Aubrey Is Missing and No One Understands

0. MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

(IMPORTANT) TRIGGER WARNING: 

- Mentions of mental illnesses

- Mentions of suicide

- Mild violence (well, it does involve murder and blood, but it's not graphic)

[Kindly skip to the next chapter if you don't want to listen to any of this dilly-dally. Though I would greatly appreciate it if you would stick around.]

Hello :D

First of all, thank you so so much for even considering to read this story. This is my first story ever (first to reach the internet, at least), and I'm definitely not the best writer ever, so please bear with me if I spill a mistake or two or 25, ya know. 

So, here's the thing. I am OBSESSED with true crime. If you are too, listen to the podcast My Favorite Murder by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, it will make your life 101% better. I even plugged in some references from their show to this story, which would, I guarantee you, make things funnier if you understand those references. In fact, I came up with the base idea to this story while listening to that podcast.

OK, LISTEN. The first chapters of the story don't even sound like something out of a mystery story (psst.. some are in the form of text messages, so please don't find that weird [OK, honestly, you can even skip Chapter 1 if you want to, it won't affect your reading experience that much]). It just sounds like some teen girl describing stuff, because I want to focus on building characters that will leave impressions first. But I swear, it will eventually lead up to a mystery. I'm naturally sarcastic, a little cynical, and definitely annoying, so I'm not really the type to write sophisticated Shakespearean words, I'm more of a by-the-way-here's-what-happened-to-me-yesterday storyteller, which means my stories are generally more casual and laid back. Knowing myself, I know for sure I can't pull off overly descriptive passages, without making it sound like a shopping list, so I hope you understand that this isn't some high-level type of First Language English IGCSE narrative thingy. Also, this isn't really a novel. I don't think it's long enough to be considered a novel.

Don't hate me, I controversially wrote the entire story in the present tense. And before you anti-present people come raiding my house, hear me out. In my opinion, reading a piece of work in the present tense puts the reader in the narrator's position better, which gets the reader more engaged. Plus, it's easier for me to show the protagonist's personality and character, especially since it's written in first person view. So, if you know that's something that's gonna put you off, sorry, OK? But please give it a try, you might like it.

I guess that's all I need to say for now. Constructive criticism would be absolutely lovely. Thank you and I hope you enjoy <3

- Avery