Finding You

Chapter 1

ALMOST A YEAR AGO

"Time's up!" I yell before Bella can continue with her answers.

"I can't deal with this 5-Second Rule game shit anymore. I'm so terrible at it," Bella sighs and shakes her head.

"Language," Angie raises her eyebrow, a smirk evident on her face showing that she wasn't serious.

I laugh. "It was so easy. You could've said Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon. So many talk show hosts and the ONLY one you could come up with is 'That guy with the grey hair'?"

"DR.PHIL! THAT'S HIS NAME!" she finally realizes, before letting out an annoyed grunt.

"Too little, too late little one," John states with a grin.

"I'm 17, stop calling me little," Bella rolls her eyes.

"Alright alright, enough you two," Angie intervenes, standing up as she continues, "I'm thinking of making chicken pasta for dinner, what do you girls think?"

When no-one objects, Angie nods, looking satisfied with the response, and motions for her husband to stand up as well.

"Come on John. You cut the chicken and I'll make the sauce," she says, her voice echoing as she saunters into the kitchen, now out of our sight.

"So, how does it feel to always be the losing sibling?" I turn to Bella once John leaves the room to join Angie in the kitchen, a smirk playing on my lips.

"You're older, so obviously you're gonna win," she says, clearly irritated by her constant losing streak against me.

"Ummmm, I don't think 2 years is much of-"

"Okay, okay! We get it, Ally," Bella rolls her eyes for what must have been the 67th time in the last hour.

I laugh and we remain in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Bella breaks it.

"So, how's med school?" Bella asks.

"It's okay. Columbia's a lot of work and time-consuming, but I can't deny that I'm loving it. It's pretty amazing."

"Oh yeah, cause nothing says a beautiful day at work like dissecting someone's corpse," Bella sarcastically remarks, removing herself from the floor and plops down on the grey leather couch behind her. I do the same and sit down on the grey couch across from the one she sits at.

I laugh and as I'm about to reply to her, my phone starts vibrating on the ottoman. I quickly stand up and pick my phone up, frowning but hesitantly accepting the call from the unknown caller ID.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Good evening, my name is Officer Wilson from LAPD. I was hoping to speak with Alexandra Crawford?" the voice I recognize as feminine replies.

"This is she. Is everything okay, Officer?" my voice remains stable, despite the worry coiling knots in my stomach. I begin biting my bottom lip, a habit I've had since I was younger as a sign of nervousness. Bella must also have realized my nerves because she frowns and mouths, "Is everything okay?"

I open my mouth to reply to her, but I'm cut off by the officer as she begins to speak again.

"There's no easy way to say this unfortunately, Ms. Crawford. This afternoon at around 2pm, a body was found on the side of a secluded road, with three gunshot wounds to the chest. We believe that the person was hijacked and murdered. Unfortunately, by the time the paramedics could arrive, too much blood was lost, and the person did not survive."

Panic stirs within me. I remove the phone from the side of my face to check the time: 5:46pm. This happened just 3 or 4 hours ago. I taste a metallic taste in my mouth, and as I raise my finger to my lips to see what it was, I realize that it's blood residue on my finger from gnawing on my lip.