Brittany O'Neill and her family packed up everything and moved to Berkeley, California for a fresh start. Her brother and she were excepted into Berkeley University and she thought it would be the great college experience. With little to no stresses...
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Chapter Ten
Not for the first time, I was unsure what to do. A part of me wanted to play detective and ask around Berkeley or even use the library computers, but that wouldn't be smart. I wanted to stay away from these people, but doing so would only draw attention, I'd decided. Because Liam, if not the others, seemed to know I was suspicious, and I didn't want to give them any reason to turn on me. Tamron and Max seemed to think I could be in danger of doing so, or maybe anyway.
What if I ended up going missing like the others? If that happened, it begged the question of what would happen to me. Something happened to those girls, and I didn't think they'd all ran away without a trace. Yet why were the missing girls not a bigger story? Forget just around here. Why had the news never picked up on this story and reported on it?
It just didn't make sense. I knew none of the others would talk to me about this, and I didn't know if it was out of fear or desire to protect the guys. I longed to tell someone about it. Normally, my mom and Jayden were so easy to talk to, and I told Mattie everything. I wanted to tell them this, but something told me I shouldn't mention it if the guys were dangerous.
However, I also couldn't just stand back and do nothing. There was no one else here I could confide in. So what did I do? Make one of those dumb decisions, knowing full well it wasn't smart and could end with me in trouble? I went to the library looking for a computer to use. There had to be something I could find on these girls when the internet knew everything, right?
Only they didn't know everything. The girl's names and disappearances were mentioned, information about their time before coming here and after was listed. Yet there was nothing mentioning any of the guys or Clary. Why was there nothing on them when the police investigated them? They would have made it public who they'd gone off with, right?
I felt sick again and was reminded of my trip to the bathroom earlier. I'd made myself throw up, but only once. I needed to stop for good and I was working on that. It wasn't ideal, and I hated the thought of calling it an eating disorder and it was, but I had no problem eating. Mattie had forced me to watch documentaries and look at Google images on eating disorders to remind me how serious my problem could end up being. I appreciated her concern, but I could stop.
I hoped I could stop. I couldn't imagine Mom and Jay's heartbreak if they learned the truth about me. They'd assure me I was beautiful no matter what, and I had no reason to change. They would hate to know I thought so lowly of myself, nor would they want me to do anything that would harm myself. I felt stupid and disgusting about doing that, but I also felt that way when I looked in the mirror. It was just a no-win situation for me and I could never be confident.
Perhaps that would be just worrying about the wrong thing, anyway. I cringed as I pictured my face on a missing poster. Another casualty of these mysterious people who never seemed to get caught. Whatever they were or weren't doing. What if I really would become a victim?
