Seventeen Days

Prologue

It's been 17 days since my sister died.
We still have her birthday decorations strung up in the dining room of our little house in the woods. It's felt like an eternity since she's left. I wish my mother would take them down, but I haven't seen her come out of her room in days. I wonder if she's doing alright.
My name is Jordan Gayle. I'm 16 years old. And I know you're thinking, "Oh god no don't tell us about yourself," but I think this is important. Otherwise, how would you know what I look like? You don't wanna picture me as some hunky dude with long flowing gold hair. My dark brown hair is tangled and dirty from my lack of personal hygiene lately, and the dark rings around my eyes had been getting deeper from my lack of sleep. My mother had been telling me that I might need to start ducking through the doorways soon, or at least she told me that before the funeral. But this is enough talk about me. This story isn't about me. It's about my sister. Clarisse.
The day is October 12th. It seems like an eternity has passed since she's been away. The last time I saw her was at her funeral just a few days after her 15th birthday. I don't know why I didn't cry when they lowered her into the ground.
She was beautiful. Before and after death. Is that strange to say about your sister? I hope it isn't. But I wouldn't want to lie to anyone reading this about her beauty. Tall, and skinny, with short brown hair and blue eyes. A pretty close copy of me. Now if only I could attract girls like she attracted boys... But that's not important. All that's important is that I find out how she died.

I've stopped going to school since I found her body, soaked in blood, with long, deep cuts down her back, lying half out of a river only a mile away from our home. The second I saw her, I... I dropped to my knees, shaking her shoulder, screaming her name...