Invisible

Carlotta - 18

Shock filled the air. My mum's happy face turned to a scared anxious one. She'd only been on the phone for about 5 minutes.

"Okay, I'll tell her. I'm so sorry, and if there is anything we can do please ask. Bye." She hung up and walked head down into the lounge where I was sitting.

"Carlotta, lovely, I have news."

10 minutes later, everything was the same: it was dark, the movie was paused, we were in the lounge... but it wasn't all the same. I was crying, confused and frightened. Frightened for my best friend's safety... who knows? She could be suffering a painful and slow death at this exact moment!

Why oh why do I do that to myself, why would I purposely scare myself?

"Her mum said we could go over to their place so her parent's can explain more." I just nodded as if to say, "yeah, I want to go and see the parents of my now kidnapped friend". I put on my blue jacket and slipped on my trainers. We rushed into the car and started driving. Marie's house was only about 5 minutes drive away and we got there quickly.

I knocked on the door. Signs were still plastered across parts of their crimson brick wall. Marie's brother opened the door. The boy's eyes were covered in red rivers but he was putting on a fake smile.

"Hello Carlotta and Carlotta's mum," he moved his hands, urging us to come in. We turned down the hallway and we took off our shoes. My mum walked into the lounge, with a grave look on her face. I stayed behind, standing next to Alex.

"Is your dad still in hospital?" I tried to sound nice, trying not to pile up more stress on an eight year old whose sister was just kidnapped and dad was almost murdered. He nodded.

"And Marie isn't here," his soft voice started to crack and tears built up in the corners of his eyes, "And- and I don't know why!" He collapsed into my arms and I just stood there - stunned. I kissed the top of his fluffy hair and hugged him tighter. Marie always says she hates her brother and that he's annoying but she doesn't see this side of him. The caring, small, sweet side. I released him and held his shoulders,

"Let's go to the lounge, see your mum, give her a hug, 'kay?" I ruffled his hair a little more and he smiled. It wasn't a massive one, but was better than a fake smile. Apparently, a smile creates as much happiness as 2,000 chocolate bars. I, honestly, never believed that but now, now I did. I wiped his tears and held his hand whilst walking into the lounge. A man in a police uniform was sat on the hunter green armchair. They stopped talking and looked up at me. I waved sympathetically at Mrs. Mayers and greeted the policeman.

"Hello, sir. I'm Marie's best friend Carlotta Berman," I started to stutter, "I - I don't know what's happened." I bit the side of my mouth, the part that was already shredded, to stop the embarrassing outbreak of tears and hiccups.

"Thank you, I'll just finish talking to Jane here," he said and pressed a button on a black radio type thing.

"And then, the receptionist stormed into my husband's hospital room..." she was interrupted:

"Mum, when's Marie coming back?" It was Alex. He had appeared by the door frame, his soft cheeks the colour of poppies. I got up and and shifted my height a little so I was facing him and said enthusiastically,

"She'll be back soon, let's go upstairs and play a game." He smiled a little and I looked at my mum and Mrs. Mayers who sat with their backs as straight as a ruler. Mrs. Mayers looked at me as if to say "Thank you". The police man looked at me too, but his brown tired eyes said a completely different message. It was as if he just wanted me to hurry up and he really didn't care about actually finding Marie. I glared at him.