•3705 words•

EDITED

We got home about 20 minutes ago, and Jesus, Myliey is in one big mood. Why?': you might ask. Honestly, I don't know. When we walked in through the front door, she ran straight upstairs and started to cry. The last time I went to check on her, I caught her writing in her journal. I don't know what she was writing, but I wish I did.

Hmm, let's think of some possibilities. Maybe she was telling her journal about how terrible she thinks we are? Maybe she was writing about what was upsetting her? Her wishes? Her dreams? Her goals? Her plans? The list goes on, so there are limitless things she could've been writing about. Who knows. Who knows what a 16-year-old girl writes to herself in a journal. And I think that, I, as a boy 3 years younger than her, should keep my nose out of her business.

On another note, Ash and Brooke have been invited to... well, the New Zealand version of the BBC, you could call it. The country's biggest news organisation has invited them for an interview- and it's going to be on TV. The girls are going all the way to Christchurch tomorrow, for it, and I can't wait to watch them with Kyron and Myliey. Talking of Myliey... she's been acting stranger than ever. Sure, she's seemed weird since the day I met her (yes, I even thought she was weird when we were dating) but especially this week, she's been getting progressively stranger. I would ask her what's been the matter with her, but she'd probably have a go at me. Maybe I'll ask her later, I don't know.

"Jamie!" Brooke shouts me from upstairs. What in the world can she want? She got home from the hospital an hour ago, and I've already done a lot for her and Ashlyn. You would swear that I'm their slave. It's ridiculous.

"What?" I shout back, "Can't Kyron do it?"
"Nope, we want you. Please can you get our towels ready? We're getting in the shower in a minute and our legs are too sore for us to get up."
"Seems like your mouth isn't sore though, doesn't it," I whisper.

"We heard that!" Ash adds.

I wish she would just shut up.

Sure, Brooke's the one who keeps shouting me, but she's asking me to do stuff for her and Ashlyn. Why can't Ash just ask Kyron? He's her boyfriend after all, and he's not busy at the moment. He's currently watching TV in the living room. Surely he can help the girls instead; not that they really need any help anyway.

Despite the fact that the girls don't really need help and they just want attention, I decide to help them.

Whilst getting them their towels, I swore that I wouldn't help them again, and they promised that they weren't going to nag me anymore. Now, that leaves me in peace. I can watch football with Kyron instead of doing stupid favours for Ash and Brooke- that don't actually need doing.

"And he runs to take a shot, he goes for the winning goal... and he scores!!! 20 seconds left on the clock and Fernandez goes and bags the win for his team!"

Kyron and I jump up and down, screaming in joy. Our favourite team has just won the league! And our favourite player scored the winning goal in the last minute!

"Wow," Kyron says, "I'm really glad you changed the TV to have all of the British channels. It's fab!"
"No worries, mate," I reply, "I couldn't miss out on my footy."

I'm not lying: I really couldn't miss out on my football.

*knock knock*

There's a knock on the door so I decide to investigate and see who it is.

"Hello?" I say after seeing a man who looks to be in his mid-50s. He has an unfamiliar face and I'm a little confused.
"Is this, uh..." He pauses and takes a look at the number on the door, before looking back down at his sheet.
"Is this where Lisha used to supervise? Lisha Sabreve?"
"Um, yes," I answer.
"Oh, great! I'm your new supervisor. The name's Ron. You must be..."
He looks down at his sheet again.
"Jamie. Is that right?"
I nod.
"Nice to meet you, Jamie."
I nod again.

We shake hands and I give him another little nod and a smile, before welcoming him into the house. Don't worry, I wasn't going to let a random man into our house: I checked to see if he has a Berkley's badge on, and he does.

I show Ron to Kyron and the girls, and he seems to like them- they seem to like him, too. I did attempt to show Myliey to Ron, but when I knocked on her door, she didn't answer- I just told Ron that she likes her own privacy sometimes. I suppose that's true, actually.

Not long after Ron came into our house, Kyron got a call from Berkley's, saying that our new supervisor, Ron, should be at our home. See- I told you he's legit. He won't sleep here because like Lisha, he'll have his own bedroom at Berkley's headquarters. Also, don't ask me why Kyron's always the one who gets the phone calls. Maybe it's because he's the oldest (and the most responsible, actually). Hmm, I wonder if that's actually their reasoning.

It's been a few hours and it's nearly time for bed. Everyone seems to love Ron, except for Myliey of course, because she's still in her room. He seems to be settling in well: he's very fun, he can crack a good joke, and he's amazing at telling stories. He also supports the same footy team as me and Kyron, so he too is ecstatic that they won the league this afternoon. Ron's kind of been like a dad to us so far. In fact, he reminds me a little bit of my dad- apart from the fact that my dad wasn't very nice most of the time. Don't get me wrong, sometimes he was good to me, growing up, but he had a drug problem- and I'm honestly quite glad he's in jail.

If you're wondering what the difference between Ron and Lisha is, then I'll tell you. Ron is so much like a dad to us (as I said before), but Lisha acted nothing like a mum. She was sort of just a woman who watched us when we were doing... literally anything, really. She was kind of just a babysitter... a nanny... a childminder. Yeah, we've only known Ron for a few hours, but I can definitely tell that he's going to love being in this house with the 5 of us.

It's the next morning and we're all exhausted- Ash, Brooke and Ron woke up at 4:30 to get ready to go to Christchurch, and all of the noise woke the rest of us up. It's around 10am now, so the girls' plane should have landed, and Ash and Brooke will probably be having their hair and makeup done for the show. Honestly, they'll most likely need it. And I don't mean that in a mean way- they'll be jet-lagged, and they did go in pyjamas and messy buns after all.

The girls are due to be on set at 11:30, and Kyron and I are so excited. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Myliey. She's still in her room and neither of us can figure out why. There isn't a TV in any of our bedrooms, so it's not like she can even watch it up there. I don't know if she'll come downstairs either, but I hope she does. I think we're all intrigued to know what happened to Ash and Brooke when they went missing; I think even Myliey is.

Actually, come to think of it, if Kyron and I want Myliey to watch the news programme with us, then we better get to work. It isn't going to be easy to get Myliey out of her room. We have an hour and a half, so let's get started.

Quickly, we tiptoe upstairs, trying our very hardest to not make a sound. The stairs in our house actually aren't remotely creaky, but it's best to be on the safe side. In fact, what are we doing? Why would Myliey care if we're coming upstairs? She doesn't know what we're doing. She's probably got her headphones on, blasting music, anyway.

"Psst, Kyron," I whisper.
"Hey, man, shush. We don't want Myliey to hear us. What's the problem?"
"That's exactly the problem. Myliey doesn't know we're coming upstairs to get her. We could be getting something from our room or... going to the toilet. We don't need to tiptoe."
"Oh, good point, mate."

And on that note, we both run upstairs. But now that we're up here, how are we going to persuade Myliey to watch TV with us? We can't just barge into her room and grab her- then she won't watch it at all. We need a plan, and we need one fast. How did we not plan beforehand? Ugh, we're so stupid.

"Kyron, we need a plan."
"What sort of plan?"
"I don't know. Come on, into my room."

I drag him into my room and I start to lay out some paper and pens onto my desk.

"So, what's the plan?"
"I don't know: I literally just told you that."
"Well, maybe we could bribe her?"
"How?"
"Yeah, I don't know. This isn't going anywhere, Jamie."
"First of all, we need to see what she's doing right now."
"Good idea."

We look through Myliey's keyhole but we can't see much. I can't tell if she's blocked it, covered it, or what. It's blurry though, and we need to see through it. Or do we?

"M-Myliey?" I stutter.
"What?" She stubbornly replies.
"Um..." I turn my words to Kyron, and whisper, "Kyron, what do I say?"
"Let me take over," he tuts.

"Myliey?"
"What?" She says, even more aggressively than when I asked her.
"Do you want to watch the girls on the news later?"
"When?"
"Like in an hour and 15."
"Meh, I'm busy."
"Is that a yes or a no?"
"No! I don't know," she screams.

"Hm, this is going to be harder than I first thought," I tell Kyron. He nods in agreement.

"Well, Jamie. Like I said before, we could try to bribe her. I have already told you that but you weren't listening," Kyron says.
"Okay, let's try that then."
"There's only one thing we can bribe her with-"
"A new dress!"
"A new dress!"
"How did we not think of that before?"
"I don't know, Kyron."

Now that we've both agreed on how we're going to get Myliey out, we need to actually execute the plan.

Step 1: Go to the shop and buy her a lovely, new, yellow dress. And quickly!

Step 2: Bring the dress back home and tell her that she can only have the dress if she watches the news with us.

Step 3: Make a deal. Tell Myliey that she only has to watch TV with us for let's say... 15 minutes.

Step 4: We're done.

Okay, let's get to work.

Step 1: Done. We've been to the shop on the mainland, and we're so out of breath. We had to run for our lives, or we would never have gotten back in time.

Step 2: Done. We told Myliey that she could only have the dress if she watches the girls with us, and she didn't seem too impressed. She really doesn't want to watch the news, but I can tell that she really wants that dress. I guess we better tell her step 3.

Step 3: Done. She's agreed. The deal's on, and Myliey is going to watch TV with us. If she doesn't, or if she taps out during those 15 minutes, then she doesn't get the dress: it's simple.

Now, it's 11:25. Only 5 minutes until the girls come on the programme. Kyron and I are sooo excited, as I said before. Myliey has been talking to us a little more since we told her about the deal, so she should be coming downstairs any second now. Otherwise, no dress.

If you're wondering, the dress that we got her is a rich shade of yellow (yes, she has plenty of yellow dresses already, but this one is different in her eyes). It has flowers on and has a rim of pink fabric around the collar. Even as a boy, I can say that it is beautiful. It might look the same as her other ones, but it really is. In fact, Myliey's eyes lit up when we showed it to her. And if she wants it, all she has to do is stick to the deal.

"Myliey!" Kyron shouts. There's just 2 minutes until the girls come on the telly, and Myliey still isn't downstairs. Kyron's just shouted her, so I hope she remembers that she doesn't get the dress if she doesn't stick to what we said.

"Coming!" She shouts, remembering the deal.

Now, we're all sat here- the 3 of us. We can't wait to see the girls on TV! It will be pretty cool to see them on live television, but what will be even cooler, is that we will get to know what happened when they went missing.

Here goes- they're on air!

It's only been 5 minutes, and a lot has happened. Myliey keeps saying that she just wants to go back upstairs, and the girls have said a lot on the TV. First of all, Ash said that she was stuck in an alleyway and then noticed that Brooke had gone. She said that she doesn't remember much of the night, but she remembers also finding a bin bag which she soon discovered had a decapitated body in it- and it was Carli's body. Wow, how can Myliey want to go back upstairs? This is so interesting! It honestly sounds like something out of a horror movie. I can't believe the girls survived- woah.

It's been 10 minutes now, and even though Myliey has to wait just 5 more minutes before she can get the dress that Kyron and I picked for her, she won't stop moaning. As I said, this is too interesting- how can she want to leave? I don't know what's going on in Myliey's head. Wait- where's she going?

I look at Kyron and he looks back at me. Myliey's standing up?

"Woah, Myliey. We only have 5 minutes until you can have your dress. What are you doing?" I frantically ask.
"I'm going," she says.
"Where are you going? You won't get the dress," I say in a little sing-song voice, waving the dress at her.
She turns around and looks at me and then goes upstairs. Whatever. If she doesn't want the dress, then that's her problem. We can always take it back. The girls will only be on TV for another 10-15 minutes, so we can take it back when they're finished. Even if Myliey hasn't enjoyed this, I know I have.

The girls have gone off TV now, and Kyron and I loved the interview with every bit of our souls. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but we did love it. We learned a lot about what the girls went through that day, and we're a little more respecting of them now- I still don't know how they survived.

We're gonna take that dress back to the shop, and then just wait for the girls to come back tomorrow. Let's do this.

"Myliey, we're home!" We shout, after taking the dress back to the shop.  There's no answer, which is weird: Myliey almost always shouts back, 'okay!' or 'right!', but she hasn't said anything this time. Maybe it's because she's been in a mood these past few days, but Kyron and I decide to go upstairs to check if she's okay.

"Myliey?" We say, peeking through her keyhole.
"Kyron?" I say.
"Jamie?"
"She's-"
"Gone?"

Uh-oh.

"But where's she gone?" I ask.
"I don't know- maybe try ringing her."

I ring her but she doesn't pick up. I text her, but no answer. What's going on?

"Ky, should we tell Berkley's?" I suggest.
"Why would we need to? She's probably just gone on a walk or something. We'll try to call her again in a bit."

I run downstairs and find the 'Guidebook to living at Berkley's' in the cupboard, and then run back upstairs, finding the page I want as I do so. Then, I shove the book into Kyron's face.

"Look, Kyron. It says here: page 134. If a child is to go missing, report to us immediately."
"But she hasn't gone missing-"
"Or... if a child leaves the house without letting their roommates and/or supervisor know, then also please report to us immediately. Ky, it says it right here in the book. We need to let Berkley's know."
"Fine, I guess you're right."

Kyron rings Berkley's and let's them know that Myliey has gone 'missing.' He says she isn't actually missing, but she never told us where she was going, and she just abruptly disappeared. She has gone missing. And we need to find her.

Is this my fault? Is this Kyron's fault? You know what, the blame is on both of us. We knew that Myliey was annoyed, so we shouldn't have left her home alone. She could've done anything, and she might be doing anything. She'll come home eventually, anyway. She's 16: she isn't exactly a little child who doesn't know their way home. Nevertheless, we need to find her.

One rule is that when someone goes missing, the roommates who report the missing person can go and look for them. Well, Kyron and I reported Myliey missing, so we've decided that we're gonna go and look for her. Now then, where would she go?... I think the first place we should look is the beach: sometimes she likes to go on a walk there, and then sit down with a book to read.

Nope. We've just come off the beach, and Myliey was nowhere to be found on there. People from Berkley's have started looking now, and they haven't found her yet either. Well, I suppose that's probably because it's not even been an hour since we first noticed she had disappeared. Duh, Jamie.

Wait, I know!

Sometimes, Myliey likes to go to the top of one of the water towers that there is near our house. It's on the island, so she doesn't have to get the boat to the mainland, and she goes mostly on nights when there's a nice sunset. Maybe she's there.

"Kyron! Let's go to the watertowers!"
"Omg, of course! She'll probably be sat on one of those, knowing her."
He rolls his eyes and giggles. It's true- she probably is on one of those.

"There you are!" I shout, as I see the silhoutte of Myliey's tanned body. She's on top of a watertower- surprise. Kyron and I better tell Berkley's that we've found her. They'll probably still be looking for her, so they better know that they don't need to look anymore.

We climb to the top of the watertower that Myliey is sitting on, and sit down beside her.
"So, whatcha doing up here?" I ask, as Kyron rings Berkley's to tell them the good news.
"Eh, just watching the sun. It looked nice this afternoon so I thought I'd come up here to get a closer look."
"Oh, nice. But why didn't you answer your phone when we were ringing you?" I wonder, as I notice her phone in her back pocket.
"I just didn't wanna pick up, I guess. Sorry."
"Right, okay. Well, let's go back home. Everyone was worried about you so we thought we'd come on a little search party."
"Hm, really? Did Berkley's come out?"
"Yup."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's fine, come on."

We all get down from the watertower and make our way back home. I'm not surprised Myliey likes to come here to look at the sun- the views are truly beautiful. Honestly, I think I might come here myself one day.

"Finally, home at last," Kyron sighs as he plonks himself down on the sofa. That was quite a long walk, to be fair to him, and I think we've all had quite a busy day.

"So," Myliey says, "Can I have that dress please?" She glances at us with sad, guilty eyes. Kyron and I look at each other, and then back at Myliey.

"No."
"No," we both say at the same time.

"We took it back to the shop," I add. "You didn't exactly agree to the deal.
"Fine," she says. "I guess it was fair and square."
She slowly drags her feet upstairs, trying to look as sad as she can. Myliey might want that dress, but if she does, then she can go and pay for it herself. Kyron and I aren't going to fall for that 'sad' face. A deal is a deal.

*briinnggg*

"Is that my phone, Kyron?" I ask.
"Er, yeah. Quick, Jay! Get it!"

I run over to the coffee table where my phone is lying flat and I pick it up, press on the big green button to accept the call, and hold it up to my ear.

It's Berkley's.

"What??" I shout again, out of shock. There's no way this is real- it just can't be happening.

"Yeah, Jamie. Addi is coming to live with you for a bit. You know, it's been hard on her. Since your parents went to jail, she's been in foster care, and she's really missed you. She should be at your house by tomorrow afternoon."
"Tomorrow afternoon?"

Oh God. Not Addi. Not that stupid little girl who has tantrums every 5 minutes. Not my little sister. She can't be- No. This can't be happening.

This is happening. Ugh.

•Jamie•