Gone

Together

The police had found nothing. But at least I did.

I was still upset though.. how could a young 13 year old girl find 4 missing children that the police had no luck with?

When I walked in with the two policeman, I gave them the shoe I had found earlier today. Maybe they could test the blood or search for fingerprints or something forensic like that?

"Where'd you find this?" The tall, bulky policeman asked me.

"I was walking home after I checked the treehouse for the 1st time, I found the shoe stuck in some bushes from floating down the stream that runs all throughout the forest."

"Ok, thank you. We'll do some tests, and report to you and your mother as soon as we can."

"As soon as you can" Ya right. That would probably take 2 weeks..

At that moment, there was nothing I could do. Worrying wouldn't help, looking through the forest at night could be dangerous.. I felt useless. I was useless! And there was nothing I could do about it.

The policemen congregated with my mom.

I peered over at the kitchen stove. The clock read 8:51.

I have to be in bed by 9:00. Oops.

I ran upstairs to hop in the shower, and decided I would just shower tomorrow. It probably wasn't the best decision because I was in the woods all day, but I was tired.

I brushed my teeth, and combed back my hair.

The lights were shut off, the fan put on the highest option, 3, and my comforter was drawn under my armpits.

It was funny to think that just this morning, my brother would have woken me up in this very bed. He would have woken me up to go play outside with our friends, like every other Sunday morning.

Then he would have tied his shoes, me trailing after him, running outside.

Each door we would have knocked, hoping for a group of at least 5. That day it was Nick, Nick's brother, and Troy.

The only difference was my untied shoe. Funny to think that if I tied just a little bit quicker.. I would be safe with my brother. Maybe not safe, but at least together..