Mr. Sandman

seven

"You can't just text me before you hang out with him and then not tell me anything afterwards." I heard Sidney's familiar voice come up from behind me. I looked up from the transcript in front of me as she rested her hands on her hips. "Well?"

"Well what?" I shrugged and her jaw dropped.

"Don't play stupid! What did you guys do?" She pushed the conversation and I laughed.

"We played board games with his flatmate and some of their friends." I said and picked up my pen from the desk, opening the transcript again.

"Are details too much to ask for?" She kneeled down to my level and I shrugged.

"You're expecting like a romance novel out of nothing. We're just friends." I said and she rolled her eyes.

"You're clearly into him, so why haven't you made any moves yet?" She questioned. This made me think. Why hadn't I?

"I don't know. I'm not one hundred percent sure about him yet, I guess." I said, and I meant it. Something seemed off about Dan. I couldn't quite place it, but something wasn't right. Before I even considered anything romantic with him, I needed to figure him out.

"You know, that's what I said about Eric at first. Then I realized that that's just how boys are. They're all weird." She referenced her boyfriend of almost one year. Her comments seemed to completely roll over the top of my head, one by one, as I began to think more about Dan.

"He was really pushing to walk me home last night," I thought out loud. Sidney put her hand flat on my desk and gave me a stupid look. "What?"

"That's so gentlemeny!" She exclaimed and I quirked an eyebrow.

"Is that a word?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Who cares? Did you let him?"

"No."

"Of course not." She stood up, flattening her pencil skirt out. "Just give him a chance. That's clearly all he wants."

"Maybe. But I'm going on a date with Oliver tonight." I said and she looked at me oddly.

"Oliver as in drunk Oliver?" She asked and now it was my turn to give her an odd look.

"You know he's a mess. The guy is stuck in his uni years." She said, playing with a loose piece of hair.

"Well he is in med school." I remarked sarcastically and she scoffed.

"Just trust me. You need to give this Dan guy a chance. He sounds genuine." She said seriously.

"Yeah, yeah." I looked back down at my transcript and studied the print on the white paper.

"You'll thank me one day," she sang as she walked back to her desk.

I let out a sigh and tried to focus back on the packet in front of me, finding myself in this position a lot as of recently. After finishing my editing of the section, I pulled my computer closer to me and slipped my finger over the mouse pad, waking the screen up. I double clicked the Safari icon and waited as the page loaded, showing me the news. My eyes widened immediately when I saw the headline.

Nineteen Year Old Female Goes Missing. Relation to Allison Spader Murder Speculated.

I skimmed the article that claimed a second girl had gone missing two days ago. She was from London and had similar physical features to Allison. Her mother had said she left one night to go clubbing with friends, but then never returned. Completely vanished without a trace. A picture was posted of the girl at the end of the article, and I had to close out of the page from the nausea forming in my stomach.

I shut the lid of my Mac and sat still for a few minutes before looking down at the packet in front of me. When I lived in California, we would always hear about young girls going missing. It never affected me as much as this did. Living on my own probably didn't help my case. I shut my eyes and let out a sigh, opening the packet again.

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this was v short and uneventful and i apologize i have nothing more to say about this sorry lol. idk if you could tell, but the picture of the girl at the beginning of the chapter is sophia. ill probs update tomorrow but for now g'nite