Truths Unravel

Chapter #1

      "Missing or dead: It has been 3 years since Cara and Ryker Coltrane have gone missing from their beautiful home in Senrol, Alabama. Investigations are still going on..."

      I stand there, watching the news, with my hazel eyes, through Helda's Café window, while my long, luscious brown hair flies around in the wind like a crazy bird. I promised myself not to cry about the news of my missing parents, but I can already feel tears rushing out like a waterfall and falling down my face, onto the pavement; my long eyelashes are very wet by now. As I cry, I look down at my feet, but all I see is a blur of random shapes. My feet always seem to be bigger than the other, but I can't notice that now, due to the tears blurring my vision.

      I stop crying in a few minutes and get on to school. I stop once in a while to look at my reflection through windows; I don't want to go to school looking like I just cried. As I get closer to my school, Alcity High, my face looks normal enough. I step onto the grass of the school grounds just as someone shouts in my way.

      "Zalia, we have history for first period! Wanna ditch?

      I roll my eyes and shout back, "No, I can't," and walk away as fast as I can.

      When I reach the nearest entrance, I whisper to myself, "Smile, get it over with." I walk through the big, maroon doors, that have paint chipped off in many places, and rush my way to my locker. I keep walking up stairs and down long and short hallways, all the while people all around me compliment me or crack up jokes; I keep up with my smile, that is hurting my cheeks, and get to my locker at last.

      I absolutely hate walking down hallways in school because of all the attention I get. I'm known as Zalia Coltrane, and everyone treats me like I'm perfect; they notice what's going on on the outside. They notice my long legs, my height, my face features, my clothes, etc. However, no one tries to understand what's going on in the inside. To be honest, I don't even understand what's going on inside me either. However, I know I'm a complete and utterly mess there.

      Well, actually, I might be lying when I say that no one understands me from the inside. My one and only best friend, Emory Ortega, totally knows me. She knows me better than anyone else. Emory is the best, but students at this school treat her like she doesn't have feelings. They're so rude to her that I want to grab them by their hair and chuck them far away from us; I can't stand anyone making fun of her. I guess the kids here are so mean to her because she's different than us; by different I mean that she's the only coloured person left in this school. Bullies drove away most coloured people here and Emory is the only one who had the courage to stay. I'm happy that she stayed here, otherwise I'd have all these people as friends that I don't even like. I know Emory also hates the kids here, too.

      "Hello, is anyone there?" A 5 foot 6 inches tall girl stands in front of me snapping here fingers. Her grey blue eyes stare at me and her mouth is in a smile. She is also skinny, has long legs, and is a bit more muscular than me. Her black hair is curled and is left open. This girl is wearing a navy blue top and white jeans. I snap back to life and notice it's Emory.

      "Sorry I zoned out." I say as I grin and try to get away from her snapping fingers in front of my face. "Hey, stop snapping in my face!"

      Emory stops and looks at my face with a curious expression, "You were crying, weren't you?" She steps closer to me, and whispers, "Were you crying about the news this morning?"

      I hesitate, but I can't lie to her. "Yea, I tried not to. But, the tears just came."

      Emory looks at me and says, "You're going to add this mornings news to your investigation, aren't you? Come on, let the police do the job. You're under to much pressure from this case."

      I don't know how Emory knows what I'm going to do, before I even do it. She found out about me investigating my parents case before I started on it. She knows me all to well. I say to her, "Fine, I am going to do that, it's necessary." Even though Emory wants me to give up on the missing case, she still helps me out here and there.

      Emory shakes her head, but then starts walking towards class, saying, "Don't just stand there now. Come, we need to get to class or else Mr. Hargton will give us an extra essay to do."

      I grab my books and catch up to Emory. With Emory, I don't need to pretend to be someone. She gets me, and I get her. Together, we walk to class, while the time of when I found out my parents disappeared, is vivid in my head.