Ethereal

Chapter 23

"Calm down." Jasmine said, eyeing my foot, which I had been relentlessly tapping against the ground. "I'm sure everything is fine."

"But you don't know that." I replied anxiously, "That's the point."

The sun was rising now, whoever was opening the store should be here any minute.

Jasmine didn't respond, and when I looked up at her, she averted her eyes.

After a little while longer, I heard the sound of a car turning in. Immediately I straightened, recognising Charlie's car. Noah and Jasmine had noticed too, half a second before I did.

I watched with eager eyes as he parked his car, got out, and started to walk towards us. His step seemed to falter as he saw me, his eyes widening in surprise. "Emilia?"

I walked forwards to meet him, "Charlie! Um, I – "

"Wait, wait, let's uh, go inside." He eyed up my companions cautiously. He shoved his hand in his pocket, fumbling around till he found the keys. Once he had the door open, he opened it only partially, so there was enough room for me to get through. Looking back at Noah and Jasmine, he spoke calmly but there was a distinct edge to his tone "Sorry, we aren't open yet. Employees only."

I looked at Noah and shrugged, Charlie was right – customers weren't allowed in before the store was open. I wasn't supposed to be separated from Jasmine or Noah, but it seemed that we didn't have much choice. Besides, they'd still be able to see inside the store in case anything happened – not that it would.

Charlie rushed inside, quickly putting his jacket in the back room before turning to face me. "Where have you been?"

"Um, I've just..." I paused for a moment, trying to think of an excuse. "Family emergency, I had to go out of town. There wasn't time to tell anyone... and I didn't have signal to call."

He shook his head, looking a little bewildered. "Well, you better tell the police that. You've been reported missing."

"Missing?" I echoed. I hadn't really stopped to consider that anyone might think I were missing, I didn't think anyone would even notice that I was gone. I guess that explained why the police had been looking through my house, had they been searching for me?

"Jackson was pretty mad when you didn't show up for your shift. But after it had happened a couple of times he started worrying instead. And he couldn't get hold of you over the phone either, so he filed out a missing person's report." He shrugged, "There's been a full-on investigation. Things like this never happen in Entilin. They found footsteps in the mud around the lake, there were rumours that you drowned in there." He sounded concerned.

"I'm fine... I'm okay, it was just... a relative." I was surprised that he seemed to care so much. Most unexpectedly though, he reached forward and gave me a hug.

"So, your mothers safe too?" He asked, releasing me.

"What?"

"Your mother? She was reported as missing too, the police were pretty worried about that one. They usually find her pretty quick." Charlie went on, sounding relieved. "But she was with you, right?"

I shook my head hesitantly, "No... she wasn't with me. She... she fell into the lake a few weeks ago, she had to go to the hospital, but they transferred her to a care home."

"Emilia, um." He paused. "The police checked out the hospitals and care homes to see if she'd been checked in. But... there was no record of her."

"There has to be." I countered. "Gainston Hospital, they transferred her to Carter rehabilitation centre. They called me."