Gone too soon

Arina

     I woke up late this morning. My older brother Javi walked in my room and walked straight towards my organized bookshelf. I have graphic novels on one side, Romance novels to the other, and my collections of book sets on the third and second shelf. I have the summer i turned pretty, the twilight saga, the after series, the Harry Potter series and A series of Unfortunate events. My bookshelf is one my most cherished things in my life. Javi doesn't even read so i don't even know why he's in here. I sat up. My bun was all messed up now. I blew a few strands out of my face. "What are you doing?" I asked. He froze. He put the book back on the shelf in an unorganized position. That irked me. He let his shoulders down, sighed and turned around to look at me. "Libby wants a book. She's dying of boredom waiting for her phone to charge." He answered. Libby was his girlfriend. I didn't have any problems with her except for the last time she borrowed a book from me.

       She asked me to borrow one of my favorite books ever. The Great gatsby.I read that book fourteen times and Libby had to go and mess it up. I gave it to her, I made sure to tell her to take care of it, and to give it back later on. Oh she gave it back alright. Some pages were ripped, The cover had pencil marks, The spine was all torn up. I replaced the book and confronted her about it. "Hell no." I made sure I said it loud enough so he heard me loud and clear. "C'mon sis please." He pleaded. "What book does she want?" I asked him. "The first Harry Potter book." He said. I got up and grabbed the book from it's wrong place which Javi had put it in. I took pictures of the first fifty-seven pages and printed them. Then I grabbed my stapler and put it all together. "If she needs more pages, let me know." I said as I handed him the little packet I made. He mumbled under his breath. It sounded like he called me petty.

      I didn't care. It's not my fault she acts like she doesn't know what a book is. I laid back in bed, Reaching for my phone on my nightstand. I unplugged it from the charger. I did my face ID and read all my new messages. A text from Kaleb.

Hey, is Sofie up? She's not answering my texts.

      Typical Kaleb. Always worried about Sofie. I got up, put on my slippers and robe and walked out of my beautifully decorated room and went down the hall to the guest room. I knocked on the door four times. I heard the shower running right across from the guest room. "Sofie?," I asked. I knocked on the door once more. I decided to open the door and walked in. Her stuff was there but she wasn't. I decided not to worry about it and went in the opposite direction towards the bathroom door. I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. Daddy didn't approve of banging on the doors in the house but I was getting worried. I banged on the door with the side of my fist. No answer again. "Sofie!" I screamed. I decided to open the bathroom door but it was locked. "Damn. Justin!" I screamed. Justin knew how to pick locks like a pro.

       I don't know why though. He said it was to get in Mom and Dad's room whenever they took his stuff. Reasonable. He came out of his room. "What Dude?" He said. "First off don't dude me. Open this door for me."I demanded. He looked at me like i was some sort of creep for trying to get into the bathroom while someone was showering. He rolled his eyes. "Bobby pin." He said as he held his hand out. I pulled one out of my hair and placed it in his hand. He placed the pin in the keyhole and got to work. Not even a minute passed and he was already finished. "Thanks, jailbird." I said. I handed him a ten dollar bill. I called him Jailbird because when he first said my name when he was little, my mom and I were watching jailbirds together.

       He nodded and walked off. I twisted the door knob and opened the door. I walked in. The room was filled to the roof with steam. "Damn Sofie, You think my house is a Sauna or something." I said while I coughed. I didn't get any reply. "Sofie?" I said again. I pushed the yellow shower curtain. Nothing moved behind it. I opened the shower curtain a little. Nobody was there. I turned off the water. That's odd. Sofie usually tells me when she leaves. I ran to my room and grabbed my phone. I clicked on her name. The phone started ringing. It rang, and rung and rang, until finally I heard her voice.

      "Hey!" She said, "Oh my god what is wrong with you-" I said but I was interrupted. "This is Sofie, I'll call back if i can Love ya!" Sofie's voice said. It was her voicemail. I was getting worried. I was worried. I pressed Kaleb's name and called him. He answered "Hello?" He said, "Kaleb, Sofie's gone." I told him. He hung up right after I said that. He probably thought I meant she was dead. I ran downstairs and went to the kitchen. My mom was cooking breakfast. "Mom, where's Sofie?" I asked. My heart was beating so fast I could feel like it was going to explode out of my chest. "Good Morning to you too, Baby. I don't know" She said, I nodded. I walked out the door, Sofie's house wasn't that far it was like four seven or six blocks away. I realized I forgot my keys and went back inside. I grabbed them and walked back out again.

     I got in my car, started it and pressed the gas. I drove all the way to Sofie's house. I noticed my necklace that Manuel got me. It was hanging on my rear view mirror. It was a gorgeous necklace. It had my name on it in silver. Manuel got it for me on my fifteenth birthday. When my father got me my car last year I put the necklace right on the rear view mirror. I pulled into Sofie's driveway and parked my car. I rang the doorbell twice. I heard the lock on the door start to unlock. Ms. Perez answered the door. Ms. Perez was Sofie's mom. She always treated me like I was her own kid. "Hey honey." She said, She was in her workout gear. She had sweat dripping down from her face going onto her neck. "Yeah, Uhm Hey, Ms. Perez. Is Sofie home?" I asked. Ms. Perez looked me up and down. I still had on my pink silk pajamas. To make my outfit even worse, my bun was still all messed up from this morning, and I had my slippers on. "No, Honey. She texted me and told me she was staying with you, that's the last i heard from her." She said, I ran back into my car. There was only one more place to check.

     I got in my car and started to drive. When I pulled onto the freeway Kaleb and Manuel facetimed me. "Where is Sofie at?" Manuel said. I wasn't looking at them because I was focusing on the road. "I'm not sure. I woke up and she wasn't at my house. Then i went to her house, her mom hasn't heard from her since last night. I'm on my way to the park now." I said. They boys said they would meet me at the park then we hung up. When I got there the boys were already there. "Don't dress for the occasion?" Kaleb said. I gave him the finger as I walked towards the gate. When we were younger we put a hidden hole in the gate to get to the woods, we found an abandoned treehouse and made it our own. I went through the hole. I was surprised I still fit through it.

     The boys followed behind me. We climbed up that ladder one by one and I went first. We put black-out curtains on the window so we couldn't see anything. Sofie comes here when she's sad or upset. She used to sit on her blue bean bag and cry while she held her old stuffed bunny named Christina. Christina the bunny had a little pink bow on her long white fluffy ears. I turned the flashlight on my phone and looked for the light cord. I pulled the cord and the lights turned on. We all looked around in hopes of finding Sofie. Kaleb fell to his knees on the other side of the tree house. He started screaming and sobbing. We both rushed towards him. Me and Manuel hugged him and told him that we would find her. Then we looked at what he woke up. I kneeled down in utter fear and shock. I screamed and started to cry. Manuel was silent. Frozen with fear. Sofie was laying on the wooden floor with a gunshot through her neck. She laid in a dark red pool of blood.

  "Who would do this to her?" Kaleb spoke, his voice breaking. No one answered. I had so many questions. I walked towards the door and slammed it behind me. I climbed down the ladder and got in my car. I sat there. Emotionless. Tears drying on my face. Sofie was a sweet innocent girl. She never had a boyfriend. She had alway been nice to others around her. She didn't deserve this. No one did. I unlocked my phone and dialed 911.

"Hello 9-1-1. What's your emergency?" The operator said.

"M-My.." The word couldn't come out.
"Hello?"

"M-my friend is dead." The words finally came out. It hurts to say.

"I'm sending a car to your location now."

"Okay," I said.

I hung up the phone. I called Manuel. "Come to the bench in front of the slide. The police are on their way." I said. He didn't even reply, he just hung up. I was pissed off, upset, sad, angry. I was everything. I started to punch my steering wheel and scream, then I rested my head on the wheel and started to cry loudly. I got out of my car still crying. I walked over to the bench in front of the slide and sat down. My elbows resting on my knees and my head resting on my hand. Kaleb and Manuel sat down next to me. No one said a word until the police came.