August 17, 2008

“Her name is Ana Sabura Wyatt. One n in her name. She is turning eighteen, and she was last seen leaving her best friend’s house. She is half Chinese, has blue eyes, brown hair, and she’s very tiny. She’s about 5’1 and maybe 110 pounds… If that, I mean, she’s so small… She has a little scar above her lip, and she was last wearing a red sweatshirt with a falcon or something on it and these hideous khaki shorts. They’re very unique. She also wears these weird shoes that I don’t really like but you know… Let’s see, what else?”

“Mom, I think you’ve given them enough,” Nico said. His arm was around her.

“Yeah Mom, I’m sure she’s okay, This could be like when we were kids and she spent that night in the treehouse,” I added.

“I don’t know,” my mother sobbed. “I just want her back.”

My brother wrapped his arms around her. The secretary behind the desk slid some tissues her way. “I can finish this up,” I said to the secretary.

“When was the last time she was seen?”

“She went to a party with her friends on Thursday night. That was the last I saw her, anyway.”

“Who was she with that night?”

“Um…” I looked at Nico to help me.

“I wasn’t home when she left. I think Peter and Dad were though.”

I sighed. Our stepfather, Aaron, was already pretty messed up about Ana disappearing and we’d all unanimously decided not to let Peter know what had happened to her. Johnny, standing next to me, spoke up. “He was with her friends Alena Barnes, Kittie Hambrough, and Adania Lee.”

“Have you spoken to these people recently?”

“We tried. Alena said she left early and the other two didn’t answer their phones.”

“Was there anyone else at the party that you know of?”

“Maybe Alena’s boyfriend, Adam Lewis.”

“How do you know all of that?” I murmured to Johnny as she typed.

“She’s my little sister. I have to check on her,” he replied with a wink.

“I’ll make the report,” the woman said, “But the best thing y’all can do is contact her friends and the family of her friends. Anyone that was at that party. I can’t tell you what did or didn’t happen but I can tell you, we will try our best to locate her The station will be closing in five minutes though. You folks have a nice evening.”

I nodded and followed Johnny out the door. Aaron was holding our mother. Tears were dripping down his face. In the eleven years that I’d lived with Aaron, I’ve never seen him cry before. I knew things were serious. Nico, standing behind my mother, wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead. He turned to me.

“Hey, Aly is coming over with Kimmi a little bit. I need to go. Uh, they asked me to pick up Peter, but you know how Aly is about me being on time. Do you mind?”

“No, no,” I said. “I’ll go get him.”

“He’s at Dad’s house. You know where he lives, right?”

“Unfortunately. I’ll get him home safely, alright?”

“Alright.” Nico wrapped his arms around me. “Be safe. I’ll call you if I hear anything.”

He kissed our mother’s cheek and ran to his car. I turned to Johnny, who was also getting ready to leave. He pulled some tissued out of his pocket and pressed them into my hands. I hadn’t even noticed I was crying. “Here,” he said. “Drive safe, alright?”

“Get them home safe too,” I replied.

The walk to my car felt like I was walking to Death Row. The warm August air rustled through my hair and blew away some of the tears. I got in the car to see I’d left my phone on the dash. My boyfriend, Ralph has been blowing my phone up. Did you find her? Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want me to get Peter from your dad’s house? Babe, are you there? Did you faint? I could call my cousin… you know he’s in the FBI. I understand if you want to stay with your parents but can you warn me first? You know I get worried about you…

A smile emerged. I quickly texted him back and dabbed tears from my cheeks. I’m going to get Ralph now. I’ll be home around ten but I’ll text you if I’m gonna be late.

I started to turn my car on, but a small part of me wanted to wait for his response. My phone chimed and I snatched it off of the dash quickly. Don’t kill Martha ;)

I chuckled. Martha, my stepmother, had been married to my father for six years and I hated her guts. Between her and her six kids, I couldn’t be around her for more than twenty minutes without wanting to kill her. So, when I pulled up to my dad’s seven bedroom and saw her standing on the porch with my brother, I had to bite my tongue. I got out to see her better in the fading sunlight. She looked like the Wicked Witch of the East probably would have if she’d survived Dorothy’s house. Her face was flattened and boils stood out on her face. She had slathered some make-up on her grotesque face and her dark twisted teeth were mangled into a grin.

“Trixie,” she said. “How nice to see you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go, Peter.”

“How was the police station?” Martha called as I ushered Peter to the car.

I answered her with my middle finger. I took Peter’s bags to put them in the trunk. As soon as I turned, Martha was right next to me. Her smile hadn’t waned. “Do they know where she is?”

“Will you fuck off?” I said as I slammed my trunk. I narrowly missed her fingers.

“Your father won’t like how you’re talking to me,”

“My father doesn’t like anything. I can get over his disappointment just like I get over everything else he does.”

“You know, your father and I were talking about you babysitting Liz and Georgie for a while on Friday while we go rekindle our relationship.”

I shuddered. “I’ll pass.”

“You are their sister you know.”

“I didn’t ask for them.”

“You could be a bit more supportive of them. We’re trying to help you out. WE all know you’re expecting so we thought-”

“I don’t care what you thought Martha. We both know that if it wasn’t for Peter, I wouldn’t be here. So, let’s keep my business out of your mouth, okay? What is happening between my boyfriend and me is for us to discuss. Move.”

She stepped back onto the sidewalk, and I got into my car. My brother was flipping through the radio stations. “Just think about it!” Martha called.

I replied with my middle finger and sped off. My brother, content with the radio station, sighed. “Why do you hate Martha?” he asked.

“She’s a dumb bitch.”

“Yikes.” He sat back in his seat and turned my radio up a bit. Usher serenaded us for a few miles.

“She’s not that bad you know,” he murmured after a few minutes. “She makes me cookies and stuff.”

“The reason I hate her goes back way before they even got married,” I said.

“Is Ana back?” he asked.

I could feel the tears coming. “She’ll be back soon,” I tried to assure him.

His phone dinged. He looked at it before setting his phone back in his lap. “Johnny said they’re going to go out for dinner. Can we stop somewhere?”

“No. Ralph’s already worried about me. Plus, you have school in a week. You need to start going to bed earlier.”

“Just say you don’t want to spend any money,” he teased. “I think I’m just going to eat the leftovers from Popeye’s anyways. Is three day old leftovers still safe to eat?”

I nodded. We pulled into the driveway of my mother’s house. “Get your stuff,” I told him.

I opened the garage and went in. My sister’s baby blue Honda Accord was in the garage. It couldn’t be. I took my key out and Opened the door. There she was at the dining room table eating Cheerios like she used to when she was little. Her brown hair had been dyed bright purple. She was wearing an Animefest T-shirt and ripped jeans. I ran to her and hugged her. “Ana!”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Where the hell have you been!” I shouted as I squeezed her tighter.

“I went to Animefest with Dani and Kittie.”

I planted a solid smack on the back of her head. “You couldn’t warn someone? We were worried sick about you. Mom even filed a police report! What the hell were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to go. I mean, it was a drunk decision and-”

“You were drinking?”

“You and Johnny do it and you guys aren’t twenty-one…”

“That’s because we’re suicidal maniacs! You can’t drink.”

“Hypocrite…”

“Hypocrite nothing! You are in big trouble. Aaron was crying.”

Her face went pale. She hadn’t realized how serious things were. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s whatever,” I snapped. I hadn’t realized that I was crying.”

“Listen, I’ll call before I go anywhere okay? I’m so sorry.”

I held my sister in my arms, and we cried for about twenty minutes. I knew she’d always call after this.