Grey

Sixteen: Story

Carla Channing sat before a large pile of paperwork, that lay in front of her, waiting to be read and signed. Carla, however, was in no mood for lengthy legal texts. Her mind was drifting far away, lost in memories of the past.

The past that will never come back.

Sighing, she took up one of the papers in front of her, and putting on her glasses, looked down at it. She read through it, but it she was so lost in her thoughts that she couldn't comprehend what she was reading. She tried again, but to no avail. Before she could force herself to give it another try, she was interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Yes?" She said, readily pushing the papers aside.

"Mom?" Asked a blonde head, peeking round the door. The curious face instantly brought a smile to her lips.

"You don't have to knock, Lisa," she said.

"Are you busy?" Asked Lisa, eying the vast number of papers lying before Carla.

"Not at all, dear," said Carla, "Come, sit."

Lisa obeyed wordlessly while Carla watched her. The girl seemed to be in quiet contemplation, her eyes glued to the carpeted floor of the study.

After watching her for some time, Carla decided that she would have to interrupt her adopted daughter's internal dialogue, if she wanted her to speak. Carla, softly and lovingly asked her what was troubling her.

The girl looked at her own fiddling fingers and it was a moment before she spoke.

"Mom," she began, "I want to know about your daughter."

The sudden confrontation startled Carla. She placed a hand on the side of her forehead, still thinking about how she should react.

Lisa looked up at her mother, already feeling guilty. "Mom, it's alright if you'd rather not talk about it, but I won't deny that I'm curious."

"I think you should know," said Carla, rubbing her forehead with her long fingers to reduce the oncoming headache.

Lisa nodded and waited. It was a few minutes later, that Carla actually began to talk.

"My little girl, she was going out with a boy called Gavin. She really liked him, and from what I understood, he did too," Carla paused, looking up wistfully, and then her eyes dropped, "But you see, there were two other girls- Patterson and Walters. They appeared to have some sort of obsessive liking for Gavin."

Ashley and Elaine?

Lisa listened on intently, as Carla took a sip of water and continued

"Well, you see," she said, "Even my daughter, Alyson, was never really the humble kind. She really must have taunted those girls, on having gotten hold of the guy."

Lisa, gasped as she saw the traces of tears, gathering at the corners of her mother's eyes.

"But what they did next, it was unforgivable!" She said, slamming her fist onto the desk, sending out a flurry of flying paper.

Lisa, not wanting to make eye contact, quickly set about gathering the sheets, while listening to her.

"They made her disappear, Lisa," she said, "disappear!"

Lisa looked up uncertainly, "C-can I ask how?"

It toom a moment for Carla to answer.

"Well, the last time Alison called me," she recollected, a lot calmer now, "She said she was out with them. That they were friends again, and it that it felt great. But that's all, that's the last I heard from her."