Sarah (h.s)

Chapter Five

The dust finally began to settle on the saddened carnival ground. The chaos of her disappearing has mellowed and everyone searching for her had the same, grim expression. Where is our Sarah?

Liam's footsteps crunched against the ground, his mind attempting to construct the story of her disappearance. The rubbish and turned up dirt from the night before was clouding any form of evidence. No cameras. No witnesses. Too dark for anyone to have seen her leave, or even recoginise her. Could she have simply run away for the sake of freedom? Or did someone with a malicious soul trick her? Take her? But why? Sarah had no enemies. Liam knew that. Her heart of gold led her to volunteer work, but her cheekiness often lead her to drinking underage, making innocent hearts fall for her and running off on adventures, but she always knew when she was done. She knew where the line was and the line for her was always whether someone was going to get hurt.

Liam began to break away from the main search group as they grew more frantic and headed down to the river just away from the carnival. It was tranquil. He felt the breeze pass him softly, brushing his ears and reminding him to breathe after being stressed consistency for hours. Liam felt the wind being sucked into his chest as he sighed, already sick of the drunken teenagers with no answers and angry parents. How was he supposed know what happened to her if nobody saw her or knew her except for that Irish kid?

Liam stopped near the river bank and looked around for a moment to check if anyone could see him pulling out the cigerettes from his pocket. No one was, so he began to light it, watching the river flow by, letting the smoke flow into his lungs. A police officer smoking on the job, not Liam's ideal situation, but he needed a break. Already feeling like the case was going in circles. He kept smoking, his eyes watching the patterns of the water passing by. Brown and misty, he couldn't see the bottom of the dirty river. The dull landscape was embellished with curling trees, dark grass and the greying clouds. Which is why Liam had to look twice when he saw the bright blue flash in the corner of his eye.

The blue dress floated by. Ghostly. Serene. So pale and fragile, Liam thought he was imagining it. Slowly nearing him, he coughed out the smoke in his lungs and lunged for the ghost, the cigarette being left in the dust. He felt the material scruch in his palms as the dirty water splashed his legs, wetting his uniform. The drunken kids ramblings washed upon him.

"She was wearing a blue dress. It was blue. Childlike. She was wearing blue."

It's the dress. This was Sarah's dress. Ripped, torn and dirtied. Destroyed. A chill swept through Liam at his first question. How did it get here? It also confirmed one other suspicion that Liam had been questioning. She didn't run away. She was taken. That poor girl with the heart of an angel was taken. Liam attempts to focus his panic and compose himself, stomping on the dying cigarette butt and climbing the disintergrating earth-influenced stairs with the crying dress in his arms. Collected, but still stightly in shock, Liam made his way over to others in the search party to explain the horror he had found.

"I think it's hers," Liam revealed in sadness and the group gasped in distress, all having a look of sadness cross their eyes. Someone had taken their Sarah. A chorus of concerned mumbles appeared in the thick air. A worst nightmare coming true. A blemish on their town. A demon in the shadows.

"Are you sure? Are you sure it's our Sarah's?" Her father, James, spoke up from the crowd. Miranda, her mother, has her shaking hands clapsed around her husband's arm.

"I'm almost certain. However if you feel you need to, have a look to confirm it's Sarah's dress," Liam passed the tired blue dress to her parents. It was when the tears appear in their eyes the horror is confirmed.

"We bought this for her birthday two years ago," Miranda mumbled as the pair deflated, the idea of never seeing their daughter again crushing them. The crowd who were before searching frantically, were now frozen, distraught, and all feeling the same pain in their chests. Unable to comprehend what horror could have happened to their dear girl, the solumn silence is interrupted by the scuffing of shoes along the gravel. It's a slower, more gloomy walk. A gasp followed. It was Niall and his haunting moment of seeing the dress crumpled in Sarah's parent's hands. Their eyes connected, moving to the dress, and by the time they relocked, there is an terrible anger in James and Miranda's eyes.

"This is your fault. All of this! Sarah is gone because of you! Are you happy now? You should be ashamed of yourself, Niall! Ashamed! You led her here! You-" James' words fell on deaf ears. Niall was numb. In every way. He couldn't hear, his vision was blurred to the point where he could only see the ghostly shade of blue, he couldn't feel the tightening grip on his arm as James shook him in anger. Nothing. Niall felt nothing exept the pull of Sarah's smile disappearing and turning into a memory behind his eyes. Seeing the destroyed dress made Niall distraught. It took what felt like hours for him to realise Officer Payne was trying to speak to him. Liam was now holding the dress and Miranda was trying to compose James. Niall could hear the words 'questions', 'station' and 'witness' swim around his clouded mind. He felt as light as the dress, beyond reality, close to losing consciousness and floating away.

"I'm taking you down to the station, Niall. We need answers," Liam spoke clearly, the words finally gaining clarity as they headed for the police car.

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Thank you for hanging in there while I haven't been updating. I appreciate everyone who has supported me and motivated me to keep writing.

~ Littlethingss11