Chaos in the Basement

Chapter 1

School starts this morning. It's Danny's first day of her senior year at Grant High School. Her graduating class would have 35 students, it would have been 36 if Shannon were still here. Shannon disappeared on August 14, two weeks before Junior year started. It had been more than a year from her disappearance and there was still nothing known about her whereabouts. It ate at Danny. Danny would spend so many nights trying to figure where she had gone, trying to think of every single detail, to see if Shannon ever hinted about running away or talked about a person that would have taken her. But nothing. Danny couldn't think of anything out of the ordinary about Shannon that last summer.

Danny had already been awake before the sun came up. She already took her morning jog and morning shower. She didn't use to be like this. She used to be able to sleep till the last second before she almost missed the first bell at school, but nowadays she got up early. Even if she stayed up late, she always made sure to be the first one up in her house. It was a control thing. Danny was preparing her backpack until she had a slam on her door.

"Danielle!" her father screamed.

"Yes dad," she said.

"Open this door," he demanded. A string of cuss words followed.

She opened the door. "Sorry," she said.

He was staggering in his stance. The smell of alcohol was strong on his breath, it was even lingering on his skin. "You're going to be late." His eyes were cold and almost lifeless. Danny nodded. He walked away, almost falling on himself as he went down the hall. She grabbed her bag and started downstairs.

Before leaving she stopped to go into the kitchen. Her mother sat up against the wall, starring into space. Her lip was bleeding.

"Where are you going?" her mother asked.

"School," Danny said. She tried not to make eye contact with her mother.

"Is your brother awake?"

"I don't think he was in his room."

She cussed under her breath. Danny couldn't tell if her mother was drunk or just beaten down from her father. Danny made her way out of the kitchen without any more questions from her mother. Her father hurt her mother often, physically or emotionally. Her father had never hit her, but the same couldn't be said for her brother, Sean. They were a terrible match for one another but they were high school sweethearts. Molly and Connor, the prom queen and king of the same high school Danny went too. Born and raised in Grant. Neither of them ever left the small town. Danny didn't know if they had ever really been in love. Lust surely had been a large factor in their relationship, but love was a different emotion that she didn't either of them ever truly felt, even when she or her brother were born.

Danny walked to the pharmacy to do her daily chore of picking up her fathers medicine. She didn't know what her father took it for, she never asked questions.

She waited at the front counter, Mr. Spencer, the pharmacist appeared.

"Hi Danny," Mr. Spencer said.

"Hi-" before Danny could finish, her friend Riley and her boyfriend appeared.

"Danny!" Riley exclaimed. She hugged Danny tightly. "First day of school!"

Danny smiled and tried to quickly calm down Riley before making a total scene. The look in Mr. Spencer's had changed to a hint of annoyance, he still hadn't taken his eyes off of Danny.

"Sorry about that," Danny said as Riley got distracted by something Ethan was showing her.

"Your fathers prescription?" he said.