Framed

Chapter 1: Life Turns South

It was early one Friday. Elizabeth woke up around 6:15 in the morning and like usual, it was silent. Her mom works two jobs each day and she has to get up and leave before Elizabeth even wakes up and she doesn't get home till her daughter is long asleep. She comes home during school to shower, change clothes, and eat but then she leaves for her second job after that. Elizabeth only sees her on the weekends.

Elizabeth walked into the kitchen and got herself a bowl of Capn' Crunch and ate it while she made and packed her lunch and then she finished getting ready and started walking to school like usual. Her day went by like it usually does, eight hours of taking notes and getting assigned homework that never seemed to stop piling up. Then she walked home and grabbed a snack before starting on that mountain of homework. When all the homework was done, she flopped down on the couch and turned on the television.

It wasn't until then that Elizabeth realized something felt off. It was a strange feeling that she had never felt before. She decided to switch from late night cartoons to the news just to be safe and what she saw shocked her more than anything else. A news reporter named Jenny Sparks was standing in front of the hospital where her mom worked at nights. She turned up the television to hear what the reporter was saying.

"I'm standing here in front of Oakville's very own hospital with some shocking news. A terrible terrible accident has happened in the children's wing of the hospital-"

'That's my moms wing'

"- head nurse Sarah Jones has come up missing.-"

'Mom...'

" -It all started when the fire alarm was mysterously pulled and the alarms sounded in every other wing of the hospital...except the children's wing. Police think the criminal did this on purpose. Firefighters arrived on the scene and cleared the building stating that no sign of any fires were to be seen. Doctors and patients flooded back into the building but when doctors went to the childrens wing, Sarah was no where to be found. Police have pulled records on Miss. Jones and they are charging 15 year old Elizabeth Jones with her mother's disappearance since Elizabeth is the only family for miles. This is Jenny Sparks signing off. Back to you Tom."

Elizabeth turned off the television.

'I'm wanted by the cops? She's the only family I have! Why would I kidnap her? Besides I've been at school all day! This doesn't make sense"

One thing she did know for sure though. It was she could not stay here. She HAD to find her mom and clear this up. She had worked way to hard and she had a full college scholarship ahead of her. So Elizabeth ran to her room and grabbed her old backpack out of her closet. She packed it with 2 changes of clothes, the money in her piggy bank which was about $10 in quarters, the money from her mom's drawer which was about $50, some apples and bananas and other snack food, a couple bottles of water, and a small blanket from the hall closet. Elizabeth slung the backpack onto her shoulder and set out on foot.

It was about 8:30 so it had just recently become dark. The perfect cover as long as she got out of the busy city and stuck to the shadows. She wandered through allyways and out of the city and then found an old train track bridge about a mile out of the city part that seemed to be untouched for years. Elizabeth decided to settle down here for the night. The police would check her house and then search their way out to the city to the more urban areas. So Elizabeh pulled the blanket out of her bag and nestled down in the overgrown weeds for the night. At least they could provide some cover for the night.