The Disturbance.

Part 1

I hate it. I hate my new life. I wish we hadn't moved. I lost one of the most important people in my life -  my sister, my best friend, the only person who kept me going. She went missing, and I could have saved her. I could have stopped it. She's been missing for three whole years. Police suspect a runaway, but I'm not too sure about their 'theories'.

"Jennifer! Headphones out. We're here - out of the car, please," my mother orders. 

I groan, taking out my earphones, looking out the car window. 

Just how I imagined it to be...

The house is fairly large, surrounded by forest. It is a double story house, and it basically looks like an enlarged wooden cabin in the middle of the woods. Instantly, I hate it. It's not the same. It's not home.

Alyssa isn't here.

"This is bullshit, mum!" I complain, feeling about a hundred different emotions and thoughts circling my brain at once.

"I beg your pardon?" my mother exclaims, shocked.

"It's not the same. Alyssa isn't here. It's not home. I hate it."

My mother's face softens, as does my father's.

My mother pulls me into a tight embrace. "I know, sweetheart," she mumbles, "I know it's hard."

"If it's so hard, then why did we have to move?" I whisper, a tear escaping my eye, rolling down my cheek and finally landing on Mum's shoulder.

"Mum and I believed it would be best if we started fresh, honey. Alyssa's been gone for three years, Jen. We don't want to let her go. We have to."

So, without another word, I grab my three bags of clothes, and enter the house, going up the stairs and straight to the second room on the left; my room.

All my furniture and what not has already been assembled, as my parents had the movers help prepare the house. 

I collapse onto my bed, pulling the blankets up over my head, not caring at all about my clothes that I need to unpack. Not caring about the rest of the world. 

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"Jen, honey, dinner's ready." I hear a soft voice whisper to me. 

I force my eyes open to see my mother sitting at the foot of my bed.

"You've been asleep since the moment we got here. I unpacked your clothes and made your room a little more "homey" for you, sweetheart," she says, standing up, admiring her work. 

"Thanks, Mum, you didn't have to." I sit up in bed, checking the clock hanging on my wall. Six-thirty. A nice seven-hour nap.

As I sit at the dining table, my family - my mother, father, five-year-old brother Mason - and I dig at our plates with our silverware. 

The only thing I can hear in this moment is the scraping of cutlery on the ceramic china and sighs of exhaustion. I know what everyone here is thinking. 

Alyssa.

Finally, Mason breaks the painful silence. "Mummy, when's Alyssa coming home? It's been too long. I miss her!"

My mother looks up from her plate. Her eyes fill with tears. "Soon, sweetheart," she mumbles, a tear trailing down her cheek as she subtly wipes it away. 

"Mason, Alyssa has... gone away for awhile. We don't know where she is, and we're hoping she comes back." Dad whispers softly.

"She was my best friend and I'll never have a sister like her again. I need her to come back. I need her here when I turn twenty, Dad. We can't just give up. We can't stop trying just because we can't find her. You can't be a real father if you move away, and forget about what happened. A real father searches day and night until there's nowhere else to look. A real father finds her." And with that, I silently leave the room and charge up the stairs to my bedroom.

I slam and lock my door and collapse, violently sobbing. It's not fair. I could have stopped it. It's my fault.

I missed the call.

"Jen, have you ever been... stalked before?" Alyssa asks me, as we sit on her bed, watching Netflix. 

"No, why?" I was concerned.

"No reason... I'm just paranoid, I guess -"

"Lyss. Spill it." I interrupt her.

"I'm just a little scared. There's this person - I have no idea who they are - sending me photos of me, every day. They text me from a blocked ID every day and night, commenting on how "pretty" I am... they know stuff, too. Things that not even Mum and Dad know. I'm scared, Jen."

"Oh, Lyss... we need to tell someone about this! Like, right away. We need to go to the station, first thing tomorrow. I'm reporting this sick fuck."

"We can't! What if he hurts me?" she trembles.

"I'm not going to let that happen," I promise, "come on, you're sleeping in my room tonight. I'll keep you safe, I swear."

I hold my sister tight throughout the night, reassuring her that everything is okay, that as long as I was with her, no one could get to her.

I was so wrong.

Waking up without her was horrific. 

The second I had opened my eyes, I knew. She was gone. I instantly check my phone, and see two notifications that make me sick to my stomach. One was a missed call from Alyssa, at exactly 2:37am. And the other one was a text, from her number: "too late." 

To this very day, I know it wasn't her who sent that text. She always ends her messages with an "x", no matter the situation.

I tried to tell them, I tried to show them the texts when they questioned me. They just said that she probably did send that text, and that I had no actual evidence that she was being stalked.

I jolt awake, my eyes stinging from the amount of tears I shed that night. It's still dark out. I check the time. 2:36am. I feel sick, remembering the exact time I missed the call.

The second the clock hits 2:37, I hear a whimper, followed by muffled cries.

I gasp, knowing that sound.

No.

It's not possible.

"Jen, help me!" I can recognise that voice anywhere.

It's Alyssa.