Mermaid

Chapter 21

"Calm down Alison!" Sherrie said over the phone as she paced back and forth in her father's office, just like she had agreed she would help her father, and that included becoming involved in office work. Sherrie had just called right when Erika supposedly disappeared. "Now go over it again, this time slower."

Alison took a few deep breaths to calm down before speaking slowly. "I went to get something to drink, you know for when Erika woke up so she could drink something, but when I got back she was gone. I keep trying to call her but she won't pick up her phone, I think it might be turned off. Erika had been acting a bit strange since we got her, like she's on edge; you don't think she was being stalked or kidnapped do you?"

Sherrie turned to stone. "Of... of course not Alison, the likelihood of her being kidnapped or being stalked when just arriving to Okinawa, she probably went to get some fresh air, you know that Erika's always have been the type to wander off whenever she gets stressed. Remember during our second year in high school when we had that big test during the spring? She went to the woods to study because there were less people."

"Oh... oh yeah, she did that a few times didn't she. Okay..." Alison let out a deep calming breath once more. "Okay, I'm sure she hasn't gotten far then, I'll keep trying to call her, see if you can get a hold of her too okay?"

"I will, keep me posted." Hanging up Sherrie looked out of her father's office window as the feeling of dread began to creep up on her. Gritting her teeth over the worry of her friend Sherrie kicked the nearest chair, as it clattered to the floor she looked back to the coffee table that had papers scattered about, one in particular had the photo of Yara Lawrence and detailed documents on her. Thing was, these documents, they were nothing but fakes.

While working with her father Sherrie snuck away to the private and personal records and looked up information about Yara, thinking that maybe there would be some kind of clue in helping Erika, she didn't care if it was illegal, she should have, but right now anything involving Erika and her family was important, and that included these documents.

But when she got a hold of them she had become immensely shocked at what she saw.

Everything about Yara Lawrence right there on the desk was fake, every last one, Sherrie knew about forging fake documents, had seen them countless times with her father's work. But she had never thought to see so much of it for just one woman. It didn't even give Yara's last name; well it had Lawrence, but not the one she had from birth.

"What are you hiding Yara?" Sherrie said to herself before putting the documents away into her bag so her father wouldn't see before sitting down in a nearby chair and rested her forehead against her interlaced hands as her elbows rested on her knees. Just thinking about this was giving her such an immense headache.

"Is something the matter Sherrie?" her father asked as he entered the room, Sherrie raised her head and looked up at him with a smile.

"No, I'm alright, just worn out. But do you mind if I take the rest of the evening off? All this work today has made me tired and I'd like to get some sleep."

"Sure, but I need to stay here and finish up some things. Want me to walk you down to the front?"

Sherrie shook her head. "No that's fine; I'd rather not impose on your work."

Gregory made a face, showing slight annoyance mixed with disappointment. "Sherrie you could never impose on me, I'm your father. Granted I've never been the best, even more so when you were younger. But I will always care of you, try to remember that okay?"

Merely nodding in response Sherrie left her father's office and headed straight for the elevator, once inside she stared at herself in the full body mirror. Dressed in a white short sleeved blouse and dark blue dress pants with matching shoes, her hair done in a low ponytail with a blue ribbon hold it back, as she looked at herself in the mirror, a reflection she had hated so many times before, now no longer held frustration. Maybe it was because she had been with her father for the past few days; lord knows that the two had been out of touch for many years with the company that he ran. Always stuck with her mother, who only cared about status and her image, things Sherrie never liked, but she had found a lot of common ground with her father.