The Absolutely Insane Life of a Completely Normal (not really) Girl

The Scarf...

  ...is hands down Katie's most prized possession. It's a sparkly red scarf that's five feet long and "gives Katie weird dreams". It doesn't. Jane checked. Just Katie having ludicrous Katie dreams.

I walked over to Katie's house with my mom. I told her that I needed to get Katie's scarf for the tracker, and she "volunteered" to come with me. I should have known that she wasn't going to let me go over to Katie's house alone. (Even though she lives right up the street and Mom could literally watch me enter the house from the front door.)

Okay, full disclosure: I really should've gotten the scarf before the tracker was finished. I meant to, but... I'm not making any more excuses. I was scared to go. I was scared that I would get to her house, enter her room, and not be able to handle it. I know I really should've gone by now, if nothing else because I was close with Jean and Mrs. Hillman, but... it's... Oh look, we're at the Hillman's house already! What coincidental timing!

My mom knocked on the door. We waited for probably five minutes outside until Mr. Hillman opened the door. He looked surprised to see us.

"Lydia! Carol! I was expecting more police. Thank god I was wrong!" Mr. Hillman said with a giant smile on his face. He seemed happy, but I could easily tell it was only to cover up the sadness and worry inside him. I would know better than anyone.

"We thought it was high time we came over," my mom replied, having rehearsed this all the way over, "May we come in?"

"Of course," Mr. Hillman answered, "I should warn you that Patricia has been... out of it, ever since the incident." Patricia is Katie's mom.

"We understand," my mom said. We walked inside their house, and I immediately had to choke back a sob. All the memories of Katie and I playing here came flooding back to me all at once. The sleepovers, the study sessions, the fangirling sessions...

"Stay strong Lydia," I said to myself, "You have to get the scarf."

We walked into the living room to find Mrs. Hillman knitting a sweater. It was hard to tell from where I was standing, but it looked like it had "Sweater you doing?" knitted into it. ...Oh my god. I've been so focused on everything that's happened that I completely forgot Katie's birthday was at the end of the month. I have to find her.

"Patricia, we have guests," Mr. Hillman said slowly. Mrs. Hillman slowly turned around to see her husband. When she saw us she nearly dropped her knitting needle.

"Carol... Lydia..." Mrs. Hillman whispered. She ran over to us a wrapped us to in a massive bear hug. I was so happy to see her again I didn't notice I wasn't breathing until she let go.

"We're sorry, we didn't come sooner," my mom apologized, "We've been spending practically day and night trying to find everyone." Mom... to close to the truth...

"It's okay, you're here now, that's all that matters," Mrs. Hillman replied, tears now brimming in her eyes. "Lydia, maybe you should go upstairs and talk to Jean. It would really cheer her up."

"Sure," I said. I went upstairs and walk over to Jean's room. The door was closed, but I could hear muffled crying coming from the other end. I walked in.

"Go away," Jean yelled from inside her closet. Jean always hated when people saw her cry. The only people she let see her do it were her mom, me..., and Katie.

Focus on the scarf, Lydia. You're almost there.

"Jean," I whispered. She paused for a moment, and then ran out of her room and into my arms. "Shh, shh, shh. It's okay. Let it out. Let it all out."

"Why haven't they found Katie yet," Jean asked. I stopped for second to think of what I could tell her. I couldn't lie to Jean. My heart wouldn't survive the attempt. But I can't tell her the truth either.

"When it doubt, choose both." It was something Katie would always say when she couldn't decide, usually on what to eat. Maybe it was time for me to use that trick too.

"Well... the person who took her covered up his tracks really well, and it's taking the police longer to find her than expected," I answered.

"But when will Katie be home again," she asked. Jean looked up at me with grass green eyes filled to the brim with tears. I never noticed before that Katie and Jean have the exact same eyes.

"Soon, Jean," I answered, "She'll be home soon. I promise." Jean managed to smile through her tears and wrapped me into another embrace.

"Jean," I started, "Do you think that you could come into Katie's room with me?"

"Why do you want me to go with you," she asked.

"I...I'm going to be honest with you Jean. I think I'm too scared to go inside alone. I don't think I'm strong enough." Jean smiled again, wider this time, showing the giant gaps where her front teeth should be.

"Of course, Lydia," she replied. We walked down the halls to Katie's room. Every step I took was harder for me to take. By the time we got to the door I was dragging my feet with me. I insisted that I opened the door. I grabbed the doorknob, and slowly pushed the door open. I walked in and turned on the light.

Everything was just as it was when Katie left. Her clothes scattered all over the floor, her drawings all over the walls, even her bunk bed was still unmade. I stumbled into the room, barely keeping myself standing. Jean squeezed my hand for comfort.

"Mom insisted everything stay exactly the same, as if Katie had never left," Jean explained, "Even when the police came to investigate she made sure everything was put back in place."

I couldn't speak. I was afraid if I did that I would end up curling up into a ball and crying, but I had to be strong. I looked around for the scarf. It was laying on Katie's reading bean bag just like it always is. I asked Jean for some alone time. After she was gone I stuffed it in my purse. I did one last once over of the place before going downstairs.

®

"I got the scarf," I shouted when I got back to Uston. (In case you're wondering, everything went smoothly at the Hillman's. My mom made sure to not stay too long after I came down, and everyone was too distraught to notice my bulging purse.)

"Excellent," Jane said as I gave it to her. We activated the machine and placed the scarf inside. The tracker made weird noises at first, but it worked perfectly. We hope.

"One week till we get results," Maria stated, "What do we do until then?"

"We wait," I answered.