Tainted

Chapter 4

The screech of my alarm had me sitting up abruptly. I angrily thrummed against it with my palm, already starting the day off with a bad mood.

I sat up closing my knees to my chest as I thought about yesterday's events. My chest felt tight and I had to swallow hard to keep the lump in my throat down. I still didn't know the whole truth about my missing sister, but at least I knew she was safe.

Andrew was a relatively good kid, he didn't do anything bad; but he didn't necessarily do anything good. He was just an average kid, with average parents, and average grades.

He played baseball but was too lanky and small framed for anything beyond the capabilities of hitting a ball and running a couple bases.

The only thing that set him apart from being completely average, was his odd companionship to the most rottenness kids in school. Colden and me.

We weren't necessarily friends, but he was as close to being one to Colden and I as people could get. We had a mutual need for each other. Andrew needed us to help him not fade in the crowd and to piss his parents off enough so they'd pay attention to him.

We needed him because he was a good source to get booze from since his grandpa owned the largest and the only grocery store in town.

He was a good kid, altruistic and kind. Even being around Colden and me didn't do much to his wholesome reputation, since he was known to not drink or smoke. He only provided said resources.

That all changed when he upright packed his bags and left.

Along with my sister.

As far as I knew-and anybody else for that matter- my sister and Andrew had never shared so much as pleasantries. It was a small town everybody was bound to know each other, but not everyone was close.

She never spoke of him, I had never so much as seen them say hello to each other.

It was a shock when Andrew left without explanation, but it was an even bigger shock when my own sister took off the same night.

It was strange to fall asleep next to my sister, and to wake up the next morning to a letter instead. The letter had no answers, it only explained that she was leaving for reasons that couldn't be identified at that time and that she was sorry and would come back to me as soon as she could.

The letter had been scribbled messily on a napkin. It had a horrific feel to it, and being as close to my sister as possible I could tell just by reading the letter that whatever the issue was, it was urgent and big.

I didn't know what could scare such a strong person as my sister to the point she had to get out of town. But I've been waiting for her return ever since. And it's been hell. And to find out Andrew had disappeared too has left me even more restless.

It was easy to assume they went together, all signs pointed towards that, it wasn't a coincidence that they left on the same night.

Nobody else knew the reason for their abrupt goodbye so everyone made their own. Some said Andrew knocked my sister up and they went away to "take care of it."

Others hypothesized that they were in a secret gang and were in deep trouble over a fallen deal so they had to skip town. It was all bullshit, every single one of their uneducated surmised claims. I could feel it, in my creaky bones, that there was more too it.