The Sister.

Into the Woods

Mel

I woke to sharp pain pulling at my scalp. Cold wind hit my cheek. My vision cleared slowly to reveal Theresa kneeling over me,  holding my head up by a fistful of hair. Her makeup ran with sweat, her eyes glazed with mixed concentration and horror. Her knuckles were white on the handle of the knife, it's wicked blade suspended just above my bare throat. 

Ryan 

We stood in a small mob outside the theatre, which attached directly to the Spring Willows East (and only) Mall. Bridget and Darren leaned over Stacey's phone as she showed them some new app. Lou was flirting with an attendant from Curry's, showing him something on her prized Minolta film camera. Jake stood against the wall, fixing me in a death  glare. 

It wasn't like Mel to pass on a movie. It was less like her not to answer my texts. 

"I'm going to turn in early." I said. 

"Aw, why?" Bridget pouted.

"I'm tired." I faked a yawn. 

"Okay. Call me tomorrow, eh?" Darren asked.

"Sure thing. See you later man." I waved to my friends and headed for the theatre exit.

I caught a bus on the corner of Gore and Mull street. Taking a seat next to a woman and her two small children, I couldn't help but feel anxious. It was understandable someone would act strange with a family member missing, but, Mel? Over Theresa? After all that had happened? She was almost acting...Guilty.

Mel

I could hear the whimpers, I just wasn't sure if they were mine or Theresa's. The cold blade rattled against my throat as my sister's grip shook and shivered. I could see blood welling from where she bit her lip. 

"Rhesa." I whispered. "Don't." Her eyes flashed to meet mine, glazed and fearsome. She choked on her own breath. 

I felt the cold metal cut into my flesh.

Ryan

I got off a block from Mel's. The sun had vanished long ago, and the indigo night was clear and spattered with stars. The last streak of sunset red hung hauntingly over the woods.  I jogged up the steps, knocking on the door. The sound dropped into the silence of the house. There was no car in the driveway. 

I pressed the handle, and the door swung slowly open. 

"Hello?" There was no reply. 

Bridget

"Hey, where's Ryan?" asked Lou, brushing aside her dark hair.

"He left. Said he was tired." Darren answered.

"Or maybe he went to see Melany!" I added mischieviously. 

"Good riddance." Scoffed Jake. Lou scowled at him. 

"Why are you even here? Your girlfriend's at home worrying about her missing sister. You should be the one leaving to see her." 

"I AGREE WITH LOU." I said loudly.

"She's right." grunted Darren. Stacey kept her peaceful silence, but I knew she agreed with us. 

"Whatever." Jake muttered. He stalked away, into the nearest music store.

 "He's been acting weird lately." Stacey said in her soft voice, pushing her circular glasses higher up on her freckled nose.

"Jake's always weird." Scoffed Lou.

"No... Not Jake. Ryan."

Ryan

"Mrs. Liss? Mel?" No reply. Had they gone back to the police station? I could hear a faint scratching from the back of the house, like nails on plastic. I kicked away my boots and stepped through the entrance to old kitchen with it's pealing paint and trim. A faint whimpering arose from just outside the  back door. I peared through the window, but could see nothing but shadowed snow and solemn birch trees in the indigo starlight. 

Mew

Mew

I pulled the knob but the door didn't budge. I snapped back the lock and tried again. The door had expanded in the cold winter months, and stuck fast to it's frame. I braced my feet and gave a final yank, wrenching the swollen door from it's lodging. 

A red orange streak shot into the house, twining thankfully around my ankles. 

"Hey Muff. You get locked out again, silly kitty?" I went to close the door, but the shifting shadows caught my eye. 

Footprints, the treads of Mel's boots, leading away into the woods, towards the creak. 

Theresa. 

I stumbled back through the woods, the knife still held in my unclenching fist. I turned in  the direction of civilization, but east from the Liss' house. The last of the sunset bloodied the sky just beyond the tree tops, silhouetting the point of pines and finger-birch branches that clawed the navy blue sky. A church steeple broke the horizon, marking the Willow Springs Catholic cemetry. 

Bridget

"What's that supposed to mean?" Said Lou with a classic 'are-you-mental' signature look. Stacey launched into a long, in-depth explanation. My phone vibrated in my pocket, starting into the first chorus of 'Rock Me.' 

"Yello."

"Bridget? Hi hun, is Melany with you guys? I can't get ahold of her..." It was Mrs. Liss. She sounded upset.

"No...She said she wasn't feeling well. She went home to lie down."

"Oh..." There was a long pause.

"Maybe she's sleeping. Is Ryan there?" She sniffed, as if she'd been crying.

"No...He-" I broke off midsentence, my eyes snagged on the news stand in front of me. Black ink burned off the paper, making it impossible to tear away my gaze. The letters swam, but their message was clear. "Oh my God." 

Ryan

I retrieved my boots and ventured back into the night. The temperature had dropped to nearly twenty below, snow fell in fat white clusters. Winter had reclaimed the waning Spring. 

Mel's foot prints vanished into the freshly fallen forest floor. I traced the woods' perimeter, wandering just within the trees. 

"Mel!" I called. "Melany!" my voice was dampened by the heavy snow, erasing my words as it covered the dark earth. 

 Bridget

I tore the paper off the rack, absorbing the print as more of a horror story than an article. Darren appeared over my shoulder.

"Bridge?" He asked gently. I stood frozen. Mrs. Liss' voice still crackling through the phone in my hand. I felt it pried from my fingers. 

"Mrs. Liss?" He asked. "Do you know about the paper?" I heard her sobbing on the other end. 

"Bridget." Stacey's slim fingers appeared on my shoulder. "What is it?' I held the paper for her too see.

                      Death of Missing Teen's Mother Reopened as Suspected Murder.

                                                             Family In Danger.

"They can't find Mel." I said with dry certainty.