Lucas ✔️

Fourteen

Even though I felt bad ditching Memphis at the cafe, my spirits were oddly high on the walk home. My skin was tingling, my fingers were twitching, and I found it hard to breathe like I was hyperventilating. But, once I strode past the bar and there was no Lucas in sight, the excitement faded out and became dull. I let out a deep sigh and pushed a ghoul off my shoulder before slowing down outside the late-night deli. I needed something sweet.

"Haven't seen you in a while." A croaky voice said from the counter as I pushed the door open, a small bell dinging to announce my arrival. I looked at the old lady, whose name I still didn't know, and sent her a small smile and nodded my head.

"I don't get out much anymore." I shrugged in response. 

Whose fault is that, Dad? 

 I used to come here all the time with friends to buy late-night snacks. Even when Dad had passed away I still visited, usually to get some form of chocolate or ice-cream for my depressive binge eating moods. But after a little while, even binging became too much effort. The old lady sent me a small smile, flashing her gums in between missing teeth. 

"Probably a good thing," she said lowly as I placed a couple of chocolate bars on the counter in front of her. 

I raised my eyebrows at her in question and she shook her head sadly, nodding it toward the community notice board in the corner. I placed some money on the counter and grabbed my bars from her before making my way over to the board, opening a bar as I walked.

MISSING.

The first poster I read was a missing poster of a small girl, five years old, with gorgeous blonde curly hair. She looked so happy in the photo and she was holding a bear, her toothy smile grinning at the camera. She had been missing for just over two months, which is probably why I had heard nothing about it - at that time I was just starting to hole up at home, barely leaving it. 

That was only the first poster. There were many others lining the noticeboard, so many in fact, that there was nothing else apart from missing posters. Young girls, teenage girls, and women, their shiny smiles and happy faces shone back at me from their posters. Some were new, like the first poster, but others were old and ripped, the inks faded, and the pages crumpled. 

"What is this?" I asked, turning to look at the old lady at the counter with my eyes wide, the opened chocolate bar in my hand forgotten. She made her way over slowly as I turned to inspect them again. There were so many. How had I not heard about any of these missing girls?

"All the missing girls from this area," she answered, coming to a stop next to me and gingerly lifting her wrinkled hand to lift a few posters up to point at one buried near the bottom. "She was the first."

Her finger tapped on the picture of a pretty brunette, a girl who couldn't be much older than I was. I knew her face, but I couldn't place it. 

"She went missing two towns over nearly two years ago. Since then, girls have been going missing left and right across the region," she said sadly, looking at me with unreadable eyes.

"How have I not heard about this?" I asked her, looking at the range of girls. 

There didn't seem to be a connection apart from their gender, they were all different ages, had different coloured eyes, hair, and skin. They weren't even from the same town, with one girl going missing from a town that was nearly a five-hour drive from here and the first girl as close as thirty minutes away. The old lady shrugged and turned to waddle back to the counter.

"The first girl is the only one who has gone missing anywhere near us," she said with a cough before settling onto the stool she had hidden behind the till. "Most people don't care unless it impacts them."