She's Gone and I'm Lost

05 | the cabin

dedicated to waitingforapancake for their super nice comment on the last chapter (:

05 | the cabin

December 25th | 1:59 pm

Today is Christmas. I couldn't concentrate on having fun with my family, I kept thinking about Alex. My parents adopted a kitten from the animal shelter and gave it to Stella and me. It has fluffy grey fur and had a red ribbon tied around its middle. Stella is elated, I am not. But I don't know why. I've decided to take a break from the festivities to continue my journal, so her I am. Isaac says that he is stopping by for dinner. He hasn't told my parents. This should be interesting.

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After we had gawked at the star map for quite some time, we heard Cecile's voice, "Is everything alright up there?" She must have heard Marleen hit her head on the table. I called out that we were fine and quickly folded the map back up. Marleen picked up the sketchbook and we headed back to the living room together. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Cecile asked.

"Yes," Marleen said. "It's been a long day, I'm super tired, uh, I think we're going to head back now."

I nodded. "Call us as soon as you hear from the police," I said, careful not to say 'if'. She needed optimism at the moment, so I gave her some. Even if it was just false hope. "Or if you just want to talk to someone. Marleen and I are going out of town for a few days. But when Alex gets back, we'll be here in a flash. Just call." She nodded, sitting stiffly in the arm chair. Marleen and I left the house, and started the trek back to mine. We didn't talk the whole way there, nor did we when we finally arrived at my house. Marleen placed the sketchbook on my desk and then went directly to sleep, mumbling something about being tired. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. My mind was too busy analyzing everything. And then I decided to watch a movie. I pulled out my lap top and headphones, snuggled into my bean bag chair, and popped in Footloose.

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I was awaken by the shrill sound of my alarm clock that I had set to wake me up at nine that morning. After watching Footloose, I had fallen asleep in the bean bag chair. I was still tired, but the day had more pressing matters. I shook Marleen's shoulder and she mumbled something about me leaving her alone. I told her I was going to make breakfast and she immediately got out of bed. We went down the stairs and into the kitchen. I glanced out the window, my mom's car wasn't there which meant she was already at work. Stella was sat on a stool, using one of her coloring books. "Can you make bacon, Dani?" she asked.

I smiled and nodded and Marleen punched the air and said, "Yes!" I started cooking scrambled eggs and frying the bacon while Marleen got out a couple cups and poured some orange juice for her and Stella.

We ate breakfast at the counter and Stella told me the entire plot of the show she was watching yesterday. Marleen seemed interested for some reason and I left them to go get dressed. When I came back down, I pulled Marleen out of the conversation and said goodbye to Stella. Since Marleen lived three houses away from me, she walked there to pack her bag for our trip. I went to my room to pack my own. While I was stuffing some clothes into a drawstring bag, I noticed the sketchbook on my desk. I started to think about how perfect and accurate it must be. Alex was a perfectionist; her writing was perfect, her drawing was perfect, everything had to be perfect. Too bad there was no such thing.

Marleen was back in fifteen minutes, packed and ready to go. Her curly blonde locks that were usually pulled into a pony tail, were left down, framing her face. "So, are we going?" she asked. I nodded and decided to say bye to everyone first. Stella hugged me and told me to get back soon and my dad told me to relax while I was gone and not to stress over anything. But how do you not stress when your best friend is missing?