Happiness was all I’ve known for pretty much my whole life. But now I realize that I took it for granted. As my parents watch my reaction to the news, they start to cry too. I look around my small bedroom, as If I’m looking for a miracle. I’m hopeless for one. My whole world is crashing upon me. I just now notice that I’m hyperventilating. “Mom? Mom! This has to be a joke, you can’t be serious. Come on, please!” She shakes her head, looking down. “I wish I could tell you that, Hailey. But it’s been forty-eight hours, and the police declared her officially missing.” I’m silent for a few moments, and only the sound of my crying fills the room. “Does Nolan Know?” I ask behind my crying. “We think that you should be the one to tell him,” My dad’s tone is cold and distant. That’s his way of masking his true emotions. Although I don’t know why he’d even want to, in a situation like this. “We’ll give you a minute alone” He says as they leave my room. I have a terrible feeling that this is due to something I witnessed myself. My friend– ex friend now– Jade probably did it. A few days back, she was acting so cold and not herself. She stopped talking to me and I saw her talking to Molly, that stupid blonde drug addict who loves to bully my sister. Molly makes fun of Naomi for being the only adopted kid in the school. It’s true, but she uses the words like an insult. I think Molly told her something that caused her to run away. And it’s Jade’s fault. I used to be jealous of her long silky black hair in comparison to my shorter brown tangly hair. But I want to rip it out now. I tell myself that it’s going to be okay as I open my door and take a few steps down the hallway to Nolans room. I knock on his door. I open it and close it behind me quietly. Nolan looks up from the book he’s reading, at first looking annoyed, but then concerned. He puts his book down on his desk and gets out of his chair. “What’s going on? You look like you’ve been cryi- please don’t tell me…” I can’t bring myself to say it. “Please, anything but what I think it is.” I barely manage to choke out the words. “It is.” Nolan looks as though he doesn’t believe it. Like me, his world is crashing on him too. Our lives are ruined until we can find Naomi. We have posters around the neighborhood. People question us just because Naomi’s skin is much lighter than ours. But I believe family isn’t just those who you are related to by blood. Family is chosen, and your chosen family is always a real family. “It was Jade. I know it.” I say once my tears dry up. I tell him everything I’ve been thinking. “We’re telling this to the police.” “Yeah, let’s go.” In our small town, everything is within reasonable walking distance. After school I’m allowed to go wherever I want as long as it’s not a bar or something or too far away. I go downstairs into the kitchen to feed my pet cat, Boots, before we leave. I can’t feed her the wrong amount or I will feel like I’m crazy. After I’m done, I put my raincoat and boots on. The weather seems to match the mood perfectly. I step outside to the roaring storm with Nolan and we start heading. After a few moments of silence, Nolan asks a question. “Do you think we’re overreacting? Maybe she’s okay.” “She’s not.” I have a gut feeling that she’s not safe or okay. So I’ll do anything to find her again. If she were safe and okay, she’d be at home with us, not gone all alone. She’s probably scared. Who knows if we’ll find her dead or alive or even at all. I shutter at the disturbing thought. “We should search her room a little more than we did yesterday,” I suggest. “Just cling on the hope that we’ll find something.” “Good idea,” Nolan agrees. We pick up the pace. A stray cat gets up from the sidewalk and follows us. When we get to the police station, it’s still with us. “What can we do for you?” An officer asks us once we’re at the front desk. “I have something that might help. Um, with Naomi.” I state. “Come with me.” We follow Officer Winston to his small, cozy office. I tell him everything that I’ve been thinking about, hoping he’d understand and not call it dramatic or stupid. “Is it possible that you could question Molly or Jade?” Nolan asks. “Well… I do have reasonable suspicion against them.. But technically it’s not that they’re connected to a crime. I’ll ask the sheriff. She’s out of town, so I’ll just have to wait.” “Why would she be out of town? She’s the sheriff.” I muttered. “A family emergency.” He replies. “Oh.” “So I’ll wait to ask if I can question Molly and Jade, okay?” I hate dependent thinkers. Can’t he text or email her? “Okay… when is the sheriff going to be back?” “I don’t know. But don’t worry your guy’s heads off. You’re only teenagers. Nolan, you’re in highschool. Be an example and stay calm for Hailey, okay? I’m sure middle school’s already enough for her.” ‘Only teenagers.’ That doesn’t change the fact that our sister is missing. Of course we’re going to worry.
Once we’re at home, we take off our soaking rain jackets and go upstairs and into Naomi’s room, which we had searched two days ago, but frantically and panicking. Now that we’re calm, we can focus. I take a slow look at everything in here, from her bed sheets to the printed pictures taped to the wall to her big brown jacket and her favorite stuffed pig, Silly. I think she would have taken those with her if she ran away… but if she didn’t go by choice- I don’t finish the thought. I look over to her desk. Homework papers and a pen… and her journal. I reach over for the journal and look inside. The last entry is from a week ago. April 6, 2024 *Journal entry is too inappropriate for Scratch, I guess I'll leave you wondering heheheh >:D* I can’t describe the heaviness in my heart. I drop the book as I shed a few tears. It makes my heart burn, and it might as well pound out of my chest. I let out a wheezy sob. She could be kidnapped. Or dead. Or on her own and scared. I can’t bear to think about it. I have to see these conversations. I use all of my strength to pull myself up, but then stumble over to the side and fall onto Naomi’s bed. Just where her laptop is. I sit up and open it, but there’s a password. “I know her password,” Nolan tells me. “It’s lovingbird9.” “Thanks.” I enter her password and it works. I restore her pages. She left off just after she hung up a private call. It says ‘Anonymous Contact: Saturday, two o’ clock to three thirty six.’ I wish I could find out who she was talking to, even if she didn’t know herself. And I wish I knew what they were talking about. “Nolan, look in her diary. The last entry. This was on her laptop.” I turn it around to show him. “I’m going to check her search history.” I log into that, and there’s nothing. Not even in the deleted history. She used a private browser. For everything. What is she doing? My tears fall faster. I feel so terrible that Naomi felt as if she had to hide everything. I’m sick to my stomach. Nolan starts to read the other journal entries, but I feel too sick to do the same. The next thing I know, I’ve fallen over onto a pillow. Now I’m very sickly exasperated with Jade. There's not another way to explain it. Why would she do this to her best friend's own sister? Or anyone at all? My head spins and the world whirls and falls away.
