Troubled

March 2nd

12:30 am

I went over to Maya's house, it was almost 12:30 in the morning, it was something we always did with each other whenever we needed to talk. I hadn't talked to Maya for a couple of days though, she hadn't been at school or Topanga's, and it wasn't like her completely ghost her friends. As I made my way up her fire escape and knocked on her window, I noticed her room was completely dark, I knocked anyway in hopes I might wake her up, but nothing. I waited a few minutes before I decided to call her phone, but again nothing. I knocked a little harder on her window and noticed a little opening in the corner, I pushed it open and climbed into her room and saw it was empty, no Maya, only her favorite brown journal I got for her birthday and 1 envelope that read Lucas. Lucas, not huckleberry or ranger rick, Lucas, Maya never called me by my name. Where was she and why would she leave me a letter, what about Riley or Farkle, or hell what about her own mother? I looked around her room to see if there was something that could tell me where she went, I walked over to her desk and say a drawing she must've been working on, it was a girl sitting in alone with her head in her knees, I turned it over to read "what you did to me was not okay," what did she mean by this? Who would hurt Maya? I sat on her bed and decided to open the letter...

"Lucas, yeah I called you by your name. I wrote this only to you because I felt like you're the best one to handle this situation. Don't show Farkle or even Riley and whatever you do DON'T show my mother. I'm writing you this because I can't stay here anymore, I can't pretend to be happy when I'm really not. Things have happened to me over the past few months, things that I'm not proud of, things I wish I could change but can't. It all started when my mom met Darrion, he's not the guy everyone thinks he is he's evil and he won't stop until I'm gone, so I decided to leave. I'm not going to tell you where I am, and don't even bother trying to call, I want you to know that I'm okay and everything will go back to normal once I get everything settled.

What did she mean "once she got everything settled?" where was she and what was going on. It wasn't like Maya to just up and leave without letting anyone know, especially me. I decided to look around her room to see if I could find anything else that could possibly give me a hint to where she could've gone. Before I knew it the sun was coming up...had I really been sitting in Maya's room all night? I heard what could've been her mom making her way down the hall, I grabbed Maya's journal, the letter, and her sketchbook before heading back out the window. I could see her mom open the door look inside and then shut it like she could care less that her daughter wasn't in her bedroom. I made my way home still thinking about where Maya would go. I know Maya told me not to tell anyone but how am I supposed to keep this from Riley I mean she's one of Maya's best friends she deserves to know, and maybe she'll be able to help me come up with places Maya would go.

I pulled out my phone and tried to call her, but it went straight to voicemail each time. I noticed the time and saw that I had to be at school in just a few hours. I quickly made my way home but couldn't stop my head from spinning about Maya and whether or not she was okay. I climbed through my window so my parents wouldn't see I hadn't been home all night and got ready for school. How was I supposed to face Riley and Farkle knowing that Maya was out there somewhere alone? I couldn't show them the letter because there wasn't one addressed to either of them and Maya basically told me not to. I know why she wouldn't want Riley to know, I mean she'd freak but why not Farkle or her mom.

I managed to get through the entire school day without Riley or Farkle asking too much about Maya, it was normal for her to miss a day because she wanted to, but I knew I didn't have long before they figured something was up.

"Hey, Lucas, Farkle, and I are headed to Topanga's you wanna join?" Riley asked in her normal happy way. I wanted to but I knew I had to come up with something quick so I could spend the rest of my day coming up with clues to find Maya.

"Sorry Riley, I actually promised my mom I would help with some projects around the house"

"Ohh...well okay maybe tomorrow"

Riley made her way down the front steps of the school. I felt bad lying to her, but I had to convince myself it was for her own good. I made my way home and up to my bedroom, I reread the letter thinking I could've missed something but there was nothing. I looked through her sketchbook and noticed all her recent drawings seemed really sad and lonely. I sat on my bed staring at her journal, I didn't want to go through her personal things, but I had no other choice. I flipped through a few pages and came across an entry from a couple of months ago.

January 13th

I had only had a few drinks at the party and before I knew it, I was downstairs with Darrion with a drink in my hand watching some weird comedy movie. He kept staring at me and even commented how different I was from my mother; my personality and even the way I looked. I have to admit I kind of liked it. 

I remember that party, I had to walk Maya home because she was drinking, and I didn't want her walking the streets of New York alone. I never thought to ask Maya but now I couldn't help but question...if Maya had a crush on her mom's boyfriend? I mean she mentioned how she thought he was kind of cute, but I never thought anything of it. I continued reading...

Before I knew it his hands were on my waist and I was on his lap, the kiss was amazing but a part of me knew it was wrong, but I didn't care. My mom had treated me like shit for years saying I could never get anyone to care for me, but what would she say now.

Maya kissed her mom's boyfriend...why would she do that? I knew the way Maya felt about her mom, but I never knew she was capable of something like this. I didn't want to read anything else, but I knew if I wanted to know what happened to Maya I had to. I skipped towards the end of the page and found an entry from the next morning.

January 14th

What did I do and what the hell happened? My mom worked the late shift last night and Darrion had come over to wait for her. I got back from a party at Missy Bradford's when I walked in and saw him on the couch eating a pizza and watching a movie. I thought to myself "he's super-hot and wondering how my mom got so lucky with him?"

I woke up today in my bed with nothing on but an oversized shirt I hadn't seen before. I couldn't remember anything from last night, but I feel a little sore. I look around my room and see all of the clothes I wore to the party spread out across the floor. Had I changed into this last night? My head was spinning and I feel like I might throw up. My phone pinged letting me know I had a message and when I looked down it was an unknown number that wrote "had a great time last night...let's do it again" there was a quicky and kissy-face emoji at the end. Who was this and what happened last night? Come on Maya think what did you do last night?

That was all she wrote about that night and the morning after. I flipped through more pages but the rest of it was blank. January 14th was the last day Maya wrote in this journal, she always wrote in this journal even if it was only a few lines so why had she stopped all of a sudden. She kissed her mom's boyfriend and had no recollection of it, but what if it wasn't just a kiss. Did she kiss him again was the only question coming into my head, is that why she left because she fell for her mom's boyfriend, and he didn't want her? Was he the one who hurt her? I pulled out the letter she wrote to me once again, she said she wasn't the guy everyone thought he was, and he was evil. But why Maya Hart, why was he evil?

Lucas sat on his bed rereading the last entry Maya wrote thinking he misread or missed something she said but found nothing. He paced around his room thinking about what Maya had done and questioned whether or not she was the girl everyone thought she was. Lucas pulled out his phone once again and tried to call Maya, but still nothing. He walked over to his closet pulled out his Leatherman's jacket and made his way to Maya's house once again, he needed to find more he needed answers and Maya's room held all of them so that's where he was going to go.