Missing

2021

Sophomore Year

After a couple shots of liquor, I grab my cup of beer and stumble out of Angela Monroe's living room in search of my favorite party game. I remember seeing some guys playing it downstairs earlier. But I don't even succeed in making it to the stairs when someone grabs me by the arm and pulls me into a room. I barely set my cup on the nearby shelf when Dan pushes me to the wall, not-so-gently, and starts pushing his hand up my sweater.

"Dan, are you sure we should be doing this right now? Rachel's here. It's...", I lose my breath as he places a finger on my lips and trails kisses along my neck.

"Shhh", he whispers.

"What if she finds out?"

"She won't."

"We should at least shut the...", he doesn't give me a chance to say "door" as he pushes his lips into mine, his beer breath clouding my lungs. We kissed non-stop for two minutes.

I don't know for how much longer I can keep it up so I feel a little bit of relief when we get interrupted by a short gasp in the doorway that makes us pull apart. But my relief doesn't last long.

Fuck! Someone must have seen me kissing Dan and gone ahead to tell his girlfriend who is also my best friend, Rachel. Still covering her mouth, Rachel storms off in the direction of the living room. I release myself from Dan's grip and run after her.

"Rachel. Wait up! Please, I can explain", I scream trying to catch up to her when she suddenly stops and turns back to face me.

"Rachel, listen... I don't even know how to explain this. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, a mistake I'll always regret. But Dan, he wouldn't stop and I... I didn't know what to do."

"You didn't know what to do?", Rachel asks, the pain evident in her voice. "Well, you could've stopped screwing my boyfriend."

"Look, I didn't mean to..."

"You know what, Eve?", she looks directly at me before uttering five words. Words that never stop haunting me.

She says, "I really am not surprised". Then she stalks off.

When I go back into the house, I spot Jasmine Walters standing in the corner, a devilish smirk forming on her lips. She must have told Rachel about Dan and me.

I feel like throwing the entire contents of the cup in my hand in her face. But no matter how much I hate Jasmine at the moment, I hate myself even more.

I'm so fucking stupid.

The hopelessness of it all makes me down a few more shots of vodka before going home. But apparently, drinking and driving don't go together as I don't make it halfway before running my car into a tree.

Present

"Hey, it's Rachel. Leave a message."

This is the fifteenth time I'm calling her since I got to school and found out that she hasn't arrived yet. The sudden dizziness that grips me makes me lean over and grab the railings beside me.

"Hey, you okay?"

I glance over just in time to see James Adams, Rachel's present boyfriend. The one I said was kinda intense.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just feeling a little dizzy."

"I was talking about yesterday. I heard", his voice reduces to a whisper."

"Oh, I'm fine, really. Thanks."

"Sure. Um, have you seen Rach today?"

"I was actually going to ask you the same thing. I texted her to pick me up earlier. She didn't reply. I had to take the bus."

"Seriously?", he asks, concern flooding his features.

"Of course, I'm serious. Has she been replying your texts?"

"I haven't texted her since Saturday. She sorta froze me out this past week so I figured she needed some space since it's totally impossible that she was with some other guy, right?"

"You're a dick. You know that?", I rub my forehead with my fingers. The tension in my chest keeps rising.

"James, I refuse to believe that Rachel is holed up in her sofa right now watching tv, maybe eating ice cream, oblivious to all my texts and voicemails or comfortably ignoring them. We were good when I saw her last night. I think something's up."

"What should we do, then?"

"I don't have her Dad's phone number. I'd have called him to make sure she's okay even though that could piss her off, especially if she doesn't want her Dad to know she's skipping school."

"What do you say we drive up to her house, then?", James offers.

"But that would mean missing Mrs. Hillary's class...", I pause for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm in", I agree, figuring that I may get hypertensive if I don't hear from Rachel soon.

The drive to Rachel's house is pretty silent and boring because apart from bickering and talking about schoolwork, we don't really have much in common to talk about.

He loves football. I hate football. He adores Eminem. I think the guy's overrated.

Anyway, I guess it's a good thing because this way, if I don't get along with James, Rachel won't have to worry about what happened with Dan happening with him.

But when the silence threatens to implode our vehicle, I break it.

"So who told you? About what happened yesterday."

"My uncle."

I nod. James was an orphan when he moved into Blue Channels a couple of years ago with his uncle, Wade.

"Your uncle. He knows me?", I ask.

"Not exactly. But he knows Rachel. He described you as the auburn girl he's seen once or twice with Rachel. I knew it was you."

"Oh, okay."

"What really happened though?"

"Nothing. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time", I grunt.

"We? Rachel was there too?"

I know that's not the last question he's going to ask if I give him the chance so I don't say anything.

"I see you don't want to talk about it."

"Look who's finally taken a hint", I reply curtly even though I'm the one who brought it up in the first place.

When we get there, her car's not in the driveway.

"I don't think she's home. Her car's gone. What do you think?"

"I don't know. Sometimes her Dad takes her car instead because of the air conditioning."

"To take women on dates?"

"His wife died this year, James. I doubt it. By the way, don't tell him you're her boyfriend. You got it?" I believe Rachel has a right to choose when her Dad gets to meet her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I got it."

I knock on the door, half expecting to see Rachel in her pajamas, staring at me with those large eyes that seem to pop out of the sockets whenever she's staring (that actually looks a lot cuter than it sounds). But, it's her dad that shows up.

"Hey, guys", he beams, and then as quickly, his expression darkens. "Eve, is there a problem?"

I look past him into the house. Rachel's not on the couch. Instead, there are empty beer bottles on the couch.

"Pardon my manners. Come in", Rachel's Dad opens the door wider and ushers me in. James walks in after me and shuts the door.

"We just wanted to make sure Rachel's okay."

Rachel's Dad tilts his head, confusion etching on his face. I conjure up an explanation.

"I mean, since she didn't show up at school, we assumed she's come down with a fever or something." 

"What do you mean she didn't show up at school?", he looks even more confused now.

"Wait, are you saying she left for school?", James butts in.

"Um, yeah, I guess", he fumbles with his lighter. Now it's his turn to give us an explanation, whatever the hell he meant by "I guess".

"By the time I woke up, she was already gone. I assumed she already left for school."

"And, you didn't call or text her to confirm that?", now I'm really beginning to sound like a detective.

"We had a row last night. I didn't think she'd want to hear from me."

From the look on his face, I'm guessing he doesn't want to tell us the details. But I'm betting it has something to do with his drinking problem.

"Maybe she ran away 'cos of, you know, whatever you guys argued about?", James asks looking kinda puzzled.

"I doubt it. Rachel's not like that. And besides, apart from my sister, Liz, the closest of our relatives she can possibly hole up with are hundreds of miles away", he nods, "I'm pretty sure Alice would've called if Rachel's at her place. What if she went to see a boy or something like that?"

I throw a glance at James. He might be a total asshole at times but we both know Rachel would never cheat on him.

"It's unlikely", I sigh. "I think we should maybe involve the police", I suggest, my mind already going through the worst possibilities.

"Yeah, probably", James adds. "Maybe they can trace her cell."

"Guys, Rachel's now an adult", Rachel's Dad shakes his head, creases appearing on his forehead. "The police won't take us seriously if she hasn't been gone for up to twenty-four hours"

James interjects, "We have no idea where she could be right now. That isn't enough to define her as missing?"

Missing.

The word feels like a thousand needles in my brain.

"Her car is nowhere to be found", I start, "She's not at school or home. I mean the last time you even saw her was yesterday night. And now, she's but picking up her phone which is like, mega weird because she's never missed my calls. You can't just sit here and wait for her to come back. What if she needs our help wherever she is and... "

"Wait. You think she has been kidnapped?", he blurts out.

"I think we need to convince the police to help us find her."

Rachel's Dad looks completely bewildered. "Let me make a call". He excuses himself and I think I have a pretty good idea who is putting that call to. His sister, Elizabeth, who works at the Blue Channels Police Department. I can hear his voice from the kitchen as he says, "Hey, Liz. We need to talk".

*****

After giving our statements to Detective Elizabeth Gilbert, Rachel's aunt, she organized a Missing Person's team in front of Rachel's house. That was when I asked her what I could do to help. I frankly wasn't expecting her to say, "You know what, we could actually use your help".

And that's how I ended up in James' car, a bundle of flyers on my lap with the headline MISSING! and Rachel's picture plastered all over them. I recognize the picture. It's part of the set of pictures we took last Thanksgiving. They probably got it from her I*******m page.

I turn my attention back to the task ahead of me. All we have to do is glue the flyers to walls, noticeboards, old telephone booths, basically, anywhere we can find a surface. Coupling that with television and social media announcements, hopefully, anyone with information on her whereabouts will call the tip line and help bring her home.

Yeah, I know it seems like we're blowing this whole thing out of proportion but it seems like Detective Elizabeth, Rachel's aunt, just like me, has a bad feeling about this.

"Where should we start?", James asks.

"I don't know. Anywhere, I guess. Thanks for doing this, by the way."

"Eve, are you seriously thanking me right now?"

"I mean, you ditched the rest of your classes for this, what if it's all just a dumb prank? I heard about a couple of girls who ran away from home because of some online challenge. The challenge was to disappear for a day without getting discovered."

"Wow, that's crazy... but you know Rachel will never do something like that, right?", James shakes his head and I know he's right.

But I don't want to consider the alternative - that something bad has happened to her. My mind goes back to what happened at Crescent Supermarket last night. Had the Dark Duo maybe kidnapped Rachel? Changing their M.O. again?

"Come on", James opens the car door and gestures at me to come out. "Grab some, we'll come back for more."

We take out of the stack of flyers and get to work. A couple of blocks and flyers later, we arrive at a flower shop. Mrs. Carter, the owner of the shop who delivered my Dad's valentine flowers to my Mom a few times is busy arranging a bouquet of hydrangeas and roses in a vase when we get there.

"Hey, Mrs. Carter", I call out to her.

"Hi, Eve", she presents a huge smile.

"We're looking for our friend, Rachel. She went missing today. We were hoping we could leave one of these in the front", I show her the flyer.

"Yeah, sure. Sure", she replies casually like people going missing is totally normal. "Most missing persons usually come back by themselves within twenty-four hours. She'll come home", she suddenly fixes her gaze on the flyers in my hand. "Wait, is that the missing girl on the flyer?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I saw Rachel yesterday night around nine"

"You did?", I look at James and he's just as surprised as I am.

"She was driving a blue car. She waited in front of my shop for a while - texting someone, I think. She seemed kind of out of herself, by the way."

Out of herself - That's exactly how I would describe the Rachel I saw at the hospital last night.

"Mrs. Carter, could you please call the tip line and give them this information? It will really help the search"

"Of course, I'd do that immediately."

I know I told Mrs. Carter to call the tip line but immediately I walk out of the shop. I punch the numbers in and dial it myself.