Vee, per routine, tucked her baby blue notebook folder into her backpack. She glanced at the stovetop clock, and seeing it was forty after seven, she decided to get dressed.
Not three steps up the stairs did the kitchen phone ring. Vee spun around on her heel before walking back on the tile, pulling the phone off the wall, "Hello, this is the Good resi-"
"Hey, Vee."
Vee's heart flipped, "Carter! Why did you take so long to call?"
There was a pause, and Vee could imagine Carter scratching the back of her neck. "I didn't want Cole or Nadia or Haliey to pick up."
Vee nodded. Early weekday mornings were an ideal time to call then. "Are you okay? And answer me this time!" Vee added quickly. She hadn't noticed at the time, but from their last phonecall, Carter brushed off most of Vee's questions to ask her own.
"Er, uh, yeah. I'm staying with someone." She said in a tone Vee couldn't place.
"When are you coming back?" Vee asked after a moment.
"I'm not sure."
Vee tried a new tactic. This was going nowhere quick. "What can you tell me?"
"Uh-" This question must have caught Carter off guard, Vee realized. "I mean, things got kind of crazy. And then kind of, I guess, scary? Weird? But I'm staying with someone now."
"Who?" Vee asked.
There was silence. Then very quietly, Carter informed Vee that she found her brother.
Shock struck Vee. Carter found Mason? How? Every time the subject came up, Carter insisted she had no idea where her brother ran off to. How could she possibly find him? Where was he? Where are they? Is it safe? Carter had a horrible sense of safety- she would leave the house after dark to walk home! She walked on top of monkey bars! She jumped on small tree branches till they broke under her! What's to say she's safe now? Her word alone?
"I won't tell anyone." Vee promised, swallowing her other questions down. She had worries but she remembers Mason- Mason was cool. He would protect Carter like Cole and Nadia protect Vee, right? That's what older siblings do.
"Ugh," Carter groaned, "Thirty seconds."
"Okay," Vee started reluctantly. "Call me later? Try to visit?"
"Yeah." Carter said. Vee could hear her smile.
Then she hung up.
Vee sighed. Why did Carter run away? Rumors circulated through the school after the police conducted interviews.
She became feral and lives deep in the woods, now all she eats is mice and small birds. It's true! I saw her run between the trees like bigfoot!
I heard her parents beat her.
She must have been kidnapped.
She became a prostitute!
She stole all her family's money and OD'd on heroin near the Super Center! The coyotes cleaned up the body, duh!
She got pregnant and left to live with the baby daddy.
Her runaway brother came back to steal her!
Maybe she ran into a cougar leaving school one day? That's why I always take the bus home!
Vee brushed her hair behind her ears. She was the only one who knew with certainty that Carter was still alive and healthy. Why couldn't everyone else had been so attentive to Carter when she was still around? Maybe then she wouldn't have left. Or, maybe she would have run away sooner, Vee considered.
In the living room, Vee noticed Carter's face on the televison. News channels plastered her image all over, as vanishing children and other crimes were almost unheard of in Deer Valley.
The news reporter was a woman with rigid blonde hair and a very serious expression on her face. In the background; a photo of Carter from last years class photo. The other children's faces were blurred- including Vee's, who stood just next to her friend in the picture. "-if you have any information on the disappearance of Carter Montez, a five-six, one hundred ten pound, fifteen year old girl with long black hair, contact the anonymous tip hotline at 555-"
The screen went black as Vee shut off the TVs power.
