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IT WAS SUDDENLY JANUARY .
children were still going missing, people were still dying, and it seemed to presley as though nobody cared. even her own family, with four kids, any of whom could go missing at any given time.
the way her father spoke of the incidents was revolting. he seethed about how searching was collectively a waste of the towns time and effort. he spoke of the children and how it was surely their fault they had gone missing. he acted as though they weren't real people with real lives. it was preposterous! those children had been friends with his, he had watched them in school plays, graduations, gone to their sports games. and now? now he was hardly treating them as more than names on a page. because it "isn't real," and "the disappearances happen for specific reasons, most of which have to do with their damn parents." he would say.
the only one he had given a second thought to had been georgie's. he was basically another one of their children. even then, it was but a moment of mourning, and he was back to overworking, reading the paper and thinking he was too good for the rest of the town. that was how it always had been.
as for the rest of the family, jennifer was still going to country clubs and salons with her "friends", gossiping about one another and pretending their own lives weren't as messed up as the rest.
amanda was still sneaking out every night to give reserved pieces of her to the undeserving boy who broke her, then waking up to regret it every single morning.
max was still gone to places he wished he would have never seen and back before you would ever know, on highs that felt like they lasted a lifetime.
charlotte was still young and naive, missing her best friend, and wondering where in the world he would have gone to, or why he would have left her.
and presley still beheld the darkest secret of them all.
•••
school was going to be out for the summer soon enough. everyone was ready for it to end, except presley. she knew the routine, and this summer was bound to be exactly like the previous ones.
boys would be lined up at her back door, and she'd probably let them take advantage of her. her friends would pressure her into doing stupid things, and she'd let them.
her friends were nice; at least to pres anyway. sure, she could hardly remember the last time she had had a conversation that didn't feel forced with most of them, but then again, she felt that way with everyone.
to state it more clearly, presley did have friends. people practically bowed down to her and fought for her attention. everyone wanted to either be her, or be friends with her. she just had that kind of magnetic personality that attracted people. the amount of people presley could really be herself around though, was close to zero.
