The Disbanders

Chapter 17: Vanished

"Candice, Candice?", he whispers. I pretend not to hear him. He sighs. "You've been amazing," he begins to say. He must think I'm asleep. "You've changed my life forever, and I'll always be glad you found this little place." He pauses. Since I'm on my side facing away from him, he can't see my smile. "You mean more and more to me every single day." He wraps his arm around me for a moment, before letting it go and turning around.

I finally give in and turn to face him, smiling. He looks slightly stunned, his face flushing.

"You heard that?", he asks. I nod, grinning.

"I'll always be glad I found it too, and found you," I tell him. After gazing at me for a moment, Will leans in and kisses me on the lips, being the first time he's done that in weeks. It's the little moments with him where I realize how important he, along with everyone else out here, have become to me. We pull apart and smile once more. I would only wish that our first kiss was like this instead. We then turn over and fall asleep.

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    A sensation of cold comes over me, waking me from my deep slumber. It's an unpleasant contrast to the warmth I had just felt. I check my watch, which reads 2:33 in the morning. I then hear something outside the bedroom.

    Suddenly, my bedroom door opens. I flinch slightly while clutching onto the covers, as the cold air flows through the room even more now. I squint my eyes to see who's there––it's Evie.

    "Evie, what's going on?", I ask, before regretting the frustration in my tone. "Why is it so cold?"

    "It's Alexa," she replies in a worried manner. "She's missing."

    My mind shakes, trying to comprehend. There's no way I heard that correctly.

    "Missing? What are you talking about?", I ask. All of this conversation wakes Will up.

    "What's going on? Evie, what are you doing in here?", he asks.

    "Trust me, she's gone! I felt that she wasn't lying next to me, and I checked out in the hall and the front door was wide open. Something's off!" Will and I look at each other. We both know that this can only mean one thing.

    Alexa's gone off sleepwalking into the woods.

    We wake up Hayden and Chuck and get dressed in the living room.

    "How long do you think she's been gone?", asks Chuck.

    "I don't know, but the air was freezing in here when I noticed," replies Evie.

    "Look, are we sure she's not just right out the door somewhere?", asks Hayden. He opens the front door and looks outside for a minute. He then comes back in, with a regretful look on his face. "She's really missing."

    We then proceed to dress for the outdoors and light our lanterns. As we open the front door, a bitter cold comes over us. Sure enough, the snow has begun to pile up. This is going to be a long night.

    "Okay, since it's dark, we'll split up into two groups," says Chuck.

    "Candice and I can go together," says Will, grabbing my hand. I nod.

    "Alright, the rest of us can go together," says Hayden. "Let's go, we can't waste any time."

    The search deep into the night.

    "Alexa!", I call.

    "Alexa!", echoes Will. "Where are you?"

    "Come back home!", I shout. We keep walking, as our feet crunch in the snow. As we continue in silence, a haunting thought comes to my mind. "I would only hope that this was her sleepwalking," I say, before regretting opening my mouth.