Everyone Talks

7 - Town Without Pity

Something felt wrong.

It was like when you knew you forgot something at home, but for the life of you, couldn't remember what it was and going back wouldn't likely give you any clues. Like there was something big going on that Nellie hadn't written down on her calendar. Something she was supposed to prepare for but hadn't. No matter how many times she flipped through her phone or her day planner, nothing helped. Instead, the anxiety increased.

Nellie frowned as she pulled into the senior parking lot, still somehow keeping an eye on people as they walked towards the high school building.

Everyone was huddled together, eyes darting around and heads bent toward each other.

It was in the air, too. A heady sense of wrongness pressed down on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

Nellie didn't even bother saying anything to Kaitlin before she got out of the car and darted to the media center, where her first class was. Nellie had barely gotten out before Emory and Charlie were at her car, their faces pale.

"What do ya know?" Emory demanded before Nellie had even shut her door.

"About what?" Nellie asked, getting her backpack out of the back.

"What the hell were ya doin' this weekend?" Emory nearly shouted. "Livin' under a rock?"

"Kinda. Dad took my phone and turned the WiFi off," Nellie grumbled. "Then he left Sunday, and Mimi had us cleanin' until it was time for bed."

She turned around, finally taking in her best friends.

Both of them had wide eyes and Charlie was fiddling with the strap of her softball bag while glancing at Emory. Emory's mouth was gaping.

"Ya mean ya don't know?"

"I think we've established that, Em. Ya gonna tell me what it is? Sophia hook up with another football player after the party?" Nellie asked, huffing out a laugh.

Emory and Charlie looked at each other.

"Nell... Sophia's missing. It was on CreekTalk this mornin'."

Another laugh bubbled up but quickly died when Nellie realized just how serious her friends were right now. She looked around the campus as it hit her why something felt wrong. It was then that she remembered her dad's phone call yesterday.

Holy cow.

Sophia was missing? That couldn't be right. Just a few days ago, the dancer was chewing Nellie's head off at a party. She had seemed fine then. Annoyed, but fine.

"How long?" she asked, looking back at Emory and Charlie.

"We were hopin' you knew," Charlie said.

A heavy weight settled in her stomach as she remembered her father's phone call yesterday. At the time, she had thought it might be serious, but then brushed it off when she realized it gave her a day free from her father.

And then she had forgotten about it completely.

Sophia was missing, and Nellie hadn't thought twice about it.

"Dad took off yesterday... got a call around 11. Heard him talkin' about someone goin' missin', but... I thought it was..." Nellie shook her head. "Not sure what I thought it was, but I didn't hear him come in last night. He was already gone this mornin', too. Left my phone on the kitchen counter."

"Shit. This is serious," Charlie said.

Frowning, Nellie looked at the school, seeing clusters of students through the windows. Hiking her backpack up, she walked up the stairs and crossed the driveway, heading inside. All around her, the buzz of conversation hummed. It was electric.