Among the Stars (Shidge AU) [Book 2]

Chapter Twenty-One

Matt was waiting at the door. 4:37 pm. Shiro and his mother should be coming home soon. Matt had felt so lonely since Katie went missing. He needed someone. He needed to talk about this to someone. The stairs lead right into the entry way, so he sat on the first step as he waited.

Matt sighed as he stared at his feet. It was the fifth day without Katie... Part of him felt like it was his fault. The last time he saw her, he ran away from her. If he had just stayed with her, maybe he could've stopped whatever happened.

Finally, he heard the key slide into the door as it unlocked. The door opened as his mother walked into the house. Shiro walked in behind her. Immediately, Matt jumped up and hugged Shiro. Shiro looked at Matt sympathetically.

Then Colleen's phone rang. She answered it, "Hello?" There was a pause. "I'm on my way." She quickly headed out the door.

Matt looked at her as he ran after her. "Mom! Where are you going?!"

She looked at him as she said, "It was the police!" She hopped into her car as she quickly drove away.

Did they find Katie?

---

Shiro suggested that they play a board game while they were waiting for Colleen to come back. Shiro tried to keep Matt's mind off Katie, but Matt couldn't help it. She was his twin and he missed her dearly. Matt didn't seem too interested, and lost every time.

Shiro sighed as he said, "Come on, Matt. Could you actually try this time?"

"I don't feel like it..." He said as he laid back on the floor. "I'm not in the mood..."

"Fine." Shiro replied. He packed up the game as he put it away.

"Shiro... It's my fault she's gone... I decided to be a jerk." Matt confessed.

"I'm sure it's not." Shiro replied as he sat down on the floor near Matt.

"Yes, it is." He replied.

"Okay, well tell me why you think it's your fault."

"First off, Monday morning, Katie put plastic cockroaches on my bed and I freaked out. She thought it was funny, but I didn't." Matt told. "I was mad at her, so I decided to avoid her all day... and I did. At the end of the day, she walked up to me, but I ran away from her."

"Is that it?" Shiro asked.

Matt nodded. "And I didn't see her again."

"That doesn't sound like your fault to me." Shiro replied.

"But if I stayed with her like I usually do, than maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Look, don't beat yourself over it. I'm sure she's fine. I promise." Shiro assured him.

"Okay..." Matt replied. It went silent in the house. Matt looked up at the ceiling as he just thought. Memories, regrets, people just flowed though his head...

He finally stood up as he walked to the window by the door. His mother had been gone for thirty minutes now. He looked in the window as he saw his mother drive up the drive way. Matt's eyes widened. "Shiro!" He exclaimed. "She's back!"

Shiro quickly stood up as he ran to Matt. Matt opened the door as he noticed his mother wasn't exiting the car. Than he noticed his mother was crying. "Why is she crying?" He asked worried.

Shiro immediately knew. Matt started to run to the car, but Shiro ran behind him as he held him back. Tears started to fall down Matt's face. "Mom!" Matt cried out. "Where's Katie!?" Shiro held him back. "Let me go!" Matt cried. "Please! I need to know where Katie is!"

Shiro wouldn't let him go. He knew the look on Colleen's face all too well.

---

"Hello?" Colleen had answered the phone.

"Mrs. Holt, this is the police's office. We have some news about your daughter. Come to as soon as possible." She heard the a man from the other end say.

"I'm on my way." She replied as she quickly headed to her car.

"Mom! Where are you going?!" She hear Matt call. She turned around and looked at him.

"It was the police!" She exclaimed as she hopped into her car and headed off. She headed there as fast as she could. They have something about her daughter! It's been a week and they finally had something.

Once she got there, she quickly parked and headed to the front desk. "My name is Colleen Holt, and I was told you guys have information about my missing daughter." She said quickly. The lady at the front desk than pointed to guy over in the distance dressed in uniform.

He looked at her, "This way Mrs. Holt."

She followed down the hall. She was so worried. The man didn't look too happy either. That was not a good sign. He then lead her to a room. The room had desk, two chairs, one behind and one in front, and a framed college degree. He motioned her to sit in one of the chairs. She did so. He sat in the other chair, behind the desk as he said, "Hello Mrs. Holt."

"My daughter." She replied. "What did you find about her?"

He let out a sigh. "My investigators found evidence that lead them to the forest behind the school." He than pulled out a few photos and handed them to Colleen.

One showed Katie's book bag, and some of the papers pulled out as they had her name. The backpack was bloody as so as the paper. This worried Colleen. She than looked at the next picture showed her shoes that were badly torn and stained in blood. Tears were threatening to fall. She looked at the next one as there were some bone scattered in the area. A tear fell down her face. In the picture she saw torn pieced of her shirt and leggings. She looked up at the officer.

"The blood was a DNA match to your daughter..." The officer informed. "We interviewed boys who were reported to be last seen with her. One finally confessed that they beat her up, knocking her unconscious. A teacher was coming and they hid her behind the dumpster. The problem with this was that there was reported animals who traveled there to find food, and we believe a fox found your daughter as she was left vulnerable..."

Tears couldn't stop falling down Colleen's face. "There had to be some mistake!" She exclaimed. "There had to be!" She cried. "This can't be my daughter!"

He reached into the desk. "This was found on the scene." He than pulled out a ziplock bag with a bracelet inside. It was a chained bracelet with a star pendant that said: Twins

He handed it to Colleen. She held it in her hand, as she looked at it. It was Katie's bracelet. Colleen let out a choked sob as she covered her mouth.

"Her body was not found." He added. "But as gruesome as it sounds, she was devoured by animals and her body won't be found... Katie is dead..."

***
Read the next chapter.

~KanGian