Do we truly know those we consider as our family?
This is the last year before the beginning of the rest of Cara and Mia lives!
Mia Carter still has one more year to spend on Angel Island before leaving, with her best friend, for Montreal to pursue...
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Chapter 9 - Night Terror
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Mia - Tuesday 12:28 AM
I'm going crazy. I keep rereading my friends' testimonies and looking at all the photos and videos taken during the party. Nothing, no leads. Everything leads me back to Eddie and the mayor. Neither of them was present at the party. They could have been hiding in the parking lot, but being public figures for different reasons, their presence would have been noticed. Without a doubt.
Did I miss something?
There are two time periods during which no one knows what Cara was doing.
The first is between 12:20 AM and 12:40 AM. The argument didn't last an hour. According to Ethan, she locked herself in the bathroom. Why? The logical answer would be that she locked herself to cry, but what if? What if that wasn't the case?
The second time is when she returned to the parking lot between 12:40 AM and 12:50 AM. The time when Austin and I heard her scream. As I think, I write down my observations in the dedicated document on my computer. It has become a sort of personal journal. The police chief is right. I only have speculations. I don't know where Cara is.
The thing that stands out the most when talking to my friends is her withdrawal. I come across a photo of the two of us taken last September, and I can't help but mutter to the smiling Cara frozen on the paper, "What were you hiding from me? Why didn't you say anything?"
If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that her disappearance is connected to her behavior. Someone she knows is responsible. Someone I know too. I can't trust anyone. This realization spins my head. I struggle to breathe. Anxiety attacks are more than present at the moment, adding an extra layer of fatigue. But I can't sleep.
The heat in my room drives me outside, and a few minutes later, I find myself wandering the neighborhood. Walking to clear my head. I don't really have a destination, and in silence, I observe the sleeping houses. The dark cars on the sides of the road and the few cats wandering in the darkness.
My neighborhood is so calm that the only sounds I hear are the ones made by my sneakers on the pavement and my heart that can't calm down. I walk tirelessly. Searching for something, anything. I tuck my hands into the pockets of my old sweatshirt and pull the hood over my head. A shiver runs through me as I finally reach the street leading to the Ward house.
It's at the end of this street, and as I approach it, I look up at the large dark stone building. How many secrets does this house hold? I stop three blocks away and silently observe it. I can't hear any noise anymore. Even my heart seems to have stopped.
A shiver runs down my neck. I don't know how long I stayed like that, motionless. A feeling of unease suddenly overwhelms me. As if a voice is whispering to me that I shouldn't be there. Something is wrong. There's something off. But what? I turn my head towards the houses on the right and then towards the ones on the left, with the strange impression of no longer being alone in this dark street.
The sound of a door slamming startles me so much that I rush into a bush along the sidewalk. As I lift my eyes, they fall upon a human figure seemingly heading towards their vehicle. Mr. Ward.
Although it's too dark to see him clearly, he's coming out of his house and going towards his car. It can only be him. I sink further into the bush, and suddenly headlights illuminate the road. I'm blinded for a few seconds, then the car passes by me without seeing me.
My gaze meets the profile of Cara's father as he fades into the night. After a few more minutes in hiding, I finally decide to come out of the bush. According to my phone, it's 2:30 AM.
Where is he going at this hour?
I hesitate for a few seconds to approach the house when suddenly something catches my eye. A piece of fabric seems to be waiting for me. On the ground in front of the house. A piece of fabric that is familiar to me. A garment. Pink.
I start running towards it. I am suddenly on high alert. The oppressive silence is now deafening as I finally reach the pink garment. I immediately recognize it. It's the top Cara was wearing the night she disappeared. Evidence. I finally have evidence. I grab a piece of wood and lift the fabric with it. It's heavy. Too heavy. I turn it over and fall to my knees. My fingers tremble as I unlock my phone to dial the authorities' number.
