GRIFFIN-a few days later
   I've been in and out of the house, only really home at nights, and still haven't managed to talk to Elly, my own sister. I finally have found a place for us guys to move into, and since Elly would have to come with me, she would be moving in, too. I'm going to go ask her and see what she thinks.
   "Hey, Elly?" I knock on her bedroom door, where she has been holed up for the past couple of days. She doesn't reply, so I knock again. "Elly, will you please let me in?"
   I sigh when I hear no movement from inside. It's late, but not late enough for her to have gone to sleep. She is either ignoring me or has earbuds in.
   "Elly," I say loudly. "I'm coming in now." I open the door and walk in. The light is off. Why is the light off? "Elly?" I ask, flicking the light on. I look around and see no sign of her.
   "Elly?" I shout through the house, dropping my laptop onto her bed and running back out into the hall. "Elly, this isn't funny! Where are you?"
   She doesn't reply, so I start looking in all the rooms. She isn't in any of them, so I start checking the doors.
   The front door is unlocked, and the extra set of keys are gone.
   Elly isn't here.

JADEN
   "Is Elly with you?"
   "No," I reply to Griffin, who sounds rather startled. "Why would she be with me?"
   "I don't know! Some teenager love issues?"
   "Griffin, what is going on?" I groan and sit up on my bed.
   "Is Elly with you? Just tell me the truth."
   "I am! Elly isn't here. I haven't talked to her recently," I say with a sigh. "Why are you asking me where she is?"
   "Because I can't find her!"
   "You can't find Elly? Did you check her bedroom?" I ask, tossing myself backwards onto the bed.
   "Yes, I checked her bedroom! Do you think I'm really that stupid that I wouldn't check there?"
   "Just making sure," I mumble.
   "Jaden, the front door is unlocked and the extra set of house keys are gone. She didn't tell me she was leaving. I lost Elly. I lost my sister!"
   I sit back up in alarm. "Have you called her? Texted her?"
   "I did right before I called you. She didn't reply."
   "Any idea where she might be?"
   "If I knew where she was, do you really think I would be calling you?"
   "Oh. Well, no."
   "Oh my gosh," I hear him mumble. "Oh my gosh."
"Have you called anyone else? The police, maybe?" I ask, now pacing back and forth across my room.
"I can't call the police!"
"Why not?"
"They might take her away from me, Jaden. I'm not risking that."
"Oh," I say, not having thought of that. "Uhm, you could start driving around looking for her?"
"What if I don't find her?" Griffin is clearly panicked at this point.
"I could come over and start looking," I offer.
"What?"
"I'm only about an hour away. I mean, you will probably find her before then, but just in case, I can help look for her."
Griffin sighs audibly. "Yeah. Okay."
"Okay. I'll leave now."
"Alright. Thank you, Jaden."
"Yeah."