Enticing Blood

*chapter three

Melanie woke up to the sound of knocking on her front door, so she jerked awake, her eyes opening and looking at the clock above the television that kept on ticking time away.

It was almost 2 o'clock.

Shit! Melanie cursed herself. She slept well past her normal awakening time.

Melanie stood up and the afghan fell to her toes but she ignored it as she hurried to the front door, pushing loose strands of dark hair from her eyes. She took a deep breath, and opened the door, and there stood Beth who looked like she was about to head to yet another party.

"Is she back yet?" She asked around her snapping gum. The mint flavor washed up on Melanie, and she tried not to gag at how pungent it was. Taking a breath, Melanie shook her head no, because she knew that Isabel would have woken her if she were to come home, instead of slipping off into her bedroom.

"Humph." Beth grumbled and frowned. "Well, I have a date, so call me if she comes home later. She might be doing the walk of shame right as we speak." Beth turned her head around, as if expecting to see Isabel walking up behind her, with her stilettos in one hand and her clothes all roughed up from the night before and her cellphone in the other hand.

Something told Melanie she wasn't doing the walk of shame.

"Okay." Melanie said, then she slowly closed the door without a goodbye. Once the door was already closed and the shadow of Beth slowly sauntered away, Melanie turned around, pressing her back against the cold, glass surface.

There was only one thing that was in Melanie's mind and It was the only thing she had left to do.

Call the police.

Melanie hurried to her bedroom and snatched her cell phone from her unmade bed and she wasn't surprised to see no missed calls or messages from Isabel. Melanie dialed 911, and she pressed the phone to her ear.

The phone rang a couple times.

"911, what's your emergency?" The dispatcher answered.

Melanie paused and took a breath through her barely opened mouth.

"I would like to report a missing person." She finally said, her voice like a croak. She could feel tears pushing at the back of her eyes, like they might fall out at any moment's notice, but she choked them back with a silent sob. It was becoming too real.

"And what is your name, miss?"

"Melanie Lockhart."

"Who is the missing person?"

"Isabel Lockhart."

There was a long pause.

"You're related to this person?"

"Yes, she's my sister."

Another pause.

"Do your parents know about this?" The dispatcher's voice almost sounded robotic, like she was assigned to say all of this, ask her all these questions. She's done this a billion times, Melanie told herself.

But she still couldn't ignore the feeling that she wasn't going to be the help Melanie needed to get Isabel back. Melanie bit her lip. She never thought to tell her parents about it, but the thought scared her. They would be furious, probably even blame Melanie.

'How could you be so careless?'

'What was going through your mind?'

'Where is Isabel!?'

"No." Melanie choked.

"Where are your parents, dear?"

"T-They're on a business trip."