Stars Live in The Sky

Chapter Two

The next morning, I woke up in Hell.

"Carson sweetie, are you awake?" My mother's hand rapped on my bedroom door. Each bump of her knuckles against the wood made me flinch beneath the covers. I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and waste away like the pathetic person I was. Like the one I still am.

She wasn't privy to my feelings, however, and opened the door. I could hear her walk across the carpeted floor and felt her sit on the edge of my bed. Her hand touched my shoulder, separated by the thin layer of cloth that was my blanket. I wanted to throw her hand off and scream, but I didn't. I didn't even have the energy to move.

"Carson, we need to talk. It's important."

A breath escaped my lungs against my will, and I knew she knew I was awake. Continuing to pretend would be pointless, so I poked my head out and faced her. My mother was a very pretty woman, or at least, I thought so. She always had her black hair up in a ponytail, and tan skin that was incongruous with her daily routine. She didn't like going outside much. She always wore bright white clothes and half-rimmed glasses that made her look like a doctor. Fitting, since that's exactly what she was.

"What is it?" I said, my voice hoarse from sleep and sobbing.

She looked at me, mouth half open, words caught in her mouth. She seemed nervous. I didn't like it when she was nervous, because it always made me nervous, too.

"Hun... When was the last time you saw Amber?"

"Yesterday afternoon," I said, moving to sit up straight. "Why do you ask?"

"You see, sweetie... She never came home last night."

My heart stopped. "What... did you say?"

"Her parents called me this morning-"

"What do you mean she never went home?!" I yelled, breathing shallow and voice breaking. The blanket was off now.

"She never went home. Her parents have no idea where she is, so they called me and asked me to ask you."

"Why wouldn't they call the police?!" I leaped off the bed, grabbing my shoes from out of my closet.

"They already did."

"So what are they doing?!" Left shoe, on.

"They've sent some officers to their house, but they don't know where she could have gone. That's why they asked me to ask you."

"We need to get over there!" Right shoe, on.

"Carson, just stay calm."

"Stay calm?"  Laces forgotten. "You want me to stay calm?!"

"Yes, I do!"

"What the fuck is staying calm going to do, Amber is missing!"

"Language! And anyway, we don't know that for sure yet."

"Oh, yeah, she only never went back to the place she lives, and hasn't been seen for about twelve hours! She's missing, I know it!"

"How?"

I stopped in the doorway. I could hear my blood pumping in my ears. An empty, yet nauseating feeling had settled in the pit of my stomach, and it was slowly spreading through my body. I wasn't sure if the world was spinning, or if I was.

"Did she tell you something? It can be anything at all, think carefully."

I'm not sure if I lied because I didn't want to revisit yesterday's conversation, or because that conversation felt so personal between us. In a situation like this, would she still want me to talk about it with people? Looking back, I realized just how distant she looked. How far away she seemed behind those dark green eyes of hers.