When The Willow Tree Broke

In The Moment

  Dear diary,
Today was... decent. (I'm too lazy to give the date.) Hailey and I are going to the beach this weekend so that'll be super fun. It'll be so nice to get a break from school. It's a bummer Aspen can't come along, but I'm sure he'll do some despicable things while I'm gone. I'm betting 20$ right now that he's gonna mess up my room and disorganize virtually everything. Oh well, that's what little brothers do I guess. He'll learn eventually... hopefully. They were too busy today to acknowledge me, and I guess that's a good thing. I got a moment of peace. It was nice to come home after school and just enjoy being with my family. In this moment, life is pretty nice. I'll just enjoy being in the moment.

  Sincerely,
Willow Delfine.

An absolute miracle is all I could call this diary entry. This page was filled with hope. It was refreshing and it sounded more like the Willow I knew instead of the Willow that ran away. It was difficult to think of those Willows as one person, but eventually I'd have to merge them together. My conversation with Dad had left me in a state of despair. It was clear that he had given up hope. I don't blame him. When the sheriff pulls up to your house and explains that your daughter most likely committed suicide what else are you to do?

  Still, it was sad to see him give up hope so easily. He didn't see me cry afterwards. My father told me that he and Mom couldn't talk about it with me just yet. I thought that was just a load of crap. We were stagnant. Standing around and living our daily lives while our beloved Willow was out there struggling on her own. At least, that's what I hoped for. Lately her diary entries had been running blank. She was giving me nothing to base my investigation off of. Hailey had been busy with sports lately so it's been difficult to contact her too. I chewed on my sandwich aggressively. Everything seemed to be running up as a blank today. My phone began to buzz and I read the number. "Unknown caller."
Usually I just ignored the call, but something in me propelled me to answer. There was a pure minute of silence. I didn't hear anything at first, and then their was a crackling noise every so often. The service must be really bad on their end. Then, I heard an old woman's voice. I sat their, assuming that the lady had butt dialed me, and hovered my finger over the button to end the call when I heard her say my last name. "Delfine?" There was more crackling but I could hear her say my parent's names. I was beginning to think I was dreaming. "Is the person on the other line a Delfine?" I was always told never to talk to strangers, but lately I hadn't been listening to most of the rules.
"Yes I'm a Delfine, who is this?" I answered in a shaky voice. It was scary to talk to random old ladies. "Ah, I'm Alma Higgs, I saw a small notice the other day for a missing girl?" I was baffled. "I'm sorry, did you say there was a notice?" Ms. Higgs let out a sigh on the other end. "Yes, it's so sad to see such a young and capable girl run away." I couldn't believe it. I looked at the number on the other end. It was an 517 number, meaning they were from up north. We lived all they way across the country. "How exactly did you get this notice ma'am?"
"Oh? Well I saw it online actually. I was shopping for a new flower pot and it happened to pop up. I said to myself, hey, I saw a young lady who looked just like that pass by the other day. I figured I should give you a call." Words from Willow's diary began sifting through my brain. Seasons, snow, nature. Where on earth could all of that be? Well it seemed the only answer was up north. My sister was up north! She was alive and she was up north! "Mrs. Alma where exactly do you live?" The old woman sighed again. "In Bend, Oregon child. How a little girl managed to get all the way up here on her own is beyond me."
Willow was clever, but she wasn't THAT clever. I knew what I had to do at this point, everything suddenly fell into place. I'd get my sister back! Mom and Dad would be able to smile again! Willow would be able to face her bullies and fight against the sadness that made her leave in the first place. It was truly a miracle to hear this woman who I had never met say those words. She in turn had rescued me from giving up all hope. It's incredible how people with more experience can do that so easily. I was thrilled, and so very relieved.
"Oh, but I forgot to mention... how rude of me. You see, just a few days ago they said that very same girl... she... got into a car accident." All the color flooded from my face. I could feel the adrenaline drop and rise again with a new kind of adrenaline. Fear. "Is she ok? Is she in the hospital? Is she being treated?" There was a sob on the other end of the phone. "They couldn't find her body." Couldn't find. Those words were starting to become the death of me. You couldn't find my sister? You couldn't find the one person that made our family whole? No one was trying to find her then. That's why they couldn't find her. Lies. Everything I've been through has all been a lie. This rollercoaster of emotions was tiring, and I was done sitting on this ride.
"Thank you for the call ma'am. I'll let my family know." Dread was piling up on me. My chest felt heavy while my head felt like a feather. The world began to spin and tears trickled down my face as I hung up on Mrs. Alma. Nothing had prepared me for this. Again I was back to square one, only this time, the square wasn't set in the south, but in Bend, Oregon. Then revelation struck me like a brick to the head. I, Aspen Delfine, had a lead.