MISSING

CHAPTER 5 *part 1*

Asher sat in his car and turned it on, he pressed the start button and drove away from his house into the woods, it was 7am, about the time they went camping for the first time. There was less snow on the roads now so it was easier to drive than before, Asher went back into the forest to look for Everleigh, the sun was shining and everything looked nice and bright. But in the forest it was very different, unlike outside it was darker and more eerie.

-Asher's POV-

As soon as I parked my car, I got out and started walking through the woods. The first thing I did was call Everleigh's name,
"Everleigh!" I shouted.
And I wasn't pretty surprised when no one answered, I called her a few more times before I actually heard a response.
"Is anyone here?!" Someone shouted.
"Where are you?" I shouted.
I had expected this 'someone' to be a girl, her voice was clear that it was a girl.
"We're here!" The same voice called out.
I mean, what? "We're?!" Who are 'we'?
"Can you guys keep talking?"
"We're here under the pine tree!"
I can, but I can't carry this sack of potatoes around with me!
I jogged to the place where I had heard the voice. And when I actually got there, I had immediately lost all my excitement, I actually thought I had found Everleigh. There were two girls lying on the floor. One of them even had a sprained ankle,
"What on earth?!" I said.
"Can you please help us get out of here?" The girl with the sprained ankle said.
"Who are you?"
"Shut up and help us!" Said the other girl.
"Nah, I'm good."
"Dude! What's wrong with you?"
"I mean, you look like you can walk..."
"I can, but I can't carry this sack of potatoes around with me!"
"Hey!" Said the girl with the sprained ankle.
"At least tell me your name!"
"I'm Faith."
"Grace." The healthy girl rolled her eyes.
"Okay, then why don't you tell me how you got here?"
"It's none of your business!" Grace said.
"Okay then, it was nice to meet you, take care!" And I just turned around and walked away.
I didn't really expect to see them again, so I just called for Everleigh again.
"Hey, stop!" Grace ran after me, trying to catch her breath. "I'll tell you how we got here ... promise to help us?"
"Sure..."
"My sister and I were looking for a missing girl in the woods, she was all over the news, her parents had put up a reward for whoever finds her so we thought we could find her, we were here last night but my stupid sister tripped and sprained her ankle so we couldn't go back..."
I was speechless, trying to put it all together in my head.
"Do you know her, you know, the lost girl?" I asked quickly.
"Yes, she was our fri ...classmate."
"Why did you take it back?"
"Erm, we weren't that close, she was just a teacher's daughter who went to our school for nothing, we never spoke much."
"You know Everleigh!"
"You know her?"
"She's my sister!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I take back everything I said!"
"Too late, you're coming with me to the hospital and then to the detective."

I took the two girls to my car and we drove to the hospital I had taken Emma to before. When we entered through the large glass door, we went to reception and the receptionist recognized me immediately.
"Who is it this time?" She asked.
I told her about Faith's ankle and she sent her to a room.
"By the way, is Emma still here?" I asked.
"Yes, her sister visits her from time to time."
"Oh, well that's good then."
I sat down on the couch while Grace and her sister had Faith's ankle examined. Half an hour later, I got a call from Mom,
"Hi, Mom." I said.
"Hi honey, where are you now?"
"I'm at the hospital, I'll be right back."
"What? Why are you in the hospital? Are you oka..."
I hung up before Mom could ask any more questions, but I didn't realize she was ringing until I picked up.
"Hey, Mom." I said
"Honey, are you okay?"
"Yes mom, I'm fine, just taking a girl to the hospital with a broken ankle."
"No luck with Ev?"
"No, but these girls are her classmates, maybe they know something."
"Alright then, I've to go now, I told David I'd do the interview soon, so yeah good luck!"

Mom hung up and I went to the nurse to ask her how Faith was doing, she told me she was fine and just needed to rest for a few days. I went into her room and found both sisters sitting quietly.
"Hi, Asher." Grace jumped up when I opened the door.
"Hi...are you guys ready for the interview?"
"Well, the nurse said Faith needs to rest for a few days, can we just get interviewed here?"
"Yes, I will ask the detective to come in ASAP."
"Okay, thank you very much!"
"No problem."
I called David, but he was already on the phone, so I assumed he was just talking to Mom.
"Hey, Mrs. Garfield." David
"Hi." Said mom nervously.
"Would you mind telling us what happened the day Everleigh disappeared, with all the details, please?"
"Oh yeah, sure, well, we were camping in the woods and it was about 8:37 when we wanted to make a fire, I remember the time because of that time I got a message from an unknown number and checked the phone...and..."
"Who was this unknown number? And what did the message say?"
"Well, I still haven't figured out who it was, but according to Truecaller it was a Harry Foxx, I've never heard that name before..."
"Are you sure?"
"Uh...yeah...I'm su...wait a minute...now that I think about it, I think I know a Harry...that's Everleigh's friend's landlord!"
"You mean Madison?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, so what did the text say?"
"It was something like 'Meet me' or 'Come see me'...let me read the actual text."
Then Mom put down the speaker and reached for her cell phone, which was lying on the wooden table,
"Oh, it says 'MEET ME', all caps." Mom said.
"Was there any mention of a place or time?" Asked David.
"Uh, no, it was sent 8:37, that's all I can say."
"Okay, go ahead please."
"Mhm, so we were going to make a fire, but it was in the morning and we didn't get around to making a fire the day before, so my husband, John, decided to make a fire in the morning, we all agreed and Everleigh and her dad went off to get wood, they were going to meet in 15 minutes, but..."