The Five W's

Part 1: Who (2)

Chapter 2

4th period. Health. I read my textbook, burying myself in its words. The room was virtually silent except for the typing of fingers and the symphonic music in the background. The girl in front of me was humming along, quite clearly enjoying herself.

Anxiety, I read, is a state of uneasiness, usually associated with a future uncertainty. I felt something wash over me as a typed the definition on my document. Anxiety. I found the word that could describe me best. I was anxious. Constantly, for I feared maybe she wasn't alive. Or if she was, she wouldn't be much longer.

The lesson we were focusing on was about emotions. Discussing feeling anything again made me want to hurl. I had numbed myself down to only a few emotions that remained exceptions: anxiety, boredom, frustration, and disappointment. My closet practically showed my lack of emotions and personality thereof. Everything in my closet was black. Some shirts had sayings on them, but they were so worn you couldn't read them. Black and white. Pretty much how I lived my life now.

By the end of the day, nothing changed. Time passed, but it was the same procedure every day, same painful memory after the other as my pathetic pursuit in life forced me back to the same dreaded place every day. For normal people, high school is stressful and frustrating. For me, it was painful and drab.

I drove myself home that day. I normally didn't, because I hardly paid attention to the road. That day felt different. With the discovery of that one feeling I just couldn't place, I felt like something else may happen.

The atmosphere shifted as I pulled into my driveway. I saw an unmarked police car in my dad's usual parking space, and two cops leaned up against it. The looked at me as they heard my car pull in. I shut off the engine and slid out of my seat.

My heartbeat rose in panic. Why were they here? What was this about?

They must have read my mind, because they walked over to me with caution and stated, "There is nothing to be afraid of. We just have some information on your girlfriend, Grace Wonder." At her name, I felt my heart sink and my knees liquefy. I felt myself go pale and one cop, the younger one, shifted me so I was under his arm and stated, "We should go inside." I just nodded and leaned into him.

I gave the older cop the keys and he gradually opened the door. We stumbled inside in front of him, and the younger cop set me heavily on the couch. I leaned back into it, wishing myself to jest melt and become the couch. I told myself I should ask them to leave. I should just put this all behind me, because she was gone.

But I just couldn't shake the hope they might have found her.

I slowly became more stable and looked at them to continue. The older man-Henry, I noticed, reading his badge-cleared his threat before saying, "We think we might know who took Grace." The pain hit, and slowly subsided as I let in slow, deep breaths. On my last exhale, as the pain left me, I asked, "Who?"

Henry and the younger man-James by his badge-shared a glance and James said, "We cannot disclose that information at this time. Until we know with absolute certainty that it is indeed who we suspect it is, we are not able to share their identity with you."

"Excuse me?" Henry sighed. "Miss, we just wanted you to know we had a lead. Now that we have shared that with you, we will head back to the station." They both got up and took two long strides before I stopped them.

"No." I said firmly. James turned around. "Miss, we already-" I cut him off. "I'm aware of what you told me. I know you have a lead, I know you can't tell me, but I call bullshit. If you finally have a lead, I'm working with you on this case. She is my girlfriend, and I'm not leaving her behind while I wait for you to finally do your job. I'm coming with you." I stood from the couch and walked over to the coat rack, pulling on my light black coat and tying it around my waist.