"Is your name Shanalee Johnson?" The police officer asked me.
Should I lie to him?
"Umm, yes." I responded before I even decided.
"Come with me Ms. Johnson, I assure you you're not in trouble."
I was not assured.
He opened the back door to the vehicle and motioned for me to go inside.
I hesitated, if there was one thing I learned from my parents about stranger danger, it would be to not go into anyone's car if you don't know them. I know that this is a police officer, but I've heard stories. If the kidnappers are desperate enough, they'll find a way.
I scanned his uniform, searching for flaws or proof. I saw his taser and a gun, I then remembered that no civilian is allowed a gun, not that that really proves anything.
He must have noticed the concern in my hesitation because he took out his badge to prove his job as an official police officer.
That was one of the worries off my list, now the other was why on earth is he taking me and where to.
I slid into the leather seated car and buckled my seat belt. I was just about to ask him what I did to deserve a police escort but he spoke first.
"Do you know why you're here Ms. Johnson?" He asked me. The tone in his voice scared me.
My voice trembled as I spoke, "n-no."
"Your family called reporting a missing person." He told me.
Oh dear.
"I wasn't even gone for that long though!"
"It's midnight, your family hasn't seen you for 8 hours. You are legally allowed to report a missing person after any given amount of time if they have suspicions but they waited just in case you would show up, but you never did."
Was I really gone that long?
The rest of the drive was silent as he drove me back to my house.
We pulled up in my drive way and my sister was there screaming at a cop in tears. This made my heart sink. She is so upset that I was missing.
I stepped out of the car hesitantly, not wanting the attention.
Annalynn turned her head with the slam of the car door. She ran towards me.
"Shanalee where have you been!?" She screamed in mid sprint.
Time seemed to freeze around me, everything moved in slow motion while I was the only one able to move freely.
I saw my parents; my mom was fanning herself in relief while my dad held her. They weren't paying much attention to me myself, more just relieved that they don't have to worry about me. They were probably more concerned about Annalynn who was worried out of her skull.
I turned to see her, two steps away from me. Her eyes and cheeks were inflamed from crying and tears were streaming from her eyes in that moment as well. She must have been screaming at the cop because they hadn't found me yet, telling them that they aren't doing their job right.
She is such a positive person, I have never seen her like this before. She must be really really upset.
Then it dawned on me, if she's that upset about me being lost, I can't even imagine how upset she will be when I die next year.
These past few days I haven't been pushing her away like I used to, she got so attached in such a short amount of time. If we stay like this, she will get even more attached and be even more broken when I die! I can't do that to her, I just can't.
I knew I had to do something about it.