“Damn you were really hungry,” Mazin says as I take a huge bite of the Macdonald burger. We're pranked in an empty Macdonald parking lot. I guess what I really needed was food, not a long ass drive.

“Look who's talking you just finished your whole meal in seconds,” I say with a mouth full.

“It's the munchies okay.”

He opens up the window letting the icy cold night air invade our toasty warm airspace.

I take another bite and a pickle along with a few green letters slide through the bun, and onto my jeans.

“Damn you eat like a beast.”

I quickly swallow “shut up and play some music and close the window it's freezing here.”

“I'll close it after you are done eating don't want my car to stink like Macdonalds.”

I roll my eyes “you should be appreciative of this smell it covers up that nasty beer and weed scent.”
“And when's the last time you cleaned this car” I scan around the car noticing squashed cans, bits of rolling paper and clusters of wrappers.

He sighs “you sound like my mom now.”

I chuckle “sorry,” I take another sloppy huge bite.

As I finish the last bit of my juicy burger, dulcet music plays lowly in the background while Mazin finishes up rolling another joint.

“Man you smoke damn” I stare at the rolled joint.

“Not smoking this now, this for later.”

“Smart,” I say and unlock my phone.

The brightness punches my face causing a slight pain at my temples. I hiss.

“You a cobra now” Mazin laughs and reclines his seat.

“No just this damn brightness on my phone”, I scroll through Instagram.

Passing fabricated realities of people. One post is of a girl in a yellow sundress that doesn't cover much of her large chest. Her puffy afro steals the light of the picture and goes with her caption.
“Melanin queens never forget their crowns” the caption reads. I scroll further down passing cheesy romantic quotes and celebrity drama.

“Do people ever get tired of this?”

“Of what?” Mazin asks.

“I don't know just the whole let me show people how happy I am when in reality I am nowhere near happy. Or the whole just...  Ugh, I don't know the whole, showing off and shit.”

“Some people do, some people get addicted to it. Social Media becomes their buzz it becomes their drug.”

“It's crazy”, I shake my head. My fingers continue gliding down the falsified reality of Instagram. My fingers come to a standstill. I've seen this picture a thousand times, on street lights in school hallways, even on carton milk. It still punches me in the gut. Like can somebody wake me up from this nightmare?

The bold red letters that say ‘Missing’ makes me want to fade away into the abyss. Ava's innocent moss green eyes stare deep into my soul. She smiles with her teeth all perfectly lined up, and her dimples deepened into her cheeks. Her silky brunette bangs overlap her eyebrows. Her galaxy of light brown freckles are speckled evenly on to her heart-shaped face.

She would have hated this picture she would have been like “ugh why couldn't they edit my freckles out" then she would have rolled her eyes.
I never knew why she hated her freckles, they were one of my favourite things about her. It made her stand out.

Behind her is lush green forestry with the sun hidden behind the lengthy fig trees.

Why do we have such cruel people on this earth? Why would you even kidnap a person? For what exactly?

I sigh letting few steams of bottled anger escape its cage.

“Hope you are okay”, I whisper to the picture with thousands of likes and comments such as. “Miss you so much” 
That comment makes my fingers itchy, I want to type that she isn't dead she's missing why post a comment that kinda implies she is, but I don't.

“Man is such a shame”

I slightly turn my head to face Mazin who has his arms relaxed behind his head, and his neck stretched out looking over at the picture.

“I still don't understand what  goes on in people's minds how do you just take someone?”

“I know right its fucking bullshit!” I clench my phone so tightly my hand begins to shake. “Like why just why!” I huff. It just doesn't make sense. “Who and why would this person do this!“ My grip loosens and my phone drops down to my lap.
“Dammit!” I slap the glove compartment.

“I take it you know her?” his voice cracks with heavy uncertainty

“Um yeah,” I rub my hand trying to wash away the hot sting caused by the slap. “She's my best friend“ I rub harder and my hand gets warmer. Please, Mazin, don't ask what happened, because if you ask I will have no idea what to tell you.

“So... Uh like what happened?”

Dammit, Mazin, I rub harder and the stinging turn into flames of fire.

“Uh... well you know”, I rub aggressively what the hell do I say? I have no recollection of what happened. I just met this boy there is no way he is going to see me as a–

“I get it” he interrupts my clump of thoughts. “We don't have to talk about it”, he pulls his seat up no longer reclined. “It Must be hard to talk about” he shrugs his shoulders “so I won't push you.”

I smile at him “thank you”, I stop rubbing away the details on my hand.

“No problem we'll talk when you ready.”

I nod my head we are definitely never going to talk about this, not until Ava is found.

“So how do you know Ameria?” I ask anything to change the subject to something else.

“We grew up together she's like a little sister to me.”

“Mhm tell me more”, I turn to face him.

“It's a long story,” he says nonchalantly.

“We got time it's only 1 AM so talk up, plus we still got our drinks,” I look at the large-sized Macdonald drinks. “So talk up”

“Okay, okay” he smiles “um where do I even start”, he whispers looking afar at the huge famous illuminated yellow Macdonald Trademark.

“I see a story brewing up the way you looking at that M you stalking it at this point”

He chuckles “Ameria and I lived in the same apartment our mothers were both best friends still are. So we grew up just knowing each other really it was just one of those things.”

I want to ask about his father and Ameria's dad. There's a bubble of questions that are waiting to be popped by answers, but I can't flood his mind with my curiosity.

“We lived like brother and sister, our dads were not around much they're out of the family portrait, but back then it didn't matter”

Does it matter now? Ugh, the questions just flood like a tsunami flooding a city.
I clench hard on my teeth, keeping all the questions locked in.

He begins to chuckle great now I missed a whole sentence of what he said.

“I remember one time we caught our baby sitter eating from my mom's pot plants”

My eyebrows raise “wait what”, I lean back into my seat.

“Yeah”, he laughs “she was dead ass eating soil from the pot plants”, he laughs louder throwing his head back.

“There is no way” I shake my head smiling.

“I'm serious she was going all crazy she was like this,” he starts mimicking her moves, pretending to aggressively shove soil in his mouth. He throws his hands towards his face taking large fake bites of the "soil"

I burst out laughing clapping my hands. “Where'd.... you....” I laugh maniacally struggling to catch my breath “Where'd you find her?”

“Man I don't know where our moms found her, but damn”, he goes on with a wide grin plastered on his face.
“Ameria was freaked out for days I told her that baby sitter was a witch. She wouldn't sleep in her bed.” His honey golden eyes gleam and he still stares far ahead at the luminous Macdonald sign, as he remembers growing up with Ameria.

“Man best time of my life, we used to play pillow fights too. I would hit too hard causing her to fall off the bed which led her to cry like a baby. Man, she was a crier” he leans on the window “biggest baby”, I swear.

“It's no surprise she lowkey still is.” I chuckle remembering the short altercation between her and AJ at the party. She was on the verge of tears.

“Was she hot-headed?”

“Was she hot-headed you really asking me that?” he looks at me with a smirk and his eyebrows raised in shock.

“I'm taking that as a yes”, I chuckle.

Listening to the stories about Ameria makes me wish I had what AJ had. A sibling, someone to throw pranks on or someone to watch movies with. I can tell with every short-lived smile and every longed lived laughter he really loves Ameria. That is truly his little sister nothing can break the bond he has with her. Ameria might not be his blood sister, but he surely has something unbreakable with her. So unbreakable, not even the planet splitting into half can break it.

“Then she mov-” he stops mid-sentence as a blast of ear-splitting sirens interrupts him, and a flash of red and blue cop cars pass us. Driving in zigzag leaving a trail of marked tire lines.

“The fuck” Mazin says as the last cop car passes right past us.

“I wonder what's going on?”

“Yeah looked pretty serious we should probably head back to the party”, he fastens his seat belt. “It's anyways getting late he turns the engine on.”

“How the hell is it 3 am already” I grab on to my seat belt.

“Time flies when you having fun,n,” he says.

With every red light we pass, and swerve swift turn Mazin takes, I can't help but wonder where those rows of cop cars came from. I've never seen anything like that, nothing like that ever happens in Willowood. 

“Hey, you've been quiet the whole way here you good?” Mazin asks as we walk the long path down to Skyler's door passing the same row of trees 

“Yeah just tired”, I lie.

“Well as long as you good then it's all good then.”

It's oddly quiet now the closer we get to the double doors the more I realise there is no stentorian music. When I got here with Ameria I swear the ground was vibrating from all the blasting bass, but it's just silent as a graveyard site.

“Do you think everyone went home?” we pass Skyler's silver Porsche.

“Probably not everyone” he pushes open the double doors.

No more kaleidoscope lights laser around, instead we are met with sharp pure white lights that blind us to near death.
“Damn, think I just got a headache.”

Red and blue squashed solo cups lay aimlessly on the marble black floors. We pass the owl eyeing portraits still nothing but radio silence, and puddles of dropped liquor.

“Where is everyone?” we pass the empty kitchen, “it's like a ghost town here.”

“Chill they probably outside chilling” he shoves his hands in his chinos, and walks further down the hall. An empty Durex packet flies right past him and it heads into the same direction we are heading to.

He chuckles “looks like somebody got some”, he opens the glass door

There are fewer people here and alcohol bottles are empty, lying on the ground, just like the solo cups.
Everyone that's left is huddled up into a circle.

“It has to be a lie AJ!”, Ameria's voice breaks into the night sky shaking the atmosphere.

Somethings wrong

“Tell me it's a lie!” she shrills again, her voice cracking “tell me AJ!”

I run to the circle “what's wrong?” I push aside bodies.

Ameria looks at me with her eyes dread in tears, her mascara has run down her face. AJ stands behind her, his eyes immediately dart to the ground when he sees me. He holds his phone tightly almost popping the veins on his hand.

“Oh my god I can't do this” Ameria's lips tremble and she breaks down, fat mascara tears roll down her face.

“Hey what's wrong” I rush to her side and hug her. She falls into my arms burying herself into my chest. Her body jerks and she sobs into my chest, but it's more than sobbing she's screaming. She's screaming her soul out breaking into my own soul. I want to wail like her, but what is there to wail about?

“What happened Man” Mazin breaks into the circle.

“I” AJ's eyes dart around the circle “it's Ava”, he finally looks at me. Somebody else's soul starts crying.

AJ sighs and his eyes are written with melancholy, like something in him has been dynamited.

“They found Ava.” Ameria stops wailing and pulls out of the hug. My lungs clench onto my heart and excitement bubbles up.

“Really we have to go see her!”

“Nora”, Ameria Whispers her eyes bloodshot red written with fragmentation. The excitement built within me dies down

“She's gone.”

“Gone?”
I chuckle “what do you mean gone?” and now the world stops spinning. And the rush of the excitement has hit the pit of my stomach
My eyes laser around the tight circle, everyone's eyes have the same look.

Their souls are pulverized to dust, and it's so quiet I can hear my soul being pulverized too.

“She's dead.”