Mean Girls Missing

6

March 26

10:15 am

Monica

I almost didn't believe the crowd when I pulled into the crammed parking lot. Hundreds of people were gathered in front of the police department. I had signed up some time ago to be contacted for search parties. For the first five days, police didn't accept help from the public as they were still trying to determine every possibility. Now it had been ten looming days and the missing James twins had made their way to national news.

Today was the first official search party. As I shoved my keys inside my purse, I rushed to join the huddle and listen to the speech. I was running a tad late, as usual, but it seemed like the pre-meeting before the search in the woods was too. I fought through elbows and shoulders to get semi-close to whoever was speaking.

A man with reddish-blonde hair stood at the podium. I didn't even know they gave podiums to police stations. His gut protruded visibly above his belt buckle. SHERIFF in thick, bold lettering was on a badge. He kept running his hands through his hair, as if he had dandruff or lice or something.

"So what we're doing today is going through these woods right behind me," he gestured to the heavy forested area behind the station as if nobody had noticed it before. "This is a pretty large area to cover so that's why you're all here today to give us a helping hand. We appreciate it more than ever in our hunt to find these girls. So what we're going to do is break off into teams at the registration desks on either side of me and then you will be going into specific quadrants of the woods with your teams. If you see anything that looks like evidence, do not touch or move it. Call over your team leader immediately. And lastly, our mission at heart is to find Stephanie and Samantha and bring peace to their families, friends, peers, and our community. Thank you all for coming out."

He began to back away but redirected his attention to the microphone again. "I think we had some new arrivals within the last ten minutes so I will go ahead and reintroduce myself and some of the awesome officers alongside me. I am Sheriff George Arnold, to my right here is the recently graduated newbie Detective Josiah Birch..."

The man beside him waved. He had dark chocolate skin and beautiful curls framing his face. His teeth flashed a pearly white smile. I spaced out for the rest of the introductions just dreaming about Detective Josiah Birch.

The sheriff stepped down from the podium. The crowds split in half to get registered and find our search quadrant. Because of my quick feet I was one of the first in line. I received my name tag with my name and the number of my quadrant/team. I waited off to the side for the rest of my team members to get their tags.

The forest was not my favorite place to be. I'd been camping a few times. It was mostly the excuse I used in high school. My friends and I would actually go to the woods with our tents and coolers for the weekend, but we didn't mention the fact that we smuggled booze and joints up with us. My parents didn't need to know that. Even back in high school, I was not a fan of the creepy crawlies and the snaps of twigs.

Or the silence. I hated that part the most.

At night, especially, when all the outside noise quieted down and you could hear the cicadas and the mountain lions howling. I thought that the woods would be the perfect place for serial killers to hide. My theory only proved true in half of the Hollywood horror movies displayed in theatres.

My team searched through the middle right section of the woods. We investigated rocky areas, piles of branches, and even the basic leaf could be the subject of interrogation. There was nothing to suggest the girls had been here. I doubted they were the type to set foot in places like this at all. There was simply no trace of the James twins anywhere.