M.I.A.

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

Sydney

A whole day. A whole day we have been sitting here. Me, held captive in the stuffy silence of baited breath, forbidden to move or do anything. Just waiting.

"Tell me again exactly what she said," Dad suddenly says.

I roll my eyes, tired and annoyed. "The same thing I just told you."

Dad frowns at me. "Again."

I close my eyes and let out a long breath. No amount of me repeating myself is going to make them believe me any more. "She called last night to ask me to tell you she was fine. She was driving around, sulking. She didn't know where she was and said she'd be home soon."

Mom scoots forward on the couch. "And this was about Tiana?"

I nod. "Mia has a crush on that guy Will Carrig, the one who does the high dive on the team?"

Mom purses her lips and scrunches her nose in response. Will's not the Ivy-bound son-in-law she had in mind for her precious Mia.

"And I guess she caught Ti hooking up with him last night or something. She was upset, so she went driving," I explain. Then add, "She said she'd be home," again, like that will drag her through the door.

Mom and Dad look at each other, then back at me. I have no idea if they believe me. Mom's eyes keep glancing down toward my leg, which makes me feel like she's suspicious that I imagined last night's phone conversation.

I hold up my cell. I've been clutching it, hoping Mia will call me back. "You can check my log. I did talk to her last night."

Mom looks away and finally decides it's time to act. "We've waited all day. What do you want to do, Pete?"

Dad bites his lip. "Well, it seems like she just wants to be alone right now. Let's wait until tomorrow and see."

"What?" I breathe. "You're joking, right?"

His gaze cuts at me.

I talk before he does. "Don't you know Mia at all?!" I whimper, tears inexplicably coming to my eyes. "Don't you know your own daughter?! Mia wouldn't just disappear. She wouldn't not call people and let them know where she was. She wouldn't ignore me and she most certainly wouldn't do something weak like run away." My sister is the smartest, strongest person I know. She always has the answers, she's logical, and she follows the rules. She is the rock. "Something is wrong!" I howl. "You guys are just sitting here. Don't you watch TV?! Don't you know the first 24 hours are the most critical? Get off your asses and call the goddamned police!"

Dad stands then, face red and veins bulging in his neck. "Go to your room!"

I stay planted on the couch, scowling at him. He gives me 'the look'—that thing I hate that makes me feel like unwanted filth, like he might do something drastic like take me out back and shoot me. I glance at Mom who won't look at me. I'll get no help here.

I stand, collecting my stupid summer school book, and leave the room—but I don't go upstairs. Instead, I sit on the bottom step and listen.

After a few moments, Mom speaks. "She's right, Pete. This isn't like Mia."

Dad's quiet for a long time. "She's fine, Vicky. Can't you see that? She's just upset. You do that all the time, cut yourself off. She is your daughter."

I roll my eyes.

"I don't know," Mom is saying, voice low. "Something doesn't feel right. In my gut."

Dad's voice turns lighthearted. "You're still probably sick from that Chinese food."

Mom doesn't laugh at his joke.

I scrub my hands against my cargo capris and they leave a trail of nervous sweat. I try opening up Lord of the Flies, but it just makes my imagination run wild. What if Mia is lost and alone in the wild somewhere? What if she's going mad like these little boys in the book? What if...what if... Ugh, stop thinking, Sydney!

I'm just about to pop in my headphones to shut off the thoughts when the phone rings. I leap up, scrambling for the phone on the little table beside the front door. Dad and I practically knock heads jumping for it. Dad gets to it first.

I watch his face, expectant. I have to look away for a second, confused by the vice squeezing my hand. Mom is holding it. I didn't even realize she'd gotten up and grabbed it. I squeeze back, confused and elated at the same time. Mom hasn't touched me in a long time.

Dad says, "What?"

I look back. And then I feel my face fall as his does.

"Yes, it's mine. My daughter was driving it last night. She didn't come home. Yes. Please." He swallows hard and gives Mom this desperate sort of expression. Her fingers go slack in mine, then disappear. She puts her hands over her mouth and makes a horrible whining noise. She disappears into my mental background as I hyper-focus on Dad, trying to hear what the person on the other side is saying, but I can only hear Dad saying, "Anything you can do. Uh huh. Yes. I'll be right there. Thank you."

I don't miss how his hand is shaking when he puts the phone down. He stares at the receiver, his glasses slowly sliding down his nose, but he doesn't notice. The silence is maddening. I can't stay still, I'll scream. I stand on weak legs and take a hasty step forward. "What?" I choke out. "What happened?"

Dad lifts his eyes, pushes his glasses up on his nose...and it's like he sees me for the first time in half a dozen years. My heart squeezes tight, choking me, stilling me. "They found her car."

I blink at him. Found her car. Just her car. Not her. What does that mean? "Where?"

"Upstate New York."

What? That far? Granted, it's not hard to pass through states when you live in the Northeast. I search the table, search the floor. I feel confined and useless. I don't understand. I wish I hadn't stabbed my leg, I wish I hadn't let the insanity come falling out of my body. It's worse here in the real world than in my head. At least in my head, Mia was safe. I voice the question that my mind keeps throwing at me. "What does that mean?"

Dad looks away and his fists ball at his sides. "I don't know."