The Taking

Chapter 13

[Charlotte's POV]

When I woke up the day that Celeste disappeared, everything felt normal. The room was chilly like it usually was every morning and I could hear the sound of birds chirping outside my window. The faint smell of breakfast cooking from kitchen had me on my feet and heading towards my sister's room.

Celeste loves doing my hair. Back home, our mornings began with me barging into her room like nobody's business and telling her about the plans I'm having with my friends. And while I do that, she'd style my hair the way I want it.

I thought about asking her to put my hair up in a fishtail, but when I entered her room she wasn't there. Her window was open and the curtains were fluttering wildly from the breeze outside. I walked up to the windowsill and locked it. Thinking maybe she got up earlier, I walked down to the kitchen and found where everyone sitting on the dining room table.

"Where's Celeste?" I asked mom.

"Isn't she still sleeping?"

I shook my head. "She wasn't in her room."

"Maybe she's doing her business?" Gran said, plopping her jam sandwich into her mouth.

"Business?" Trent cringed.

Gran rolled her eyes. "I swear boy...Are you really my grandson? Blockheads don't run in my family." She lightly hit him with her cane on the back of his knee. Trent pushed his chair back and sent Gran a glare. "Don't stare at me like that! Business means, you know...wizz, pee, tinkle, take a leak? Or if it's the other one: dump, shit, crap-

"Mother. You can't talk to Trent like that! And don't say those words, not while we're eating." Mom placed a pitcher of orange juice in front of her in the table.

"You're a nurse Trace, I thought you had a tough gut for that kind of stuff."

I changed topic before another argument between them happened. "So what are we planning to do today?"

We were almost finished with breakfast when mom grew suspicious about Celeste's whereabouts too.

"Celeste hasn't come down yet."

"She probably got lost." Trent joked.

I hit him on the shoulder and glared. A bad feeling made the pit of my stomach churn, which was never a good sign.

"Wyatt!" Gran called for her butler.

He came running without a sweat. "Yes ma'am."

"Have you seen my granddaughter?" His eyes looked at me and Gran caught it. "The older one, not Charlotte...Celeste."

"No ma'am. I didn't see her since I arrived here this morning at 5am." He bowed and dismissed himself.

Worry turned into fear. "Maybe we should look for her." I said, already walking up the stairs and into her room.

We searched and searched, from every nook and cranny of Gran's humongous house. Gran was out of her mind searching for Celeste in her freezer and cabinets. Trent checked the basement and the cellar. Wyatt looked around the perimeter of the house. Mom and I searched all the rooms.

"We can't find her anywhere!" At this point, mom was frantic and her hands were shaking, she was almost in the verge of tears. Mom didn't refuse Gran when she comforted her with a hug. Trent held my hand as I wept at the sight of mom breaking down. The same way she did when dad died.

It broke my heart watching her react that way again. I was too young when dad died to really understand what had happened at first. But now, I'm old enough to know what this situation entailed.