•3580 words•

Last night, we were all frantically searching for Ash and Brooklyn, but they were nowhere to be found.

To sum up last night's events, Jamie and I went looking in the city centre for clues on the Carli Subbons' case, but we didn't find much. Lisha and Myliey said they didn't find anything either, and when we went to look for the girls around the alleyways, they were gone. I love Ashlyn so much, and I knew that going down those side-streets wouldn't be safe for her, nor Brooke. Now we just have to wait for them to come home, wherever they are.

What if they have the information that we need to solve this case? What if they hold everything that we need to know? But what if they're... d- no. I can't bring myself to say that word. It just doesn't set right with me in that context. To say that my girlfriend and her best friend could be 'the d-word.' We need to find them, and as quickly as possible. Ashlyn is still recovering from a badly broken leg, and if she's gotten split up from Brooke, she's screwed. They're both screwed, actually. They only have a few snacks and around 500ml of water- we were only supposed to go out for a couple of hours. This has turned from a missing-persons case into a 3-way missing-persons case. And 1 of those people is my favourite person in the world. I can't let Ashlyn die. We need to find her. And yep, I said the d-word.

Carli isn't my main priority anymore, she's not anyone's. Ashlyn and Brooke are our main priorities at the minute, and we need to find them fast. Who knows where they are or what they're up to? I hope to God that they aren't playing a trick on us. I know that Ash would never do that, but there is a possibility that Brooke could have planned it, or Ash was just being silly. In fact, what am I talking about? What if they aren't playing a trick, what if they're actually lost? Or even de-

No. You promised yourself that you wouldn't say that word in that context, Kyron. On another note, we've all decided that we're going to go on a search party and look for Brooke and Ash. They can't be that far away, after all. However, upon saying that, they could be literally anywhere.

"I think we've got everything!" I shout to Lisha, as she asks us if we have everything we need. We have quite a lot in our backpacks, but some of our main components of equipment include:
•A metal detector
•A fingerprint scanner
•A torch
•A rope

•And the typical magnifying glass.

Honestly, we don't use anything else on a regular basic. Of course we carry food and drink in our bags, but there's actually not much that we need to take. Anyway, I'm getting off-topic, we need to go and find these girls! That's if...if- if we can.

We're currently walking around the alleyways that the girls walked down last night, and I don't know what we'll find. We all looked last night immediately after we found out that they had gone missing, and we didn't find anything then- that's why my hopes aren't very high right now. Instead of walking in pairs, we're walking altogether so no one gets lost like Ash and Brooke did last night. We don't want a repeat of that. Myliey is walking to the side of me and she won't stop giving me dirty looks. I don't know what it is with her, but she's been really... really- 'off' lately. She hasn't spoken much, she hasn't interacts with any of us except Lisha, and she just all-round seems a little bit suspicious. I don't know why she seems suspicious or what she's suspicious of, but I don't like the vibe she seems to be giving off.

Jamie is walking just in front of me, and his backpack is practically falling off his back. I've already had to push it up twice so far, and it looks like I'm gonna have to do it again very soon. Lisha is in front of all of us, and she seems to be walking at a peculiar speed. She's going way too fast, maybe even too fast for her own body weight to carry. Even she seems a little 'off' lately. Jesus! What it is with my roommates? Maybe it's me who's just imagining things, but I swear something is going on- particularly between Myliey and Lisha. Whatever it is, I want to find out. And I will.

"What was that?" Myliey asks me, seeming as though she's startled because she says it in a rushed manner.
"Er-Erm, I don't know?" I stutter, confused. I didn't hear anything so I'm not sure where she's coming from.
"That- that twig?" She questions, sounding unsure. "I didn't hear anything," I reply, sternly.
"I swear I just heard a twig snap, Kyron."
"Well, we are walking in some alleyways, and there are twigs. So maybe, just maybe, you did hear a twig snap."
"Oh shut up with the sarcasm." She rolls her eyes and does a little jog to try and catch up to Lisha. Jamie stops for a second to wait for me and then once Myliey is out of sight, he says, "She definitely likes you."
"What? Sh-she's your girlfriend though-"
"I know, but I swear she likes you."
"I-"

"I mean, she just started a conversation with you for no reason whatsoever. I didn't hear a twig snap either, and unless we're both deaf or she's hallucinating, there was no twig. She just wanted to speak to you for no apparent reason. Ky, trust me."
"Eh... I don't know about that one. Why would you even accuse your girlfriend of liking someone else? Especially me, your best mate!"
"You see KB, I don't know if I like Myliey anymore. She is a bit annoying and she's seemed very strange lately."

I told you. I knew it wasn't just me who thinks Myliey is being a little strange.

"So you're gonna break up with her?"
"Um, maybe. I'm not too sure yet though and I don't want to rush things."
"Man, Jamie. You've really got to get your stuff together, mate. You can't just be throwing girls around like that. Brooke, then Myliey, and then probably back to Brooke. Soon you'll probably want Ash!"

My friendly, soft and sarcastic voice turns angry very quickly as I push him over. He falls into a bin on the side of the street with a thud. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed him, but I'm just so angry at him! I don't even know why I'm angry- he probably won't want to date Ashlyn and I'm not even that bothered if he breaks up with Myliey. It's not that I like Brooke either, because I don't. I think the reason I'm angry at him is because he's being with one girl and then being with another; throwing them around like they're objects. He needs to know how to respect a woman and even though he's only 13, I think he needs to know as soon as he can be taught.

"Woah, what was that for, mate?"
"Stop it. Just stay with one girl and keep her! Please, just for me. Look how long Ashlyn and I have been together for. I know we live in a house with 3 attractive girls our age, but you can't keep switching from one to another like that."
"Did you just say that they're all attractive?"
"Look, that was for your sake. Also, they're not exactly ugly are they? I'm not going to call them ugly, especially while they're not here."
"You could have just said 'girls' though."
"Still, listen to what I'm telling you, Jamie. Please just get a girl and stick with her. She's probably not going to be the one you marry, but she'll be better than throwing girls around like they're nothing! Take advice from your big bro, please."
He starts to walk off but just before he does, I manage to whisper to him, "And you don't have to have a girlfriend who lives in our house, you know."
And with that, he walks away peacefully like nothing ever happened.

I guess I'm quite good at giving advice. Like, if anyone ever needs anything, I guess I could give it to them. Advice-wise, I mean. Logically, I would have to be put in the situation to know how I would react- and that goes for anything. Seriously, I think I did quite well just then. Someone needed advice so I gave it to them- simple. And it was my best friend who needed the advice, so of course I was bound to help.

"Oh my God," I hear a faint whisper come from underneath some prickly bushes.
"Not you again, Myliey." I roll my eyes and let out a little chuckle, although I am very sick of her jokes.
"Wait, did I hear someone say my name?" Myliey turns around and looks at me. Hold on- if Myliey isn't in the bushes playing tricks, who is?
"Jamie?" I whisper, hoping that maybe Jamie is the one playing the trick on me. But I get no response.
"Hello?" I shout this time, hoping to actually get a response from whatever or whoever is behind the bushes. Whatever's there can clearly speak English; it spoke to me not long ago.

"Um, hi. Wait, I know that voice!" It says.

Wait, I know that voice too.

"Brooke?"
"Kyron?"
"It's you?"
"You're here? Omg! Please help!"
"Get out of there now, Brooke."
"I can't, Kyron. Please help me."
"Right, okay. One second."

Oh my God. I think I've found Brooke!
"Lisha!" I scream as loud as I can, "I've found Brooke!"
"What?" Jamie asks.
"Yeah, Jamie! I've found Brooke, but she's stuck."
"You have?" Lisha replies, and Myliey, Jamie and Lisha come running over to me.

I look under the bushes and see if I can see Brooke. I see a hand and a leg pop out from underneath and I try to pull on her. It doesn't work so I ask the others to help. "Guys, I don't know how we're gonna get her out of here. She's stuck and these bushes have thorns on them. And I bet you she's hurt. Maybe we should call someone?"
"Uh, let's just try to get her out ourselves, first," Lisha says, and we all create a human chain to get Brooke out of the bushes.
"On 3, we're all going to pull. Guys, are you ready? 3..., 2..., 1..., PULL!"

We all pull on Lisha's command and Brooke's body comes out of the bushes.

Wow, it- she- she looks so beaten-up. She has scratches and bruises all over her body, a black eye, and dry blood pretty much all over her. She starts to cry happy-tears when we pull her out and tells us how thankful she is.
"Do you know where Ash is? Also, um, yeah- I'm glad you're okay too. I hope you're okay, I mean. Let's get to hospital and worry about Ash later, yeah?" I stutter.

Brooke nods. "I don't know where Ash is. I was with her but then I got kidnapped and beaten up, so I'm not sure where she went. I hope she's okay though- we'll find her later."

I give Brooke a huge hug and tell her that everything is going to be okay.

I burst into tears as I'm so happy that we've found Brooke. More specifically, I found Brooke! Truthfully, I am quite proud of myself.

We get Brooke to the hospital and leave, leaving her there. Now we know that Brooke is safe, we need to make sure that Ash is. Ash is my world- my girlfriend, my best friend and my... soulmate? Yes, I want to say 'soulmate.'

Therefore, we need to make sure she's okay too.

We set out again to look for Ash but now it's just starting to rain. This isn't gonna stop us though- we're going to find Ash and get her to safety. It's lashing down with rain and it's practically a thunder storm by now actually, and I reckon that Ash is already injured. I bet she doesn't want this storm to come, especially on top of what she's probably already been through.
"Hey, why don't we go to the police station?" Jamie asks, with quite a positive mindset.
"And why would we do that?" Myliey replies, "What's the point? Why would she even be at the police station?"
"True, but we never know."
"Good idea, Jamie," Lisha says, as I watch on.

And off we go.

"Hey, I don't know why this would be a possibility, but have you seen a 16-year-old girl? She has black, curly hair, is around 5'6" and has hazel eyes. Seen her anywhere...?" Lisha tells the woman at the reception desk as we walk into the police station.
"Uh, I'm not too sure. But I can file a report for a missing person if you want me to. You'd just need to fill in a form but I can check the documents and things first...uh-"
"Yeah, yeah. That's totally fine."
"Okay, one minute."

The receptionist walks away for a second but quickly comes back after realising she's forgotten one of the most important things- her name.

"What's the girl's name?"
"Uh-"
"Um- Ashlyn Evanston," I say, not letting Lisha talk.
"Right. Also, please can you all log-in? You just need to put your fingerprint on the machine and put your details in and things. Its really easy and the instructions are on the screen. It's just so we know who's entered the police station recently- safety measures," the woman says, and she walks off again.

"Why did you interrupt me?" Lisha asks me, seeming agitated.
"I-I, listen. I just want Ash back. Look, I miss her so much and I just want to be in her presence again."
"Awww-" Myliey says.
"Shut up."
"Oi! Don't tell my girlfriend to shut up." Jamie slaps me and I raise my eyebrows at him and lower my chin as if to say 'your girlfriend, huh?'
He glares at me, wanting me to shut up, and then walks over to the chairs on the other side of the room and sits down. Myliey follows him but I remain here stood at the front desk with Lisha. All of us put our fingerprints on the machine, however, I'm not sure why they would want our fingerprints. Maybe like the woman said- safety measures...?

"Here we are. She's pretty beaten up and she's going to need medical attention as soon as possible. This is her, right? Ashlyn Evanston, 16, from the UK. She sounds like your description."
"ASH!" I scream, running over to her and giving her the biggest hug I've ever given anyone.
"Ow, please be careful," she says as I hug her, and I slowly release from her a little. I am a little bit gutted about what she said; I thought that she would be happy to see me. However, I do understand that she has been through a lot in the last 24 hours.
"Come on," Lisha says, "Let's get in the car and get you to hospital."
"Oh, no no no," the woman at reception says, "We'll call an ambulance for her."
"But why didn't you call one when she walked into the station?" I ask.
"Um, um, we didn't notice how badly injured she was but now we understand that she is severely dehydrated and she needs medical help."
"Right," I say sarcastically.

The lady calls an ambulance and Ashlyn goes off to the hospo. I give her a hug just before she leaves and now the 3 of us are in a little room, with police officers sat facing us with notepads and pens. I don't know what they're about to tell us but it better be interesting: now that we've found Ash and Brooke, all I want to do is go home. Of course I want to know how those two ended up where they did, but I'm exhausted- it's been a really long day.

"So, seeming as you're the friends or...family...of Ashlyn, we're gonna tell you what happened to her. We're still investigating and finding her abuser, but-"
"Her abuser?" I interrupt.

She was abused?

"Um, her abuser. Yes. Well, we don't actually know if she was abused or just injured. She only walked into the police station about 25 minutes before you got here, so we were just focusing on getting her warm and stuff, you know? That's why we don't really know all of the details yet."
"Yep, yep, can you get all of the boring stuff out of the way please?"

I yawn.

"Kyron!"
"Kyron!"
"Alright, Lisha, Jamie, calm down."

"Ashlyn said that she watched her friend Brooke get snatched away and then she found a dead body which she thought was the body of Carli Subbons-"
"Wait, what?"
"Kyron! Stop interrupting!" Lisha screams at me.
"Sorry."
The police officer gives me a death stare and then clears his throat. He looks back down at the paper and reads, "Then, she didn't know where she was and she had no phone signal, etc, so she got lost. And yes, the body was Carli Subbons' body. We've found it. Or more like, Ashlyn found it."
"Wow!" I shout, and the others gaze in awe at the police officer. I'm so thrilled that we've finally found the body! Okay, that sounds a little dark. I'm not thrilled that the poor little girl is dead, but I'm glad that we're a step closer in solving the crime. Ash and Brooke are okay, and we now know where Carli's body was found!

"Carli's limbs were detached from her body and she too was covered in scratches and bruises. Her head wasn't attached to her body either, so it was quite the horrific site for your friend Ashlyn."
"Woah," Jamie says, looking around the room to see the looks on everyone's faces. I don't think he's sure if he should've said that or not.

The police officers tell us a little more but mainly explain that they don't know everything. They say that we're good to leave and that we should return if we find any evidence for the Carli Subbons' case or when the girls are feeling better so that they can investigate more on what happened to them. I can't wait to find out exactly what happened to Brooke and Ash- I bet it would be such an interesting story!

This is all exciting: the whole situation with Carli, and then the girls going missing (and then being found) and all of the other stuff that's going on, but I've just realised that none of us have really had the chance to be teenagers and have fun. I think that Berkley's let Brooke, Ash and Jamie come to live in Myliey and I's house because they thought that we would have a lot of fun together and enjoy ourselves. Don't get me wrong, I do love them all and they are fun to be around, but I just think that we haven't done anything too exciting yet. Hopefully when the girls are okay and we find Carli's killer, Ash and I can sit on the beach and watch the sun rise and set with each other, and maybe Ash and Brooke can have some best-friend-fun together. I hope that eventually they will be able to actually enjoy living in this gorgeous place called New Zealand.

We arrive back at our house and now it's pretty dark outside. Ash and Brooke are due to both come home tomorrow, and then we're going to go to the police station because the police want to ask the girls a few questions and investigate. I can't wait to see them again- especially Ashlyn. I'd only gone a day without seeing her, but when you don't know where someone you love is, it can be pretty scary- even if she was only gone for a day.

"Finally," I sigh as Lisha unlocks the door. "It's been a long day."
"Sure has," Jamie says, "But at least we've found the girls- that's all that matters."
"And we know more about Carli!" I exclaim.
"Yay," Jamie says, "And what do you have to say about all of this Myliey? You've been quite quiet today."
"Yuh-huh," she mumbles. She turns away from Jamie and looks down towards the floor. I told you there was something suspicious with Myliey today. Not just today, actually. These past couple of weeks she's been acting stranger than usual.

"Lisha, get the phone!" Jamie shouts from the hallway. The house phone has just started ringing and that phone only ever rings if it's Berkley's or someone else important. Unless she's not in our house when it rings, Lisha is the only person who is allowed to answer that phone.
"Hello?" She says, picking the phone up. She's out of breath and panting as she's just ran from upstairs.
"Hello, this is the police station. You must all get here IMMEDIATELY."

•Kyron•