Away from the past

She's gone

May 16

Liana's POV

Watching over your shoulder constantly out of fear is not the way to live by any means. I feel so stuck sometimes and I hate how this has been my life. I am being watched closely although my parents assured me that I wasn't losing my freedom. Theo was released for now but he still can't get close to me or even step foot in our town. Inside, I don't feel as secure as I should. I'm surrounded by people most hours of the day but something in me still doesn't feel right. I haven't driven anywhere by myself, which is a bummer because I really need some retail therapy right about now.

"Hey sweetie, have you talked to Emily recently?" Mom sticks her head in my room.

"No, why?"

"Just asking, we'll order dinner soon." She changes the subject pretty quickly.

I haven't spoken to Em in a few days. My friends and I don't really always speak everyday which is completely fine. I don't feel like talking to anyone anyways. Some days it's just easier not to interact with people at all but I've realized in this mountain of insanity, this is my way of shutting down. Mom used to tell me how some the people in our family would do the same. Too bad we don't really speak to our distant relatives, they'd be able to help me deal with some of this stuff.

While I lay in my bed, I get the sense that there is so much going on around me. The house is quiet, but somewhere, I know there is a lot of noise and chaos. Somewhere close I bet.
-

This afternoon is pretty much like last night. I feel a weird sensation that there is something that I need to fix. I leave my phone on my dresser because I know what ever I look at, I will end up reading about what's going on.

"Maybe she knows something, we have to ask." I hear from the living room as I open my bedroom door a little more.

I can tell there are multiple other people in my house right now. As I continued to eavesdrop, I realized that one of the cops who have been helping my family and I was talking with my parents. That didn't set off red flags in my head until I heard Emily's mom too. Before I knew it, my dad was calling me out of my room. I get a complete stare down by everyone who stands in the middle of the living room, but I notice that Emily's mom looks distressed.

"Okay, so we are fighting against the clock here and I need you to tell me everything you know." The detective speaks to me.

I nod, not knowing what I'm nodding for.

"Emily. Do you know where she is or who she might run to when she might be feeling angry or alone?" His voice is stern.

"What? No. I talked to her the other day and she seemed fine, better than fine. She was excited about a new video game that comes out today, she wouldn't miss it. Is she missing? What's going on?" My head is moving back and forth from him to my mom.

"She didn't come home last night. I called her countless amount of times. I have no idea where she is or why she's not here. I know my daughter and something is wrong. She wouldn't just leave without telling me where she was or when she's going to be back." Her moms voice is fragile.

She's right, Emily wouldn't do something like this. She doesn't like going places alone anyways so for her not to come home is extremely alarming. My chest tightens because in my gut, I know that other people may be involved in this. No one brings up the idea of her being kidnapped but I think it is definitely on all of our minds.

"I'm going to make some calls, get more of my men out on the streets looking for her. Ma'am, start calling all of your friends and family, ask if they've seen or spoken to Emily in the past 48 hours, get any information you can. Liana, call your friends, see if they have possibly seen her or know anything. I think our situation just drastically changed." The cops leaves the room in a hurry while frantically scrolling on his phone.

I do what he says an message the three most important people I go to school with and no one has any idea where she could be. My heart his hurting for her mom, who is being comforted by my mom. We live in a town where everyone knows everyone, something like this doesn't happen. The amount of confusion and frustration crushes me until I realized that not long ago, Theo was released. I'm not completely sure what happened but something clicked for me.

I told my mom that I needed to get out of the house and of course she was completely against it but I knew that somewhere in my mind I know what happened to Emily and I had to be smart about the way I went about the situation because Theo is on edge. I take the car and park in the street where most people in town go shopping. All I can think about it the comic book store Em loves so much. I walk to it but don't go inside because something in me knows that the answers I'm looking for won't be in there. When it comes to Theo, if you really piss him off, he comes back ten times harder at least he tries to. I know her disappearance has something to do with him, it has to.

Next to the book store is the entrance of the woods that goes miles back. People go on the trail from time to time but there are other parts that aren't really explored by people. Pacing back and forth, I see a ring on the ground. It my ring but the thing is, I haven't had this ring in my possession for years. Theo gave me this ring as a gift so long ago. I gave it back to him before disappearing from that life for good. Of course he didn't like that but I know he left it on the ground in front of the woods and next to the comic book store as a message to me.

She's in there with him, he took her. He went this far to show me that anything I do will have consequences. Me realizing this almost causes me to have a break down right in the middle of town. I look around to figure out what I'm going to do. As I creep towards the forest I happen to see writing on the side of the comic book store that's barely visible but I recognize the hand writing.

"No cops."