Murder

Chapter 16- Danger

"Kid? You in here?" Rob knocked on the door. He pops his head in to check, and then walks in. "It's not your fault, you know. The brick thing, it's not your fault." he said. I look down. It is my fault. He doesn't know that, but it is. He puts an arm around my shoulders. "Don't be so hard on yourself. There's no way it's your fault. And I won't allow you to feel bad about yourself like this. Do you know, me and Russ, we used to talk about you." he said. In what way is that supposed to make me feel better? I shake my head. "We did. He said, if I ever meet you, I better treat you like my little sister. And I better protect you, no matter what." I look at him then. "And that's exactly what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna treat you like a sister, and I'm gonna protect you. Even if that means I have to protect you from you, I'll do it. So I won't allow you to feel bad about yourself. Ever." he continued. I smile at him. It's just like Russ, to tell his friends that. He hugged me. "Now, go find your friends, I know you were with them before you came home." he said. Home. Is this home? Can I call this home? It would be nice, to have a home again. I miss having a home. "Go." he insisted. "Thank you." I got up and walked out of the house.

The only ones still available were Emily and Sarah, so we decide to go for a walk. I walk over to Emily's house to pick her up, and then we head over to Sarah's. Nobody is answering the door, so we stand under her bedroom window and sigh, as we sigh we let out an extremely loud, long "Sarah" and she never answers. We say it about ten more times. After some funny looks from her creepy neighbors, she hears us and opens the door. "Guys. I have a phone. Next time I don't answer the door, use that." she sighed. I laugh a little bit. "But that's no fun." I replied. She rolls her eyes. "Come on, let's just go." Sarah said. "Where?" Emily asked. There's not much to do around here in January, but we can still walk around and go to the park until we get too cold, or gangs show up. "Let's just walk, maybe we'll end up at the park, or the pizza place. Who knows?" I said, and we start walking.

We get to the park and sit on the swings, talking. "So what's it like?" Emily asks all of a sudden. "What?" I respond. "You know." she hints. What is she talking about? "C'mon! What's it like living with Rob?" "What? What about him?" I asked. "What's it like living with somebody so cute and sweet and awesome?" she pressed. I don't really get it, I mean, I don't really live with him, I just spend the night sometimes and I stay there during the day. Okay, I kinda live with him, but, I don't consider that where I live. "Uh." I managed to say. "Come on! Don't hold back any details!" she insisted. "What details? I stay there during the day while he's at school and work, and at night he falls asleep about two hours after dinner. I really don't know what you want me to say." "What happens during those two hours?" Emily asked. "We talk. Sometimes we play football in the yard, sometimes I'm not even there." I said. She let out an irritated sigh, like that's not what she was hoping for. "Whatever. We should go, Sarah's shaking." I said. "No, n-n-no. I'm fine. r-really." Sarah insisted. "You're shaking like a leaf and you're stuttering because of how bad you're shaking. We're going." I said. "Yeah. Can't have you geting hypothermia." Emily agreed. We get up and start walking back. We get on the debate of which kind of potatoes are better, mashed potatoes, french fries, or baked potatoes, and we decide that all potatoes are equally delicious.

We near the corner where we all go our seperate ways. I have to go straight, Sarah has to go left, and Emily has to go right. We're all walking in a line instead of side by side for some reason. As we get to the corner to go our seperate ways, we say our goodbyes. But something's wrong. I hear my voice, I hear Sarah's voice. I don't hear Emily's voice. "Emily? Emily!" I yell. Me and Sarah turn around, but she's not here. I call her phone. One ring... two rings... and then a click. I call back again. No rings and a click. Somebody just turned her phone off. There's no way it died because she had sixty percent when we left the park, I saw when she texted her parents that she was on her way home. "Emishay!" Sarah yells. I try to think of any cars that passed us. There was a little gray Honda, a blue SUV, and a white pickup truck, I think it was a Toyota. "Sarah, somebody just turned off her phone. I know it didn't die, and I know it wasn't her, she wouldn't do that. Somebody took her." I screamed. Sarah pulls out her phone and dials a number. "Mom, I'm gonna be home late. Emily's gone missing. No, I'm not sure how. No, mom, we had our backs turned for two minutes. We're going to go looking for her. Me and Gab. I'm pretty sure Gab can handle anybody that tries to take us. We'll get the other four and go search for her. Sure, call their parents, you search by car, we'll walk the backroads. Alright, love you too. Bye." she hangs up the phone. "Sarah, text the group chat, tell them to meet us at the park ASAP." I said. "Shouldn't you call your parents?" she asked. "For what?" "Well, won't they be concerned that you're not coming home?" she asked. What home? I don't have anywhere to call home. "Why would my parents care?" "I mean, shouldn't you call Rob or Darrel? Somebody?" she pressed. "Nobody cares that I won't be home. Nobody's home, I don't have a home." I turn away and start walking towards the park where we were on our way home from.

We all get there, and start walkng the back roads, checking in windows, I even told them to keep an eye out for for a little gray Honda, a blue SUV and a white Toyota pickup truck. It's starting to get a little cold, and really dark. We're all using our phones as flashlights, and we're walking really close together to keep warm. This sort of reminds me of the night I got shot, except not quite as cold. I can't shake this feeling that something bad is gonna happen though. I'm walking in the back to make sure I can keep an eye on everybody. I can't help but thinking that Emily getting kidnapped was my fault, I could've kept an eye on her, and then I would've seen who took her, and I could've stopped it. I could've done something to protect her, I know I could've. But I didn't, and now here we are, a search party, out in the ghetto, at night, freezing our butts off, because of something that I could've easily prevented. This is just like the brick through Rob's window. It's my fault.