently, but for what reason? Jade wrapped her arms around Laurel, sobbing into her shoulder, mumbling something she couldn’t quite hear.
“What” Laurel managed to say as Jade stepped out of the hug.
“You don’t know” Said Jade, her face turning from sorrow to surprise.
“Don’t know what, I mean what’s going on?” said Laurel feeling more scared by the second.
“They found Char” said jade beginning to wipe her eyes.
“I knew she’d come back, where is she?” said Laurel, not even noticing the obvious.
“Laurel, they found Char’s body” said Jade starting to sob again “I’m so sorry” she mumbled. Laurel stood there, shocked and speechless. Char was dead, she tried to let the news sink in, but she kept pushing it away. She started to cry, letting all the grief from the previous weeks come out. Moments later, her family joined her there, crying and wanting to know what happened. The police came to the conclusion that she had been murdered at least two weeks ago.
But the only thing that Laurel heard was “Char is dead” and “She was murdered”. So Char was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it.