Framed

Eight - Diaries and Dead People

Jan. 4, 2010

Its already January and I still havent gotten over the stupidness of this school. I spent New Years here and it was basicly the most boring New Years in the world. Back at moms house, we used to always have these parties. You would think that with a husband like hers the parties would be more sofisticated but they actually had tons of drinking. I would not miss the parties that much because they were akward, but it was still better than the silent ten second countdown here at Grand Mills. Nobody even cheered because the principle was in a bad mood and said if we made a lot of noise we would get detention. It was a weird day. Still tho, someone snuck in some vodka in water bottles and everyone got real drunk. Seventh grade sucks.

-Alexis

The next page was written after that summer, and the next few pages all seemed to have been written throughout extensive periods of time. The only thing that really seemed to improve about Alexis’ apparently miserable life was her spelling skills. I flipped to a few other random pages and skimmed over their entries until one specifically caught my eye. I froze and reread the first sentence, unsure if I had misread.

Sep. 19, 2011

I can’t believe it. I really can’t believe it. This is so crazy but somebody was shot in this old literature classroom! They don’t know who the murderer is yet and they haven’t evacuated the school like the dumbasses they are, just added more security and precautions to protect us while we go to class. That’s a comforting thought. Now we aren’t allowed to carry bags in school and stuff like that. The murderer should be in jail but they’re not because the detectives they hired suck. I hate this school.

-Alexis

I reread the entry, my heart beating faster. What? There had been a murder in the school– the very same school I was standing in– and nobody had informed us? Naturally, I was freaking out a bit, and I was pretty curious as to whether the murderer had been caught. If that was not the case, it was could be anyone; the guy who stood behind me in the lunch line the previous day, the girl that sat next to me in my algebra class... I turned the page slowly, my mind racing.

Sep. 25, 2011

Ugh. With a stupid killer on the loose, I don’t feel comfortable even being alive. I can say I have never hated someone I didn’t know until now. I’m having some serious anxiety issues, and everyone tells me to calm the hell down but they don’t seem capable of grasping the concept! Any of us could be next. I’m gonna kick this douche’s ass.

Sep. 30, 2012

Stupid parents. Back in the same school again just cus they think it’s good for me. How is this good for me? I’m going insane. Allie is such a bitch about it too, rubbing it in my face that she’s the favorite child. You know, I hate the principal! He needs to get a different job and stop ruining my effing life. I hope I don’t get the same roommate again, she was annoying as hell. Also, they found out that they sucked at figuring out who the murderer was because the murder was actually

The entry stopped there, and I turned the page with frustration. Nothing. I looked at one of the newspaper clippings from the box.

MISSING GIRL - HAVE YOU SEEN ME?

Below the all-caps words was a picture of what looked exactly like Alexis except several years younger. There was a description of her age, hair color, eye color, weight and ethnicity to the right of the picture. So Alexis ran away... when she was only eight years old.

I carefully placed the clipping back and fished out a polaroid photograph of two extremely pretty preteen girls that had their arms around each others’ shoulders and were smiling all huge, like they were laughing. One of the girls had natural black hair and green eyes and had the name Isa scribbled under her face, outlined with a red circle, and the other one had light brown hair and brown eyes with the name Maddi under her face, also circled in red. I flipped it over and saw a messy scribble in pencil on the back which I struggled to read. It said, “We miss you Alexis! The three musketeers forever and always.” How creepy. Who could get that close with Alexis?