Mermaids and Vampires

26: Missing

~~~~ DYLAN'S POV ~~~~

Dad was pissed from what happened yesterday. He'd told me he wasn't going to leave Lauren in my charge for a while. I had to get my shit together. Now I couldn't be around the house without getting a lecture, so I had taken off for the afternoon.

Presently I'm at Blane's house. It's seven thirty and our evening so far has consisted of video games and lots of snacks.  

It's eight and the sky is orange when I feel the phone vibrate in my pocket. I pause the game and take it out.

"It's my Dad." I explain.

I let it go to answering.

A few seconds pass.

It vibrates again.

I roll my eyes, "Guess I better take this."

I pick up the phone and wander to a farther corner of the room.

"Hello?"

"Dylan, I can't find Lauren. She's missing." Dad says.

"What? really?"

"I've looked all around the house. She was here one moment, gone the next."

Something twinges in my mind. I am reminded of the day when I went to pick her up at school and she wasn't there. Then she mysteriously appeared back at the house. I can't tell him what happened, but I want to.

"That's weird." I say.

"I'm reluctant to call the police a second day in a row to report a missing child." He states.

"Yeah, that might look a little weird." I admit. "Well, should we look around the neighbourhood?"

I have a hunch she'll turn up on her own. Maybe she has a secret life we don't know about.

"It's not like her to just take off." Dad says worriedly on the other end of the phone.

"I'll come straight home." I say.

"Alright, meet you out front."

We hang up.

"Got to go." I say to Blane,  grabbing my bag and running out the door.

I meet Dad in the front yard. He's been calling Lauren's name over and over again.

"I could hear you from the beach," I joke as I ran up to him. "Still missing?"

"It's starting to get dark out, this isn't right." Dad worries.

"She'll be alright." I assure him.

"Not if she takes after her brother... You don't think she could be out back? I'll have a look for her."

It's like he's having a conversation with himself. He runs back into the house, headed for the back yard.

I wander towards the front of the lawn. A shape appears at the end of the street, a car. I watch it closely. It's travelling real slow, coming closer.

A few houses down it stops. A door opens on the side facing away from me. Somebody steps out.

The car does a u-turn and spins around to drive back the way it came, never passing by me.

The person who had exited the car is a short, brown haired girl. Lauren.

"Lauren!" I call.

She comes running.

As her footsteps get closer her features became visible under the dwindling light. She's covered in blood. Dark, thick stains.

My jaw drops as she approaches me. I don't know what to say. I'm almost scared by what I see.

"Lauren," I shake my head, "Lauren, what on Earth have you been doing?"