Come Inside☠

Crumpled

Dedicated to swathi1008

'Mrs Thompson, Stella is going to be alright. She is a strong girl.' Chelsea said trying to console Stella's mother.

It's been ten days since Stella went missing. Stella was last seen in her house by her mother. Her mother sent a glass of milk along with Stella's favourite vanilla biscuits. When the next morning, Lynda; Stella's mother went to wake her up for school, her room was empty. The tray was lying untouched on her table. Her mother did what any mother would do when she finds her daughter gone; she called her but her phone was lying hidden behind her pillow.

This would not be the first time that Stella had done something like that. When she was seven, she went outside alone looking for her father and a stranger, kind enough took her back to Lynda, who was wandering on the road looking for her. Lynda searched each and every contact on Stella's phone and dialled the number one by one. Stella had a huge list. As everyone began to say that they haven't seen Stella after school, Lynda began to panic. She couldn't control her shaky fingers. The growing lump in her throat only delayed her more.

She felt a little relief when she saw Chelsea's name on Stella's phone. Lynda knew how great friends Chelsea and Stella were. She wished that Chelsea knew where Stella was. Maybe they planned to a crash some stupid senior party. She couldn't think straight anymore. With much reconsideration, Lynda dialled Chelsea's number. Lynda's heartbeat fastened with every ring.

'I won't be late, Stella.' Lynda recognized Chelsea's voice. They have talked on the phone before.

'Chelsea, is Stella with you? I'm her mother.'

'She isn't with me. I was just leaving for school.' She said. 'Is everything okay? What happened?'

'She is not in her room.'

Lynda called her husband, Adam who was still out for an important business meeting. Adam took the first flight and returned home. He informed the police and demanded an urgent action. Both Lynda and Adam were devastated. If anyone was as broken as Stella's parents from the news of her disappearance; it was Chelsea.

Stella was her best friend since the first grade. Stella could be mean at times and her bad habits has put her in trouble before too but she was always nice to Chelsea. She took care of her when Chelsea's parents separated. She brought lunch for Chelsea in school specially made by her mother. She even invited her for sleepovers to divert her mind from her family problems. Chelsea never imagined what would happen if Stella's not in her life and now after ten long, tough days, Chelsea was sitting with Stella's mom, trying to make her feel good. She didn't know what to do to make Mrs Thompson stop crying. She just sat there holding a glass of water.

'Chelsea, you shouldn't miss your classes.' Mr. Thompson entered the room with a tray of food.

Looking up, Lynda wiped her tears and said. 'He is right, Chelsea. You should go. He is going to drop you off at school. I'm fine now.'

'I guess you are right.' Chelsea put the glass down on the table. 'If you need anything just call me.'

~~~~~~~~~~

School...

A guy nudged his friend in the classroom and said. 'Adrian, I'm telling you, he killed his wife and daughter.'

'How do you know that, Eric?' Adrian asked.

'Because my dad's an officer. Remember?' Eric said with his eyes wide opened.

'Okay, so what about the other daughter?'

'She saw her father murdered her whole family. What do you expect? She ran away.' Eric said in a low voice.

'Wow. That's an interesting story.' Adrian said and peeked inside his book.

'Told ya. Who knows what more he could've done to them!' Eric snatched the book away from Adrian.

'Hey. I have a test to study for.' Adrian extended his arm.

'What I'm telling you is more interesting than chem,' Eric got a little louder. 'He killed his own family, you heard that?'

'SHUT UP. SHUT UP.  JUST SHUT UP. Not another word.' Someone yelled silencing every murmuring in the classroom.

Eric saw Margaret sitting two seats away from him. She covered her ears with her hands and yelled from the top of her lungs.

'Shut up.' After a minute, she opened her eyes. She tore a piece of paper from her notebook and started scribbling something on it.

'Are you okay?' A girl sitting behind her asked. Margaret didn't look back, she threw the paper on the floor and stormed out of the classroom.

'What was that?' Adrian asked.

'No idea.' Eric said.