A strong gust of wind blew through the cracked windows of 46 Stratton Drive. Everywhere outside was pitch black and the only things visible were the broken street lights lining the cracked bitumen road and the shiny glare of many cat's eyes reflecting the moonlight. A storm was brewing. Willow Starine and Jemma Oak were sitting on their fold-out beds in the living room of Stratton House. They were staring out of the window, watching the cats prowling about and listening to the wind whistle in and out. It all seemed awfully creepy, although the two girls were old enough to know it really wasn't, or at least shouldn't be.
They were talking about their last birthday party. It was a joint one since their birthdays were so close together. Although their birthdays were close, they were a year apart in age. Jemma was sixteen whereas Willow was fifteen. Their most recent party was fantasy-themed. Everyone who came wore a costume like that of a pixie or royal and everyone enjoyed the birthday cake which was shaped like a castle. It was rather magical. They were laughing and chatting for a while more when a loud ding came from the kitchen. Jemma left to go grab the popcorn that had just finished cooking in the microwave.
She called out to Willow to come help her but there was no response. She called again, still nothing. After not hearing a response after two or three calls she walked into the living room, with popcorn in hand, to see what was up. She quietly tiptoed into the room in hopes of scaring her friend, but with no luck, she was nowhere to be seen. The back door was swinging open and closed, the battered wood bashing against the door frame every time it did so. Jemma then went over to the door to take a closer inspection only to find slash marks across the screen. She grabbed the door and put the bolt across in order to stop the swinging and then started breathing rapidly. Where had Willow gone? Jemma knew she shouldn't be worrying so much, Willow was old enough to look after herself and had probably just gone to the bathroom. Jemma wandered down the hallway, checking each room in case Willow was in there but she didn't succeed in finding her.
Jemma's parents wouldn't be home until the morning. It was the first time she had been left alone overnight since she had just turned sixteen. Maybe it wasn't such a good thing they had done that. The first night she gets left alone and her best friend goes missing. She called her mother but there was no answer. It was probably too late to be calling anyone anyway. Jemma went upstairs to her bedroom to grab a torch out of her dresser. She kept it there in case of emergencies such as this. Whilst walking out the back door of her house, she felt a chill go down her spine, but she thought nothing of it. She shone the torch across the whole yard whilst scanning it with her eyes. Realising she still had the popcorn in her hand. Something then startled her and the torch she was once holding fell to the ground. She couldn't tell what had scared her but when she turned around to look in the maple tree, there were two big green eyes staring back at her. Frightened, she ran back inside to call her parents yet again in hopes they might have woken up since the last call. Still no answer and not even a message from any of her other friends. They usually checked on her every day and night and Jemma did the same back. It was weird since not one of them had responded to her messages.
Jemma thought it best to call the police to file a missing person report. But as she was about to do so, she heard a noise coming from the laundry room, it sounded like a wild animal. But how could it be? The windows and doors were all shut. She decided not to investigate this time and shut the door on whatever was making the racket and let it be. After almost forgetting about it, she went back to get her popcorn from the garden table. She checked out the window first just in case, but it wasn't there. There was popcorn all over the table but the container with the majority of it was gone. By now Jemma was utterly freaking out. She called the police to file the report and hid in her room, under the covers, with the door locked. They told her to stay in her house, lock the doors and shut all of the windows. It was the safest possible option for her then. They also told her not to worry and that they would be at her house around midday the next day to investigate. She lay there until morning, not able to sleep one bit. Then it hit her, her best friend was missing. How could she let this happen when she was with her the whole time. She began to get really worried about what could have happened. What if she was dead? What if Jemma could have saved her? Surely the police would find her, she couldn't have gotten too far.
