Missing

CHAPTER 1

Not a year passes by without having to move hundreds of miles away from our home. Me, my brother, Dave, my sister, Pauline, mum, and dad. We never knew why we moved everytime we do, well, at least my siblings and I don't... We just know that, whenever men in grey suits show up at our front door, it's time to pack up and leave. I've tried to ask my parents so many times that I lost count. "You'll understand when the time comes," is always their answer.

The summer after I turned 10, police officers showed up at our doorstep, they were talking to mum and the look on mum's face after the officers told her something made my siblings and I shiver. That night, mum told us what the officers came to tell her: dad is missing. The last time we saw him was when he went to work out of the state a few days ago. At that time, we were shocked, but kind of relieved, because we thought the moving would finally stop. Then, the men in grey suits appear at our doorstep again asking us to pack our things and go with them.

Now, I'm 14, with a 16-year-old brother and a sister that just turned 8. Since dad dissappeared, we've not only moved around the country, but around the world. We've been to Paris, London, Brazil and even Singapore. Usually we would stay in places that are not overpopulated, that way, we wouldn't be too hidden nor too exposed to society, and Dave, Pauline and I need to go to school too, we would seem myterious if we stay in a very hidden place, and we don't want that to draw attention. Wherever we go, the men in grey suits would pretend to be a 'friendly neighbour' staying nextdoor, keeping watch 24/7, ready for any sudden attack, and with any hint of plot againts us, we'll be on the road within minutes. They said it's much more dangerous with dad missing.

Now we're on the move again from Singapore, and this time we're headed towards Texas, in the USA, the town that dad went to before he disappeared. Our 25-hour flight landed at noon in George Bush Intercontinantal Airport. We drove about half-an-hour to Hedwig Village, where we will be living until the next time we move. The men in grey suits came here about 2 weeks before we moved just to check on the houses here. They said that they have to check on somethings dad may have left behind before he went missing.

"Unpack your things!" mum called as we entered the house. The house is just a medium-sized terrace house in the town, we didn't want anything too public nor too private to draw attention. Mum started cooking lunch while we unpack our things. We travel quite lightly to save time packing when we're moving and it doesn't take long to unpack too.

We had a quiet meal, with baked pasta and some fried beans. I miss the conversations we had during meals, how we talked about our day. But since the moving, we've spent most of our time together, so there's not much to talk about.

After lunch, we spent most of the evening unpacking and getting ready for school the next day. After moving so much, I got used to starting all over again making friends in a new school, but I don't get too attached to them because I know that we'll move again.