Gwen knew it was strange to not see her sister the minute she got home. When Gwen walked through the front door, she expected to see Tess, lying on the couch, her nose in a good book or reviewing the boring lesson they had in class today.
Now, it's been one whole day and their parents have already issued a missing person's report on her. The police; however, claim it's a runaway situation. Gwen knew it wasn't true.
"Still no word on your sister's whereabouts?" Zack asks her, putting his last textbook in his locker.
"No. Nothing new yet," Gwen says, sighing to herself.
"Where could she have gone after school? Do you know?"
"Look, if I had known, don't you think I'd be beating someone up right now?! Or getting to the bottom of it?!" Gwen yells, frustrated by the whole situation.
She realizes how she sounded and apologized, holding Zack's hand in hers.
"I am so sorry Zack. I didn't mean to. It's just all of this is crazy and scary. She was taken, I know she was. Just, I wish there were some clues or evidence telling me where she was last or what happened to her. Not knowing is killing us," Gwen says.
Zack pulls her into a comforting hug and Gwen tries to fight back the tears forming in her eyes.
"Come on. Let's go home. You're not in your right mind right now to go to school," Zach says, holding her hand and leading her out of the school building.
"Gwen Hutton, please report to the principal's office," the inner com reads out loud.
Gwen sighs, saying goodbye to Zack and heads that way. She walks in, only to be greeted by the principal, her parents, and two FBI agents, who look from out of state.
"What's going on?" Gwen asks them.
"Please, take a seat Gwen," the principal says.
Gwen sits beside her mom, on the couch, with her dad at the far end. Her mom rubs her shoulders, looking pale and puffy eyed.
"Please Agent Malcolm. Proceed," the principal says to the young Agent, whose fair complected and has black wavy hair. His brown eyes serious and looking at each of us.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hutton. Gwen. Please allow me to introduce myself, I am detective agent Malcom, with the Rhode Island P.D. We have reason to believe that your daughter has fallen victim to the perpetrators we have been trying to find that have kidnapped and kept hostage young women in this area and others," he says.
"Other areas? You mean to tell me there's more women abducted in other states?" My dad asks him.
"Indeed, sir. We have missing profile reports of young women, ages 18 to 22, that have been abducted all within a month period, across several states. It has led us from Rhode Island to New York, with more reports coming in from the other northern and southern states. We have not had time to process each one quite yet," he says.
"How come?" my mom asks him.
"This investigation is still ongoing and will continue to stay that way until we find these missing women, but we also have to consider other cases out there. We don't know if every report is connected to this one."
"How many?" Gwen asks him, dreading the answer.
"Excuse me?"
"How many girls are missing that is connected to this case?" Gwen asks again, looking at the both of them.
The FBI agent looks at his partner and then at me, getting a nod of approval.
"We have reason to believe there are over twenty young women who have been filed missing over the past year," he says, making Gwen and her parents' gasp.
"Over twenty?! Why haven't you found these young girls?!" My mom asks.
"There has no solid evidence left any homes or locations that could tie their abduction or who took them. It's a tricky case to figure out," he says.
Gwen sits there, pondering everything being said. Over twenty young girls are missing all throughout different states and her sister is one of them.
She has to believe Tess is alive and doing well. She just has too.
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That night, Gwen decides to do some research of her own and pulls up all the past cases of the missing girls in those states.
She pulls up an article on a case back in 2017, where a young man was convicted of sex trafficking, murder, and rape, and he stated in his confession that he abducted young women, did what he wanted with them, and killed them. It was later confirmed that he lied about all of that.
Gwen sighs and closes her laptop frustratingly. A knock makes her look at the door, and her dad comes inside. He sits at her bed and looks over at her.
"You, okay? I know what the FBI agent was a lot to take in," he says, putting a hair strand away from her face.
"It was frustrating to hear. Not one of them have found anything that would help solve this case and it's annoying. My sister is out there and all they are doing is taking their precious time. We need to do something!" Gwen says.
"Gwen, sweetheart. What can we do? We have no authorization to anything, and we are not police officers. We have no experience in their field work," he says.
"I hate just sitting here and waiting on news. It's torture and I want to try to help."
"I know you do but right now, the only thing we can do is wait until we hear any news from them, okay? Don't do anything stupid? We can't risk you being in danger as well sweetie, okay?"
Gwen nods, as he kisses her forehead and leaves her alone, thinking about all of this.
One thing Gwen's dad doesn't know about her that they will soon learn about, is she's someone who can't let things go unchecked. She Has to find her sister, no matter what it took or what danger lurks with it. She has to try at least.
Gwen opens her laptop again and pulls up the Springfield Police Department website and looks at the staff directory. Then she remembers Agent Malcolm isn't with the Springfield police, he's Rhode Island's police department.
So, Gwen pulls up the Rhode Island police department website and looks at their staff directory and realizes his contact information is nowhere on there. Weird she thought. She called another person on the staff list, and they pick up.
"This is Sheriff Wilson with the Rhode Island Police Department; how may I help you?"
"Hey, this Gwen Hutton from Springfield Massachusetts and I was hoping to get in-contact with FBI agent Malcolm?"
"Who may I ask is asking for him?"
"Gwen Hutton, like I said before. He is helping my family with my sister's disappearance. Tess Hutton? I need to speak with him. It's urgent."
It goes silent for a quick minute until his voice is on the phone.
"This is Agent Malcolm," he says.
"Thank gosh! Look, I need to speak with you about my sister's case in-person. Could you stop by tomorrow morning? It's urgent!"
"Why? Has something come up? Did you or your parents found any evidence with the investigation?"
"Um, yes. We did, but it's not safe to talk about it over the phone. Could you please meet me in-person? Please?"
He sighs out loud and then agrees, which makes her smile big.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" Gwen yells out in joy, and they both hang up.
Wow. That actually worked.
Let's just hope he agrees to what Gwen wants to do.
Which is have a place on the investigation, to hunt down her sister's kidnapper and find any evidence at all.
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YOU ARE READING
The Book of Maiden
Science Fiction"Don't talk back, don't question, keep your head down low, and your body pure. Any news of murder, swearing, or infidelity, will result in death on your part. Do not disobey your husband, your doctor, or the Father. Any disobedience will be punished...
