I Do Until I Don't

Chapter 53

 Blink. Blink, blink, blink. Blink. My sister has her mouth wide open. I blink. Blink, blink, blink.

My sister is missing.

Has she been kidnapped?

Ohmygod! What if she got murdered? Or─ Or─

''She answered!'' a girl announces, squealing.

Everyone gathers around her, one on top of the other, pushing the other one's head to be able to read the message.

Melanie: Cold feet.

There's a moment of silence in which the only thing I can hear is the powerful wind blowing. And then, a girl, visibly hungover, says, ''Why doesn't she buy socks?''

Everyone groans and moves away from that girl who, at the same time, barfs.

''You should text her back,'' Julia proposes ─ orders, actually ─ her drunk eyes fading out at an alarming rate. She grabs a water bottle from a little girl walking with her parents. ''Is this drugged?'' she asks. The girl runs away with her parents. ''I need to sober up. You!'' she points at some girl with blonde hair and blue eyes and a big nose, ''ask around with three or four girls to see if someone saw Melanie. And you!'' she points at the girl who got in touch with Melanie, ''what are you still doing not texting Mel?!?''

A group of five girls spread out to find Melanie, and the girl with the phone starts typing fiercely. And then, ''She answered!'' She reads the message, a frowning forming on her face. ''She's on a bus. She's going back to Fort Lauderdale.''

*****

Everyone is on the bus. Twenty girls in a bus. I can only imagine how disturbed everyone else on the bus might feel. But I don't have the time to imagine. My sister ran away. I need to focus on her. Where could she be?

Julia leans in. ''I'm itchy.''

I ignore her. She leans in again. ''I'm itchy.''

I ignore her again. ''I'm itchy.''

I snap. ''Your sister is missing, and you're thinking about how itchy you are?''

Julia shrugs. ''We're on the bus. What else can we do?'' She makes puppy eyes. ''Can you scratch my back?''

I sigh and scratch her back.

*****

Our group separates each other. Julia and I head back to the beach house. Some girls are going on the boardwalk while others are going to the outlet and the mall and all the other places one might go when one has cold feet.

We have no idea where Mélanie is: she has no secret hideout, no favourite place in the world. She just goes as she pleases.

But, one thing is clear, Nia can never know.

*****

"MÉLANIE HAS COLD FEET?!?"

Nia knows.

Julia and I look at each other and nods carefully.

Nia closes her eyes, sighs excessively and get sup.

"Well," she says, grabbing her bag. "Let's go!"

"But we don't know where she is," I remind her.

Nia scoffs. "I'm her fiancée. Do you really expect me not to know where the love of my life is?"

Julia plants her hands on her hips, Nia caves in. "Alright! I have a phone tracker."