Missing

Chapter 2

I smothered shampoo into my smoth blonde hair, relaxing myself from the memory of last night. When I had tried to jump down from Jacks grasp, I slipped, and fell into a patch of thick oozing mud. I ran and ran, selfishly, leaving the others behind me without a second thought; I was too freaked out to go back. When I got home, I snuck in from the back and snuck up to my room, disposing my muddy clothes into my washing basket and falling asleep in my dressing gown without meaning too.

After a second lather of soap and some conditioner, I was ready to get out of the shower. I dried and walked back to my room, it was a little warmer now, and lighter to, I got out my clothes for the day, some light blue denim jeans and a plain red tank top, I dressed and went back to the bathroom to put on my makeup and do my hair. I didn’t usually wear makeup, but this was an exception, because I looked exhausted, well I felt exhausted too. I smeared foundation on the bags under my eyes and put some mascara on, and dabbed some coloured lip balm on my lips. When I was happy with my face I moved to my hair. I untangled it from its knotted mess, and reduced it down to a slick straight look. When my hair dried, it wouldn’t be like that though; it would go frizzy and be uncontrollable. So I took it from the back and tied it into a messy bun.

 I checked my watch, it was a quarter past seven, I went back to my room and collapsed in a huff on my bed. I pulled my mobile phone from the charging socket and scrolled through my contacts. I came down to Jack, and clicked into his name. His photo came up, he was a few years older than me, but still acted like a child, he never knew when to shut up. It was good if you were a natural conversationalist, but I wasn’t so I found him annoying and persistent a lot of the time. In the picture his hair was a ruffled mess he had light brown hair, just like mine, his nose was pointy. I always joked with him that in another life he would be a detective, because he was so nosey. It was a sad excuse for a joke, but I liked it any way, he had plump cheeks and he was blushing in the photo. He was smiling, his lips pulled tight and his gleaming teeth, like they always did when he smiled. He had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, like he was hiding something. He always seemed to be hiding something, sometimes he would contribute odd things to a conversation, and when we quizzed him, he never revealed how he knew it.

I typed a message, saying.

Hey Jack, I wanna talk, can we catch up. It’s about last night.

I hadn’t told the others what I’d seen, I sprinted home as fast as I could have after I saw Old Bills painting, I assumed the others went home, but still I knew I had to talk to them.

I slid my phone into my back pocket and went down stairs, to the kitchen. I stopped short when I saw my mum, dad was probably already at work, he was a lawyer, he always left early in the mornings to go to his office. Mum strummed her fingers on the counter top; this made me nervous, she didn’t know did she? I was halfway through starting to freak out when she finally spoke.

“Clara, where were you last night?”

Shit, she knew, I had to think of a convincing lie.

“I was just at Kate’s.” I lied smoothly, go me!

“I phoned Kate’s home last night, and you went there.”

Or Not.

“I was at Kate’s for a little while, but I went to see a band that was performing in town.” I lied, god, could I have dug myself a deeper hole.

“Kate didn’t mention that you were there earlier. I am still disappointed that you didn’t tell us where you were going. If something happened to you, what would we do?” She questioned, she’d stopped strumming her fingers and now leaned on the counter and looked at me sceptically.

“Oh!” I faked surprise at her question, “I don’t know mum, I’m really, really sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”  

“Okay, I forgive you, I don’t know about your father though; he will want an apology too.” No he wouldn’t, dad was never one to hold a grudge.

“Yeah, sure mum,” I said quickly, I was astounded, I’d never been let of the hook so easily before. I turned to go to the pantry.

“Oh, and Clara?”

“Yeah?”

“There will be punishment.”

Damn, whenever she said punishment she meant it… Just a shame it wasn’t legal to use the whip on people anymore, because she would.

I got my cereal from the pantry and poured a bowl of it. As I was eating, Jackson, my little pest of a brother walked in his hair a dishevelled mass of dreadlocks, you’ve never seen a birds nest until you come across his hair, I swore last summer I had seen a Robbins egg in it. How did these people wake up so early, on a Saturday??

“Hey sis” Jackson said, he mumbled, probably more asleep than awake.

“Hey J, what are you doing today?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I might go over to Steven’s house.”

“Cool,” I said, not caring in the least. I chose that moment to leave the room, having dumped my bowl in the sink.

I desperately wanted to go and talk to Jack, but he wasn’t answering his mobile. I decided to go out and see if he was home, I hoped nothing had happened to them. I got in my car; I’d only got my license last month, in May. And dad brought me a car for a congratulatory present, I was so happy and I almost crashed it because I was too excited to focus properly. I revved the engine, and left, I roamed the familiar streets for ten minutes, till I came to Jacks house. We’d been friends forever; he was sort of like a big brother I never had. I slammed the car door shut and went up to his front porch and rang the doorbell. One of his flat mates answered and let me in. I went in without a word being shared between us, I went to Jacks bedroom door twisted the knob and entered.

The morning light beamed through an open window onto a bed, an empty bed. The sheets still made, roughly, that was just Jacks style.

I ran back to his roommate and asked worriedly.

“Has Jack been here since last night?”

“Nah, haven’t seen him in ages.” He said, clearly not worried about Jack’s absence.

I was about to make a rather rude reply when my mobile vibrated. I walked away from Jacks flatmate and went back into my car, reading a text message as I went.

From: Private number

I have Jack.

I froze. What?! Who was this? I tried to reply, but I couldn’t, the mobile was private, so I couldn’t text back.

I had to figure this out, who would, kidnap jack, and how would they get my number.

Well, they must have got my number off his phone, when they took him but that was too much of a coincidence. And why now, after last night too? I felt as if I was missing something really obvious something, but I didn’t know what.