A Strange Life

The Search

Wisteria had been worrying about Rachel all day. She hadn't been able to concentrate in any of her classes, she was just too scared that something had happened to her. When school ended, she ran to Rachel's locker and stood there, as she knew that Rachel came to her locker every day after school. She waited for a full fifteen minutes, but Rachel's head never bobbed into her view. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned round to see Jacob standing there, Amy behind him.
"Come on Wisp, everybody else has left." he said gently.
"But Rachel has to be here. She has to." Wisteria said, her voice thick.
Amy shook her head sadly.
"I've asked everyone I know I can trust in this school, and none of them have seen her all day. She's not been in." she said, biting her lip.
"But that means she's missing. If she's not here, not at home, she's missing." Wisteria said, close to tears.
"Let's meet up later, we can maybe try looking for her." Jacob whispered kindly.
Wisteria nodded, smiling at Jacob. He smiled, took her by the hand, and led her out of the school. They all walked home together in silence, until Jacob left and Amy and Wisteria were alone together. Amy turned to face Wisteria, hands on hips.
"What's wrong Wisp? I know somethings bugging you, tell me what it is." she said, staring at Wisteria.
Wisteria crumpled, and sat down on a nearby bench. Amy sat down beside her, and put her arm around her shoulders.
"I can't help thinking that something really bad has happened to Rachel. I mean, she never came home, and she wasn't in school. That's not like her. I don't know what it is, but something bad has happened, I can feel it." Wisteria said, voice muffled slightly.
"There's something else. What is it?" Amy asked her carefully.
"O-ok. You know about..me liking Rachel? Well, I was gonna tell her last night, but I chickened out at the last second. I was gonna tell her today, I promised myself that I would. I haven't seen her, so I can't." Wisteria said, blinking back her tears.
Amy pulled her in close, hugging her tightly. Wisteria sobbed into her shoulder, hands lying limp on her lap.
"I'm scared, Angel. I'm so scared." she whispered, her voice breaking.
"Don't be. She'll be fine. Rachel's a big tough girl, she can take care of herself." Amy whispered.
They just sat there for a few minutes, then Wisteria sat up and so did Amy. They smiled at each other, then stood up and continued walking home.

*time skip bcause I'm lazy*

Wisteria looked over her shoulder one last time before jumping over the fence and running away from her house and into the woods to meet up with Jacob and Amy. They were going to try and find Rachel, even if it killed them. She had been reported missing, and the Chief of Police had found a torch lying on the roadside, identified as Rachel's. There was a search party, but it had started to rain so they had called it off, telling everyone that there would be another one tomorrow. Wisteria ran to the woods, her jacket zipped up and the hood covering her head firmly. She reached the point where they had all agreed to meet at, and almost bumped into Jacob.
"Jeez Wisteria, slow down." he chuckled.
"Sorry, I was just scared that someone would catch me." Wisteria explained breathlessly.
"It's ok, I ran here as well." Amy reassured her.
Wisteria smiled at her, and Amy smiled back, then she got out her torch and turned it on.
"Well, let's start looking for her, shall we?" Amy grinned.
"You bet Angel. Let's go!" Wisteria smiled, before following Amy, Jacob close behind.
They started wandering about the woods, sticking close together, they didn't want to disappear either.
"El? Are you out here? El!" Jacob shouted.
"Rachel! If you're out here, please answer us! El!" Amy yelled.
"Rachel, please answer, we miss you! Come back El!" Wisteria screamed, looking left and right.
"Guys, I don't think she's here." Jacob said after ten minutes of searching.
"She's got to be." Amy said.
"The rains getting worse, I really think we should head back." Jacob said, looking up at the sky and shaking his head.
Wisteria sighed.
"Ok. But we're coming back out to look for her tomorrow." she said.
Amy and Jacob nodded, and they all turned back to head home. Just then they heard a twig snapping, and they turned round.
"Rachel?" Amy breathed, reaching for Jacob's hand.
The rustling came from another location, so Wisteria grabbed the torch from Amy and pointed it at the figure. It wasn't Rachel. It was a small girl, about their age, maybe slightly younger. She had short hair, it was buzzed nearly down to the scalp. She was wearing an oversized yellow t shirt, and her eyes were wide with fear. Jacob, Wisteria and Amy glanced at each other, then back at the girl.
"What should we do?" Amy whispered.
"We can't leave her out here." Jacob whispered back.
"But where would she go?" Wisteria pointed out.
Amy breathed in, then exhaled.
"Ok, Jacob's house is the closest, so we take her there until the morning. The she can walk round to his door and ring his doorbell, and his mom can do the rest." she explained quickly.
Wisteria and Jacob nodded, and they went into action. Jacob offered the girl his coat and she put it on, shivering. Jacob smiled at her, and she gave him a small smile in return. Amy took her hand and started leading her towards the path to Jacob's house, Wisteria and Jacob following close behind. Once they reached Jacob's house, they quickly went round to the back of his house and entered his basement. Jacob gently led the girl to the sofa and draped his jacket over her shoulders. Amy, Wisteria and Jacob then started asking her questions.
"Where did you come from?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Do you need help?"
"Is there someone we can call?"
"Did you run away?"
"Is that blood?" Amy said, looking at her face.
Jacob slapped her hand away.
"Stop asking her questions, you're scaring her!" he shouted.
"She's scaring me!" Amy protested.
"Guys! This isn't helping anything. What should we do?" Wisteria sighed.
"She's scared, and cold. I'll see if I can find anything, hold on." Jacob said, looking through his closet.
He found a grey jumper and navy blue joggers, and her gave them to the girl. She pressed them up against her cheek briefly, and started to get undressed.
"No, no!" Amy laughed, shaking her head.
"The bathrooms over there, so you can get changed in peace. Understand?" Wisteria said gently.
The girl nodded, smiling. Jacob led her to the bathroom and she stepped inside curiously. He went to shut the door, but she put her hand in the way. Jacob stared at her in surprise.
"You don't want it closed?" he asked.
"No." she replied softly.
"Oh, you can speak. Sorry, that sounded so rude. Well, will we keep the door like this? Is that better?" he asked, leaving the door so that a fraction of light could get in.
"Yes." she nodded.
Jacob smiled, and left her in the bathroom. Wisteria and Amy were staring at him when he came back out.
"This is crazy." Amy whispered.
"At least she can speak." Jacob reasoned.
"Midget, she said 'no' and 'yes'." Wisteria pointed out.
"I know, but-"
"Ok we need to decide what to do, she can't stay here for long." Amy cut in.
"Ok. Tomorrow morning she can walk round to the front door and ring the doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do." Jacob explained.
"Then we can keep looking for Rachel?" Wisteria asked.
Jacob smiled.
"Then we'll find Rachel." he corrected her, smiling.
"Ok. Bye Midget, see you tomorrow." Amy and Wisteria waved before walking up the stairs and leaving Jacob alone with the girl.
He sighed and sat down on his sofa, breathing heavily. The girl came out of the bathroom, carrying her sopping wet t shirt with her.
"I'll take that." Jacob said, putting it in the laundry basket.
The girl looked up at him, scared.
"You'll get it back, don't worry!" Jacob smiled.
"Oh, I never caught your name." he realised.
She sighed and rolled up her sleeve. There was a tattoo there, that read 007.
"Seven? That's your name?" Jacob asked.
She nodded.
"Maybe..maybe we can call you...Sev, short for Seven." he said, looking at her.
She nodded, smiling.
"Well, night Sev." he said, walking up the stairs.
"Night Midget." she whispered.
He smiled, she had picked up on his nickname already. As he was walking up the stairs, he had the strangest sense of de ja vu, like he had done this before. He shrugged it off though, and went to his bedroom, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.