Crows and Doves (Draft Title)

Chapter Two: Didn't Think Twice

"Amie?"

"Yep! So go wait in the kitchen, okay?"

Marianne nodded. "Okay!" She climbed off the couch and made her way into the kitchen as Charlie called Ameile. The call rang out until it went to voicemail, so he hung up since Ameile never checked her voicemail. He put his phone in his pocket and didn't think twice about it.

Mom came home around five-thirty. They all said hello and Charlie helped her make dinner– spaghetti– before they all sat down to eat.

"How were your days?" Their mom smiled when Marianne practically jumped out of her seat.

"Oh, oh! My day was fun! I colored and then we ate and then I took a good nap and then we ate a snack and then we played astronaut!" she giggled.

Charlie smiled at her fondly. "Yeah, that's pretty much what we did. We got back at like, eleven-forty. She drew while I made lunch and then we both took a nap."

Their mom nodded. "That's good, you need the sleep. Was Mari good?"

"Hm...." He pretended to consider Mari, who squirmed in her seat. "I think... she was super good."

"Yay!"

After they finished eating, Charlie set about washing dishes. It was one of his favorite chores. It was formulaic and mind-numbing and utterly relaxing. For all that he loved his family, all four of his siblings and his mom, relaxing was not a word commonly associated with them. Maybe if it was just him and one of his older siblings, Julia or Lucas, but they were both away. Lucas was in LA and Julia was in Massachusetts for college. She'd be home in just under three weeks for Thanksgiving and Lucas would be home in two weeks. He loved Ameile and Marianne, but Lucas and Julia were his older siblings. And it was never just Lucas or just Julia. It was always Lucas and Julia, mom's twins. The blonde babies.

Riiiing. Riiiing. Riiiing.

Charlie sighed and shut off the water, drying one hand and answering his phone while he dried the other. "Hello?"

"Hi, Charlie? Charlie Walten? I'm Hannah, Ameile's friend."

Charlie leaned against the counter. "Hey, Hannah. Is everything okay? Does somebody need to come get Ameile or anything?

The other end was quiet. He heard somebody shuffling. "Uhm, Ameile... She still hasn't come over... I'm just, I'm sort of worried."

He froze. "She's not there?"

His mother, who was putting up food, froze, eyes wide. "No. She never texted me or called me or anything and I didn't have Ms. Debra's number, so I called you. You... You don't know where she is?"

"I don't. She was supposed to be there, she said she was going to your house after practice." He was vaguely aware that his voice was coming out fast and panicked.

"I'll call Gabby and ask if she saw Ameile leave. I'm- I'm sorry..."

"No, uhm, don't be sorry. Not your fault. I have to go." He cut off Hannah's goodbye as he hung up, pulling up Ameile's contact as fast as he could while pushing down the panic in his blood so he could focus. The phone rang, but Ameile never answered. He swallowed thickly and dialed again. It said called forwarded and he tried again, but it went to voicemail a third time.

He could hear his mom call her. Four times. Ameile didn't pick up. She made another call, this one on speaker. "Jason," she said quietly to him, "Maybe... Maybe she got lost. She might've stayed late at practice and left and she was lost and his work is near there so maybe- maybe she went- and- Jason!"

"Debbie?"

His mom sniffled. "We- Ameile's missing. We don't know where she is. She's not at her friends house and she didn't call or text or- or..."

"What? Shit, hold on. I'm on my way, okay? You need to call the police."

Charlie's phone dinged.

Hannah: i called gabby. She said ameile wasn't at practice. My mom says not to worry, but im worried.

"Fuck."

His mom turned to him, eyes watering. "What..?"

Charlie swallowed back his fear. "She... She never went to practice, mom." He looked at her, his own eyes tearing up. "Mom, she's been missing since school ended and I didn't know. I- I called her. I called her when school let out to make sure she was with Gabriella and she didn't pick up and I didn't question it."

He didn't know what to do. He always knew what to do. It was something Ameile relied on him for. She always said 'when in doubt, ask Charlie.' because he always knew. But now his sister, Ameile with her bright smiles and silly jokes, was missing. It happened so fast. He had seen her that morning, ruffled her hair as they both left and he heard her voice when she called him earlier. He replayed their conversation over and over. He should've reminded her not to walk alone. He should've reminded her to be careful. He should've said something. He should've known.

They didn't even know where she was, yet. For all they knew she went to hang out with another friend and forgot about cheer practice and then her phone died. He wanted it to be that, wanted it to be that so badly, but he knew it wasn't. He knew in his gut that something was wrong, the same way he knew in his gut that his father was living, breathing garbage the day he met him. The day he met Ameile, his half-sister, when he was seven.

She had hugged herself, trying to hide herself from the world as her social worker encouraged her to talk to his mom, but she didn't want to. She didn't know her, then. Her own father- their father- said he didn't want them. Charlie had shown Ameile the playground at the restaurant, had taught her as many games as she could and promised that he'd keep her safe from the scary spider she'd found even though he was terrified of spiders.

Ameile was his little sister. And she was gone.

She was gone, lost or hurt somewhere and he didn't know where. He wished he didn't watch so much true crime, listen to so many podcasts because all he could think about was the horrible things that could happen to her.

He thought back to when he tried to call her. When she didn't pick up, he didn't think twice.

He hadn't thought twice.

What if she was hurt when he called? What if she was-

No.

He couldn't think like that.

Why hadn't he thought twice?

A/N: So im iffy on the pacing, here, and the whole flow. i feel like theres no build-up. but more importantly, autocorrect insists im spelling my own character's name wrong. her name is ameile, a-m-e-i-l-e, pronounced like 'a meal'.  constructive criticism is welcome. okay, no more a/n, promise. (remember, though, im notoriously unreliable.)