The Case of the Missing Little Sister

Prologue

I flipped my hair out of my face and tied it into a messy bun.

Everyone is desperate to talk to me, so I need to change quickly.

Someone pounds on my door.

"Sis! Emily!? Come down fast!" I hear my younger sister—Olivia call out. I sigh, "Well, I was planning to come down, so yeah, thanks, 'kay?" I say.

I look at myself in the mirror, I'm in a grey top and a pair of ripped jeans: actually, how I look doesn't really matter. I'm getting late. In a rush, I run out of my room and almost trip on the stairs. I finally reach our living room, where my mom is looking at dad who is happily and proudly telling people, "My daughter is going to go to California." he looks at me.

Eyes turn toward me. I quickly tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and end the awkward silence, "Anyways, good evening," I turn towards my parents', "I'm grabbing a cab and going to the airport, I'm running late." They nod and excuse themselves, they hug me chance by chance, and my mom plants a kiss on my forehead. I head towards the door when somebody shouts, "Not without me!" and hugs me from behind.

"Olivia." I say.

"Yes?" she says mischievously.

"Never mind." I say. I face my parents'. 

"Well, Emily... We have a gift for you," my dad begins. "Oh, why! Thank you!" I thank them. "Where is it?" 

"Uh..." My mom digs in her purse and hands me a crumpled up sheet of paper. "It's in your aunt's house in L.A... And I'm not telling you what it is!" she smiles. I smile back and get her in a bear hug.

"Use it carefully," my dad instructs. I nod and hug him too, and thank him.

I walk out of the door and wave at my family.

"Don't forget to send pictures!" Olivia excitedly says. "And, I booked a cab for you." I mouth thanks. "By the way, this is only going-to-college perks, alright!?" she says.

I smile and turn towards the road. The cab awaits.

Even though my parents had to come with me, I didn't allow them to. My friend, too, was coming.

+++

"Hmm..." I looked up at the magnificent building in front of me, which was the university itself.

I don't know how I ended up here, but I sure am happy.

"All newcomers this way please!" I heard a boy call out. I turned to see where he pointed. I followed the crowd to another building, where a sheet of paper was stuck.

I went closer and read it,

'The rooms allotted to the freshmen.

1. John- Eric,

2. Ethan- Mike,

3. James- Chris

4. May- Julia

5. Mandy- Emily'

I stopped right there when I saw my name, right next to a second-year, Mandy. I looked at the bottom of the paper,

'To find your floor and dorm room, please coordinate with your rankings for example:

1. Jake-John,

Look for the number, '1' and the first single-digit number you see is the floor and second number is the dorm room.'

I looked for my number,

'5- 3 27'

I quickly snapped a picture of it and went up the stairs to the third floor. I looked around for my dorm room and I couldn't find it. Boys' kept on looking at me, and some girls too.

Am I in the right place?

I see a girl, as terrified as me, walk alone and I run up to her, "Hey, do you think you could help me with finding this dorm room?" she nods and looks at the picture on my phone. Her eyes widen and she looks at me, "Well, I'm 28 and I'll be living right opposite you!" she says. I nod and smile. "I'm May!" she says. "Emily," I answer.

We both walk around and finally reach our dorm rooms. I thank May and enter my room.

"Hello newcomer!" I hear a blast and crazy string is sprayed at my face.

"WHOA!" I stumble backwards, wiping my eyes.

I finally look up to three people, grinning. "I'm Mandy!" one blond girl says and I nod.

"I'm Lauren," another girl with long, silky hair says. "I'm the one and only, Katherine!" a girl with short, black hair says.

I grin at them, "I'm Emily, well, that was unexpected for," I say. They nod and everyone leaves apart from Mandy, of course.

"You can take that side," she points towards the window. "I've had enough of sunlight," she mumbles, loud enough only for her, but I somehow hear it. I smirk. I like sunlight. I hate darkness. But, I am not afraid of it. I leave the suitcase beside my bed, and put my rucksack down on my bed.

I look at my desk. If I can do a little decoration, it'll look good. As it is, it's Friday night. I've two more days before college technically starts.

Mandy walks into the washroom and slams the door. I sit on my bed and look around the room trying to calm down.

It's smaller than I expected, it's cozier than I expected. It has one big slanting window on one side and two beds fixed to the walls on the two extreme corners of the room and two desks stuck to the wall in the front with a dresser, each, beside them and thankfully, the bathroom door, separates the two tables and dressers.

I lie down closing my eyes and realizing how truly sleepy I am.

"Hey get up lazy-head!" Mandy calls out, poking me on the side and I jump up.

"Let's go eat dinner?" I nod, "In a minute, I'll call my parents," I grab my phone and dial Olivia's number.