Lost & Found

What's Keeping Me Up at Night

Lisa's POV

    I was lying in bed just thinking about the photo album from that afternoon. I mean, can you blame me? Nineteen years, and not one second of it was caught on camera. No graduation, no prom or homecoming, no birthdays. It’s like I didn’t exist.

    There has to be a reasonable explanation. When I started driving myself crazy, I glanced at the clock. 3:45 AM. Unbelievable. I looked past the clock and at Lindsey, who was snoring softly on the other side of the room. This wasn’t going to work. I shook my head as I started to get up. I needed to get out.

    I grabbed a light jacket and snuck past my sibling’s bedrooms. I creeped out the back door and let a gust of cool wind dry the sweat on my forehead. My brain was still working overtime and on the verge of going completely insane.

    I’ll be back by morning, I told myself. No one has to know.

    I strolled through the woods for what felt like a half hour. I kept my eyes on the sky, both admiring its night beauty and looking for my personal hideout. That's when I saw the large, rectangular silhouette. There it is.

    I checked behind me to make sure I had no followers and began to climb up the rickety ladder to the treehouse. Troy and I had found it years ago and I just thought it looked like an adventure. He told me I was crazy to even consider going up there, with its splintering walls that were slowly being eaten by various critters and ladder with only crooked nails holding it to the tree. I ignored him at the time and I guess I'm still ignoring him by going up now. I've been coming up here for years, and no one ever noticed.

    When I reached the top, I collapsed on the floor and just lay there. That's when I heard the crunch of breaking branches and the soft patter of shoes on wood. I gasped as I was met by a pair of bright brown eyes. I scurried backwards, frightened of the newcomer. I've never known anyone else to come up here, not in the middle of the night, not ever. For all I know, this could be one of those serial killers that I see on those crime shows Lindsay always watches.

~ * ~

Lauren's POV

   I jolted awake with a pounding headache. I stumbled into the bathroom blindly and groped for some painkillers. When I found some, I took them and they didn't help. Not one bit.

   I decided to just take a walk. The stress must be getting to me. College, grades, scholarships, dealing with Chloe and Gio. It's all just too much to think about all at once. I just need to clear my head, get some sleep, and start fresh in the morning.

    The best place to go would be the boy's old treehouse. Once they deemed themselves too old for clubhouses, they abandoned the place. From then on, I had used it. Usually, it was to do homework or listen to music, but on nights like this, it was my go-to place. I quickly changed out of my pajamas and made sure that everyone was sound asleep before I went. The last thing I wanted was for someone to ask about my whereabouts at three in the morning.

    I snuck out the front door and started on my way to the treehouse. When I got there, I saw strange footprints by the stand-in ladder. I didn't recognize them in the dark, nor could I think of anyone else who would come out here in the middle of the night.

    Curiosity got the better of me as I gripped onto the ladder and started climbing. I pulled myself to the top and was met by a pair of terrified brown eyes. The person shuffled to the far corner and froze there.

    "Who are you?" I asked, suspicious. There was no way that whoever this is just found the treehouse and thought it would be fun to explore it in the dark.

    “Who are you?” the person retorted. They tried to squish themselves into the corner, pushing against the floor with their feet even though they couldn't get any further. The scuffling got more panicked as I inched toward them.

    “Easy! I'm not going to hurt you,” I said, moving closer to the opposite wall. The other person seemed to relax until the noise finally stopped. “Now, who are you?”

    “Lisa,” she answered, still sounding hesitant. “And you?”

   “I'm Lauren.”

    "Oh," Lisa whispered. She shifted so that she was balancing on the balls of her feet with her hands resting on her knees. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar but I couldn't pinpoint it.

    "What are you doing here?" Lisa asked suddenly.

    I sighed and simply answered, “Life.”

    Lisa nodded slowly, somehow understanding my answer, and leaned against the wall across from me. It was too dark to get a clear view but I could tell that she was probably about my height and that she had long hair. Some sort of dark color since it's not reflecting the moonlight.

    "What about you?" I asked, not wanting to get into all of my problems.

    "Thinking, mostly," she answered with a slight chuckle at the end.

    Crickets soon took over our conversation and slowly lulled me to sleep.