Chasing Pavement (ON HOLD)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven:

[Fact or Fiction?]

    “Sophia…” my dad said, coddling me in his arms.

    My body was shaking violently. All the stress was getting to me. I loved my mother so much, yet she hated me.

    “Don’t.” was all I could manage.

“She doesn’t mean it. She’s stressed out…” he made excuses. Like it would make me feel any better.

    I laid down on the cold, icy linoleum floor. Drowning in my tears. My heart ached to be loved. Suddenly, the phone jingled. I hoped it would be my mother to apologize and say she loved me. My dad left my side, to answer it.

    “Hello?” my father said coldly into the receiver. His face lit up like a Christmas tree. I shuttered, hoping it was some wonderful news.

    “Thank you! Thank you so much Detective Martinez!” he beamed, hanging up the phone.

    His eyes shined, with tears in his eyes. “You’re sister! Someone spotted her! She was headed towards Canada! But, they stopped her! She’s on her way home with an officer!”

    I smiled, for once a piece of my broken heart was healing. I thought of a million things I would say to her. Probably start out angry, and then work my way up to tears of joy. 

***

    Knock. Knock. Knock.

    This is it. Here comes my missing sister. Everything will go back to normal now.

I opened the door. To my dismay. This wasn’t my tall, toned sister. This was an ugly girl trying to imitate her.

    “That is not Lara.” My dad scowled, at the detective.

    The detective brushed his hand through his charcoal colored hair. He seemed eager to get the hell outta here. Of course I couldn't blame him for that. “We know.”

    I sighed. So much for things getting back to normal.

“Then why is she here?!” my dad screamed, flustered. His voice radiated off the walls.

    Everything seemed black and white. Right, as we stood in our entry way. It was obvious. Lara wasn’t coming home anytime soon.

    The detective stepped inside, pushing the girl forward. “Hopefully, this girl can explain why she is wearing Lara’s clothing. And has her Ipod.”

   The 'ugly girl' shrunk inside the clothes. She looked beyond vulnerable, how could anyone mistake this misfit for my sister? That’s beyond me.

    “Tell us you’re name young lady.” the detective yelped, slamming his fist on our Cherry-Nut kitchen table.

    She jumped, at the sound of his fist. “Sierra.” she mumbled.

    “Well Sierra… do you have a last name?!” he slammed his fist down again. She jumped at the sound.

    “Sierra Smith.” she gulped.

    This was torture watching Detective Martinez interrogate this young girl. She clearly was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. She didn’t deserve this kind of treatment.

    “Look. I hope. You know young… lady. That what you’re doing is a crime. And withholding information is as well.” the stubby man growled.

    “I know very well that it is sir.” she mumbled.

    “Sierra. We can make this easy. Or we can make this hard.” the detective gripped the side of her chair, putting his face inches from hers. Most likely to intimidate her.

    “Explain to me… how you got Lara Johnson’s clothing and Ipod?!” he struck the table again, sending the girl to jolt forward in horror.

    “They told me to wear them.” she cried.

    Sierra twiddled her thumbs, as she spoke. This had been eating her alive, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that.

    “Who told you to wear them?” The detective asked, calmly. He was clearly proud of himself for getting information out of her.

“The Sigma’s.” she yelped.

    The detective looked at my father with a concerned look. Then he realized she was most likely a moron, and wouldn’t do us much good in finding Lara.

    “Who are the Sigma’s?” he asked, quietly.

“They told me not to tell.” she gulped.

    “Well. The Sigma’s clearly didn’t realize you’d go to jail if you didn’t tell us.”

“They did. But, they said they’d kill me if I told.” she cried.

    A single tear sent a surge of panic through her.

“They told me you’d break me down, until I told. But I would have to be strong. Or they’d kill me like they killed the other girl.” Sierra broke down.

    “What other girl? We can protect you Sierra.” Detective Martinez soothed.

    “I don’t know. She was pretty though. She was in their basement. One of them were pulling her into a black bag. It was scary. I don’t want to be killed.” she cried, in fierce sporadic cries.

    “What did the body look like?” he asked rationally.

“She looked pretty.”

    “Like what? What color was her hair? What was she wearing?”

“She had that girl’s hair…” she paused, pointing at my hair. “And she wore these clothes.”

    My hair color? Those clothes? Lara looked like me, Lara owned those clothes. Lara wore those clothes. That body was Lara’s. My sister was undoubtedly dead.

    “No… No!” my father cried, falling into his recliner.

“Daddy!” I screamed.

    This was all happening too fast. My sister?! Why! Why would anyone want to kill my beautiful, beautiful glamorous sister?!

    He pushed me away. I looked at him, with horror in my eyes. Did he not love me? I needed to be held right now, coddled, hugged! That’s what I needed.

    “Officer… take Ms. Smith down to the precinct.” Detective Martinez spoke to the man with fire red hair in the back.

     He nodded, instantly pulling her away.

    “Don’t let the Sigma’s get you! Their evil! Evil! They’ll kill you! Just like they did to that girl! They’ll do it again! Sigma’s are evil!” she cried, as she was dragged out of the house.

    “I’m sorry Mr. Johnson… we will find out who these Sigma’s are. And we will get justice…” he said, resting his callused hand on my fathers shoulder.

    He walked away, shutting our front door quietly.

    “Daddy?” I asked. But, he turned and walked away, slamming his bedroom door shut.

    I was alone now. An only child. I’d wanted so badly to be one for the longest time, now I was one, and I wanted my sister back.

A/N: Thank you to all of the commenters who helped critique my writing! It helped a lot! Thank you! :)