The Missing Children

Chapter 1: Yushi?

Snow glided through the slightly ajar window, casting a light glow across the room. A child, no older than ten, was surrounded by thick blankets, a book discarded by her feet. Her brown, almost black, hair covered her sleeping face, the shadows turning her pale skin dark.

The door creaked open.

Meanwhile, in a room further down the hallway, another girl sat, surrounded by piles of paper. She looked to be the younger girl's sister, her face shape similar, yet most other features different. She had blonde, wavy hair. Her face was tanned, most unlike the previous girl. Freckles found themselves scattered across the bridge of her nose, and her eyes claimed the most stunning green colour. She was adorned in a school uniform, the tie loosened and her blazer by her side. Her wrist held a silver bracelet.

The older girl slowly rose to her feet and padded barefoot across the room to the windowsill, seizing her blazer from the floor and drawing it tightly around her shoulders. It was December, and she expected it to be cold, but never like this. The fires all across the family's Victorian mansion were lit and warming the halls, yet the blizzard outside still blew ferociously around the house, making everyone inside it feel freezing and shivery, not that there were many people inside at that particular moment.

In fact, there were more people stealthily watching the house from the grounds than actually inside.

The sisters' parents, Ellen and Mortimer, had not been home when they had returned from their private school. Even the family's many servants had mostly been missing, aside from the housemaid, Nancy, who had immediately left when the girls arrived home, saying she had to buy some food in order for them to face the hard winter that everyone knew was coming. 

Rose Powers (the older of the two sisters) turned away from the window, biting her lip anxiously. It was getting later and later, and still no one had returned to the house. She'd told Yushi, her younger sister, that her parents would be home soon, but she wasn't nearly as sure as she'd made herself out to be. 

The concern for her parents was slowly gnawing away at her insides, doubts echoing through her head. Where they really going to come back? Rose's bottom lip began to quiver, panic slowly seeping through her defenses. The walls were slowly crumbling, slowly collapsing, crashing down, letting her fears through.

Unable to stop the onslaught, Rose quickly stood up, and quickly stepped towards her parents room. She clicked the door open, and pushed it so as to let her enter. Continuing in her speed walk, she swiftly moved towards the bed, placed in the center of the room, giving it a symmetrical feel. She fell back into the soft sheets, inhaling the scent of her parents, feeling them, seeing them beside her.

A noise further down the corridor broke her from her dreamlike state, and she sat up alert.

Shaking her head furiously, Rose crossed the room and hurried up two flights of stairs to her own bedroom, in the hope that she would wake up and her parents would be home. There was little point in sitting around worrying and imagining strange noises.

She sank into her bed, still fully clothed, and lay there for several hours before she finally fell asleep.

The snow continued it's relentless fall outside, masking the van that was racing away from the house at full speed. Of course, it wasn't like Rose would've noticed anyway, had she been awake, for she was rather to concerned for her parents to care anyway.

The sunlight that streamed over the horizon came to early for Rose, honestly. She groggily opened her eyes, and rubbed off the sleep that had settled to the sides of her eyes. Pushing back her warm blanket, and stepped onto the cold hardwood floor. Goosebumps pricked at her arms, and she rubbed her hands together to warm up.

She dragged a hairbrush through her tangled blonde hair, changed hurriedly into a short pink dress, jacket and tights, before leaving her bedroom. 

It was far colder in the corridor than it was in Rose's room. She hesitated before heading back into the room, and pulling on a thick winter coat over her jacket. 

Rose descended the stairs, and darted down the corridor to Yushi's room in the east wing of the house. She knocked gently. 

No answer. 

Rose rapped slightly harder on the door. 

Still nothing. 

She pushed the door open. "Yushi?"

"Yushi, you need to wake-" Rose stopped.

The bed was empty.

'M... Maybe she's already awake?' she thought, nervously.

Quickly walking through the hallway, the blonde opened the door into the kitchen.

Again, nobody.

Rose was alone in this house. Yushi had gone who-knows where, her parents hadn't come home, and all the servants had disappeared.

What was going on?

She turned from Yushi's room, blinking back furious tears. Yushi might be in the living room, downstairs. She needed to look there. 

Rose sprinted down another flight of stairs and into the hall on the ground floor. She rocketed past the open front door as fast as she could go, and then skidded abruptly to a halt. 

The front door was open. 

Cautious, Rose spun on her heel and turned back to have a look. 

There were two sets of footprints leading away from the house, one large and one smaller, wiggling in a long line down the path. As Rose watched, they slowly began to disappear, filling up with fresh snow.  

Quickly pulling on a pair of boots,  she stepped out into the thick snow. 

She didn't know why she was following the footprints, but she was following her gut instinct. With Yushi gone, and with Rose in such a state, it wasn't like she was thinking rationally anyway. All she wanted to do was find her sister, and find her parents. It wasn't like she asked for Yushi to be kidnapped, anyway, was it?

(Words: 1006)

Whew, finally done! The first chapter took an extremely long time to write, due to writers block, and having to write out character profiles etc. But we got it finished! Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. - Serena