MISSING

CHAPTER 1

Here in Canada, where the weather is ridiculously cold, in the beauty of the white snow, there is a cozy house on a main street where the heroine of our story, Everleigh, her parents and her two brothers, Max and Asher, live.

On a freezing night, this sweet family sat at the kitchen table and ate dinner without talking much... Instead, they were shivering because of the cold weather, Everleigh was quiet all evening while Max and Asher talked non-stop, the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Garfield... sat there trying to keep the children quiet.

Max, the youngest, had dark brown curly hair and dreamy blue eyes, he was 15 years old. Everleigh, the only girl among the siblings and the middle child, was around 18 years old and had blond, wavy hair. She had the same blue eyes as her brother Max. While Asher, the eldest. Was in his 20s. He had curly brown hair and dark eyes.

They ate one of their mother's special meals, she was a great cook. While they were eating peacefully, someone knocked on the door. Asher volunteered to open the door as no one would budge from their seat. When he opened the door, no one was there and all he saw was snow, snow and more snow. He was about to close the door when he noticed a white letter on the doorstep. He reached out to get it, then went inside.

"Who was that, Asher? " Max asked,
"There's no one there, just a letter." Asher said as he sat back down. "Aren't you going to open it?" Asked Everleigh. "Yeah, yeah," sighed Asher
Asher took the white letter and opened it with shaky hands, there was a blue nail polish stain on the letter, it said:-

"Eglinton Avenue"

It was written in bold letters, Asher read it out loud,
"That's where my friend lives!" exclaimed Everleigh.
"What does that even mean?" Max asked.
"I've no idea. " Everleigh replied.
Asher put the letter down on the kitchen table and sat back down to finish his plate.
10 minutes later, everyone got up from their seats and went to wash their hands. Everleigh picked up the letter and noticed the stain on it. "Mom, look, there's a blue nail polish stain on the letter." Everleigh cried.
"Oh, I don't think that means anything, honey," said Mrs. Garfield. "Besides, it's probably a child who was playing and wanted to leave a letter on the doorstep and then left." she continued
"But it's so cold outside, how can a child go out there?" wondered Everleigh.
"Just forget it sweetie, it's not important."

Everleigh went into her room, sat on her bed and called her friend Madison who lived in Eglinton Avenue, "Hi Madison!" Everleigh said, "Oh,hi Ev!" Madison replied,
"I wanted to ask you something..."
"Sure, what's up?"
"Did you happen to receive a letter today?"
"A letter?" she wondered "Yes, why?"
"What was in the letter?"
"It was from our landlord."
"Oh, so there was nothing strange about the letter."
"Nope."
"Okay, thanks anyway. Have a good evening!"
"You too!"
Everleigh hung up and began to wonder who would send a letter with a street name, she figured the person who sent it had to mean something... she could not help but ask her brother Asher if he knew if anyone lived here, she walked into the living room where Asher was sitting by the fireplace drinking a cup of hot chocolate,
"Hey, Asher," she said sitting down in the chair next to Asher,
"Hey." Asher said,
"Do you know anyone who lives on Eglinton Avenue?"
"Eglinton Avenue?"wondered Asher, "No, I do not think so?"
"Are you sure?"
"At this moment, yes, I am sure."
"All right." she said, getting up from her seat.
"Why are you asking such questions? Is it about this letter?" he asked
"Yes, I have a feeling something's not right!"
"Well, if you want my advice..."
"No, thank you!" she interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

Everleigh went back to her room and tried to sleep, but she couldn't, because there was a very strong wind blowing and it was snowing so much out of the window that it made a lot of noise that made it hard for anyone to sleep...For the second time, they heard a knock on the door, this time Everleigh went to the door, when she opened the door she found nothing but another letter, she was scared but she took the letter anyway, she closed the door which was hard because of the strong wind and opened the letter, she looked for a stain on the letter, she found the same blue stain on the back of the envelope, the letter said:-

"29.11.2024"

She didn't understand what the date meant, but all she knew was that the date was a year from now.

She immediately took the letter to Asher and showed it to him, Asher was in his room playing video games with Max as they both couldn't sleep.
"Asher! Someone has sent another letter!" said Everleigh.
"How do you know it's a person?" asked Max.
"What do you mean, Max?" asked Asher.
"I mean, how are you so sure it's a person?"
"Max, we're not playing a game here!" shouted Everleigh.
Everleigh and Asher didn't really take what Max said seriously because they thought he was joking.
"What did the letter say this time?"asked Asher.
"There was a date." Everleigh said as she showed him the letter, Asher paid no attention to the blue stain on the paper,
"It doesn't look like a letter to me. " Asher said.

The letter didn't look formal enough to look like a one, in fact it looked like it had been written by a six year old, it wasn't folded properly... it was folded very haphazardly, the blue nail polish stain was exactly the same shape as the last letter, which was oddly drawn, who could write two completely different letters and still manage to get the exact same shape of the last one?

Everleigh decided to finally go to sleep when the wind stopped blowing, she tossed and turned all night, she wondered who could be writing this letter, she got up and sat on her desk chair, she took a paper and a pen, she started to write who she thought could be sending these letters.

_People who I think wrote this letter:-

Madison: I think she only wrote the second letter, because the first letter had the name of the street she lives in, and I think she wrote the second letter because I called her and told her about the first letter, so perhaps she decided to play a game and send another one, which I'm not sure about is... How could she put the same blue stain on the letter when I didn't mention there was one on the first letter, and how could it be the same shape as the first letter... One last thing that makes me wonder, how could a person, whoever they were, manage to leave a letter outside a front door and knock on the door, in this weather?

Ryleigh: I think Madison's sister, Ryleigh, sent those letters, she's 13, she can walk out of the house and drive here because she always takes a cab, and maybe none of her family members have noticed that she's not home because they're always busy with something. And since she's a girl, she can own a blue nail polish, and maybe she took a picture of the first letter she wrote and tried to copy the exact same blue stain.

Max: I think Max wrote both letters, because it looks like one of these letters he writes to mom for her birthday, and he can take the blue nail polish from mom's room and spill it on the letter, then maybe take the first letter and try to copy the same blue stain on it, but how can he put the letter outside and knock on the door when he was literally with us at dinner time, and he played suspicious when I asked Asher about it._

Everleigh doesn't have many people on her list right now, but that's because she doesn't know much right now.She went to bed and this time she slept properly because she was exhausted. She also decided that the first thing in the morning she'd go to Madison's house on Eglinton Avenue and ask her about it.