TAYLOR'S POV
"Hey guys where Sophie?" Colgate wondered.
"What do you mean where is she? Isn't she over there?" Caitlin says pointing across the fire in between Lila and Eilish.
"Sophie!" Bella yells.
"Where are you?" Hattie yells while walking over to where she was sitting.
"Guys, she went quiet ages ago..." Vanie explains "She wasn't saying much at all"
All of us stood up frantically looking for her.
"You guys keep looking and I'll go get Mum" I say.
I ran back to the house, where was she? People don't just disappear like that unless... No she can't have...
"Mum!" I scream before even stepping into the house.
"Mum! Where are you?"
"I'm in my room why? What's wrong?"
"It's Sophie... She's... Gone... She just disappeared and we were calling out to her but she wasn't responding..." I trailed off.
"Don't worry we'll find her it'll be ok. Look we'll grab some torches and start looking for her. Taylor it's going to be alright" she assures me.
We grab the torches and run back down to the campfire. Bella, Hattie, Caitlin, Vanie, Hannah and Eilish are up frantically searching for her while Lila is consoling Colgate.
"Everyone take a torch and spread out, we have to find her" I instruct. "Caitlin and Bella you search over near the paddock with the sheep, Hannah, Eilish and Vanie you go and search over the other side of the dam and Hattie and I will search around the edge of the dam."
"Do you want me to stay here with Colgate and Lila?" Mum questions.
"Yes please just make sure they are ok"
Everyone starts off in the direction they were instructed to. We all search for her desperately, so badly just wanting her to turn up. After 15 mins of searching we all end up returning to the fire which is now burning brightly thanks to Caitlin and Bella who found some dry wood where they were searching.
"Did anyone find anything?" Eilish questions.
"Nothing" I answer.
"We didn't find anything either" Caitlin says.
"Well call someone! Get the police out here! We have to find her!" Colgate says clearly distressed.
"Colgate, we will find her she's going to be fine" Lila assures her.
"I think we should call the police" Dad says having been woken up by my screaming. "Just in case"
"Ok I'll go call them" Mum says.
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HATTIE'S POV
When Taylor's Mum rang the police she was redirected to the missing persons unit who sent out a search party. Their main concern was that she had fallen in the dam and drowned. We all told them that we hadn't heard a splash or anything but they still insisted that it was a possibility.
Meanwhile Colgate was a nervous wreck. She and Sophie had been friends since they were kids and were closer than SpongeBob and Patrick. If Sophie was really gone forever then I don't think that she would be able to cope.
We were all still at Taylor's and so were all our parents. The search party was there as well. It was 6am the next morning and now she had been missing for 5 hours. Everyone was scared out of their brains.
We were all mainly trying to be strong for Colgate. Some of us were more successful than others. Lila, Taylor and Hannah were the strongest, Colgate and Bella were the most hysterical with Eilish, Vanie Caitlin and I in the middle.
"We might have to extend the search area" a member of the missing persons unit says "Our officers have found nothing so far so by extending the search area we have a larger chance of finding her."
18 Hours Later...
BELLA'S POV
Sophie has been missing for 23 hours and 5 minutes. If she is still missing in 54 minutes and 14 seconds then the search will be scaled down and the hope of finding her alive decreases. Certain questions plague my mind the answers unknown. Where did she go? Why did she stop talking? Where is she now? Is she alive? Will we ever find her?
The seconds pass so slowly with no clues to her whereabouts. Seconds turn into minutes and its now 12:55. The missing persons officer tell us that if she's not found in the next 5 minutes there is next to no hope of finding her alive.
Colgate and I immediately start to sob and cry hysterically. I have no idea how the others are holding it together I'm about to have a nervous breakdown. I can hear the second hand going around the clock. It becomes deafening, so loud that I think when it reaches 12 a bomb will go off, but really it just signifies the fact they we may never see Sophie again.
