Secrets

Chapter Twenty Eight

Kariann was in her dorm room, lying on her bed and mindlessly scrolling through her social media. She hadn't been able to focus on much since Kimby had gone missing two nights earlier, and had been excused from her classes to take care of her mental health. Her older sister Kristine was sitting on the chair at her desk, trying to read a book. But from the way she looked up every few minutes and glanced out of the window Kariann knew that she wasn't able to focus either. Nevertheless, she was just glad to have her older sister there with her.

Christen was lying on her bed as well at the opposite side of the room, texting away on her phone. Kariann knew she was texting Tobin who was still at January camp with the national team. Usually her roommate's constant thinking about the other soccer player got on Kariann's nerves and she blocked Christen's thoughts out as well as she could, but today it was a welcome distraction. She only felt a little guilty for blatantly listening to the girl's secrets, but her roommate would tell her about them sooner or later anyways. They had become quite close, and Kariann was happy to have her in her life.

Suddenly Christen spoke into the quietness of the room.

"Do you mind if I Facetime with Tobin? Or should I go out of the room?" she asked.

"No, it's alright. I wanna say hi to her too" Kariann replied, and Kristine just shrugged.

Christen put Tobin on video chat, and Kariann scooted over to Christen's side to sit next to her.

"Hey Kariann!" Tobin greeted, sounding genuinely excited to see her roommate's twin, but also sounding careful and sad. She had of course been informed about Kimby's disappearance and Christen had had to convince her to stay at camp and not come back to college.

"Hey Tobin!" Kariann greeted back and waved.

"Are there any news?" Tobin asked directly.

"No, nothing we haven't told you yet. The police found her phone yesterday at the side of the Interstate 85 so they now think she was taken out of state by car, and the police in three different states is now involved" Kariann sighed.

Tobin closed her eyes. Kariann wished she could hear the girl's thoughts, but it never worked through video calls. Conjuring skills really needed to catch up with modern technology, she always joked.

"I hope they find her quickly. I'm so sorry. I miss you guys" Tobin said sadly.

"We miss you too" Christen replied softly, and Kariann agreed.

"How's camp?" she asked to change the topic.

Their conversations about Kimby only went in circles and they came to no conclusions. Kariann knew that the CA had been contacted because Taylor thought it could have to do with Kimby's skills, but Mrs Yanez hadn't come to a conclusion yet, either.

Tobin told them about how training went, how nice the other players that she had adored for years and now finally got to play with were, and how she hoped to get a few minutes in the first match of the year against France on the weekend.

They ended the call a while later, but Kariann kept sitting next to Christen and they talked about this and that. Suddenly there was a soft knock on the door, and when Christen called out to the person to come in, Kelley appeared in the doorframe.

"Hey KO" Christen greeted her teammate by her nickname.

"What's up?"

Kelley, usually loud and out-going, didn't reply and just quietly entered the room, then sat next to the girls on the bed. Kristine looked at the scene in bewilderment from the other side of the room.