Torn in Two

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Lisa's POV

Despite me having a glance at the comments on our new cover on Wednesday, we have now decided to leave the video for two days and then we are all going to look together. It is now Friday morning, 7am. I didn't sleep well, how will the cimfam react to Dani and her accident? They may not feel the same to her as before. 

My iPod touch is on my nightstand next to me, Lauren and Dani sleeping peacefully in their bunkbed on the other side of the room. I can't resist the temptation anymore and I log onto youtube and look at our video. The views are great - 205, 479 views in two days?!

Then I go to the comments.

The top comments:

Its great as always, but I dont know whether Dani should be in the band anymore. She lost her memory. She won't know any of us. It wont be the same. I dont want her to be a stranger. I say they should kick her out, thumbs up if you agree!

And:

DANNI SHOULDNT BE IN THE BAND!!!!!! THUMBS UP IF U AGREE!!!!

Oh my goodness. Dani can't see this. She was so excited about this. I feel teh tears threaten to fall, and they pour down my cheeks. I quickly get dressed and go to the beach. I can't stay here.

I arrive at the beach to find it thankfully empty, and I check the time; 8:00. I sigh. My sisters will be getting up, Kath making breakfast, all of them anxious to see the video. I think about the comments and realise that the second one misspelt Dani's name and I sigh. Any true fan wouldn't do that and any true fan wouldn't hate on one of us anyway. Dani may be upset, but she'll be ok.

I sit on the sand and let the waves soothe me. At 9:00 I feel hungry and realize I should go back - none of my family know where I am!

I head back and the house feels strangely empty. I see a note on the table; 

Dad's at work. Boys and I gone shopping, Mike at work. Love, mom x

I make toast for myself and eat quietly, not quite sure what to do. It's normally noisier than this. It feels weird to be in this empty house, except for my sisters of course. Wait. Where are they? 

Oh my god. They must be looking at the video. Damn. Sorry God, but this is bad. BAD.

I run to the study and find my sisters only just pulling up the youtube website, Christina at the front with Dani next to her, so eager to see the comments. I open my mouth and stay silent, not wanting them to know I'm here. I scream inside me head; Lisa it won't be ok! The name won't mean anything! She'll be so upset! Say something Lisa! I instructed myself, and I tried to speak but no words came out. The video came up and Christina let it play whilst they scrolled down. The views were good and I could tell Dani was shocked at how many there were.

Then they got to the comments. The same ones were still there, both had been thumbed up a few times, not many though thank goodness because the video hadn't been up long. I saw the girls all see what was written and in turn they gasped as they finished. Again, tears fell down my face as I saw Dani finish reading, her shoulders slumped, she blinked a lot and became pale.

At the same time, my four sisters tried to console here; 'Dan, they're haters who are jealous of you. It doesn't mean anything.' Christina said and Lauren hugged her. Dani shook her head and ran out of the room past me. I had forgotten that she had her leg casts off yesterday, she was completely better now!

The girls turned and looked surprised as they saw me there. 'Lisa, where were you? Did you know about the - the comments?' Christina demanded.

'Christina, I saw them and I went to the beach to think. When I came back it was too late and Dani wouldn't have not seen them anyway.' I said. They all nodded and then I went to find Dani. I found her in our room lying on her bed, eyes shut with tears pouring down her face. I lied down next to her and hugged her from behind, 'It's ok. Don't listen to the haters. You're stronger than that.' I whispered in her ear.

She got off the bed and said, 'Look. I-I knew this was a bad idea Lisa. I want to leave the band.' And with that she ran out of the room. I went out to see my sisters, minus Dani. 'She-she wants to leave the band. And then she ran out.' I quietly said. Their faces dropped and then we started searching for Dani. We went round the house and garden and couldn't see her anywhere. By this time it was 10:00.

We heard the front door open and we ran to it, hoping to see our little sister. 'Dani?' I called. Instead mom and my younger brothers came in with grocery bags. Christina stepped forward. 'Mom, we looked at the comments. They said that Dani didn't deserve to be in the band. She said she wanted to leave the band, then she left and we've searched everywhere, but we can't find her.' Christina started to break down in tears and our shocked mom stepped forward and hugged her.

Christina, our leader, our older sister, the strong one, the bossy diva, was crying.

She wiped her eyes and mom cleared her throat before speaking. 'Christina, Lauren, take the car and go round the streets. Lisa, Amy, beach. Kath, Joey, Nick, the park. Alex, Christian, ask the neighbours if they saw anything, search the house and garden, all the little places. Go and make sure you all have your mobile phones. Think about where Dani would go.' we all stood shocked and then ran around getting our shoes, jackets, phones and into our groups before leaving.

Amy and I made our way to the beach silently, but then I realized Amy was crying. 'Oh Ames, it's gonna be ok. Dani'll be alright.' I hugged her and she wiped the tears off her face and we continued to go to the beach. We searched for a few hours, texting the others to ask if they had seen anything. Nobody had seen anything, dad and Mike had come home and were staying there cooking dinner with mom. Amy and I were about to give up when the sun set and it became dark and the wind came up, making us shiver. We had one last look at the beach.

Then Amy froze.

'What is it?' I asked her.

She pointed upwards.

The cliff which was vertical all the way to the sea.

It was a very tall cliff.

At the top was a figure.

A girl.

Dani.

Dani on the edge of the very tall cliff.