Operation M.I.A: Missing in Action (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter VIII

LUKE

Music: Toad's Turnpike from Mario Kart 64

Most people would probably find it a bit weird that in one weekend, you'd have to travel to two different places across the country. Some might even become stressed out just at the thought. Me? I don't care; anything to get me out of the house these days.

We're currently on our second plane flight of the trip: From NYC to Las Vegas, Nevada. Personally, both locations seem like pretty generic location for dance competitions, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Given how it's late at night, it's pretty quiet and ambient on the plane right now. People who are chatting are doing so quietly, as most passengers are sound asleep. Among our group, Sam, Elle, Skylar, and Shanna are out, and the rest of us are barely awake.

After Avery finishes a conversation with one of her dance friends, she turns around to face the rest of us still awake and starts a conversation with us. "So, what did you guys think?" she asks.

Most of us are inexperienced in this subject, so the answers we're able to provide are mostly basic. "I thought you guys did well," Heath shrugs.

"Second place doesn't seem too bad to me," Mackenzie nods.

"I feel like I owe every cheerleader at our school an apology," I smirk.

Avery scowls at me for a moment before turning back to everyone else. "Well, I'm really excited for our second competition. If this first performance is anything to go off of, we should have pretty high hopes for our second."

"Seems legit," Mia nods.

Avery stops talking to us then, and she gets out her phone, places her earbuds in her ears, and lays back in her chair to fall asleep. Mia and Sean go back to watching videos on Mia's phone, Mackenzie lays back to take a nap, and Heath and I are silent for a few minutes. I decide to take a few seconds to just look out the window, looking down at all the different environments below.

Eventually, Heath leans forward and taps Avery on the shoulder. She opens her eyes, takes an earbud out, and turns around to face him and I. "Did you hear anything about those girls who went missing?" he asks.

Avery shrugs. "I haven't heard anything, no."

One of the older girls sitting across from us turns our way and says, "From what we've gathered, it seems like they were kidnapped."

Avery's head is turned sideways, so I can't see her face too well, but I can see her leaning her head back and groaning. "Did it have to be a kidnapping?" she mumbles to herself.

"Avery, don't worry about it. We don't even know them personally," I say, trying to calm her down.

Avery turns around to face me, and she looks like she's just about had it. "Luke, the last thing I want to do is get involved with ANOTHER kidnapping case. And it's been happening more and more frequently in the past week."

"It's only happened twice, and we weren't even there to witness either incident," Heath shrugs.

"Still more than reasonable."

"Avery, you've got better things to worry about. Just forget about it," I sigh. Avery sighs along with me and goes back to trying to take a nap.

I debate having a whisper conversation with Heath about the disappearances, but he's already laid back and plugged his earbuds in. My phone's in my luggage, so I just go back to looking out the window, wondering what will become of this.

SKYLAR

Music: Sensation from Salamander 2

The first impression given to me by Las Vegas is MUCH different than the one given by NYC. For one, unlike NYC, the buildings are styled similarly to each other, unlike the massive variety of NYC. And overall, it's just less crowded with people and cars.