Three years ago
By the time I had finally given up and decided to walk home, almost two hours had passed.
It was now dark; the last rays of the sun had retreated early because it was winter and daylight turned more scarce with every arriving day. I huddled my arms tightly around myself as a brittle cold settled in, sending shivers down my spine. As I started my walk home, not bothering to call any of my brothers, I let the streetlights illuminating the path ahead guide me. The only sound audible to my ears was of the cars occasionally driving by, and I eventually decided to enjoy the chilling calm as I quickened my pace.
Sophia had promised me a couple of nights ago that she would pick me up from school and we'd head out into the city—just the two of us. It was a Friday night and it got exhausting pretty quickly being surrounded by boys who didn't understand us the same way sisters understood each other. I needed the alone time with her.
I'd been looking forward to today ever since, but she had never showed. Calls and texts ended up being pointless, so I eventually gave up, deciding she was busy or she had forgotten. Although, it was difficult to believe she would forget; it wasn't like her.
I didn't realize I was adrift in my mind until I was standing in front of my house with no idea how I got there. I noticed that a few of the lights were on behind the blinds, but Sophia's room was shadowed by darkness. Elijah's car was parked in the driveway, so I figured he was the only one home. It was unusual though since he was always gone on Friday nights, but I didn't ponder it for any longer as I marched up our cobblestone driveway.
As soon as I got inside, I quickly threw off my shoes and chucked my bag somewhere inside of my room, before I headed to Sophia's room. A peek inside told me that she wasn't there. Everything seemed clean, like always. The only unusual thing I noticed happened to be her blinds being down. She usually always left them open, no matter the weather or time of day.
I closed her door, biting my lip in thought as I slowly marched downstairs, startling slightly when I saw my oldest brother, Elijah, through the patio doors. He leaned against one edge of the patio, looking down, while he spoke to someone on the phone.
I slowly strolled over to the patio doors and opened them, causing him to glance towards me. His lips twitched and he said something quietly into the phone that I didn't catch, before he hung up and tucked it back into his pocket.
"Hey, Iz," he said, leaning back against the edge as he gripped a bottle of beer. "You just get home?" He asked casually, bringing the liquid to his lips.
"Yeah," I mumbled, shifting on my feet as I watched him grab his phone again. I walked over to the edge so I could stand next to him, and looked down at the pool water softly flowing below us, the lights in our backyard casting a soft glow onto the azure water. The waterfall created a ripple effect as it streamed into the pool. "Sophia was supposed to pick me up, but she never came. I waited a long time."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elijah's confused gaze flash towards me. I looked up at him. "Why didn't you call me?" He asked.
I shrugged, tracing my finger across the sleek black edge of the railing overlooking the backyard. "I walked home," I replied simply. "Do you know where she went?"
Elijah shook his head and picked up the bottle again. His eyes followed my gaze to the waterfall below. "She hasn't been home all day. I'm sure she's with a friend or something."
I frowned, glancing up at him. A cold breeze danced through the air, sending shivers down my spine. I tugged at my sleeves to pull them over my hands. "So, she just forgot about me?" I asked, quietly. "Where did she even go?"
Elijah held my gaze for a few seconds before he brought his hand up and tucked a strand of my dark curls behind my ear. "I'm sure she'll be back soon, sweetheart. Ask her then. She probably got caught up with something."
My eyebrows furrowed as I stared up at him. His attention shifted to his phone, and he began typing something. I momentarily studied the black tattoo wrapped around his ring finger, one of many, before focusing on the water below us.
"Busy doing what? Didn't she have school?" I asked.
Elijah sighed and my attention whipped up to him. He tucked his phone into his pocket once again and pushed himself off the ledge. "Izzy, I'm sure she'll be back soon, you know what she's like. But I have to head out now, Caleb will be home soon." He cupped my cheek with one hand and kissed the top of my head once. "Don't worry too much about Soph, alright?"
Before I could question or say anything else, he walked off, heading for the inside of our house. I released a deep breath, plopping down on one of the lounge chairs to allow myself a moment to calm my crazed mind.
As I sat there, watching the water ripple below me, I couldn't help but wonder what was more important to her than keeping her promise. She always kept her promises. No matter what.
***
I let out a frustrated breath and threw down my pencil on the desk. A momentary glance at my phone told me it was barely noon. Before I could help myself, my hand inched towards my phone and I pressed the familiar name that seemed to be taunting me.
Just like every other time, there was no answer.
It had been three days now and my sister was nowhere to be seen. She never came home. She hadn't called. Nothing. It was like she had disappeared off the face of the earth and everyone was slowly losing their mind.
My eyes mindlessly shifted over to the picture hanging above my desk, a picture of Sophia and I. It was her fifteenth birthday and we sat behind the cake, laughing with frosting smeared all over our faces and our hair. A brilliant smile overtook her face; she glowed with happiness and joy. She always did. Before I could let my mind wander to dark places, I switched my focus and swallowed down the lump forming in my throat. A car door slamming caught my attention and I ran over to my window in alarm.
Several cars crowded our driveway and the street along our house, just like they had ever since yesterday. A few of our neighbors had stopped by to offer their help, but it was all pointless.
Elijah stood next to his car. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and spoke with barely contained rage to a man I didn't recognize. Several other men crowded my driveway. Two speaking amongst themselves over to the side, but I didn't focus on them for too long. My eyes drifted over and I spotted my other brothers. Ethan and Caleb stood leaning against Elijah's car, listening to him speak. Kaiden, my second oldest brother, looked distressed. I watched him turn away from someone and close his eyes, clearly taking deep breaths to compose himself. My heart ached for him.
Out of all of us, he was the most troubled. Sophia and him were twins, so they had a bond the rest of us didn't understand; we never had. Ever since she had gone missing, we had all watched him slowly lose his mind. I knew all types of thoughts plagued his head and he couldn't stop them from consuming him as he let his mind wander to the worst places.
Everyone had been looking for every possible clue as to where she had gone, day and night. The police were involved; they had also been coming and going, yet so far there had been no success in anything. She wouldn't pick up any calls, they couldn't trace her phone, and no one had seen her for days.
Another car pulled into the driveway, the tires made a screeching sound as they came to a sudden halt. I sighed, closing my blinds and turning away from the window.
I'd barely been able to sleep, let alone focus on anything else these past few days. Elijah forced me to go to school but I ended up learning nothing. The only thing that kept me partially sane was constantly reassuring myself that she was fine and she would be coming back—from wherever she had disappeared to.
My brothers refused to let me help with anything and I was never any help anyways, so I kept to myself. There was nothing I could do, so I decided to head out. No one noticed me as I slipped out of the house and walked my way over to the library. When the small, familiar building came into sight, I did send a quick text to Elijah to inform him about my whereabouts just in case.
At the library, hours passed too slowly and I struggled to get my work done. Every five minutes, my mind wandered to my sister and what was happening back home.
I was just putting away all of my things in my backpack when my phone buzzed loudly with a text. I cringed, sending an apologetic look to those around me when I received a few glares.
I quickly grabbed my things and stood up from the table, making my way out of the library. As I exited the building, I finally looked down at the text I received from Caleb.
My heart dropped to my stomach.
"Come home, Izzy. Now." - C
***
I could barely breathe as I walked home, and I didn't know if it was from the cold winds nipping painfully at my face or if it was the feeling of my chest tightening as I rushed home.
I felt it before I saw it.
As I found myself standing in front of my house, I froze. My legs buckled in place and I couldn't seem to force myself to move as if I knew that something was coming and it was going to change the course of everything. I was trying to protect myself from what was about to come. Because subconsciously, even though I prayed that the text meant she was home, I knew.
Sometimes, your body sensed it before your mind.
If my gut feelings weren't enough, seeing the flashing police cars surrounding my home and the men rushing in and out was enough to send my pulse hammering against my chest.
Somehow, I found myself inside. I heard hushed voices coming from the living room. My feet had a mind of their own as I managed to carry myself into the room, taking in the scene in front of me. There was a ringing in my head; my ears. Blood rushed through my head.
Two police officers stood next to the couch, talking to my brothers. Alastair and a few of my brothers' other friends were scattered around the room. Relief nowhere in sight. Everyone looked distraught. But it was my brothers who my eyes stayed on the longest and I dreaded looking at because if I didn't know before, I knew now.
Elijah sat on the couch, his hands buried in his hair as he leaned forward over himself. He rubbed a hand over his mouth, seeming exhausted and worn out. Ethan stood still, behind the couch, his face almost emotionless but he looked pale, his usual aura of arrogance gone. Caleb sat on the other couch, his eyes bloodshot and his face glistening with tears. He had one hand on Kaiden's back. I realized my hands were shaking as my eyes found him at last.
His breathing was shallow; his eyes red rimmed and face void of all color. His eyes were closed as if opening them and seeing anything would make everything all too real. But it was. Real. Closing your eyes and pretending nothing was wrong only worked temporarily.
The room went silent and Caleb's watery grey eyes found mine. Elijah followed his gaze and so did some others but Kaiden remained sitting there, almost as still as a statue, his eyes closed. Breathing in and out. Ethan was the only one who never looked towards me.
"What happened?" I barely heard myself speak. Maybe I didn't even talk. Maybe I did. I didn't know. My throat was tightening and the walls were caving in around me.
I couldn't breathe.
Elijah said a few things, so did some other people but I barely registered anything except six words. Six words that drowned out everything else and sunk their claws into my head, my body, repeating themselves in a vicious cycle until I was choking on their horror.
There was movement. Someone was trying to hold me, people were talking, but I didn't hear it. I didn't see it. My senses had turned off; only one remained and it hurt too much. Why did it hurt so much? Why couldn't I breathe? Why wasn't anyone helping me? Everything shut off except the six words that were replaying over and over in my head until I wanted to scream at them to stop.
They found her body, they imprinted their bitter, unrelenting truth into my head, she's dead.
***
A/n: In chapter one, the story begins three years later, so Isabella will be 16.
Also, when I come back to edit some chapters, the comments may disappear from some paragraphs since that's what happens when you make some changes. They have not been deleted. If you want to read them, click the button all the way at the bottom of the screen. Hope you enjoyed <3
Edited: July 31st, 2023