Missing

Chapter 6

Hey guys!!! I wanted to say thank you to everyone who read my story and made it possible to reach 1K reads! :D I have been busy nowadays, so I don't think I can update every week, but I will try my best to do so :)

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Jeanne was sitting in her shared office starting up the svelte laptop. Next to her was her lunch which she ate leisurely, along with her juice bottle. Once it finished loading she inserted the mini usb into the port and clicked on the folder when the message popped up. A folder in capitals was labelled CAMERA FOOTAGE- EMILY which she opened up.

She scrolled, then clicked on the files and the first video started in the media player. After a few moments of seeing her reflection in the glossy black screen, the footage loaded up. At first it was all grey static noise getting louder and deafening. Her hands were getting clammy in the warm room, until the static grew lesser til the picture was perfectly clear. Jeanne visibly relaxed her tensed body and leaned back slightly in the soft chair.

She forwarded the footage as the streets in front were completely empty. Emily, Jeanne was told always travelled this way to get to her school and come back. Most of the cars of teachers and students drove on this road unless there was too much traffic here, then the back road was used but it took much longer.

The footage exhibited a few vehicles driving past and a group of cyclers on high speed. As nothing was for her interest, she forwarded it to near the school time. Small groups of students walked past, then getting larger and larger. The traffic increased and Jeanne was finding it hard to keep up, eyes moving rapidly to catch something. Finally she spotted Emily walking with a friend of hers. She was talking happily and laughing at what must've been a joke.

There was no one out of the ordinary or anyone that looked suspicious. After the rush had died down, only the latecomers were left and cars going past the speed limit to avoid reaching late. After that all activity had died down.

She forwarded it once more to around 9:15 when Emily went missing. She paid close attention now, not wanting to miss anything. She got frustrated, her lunch all but forgotten on the side. Around 9:30 there was still no activity. Just when she was going to give up, the old lady came out the house, dressed in a black coat and a black scarf tied around her head.

She closed the gate and walked quite hurriedly to wherever her destination was, but the street mainly led to the school, unless she was going to a nearby corner shop. The footage was forwarded with no signs of Emily or any cars. The lady had not returned for the full hour as well. Every time a car passed she zoomed in to look for any girl but there was absolutely nothing.

A notification had popped up and she paused the video. It was a video message request. She hovered her mouse over it, thinking before clicking on the request. When the application opened up, she did not have a clue on who the caller was and frowned. The unknown caller rang again and Jeanne hesitated, but decided to answer it, maybe it was important. She pressed the green button and waited for the signal to go through.

It was all pitch black, suddenly turning into grey static. There was no noise and Jeanne hesitantly called out, "Hello who is it?"

There was no answer, the only sound of her heart beating faster. She repeated hello again but no response still. She was guiding the mouse towards the cross sign at the corner of the screen, but it froze half way though.

Damn computer!

The static continued to make her nervous as she watched it hoping to see something beyond the grey image. All of a sudden there was a muffled groaning she could hear only faintly, making her heart skip a beat.