The Crisis

Missing

As I walk to the glass door outside the building I wonder, how did my life go from being happy to miserable only after a week. I grab the handle and open the door to a small warm breeze. I see the man that would take me and my siblings to their home for the time being. I hear the car horn honk twice before a tall, skinny man gets out of the vehicle. I watch as he walks towards us. "Let me take your trunks for you" says the man. I skeptically give him my trunk as my siblings do the same.

I got into the car and thought back to that day that it happened. The day everything changed.

***

I was walking home from school and unlocked the door to my house to find nobody home. I didn't think anything of it because my parents normally work late anyway. I walk upstairs to my room and open my laptop on my desk. I then head to the kitchen to grab some snacks as I wait for my siblings to get home. My older brother, Leo, walks with my little sister, Jane, home so it takes a little longer because he has to pick her up.

I go back to my room and text Leo. 'When are you getting home?' I text him. It makes the small sound that echoes in the room. I put down my phone and start on my homework until I hear the sound, Baru bada da! I then look to my phone and pick it up to see a text saying, 'Be home in 5' I smile and then continue on my homework. Just a couple minutes later I hear the door open and I walk down the stairs to see my siblings.

"They're not here yet?" asks Jane. I shake my head as I say, "No, as usual, they're late". "You should be used to this by now Jane" says Leo. I nod in agreement. "Go do your homework Jane" I say. She nods then runs up to her room forgetting her backpack. I watch her as she goes up the stairs and her feet leave little sounds on the stairs, Thump, thump, thump.

"So- you went and bought her food" I said. "What? No" said Luke. "Then what is an empty burger wrapper and a carton of fries doing in her bag?" I said. "Wh- How?" "Easy- you walked in with your wallet in your hand and Jane had crumbs on her face" I said throwing away the trash. Jane ran back down the stairs, "I forgot my bac-" she then looks to me and then to Leo. "I told you she'd find out, she always does" Jane takes the bag and runs back upstairs.

"She's right you know" said Leo. "I don't think you're right about that" I say. "I'm right, and you know it- you've always been the more observant sibling" chuckles out Leo. "Whatever- Mom and Dad should be home in about 20 minutes and i'm going to finish my homework" I walk up the stairs leaving Leo in the living room to do whatever average teenage boys do. When I finish my homework it's been half an hour. I hear the door open and I rush down the stairs expecting to see my parents but instead it's just Leo- looking out the door. I walk up to him and say, "What're you doing?" Leo, startled, looks at me and sighs, "Waiting for mom and dad, they're not home yet" Leo said. "What? They should be home by now-" I look at my watch, their 10 minutes past their usual time. "They're extra late, Leo"

I rush out the door pushing Leo out of the way and I look both ways on the street. "MOM!? DAD!?" I yell, panicking. "Yelling is not going to help anyone Everly!" yells Leo. "Then why'd you yell?" I say calmly. "Habit- from fighting with you guys when you're stubborn" he chuckles.

"Whatever" I run back inside and look around. I see the car keys on the table. "Leo- come here!" Leo walks over to me. "Look- they never left, not with the car at least" I say. I walk to the garage and look around. I see the car perfectly parked like it was yesterday and all our bikes on the wall. "Looks like they left on foot, and wherever they went musn't be far from here" I say to nobody directly. "What do you mean? Where would they go?" says Leo. "I'm not sure but I'm going to find out, let's go to the room" I say breathing heavily. "The ROOM!? NO MOM AND DAD SAID NEVER TO GO DOWN THERE!" yelled Leo. "Even more a reason to go in there and I thought that yelling was going to get us nowhere" I say calmly as I walk to the door below the stairs. "And- don't you wanna find Mom and Dad?" I ask. "Well, yes but we still shouldn-" says Leo before I cut him off. "Find what our own parents are hiding? Find the truth?" I say.

I open the door curiously and see the long staircase into the basement. I walk down the stairs and see a small light switch which I flick up which turns on a light. This gives me a view of a small table with many maps, books, and other papers. I also see shelves and shelves of books and texts. I look around in awe at all the different things we could learn in this room. My eyes then dart to the table with the maps and papers. Leo comes down the stairway and walks to where I am standing. "Look," I point to a red pinpoint in the map "This is where they're going, but why would they just leave a map of their whereabouts?" Leo looks at me and then the map. "You do know that our neighbors are going to call child services right? They're going to take everything out of the house-" says Leo worriedly. I sigh then say, "I know and we need to pack this all into my trunk and your trunk and please avoid telling anything to Jane," Leo just nods. Even though he's older than me he has always listened to my input. I took the map and all the papers on the table and went back upstairs to put everything away in my trunk. When I got to my room I quickly grabbed my trunk from under my bed and packed it. I packed enough clothes for at least a month, the papers and books in another corner of the trunk and lastly some decorations and photos from my room. I stopped when I found a photo of me and my parents. Where did you go and why did you leave me, I asked myself.

I put the picture in, closed my trunk and locked it. Nothing is going to be the same, I thought. I just sat there staring at the trunk in sadness until I stood up and went to bed.

***

As I woke up the next morning I heard a knock at the door and I scrambled downstairs hoping everything would be just the way it was yesterday in the morning. It was not anything like that at all in fact it was child services. "Hello sir, what could I do for you this evening?" I ask. He eyes me suspiciously and says, "You must be Everly, where are your siblings?" I then yell, "Leo, Jane! Come down stairs!" They both rush down the stairs while their steps got louder until they stood right next to me. "What is it that you need sir?" says Leo in a more official voice while still being embarrassed from having his pj's on.

"You look like a smart young man- I need you all to pack your things and get ready, you have 25 minutes. I'll be in the car," says the agent as we all walk up the stairs to get ready. About 20 minutes later we were all packed and ready to go and we made our way to the officer's vehicle and we were taken to the foster home.

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Hope you liked the first Chapter! I apologise for not uploading more often I have just been busy with school. Hope to be able to upload more in the future and create a schedule of posting soon. Watch for the next Chapter drop. Have fun reading my other stories which i will be continuing. BYE!!