Chapter One

Chapter One 

I finished busting the tables I was working on and threw the dirty rags in the bin on the way back to the locker room. Peyton and I were meant to finish our shifts hours ago, but a few other members of staff had phoned in sick and, well, honestly, I needed the money, we both did. Andrew, our boss, offered extra hours, so we took them. We’re saving practically every penny we can so we can get our own place. 

We didn’t have the best home life, and I know Peyton felt some weird need to ‘’protect’’ me from it. Take me away from the shitty reality we had. In all fairness, it's not like it's our parent's fault. Our family had been through a lot over the years. 

Sighing to myself, I took my apron off and shoved it in my locker. It had gotten to the point now where I didn’t even care if Andrew offered time and a half, I had just done a 14-hour shift, I was tired, I was going home, and I was taking Peyton with me. 

I sat down in the locker room and waited for my twin to get her ass back here. I hadn’t seen her in a little while, but we didn’t do the same jobs, I worked as a waitress and she worked in the kitchen. 

The diner was in a semi-dodgy part of downtown LA… in all fairness, there were a lot of dodgy places down here, the hours were awful, and we often worked till the early hours, but we could get extra shifts pretty easily and when you needed the money... It was kinda a godsend. It just meant we had to deal with some pretty... Strange people sometimes.

Our parent's house was a good 30 minutes away, so we always made sure we walked home together. Of course, we aren’t stupid, we make sure we have protection and the cops are only one button push away. On nights we really didn’t feel like it or .. just didn’t feel safe, we would spring for an Uber, but that was rare. 

Pushing open the doors, Peyton let out a loud dramatic sigh and threw her hands up in the air. I just looked up at her. 

‘You good?’ She stretched out and let out a loud yawn. 

‘I’m sore and in desperate need of a shower. A very HOT shower. I just spent 10 hours crammed in a grease trap with creepy Kyle. I feel like my skin is crawling’. I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘’creepy-Kyle’’ was the nickname she gave the other cook who worked here. In all fairness, he was a creep... 

‘Well, take five and then we will head out. I just wanna get home to bed’. I had been here longer than her, and my bed was certainly calling me! 

‘I really can’t be bothereddd’. She whined, ‘Can’t we just get an Uber tonight?’ I thought about it... For about 2 seconds. 

‘Hell. yes!’. I changed my shoes into something more comfortable and shoved my tatty work ones into my locker, grabbed my bag and locked it up. ‘I’m gonna go to the bathroom and then I'll book it’. She nodded and I headed off to the staff bathroom. 

I did my business and went to wash my hands. I looked out the window of the bathroom and saw it was raining, quite heavily. Just another reason to add to the long list as to why we should Uber home. Maybe it was the right call after all. I checked the app and booked us in, but being a weekend in the city, I wasn’t holding onto much hope of it being ‘’asap’’. 

Wondering back through the diner to my sister, something, or rather someone, stopped me dead in my tracks. 

There was a girl sitting in one of the booths, alone, drenched, clearly a runaway. There were a lot of those around here, but she had a striking resemblance to Millie. It took me a minute to realize that it wasn’t here and I hurried back to the locker room. My sister noticed my paled expression and asked if everything was ok; 

‘Yeah, everything's fine. Uber’s booked, just waiting for confirmation’. I told her and sat down again. 

It was silly of me to think it was her... Even if she looked so similar. Millie was gone, dead most likely, we all knew it. Sure, she might have looked like her, but even if she was alive, I’m sure she would look a lot different to how I remembered her. 

Millie was mine and Peyton’s older sister. She went travelling with some friends for spring break years ago and... Just never came back. The story her friends told was she literally just vanished one night while she was talking back to the Motel they were all staying at in Texas on the way to Florida. For whatever reason, they had decided to drive all the way from Orange County, god knows why, but obviously, once Millie went missing, they came straight home. 

She’s still technically listed as a missing person, but we all knew she was most likely dead. There were a lot of disappearances in Texas that year, she was just one of many… 

‘Hey, are you sure you’re ok?’ Pey asked, sitting next to me and placing her hand on my knee. I shook my head, shaking away the horrible memories and forced a smile. 

‘Yeah, I’m just ready to go home’. She packed up her things, shoved her work shoes and apron in her locker and we headed out, shouting a ‘’goodnight’’ to the remaining staff, that, unfortunately, would be on now until the morning. 

I checked my phone. Our ride had been approved and our driver would be with us soon. Good. A big burst of cold wind came shooting past our legs, making us huggle together and shiver. Pulling my jacket closed tighter, I grabbed Peyton's arm and pulled her off to the side where there was a little bit of shelter from the rain. 

The street was eerily quiet, and when it was like this, it gave me the creeps, our Uber couldn’t come quick enough! 

5 minutes passed. 

Then 10… 

And our ride still wasn’t here. I checked my phone again but there wasn’t another update. I decided to ring and see what the hold up was. 

‘Give me a minute’. I told my sister and stepped away slightly, into the alley, shielding myself from the wind so I could hear better, but there wasn’t an answer. ‘For god's sake! There's no answer!’. I told Pey, turning around again, but… she was gone. I looked around confused, this wasn’t the time for bloody games! ‘Peyton!’. I shouted. Had she forgotten something and gone back inside the diner? 

I went to go and look, but before I could, a hand clamped around my mouth, I tried to scream, but it was pointless. I could feel my heartbeat so hard it felt like it was going to pound out of my chest! 

I was dragged backwards, away from any light from the street and saw a big white van. The door was open and someone was in the doorway. 

Oh, shit! No, no no! 

I started panicking more and tried to kick out, but whoever had a hold of me was much stronger and just held me tighter until they picked me up and pushed me into the van, before I could even register anything, the door slid shut and I was plunged into darkness! 

What the fuck was happening?!