A/N: Thanks to a kind stranger, Evil Azurill for helping me out (applause). I can never thank you enough. And who could forget Koosh, for her last minute fix ups. Thanks.
It started like any other Wednesday for a 17-year-old named Ditto. She woke at 7.30 am, after hearing the alarm clock, beeping crazily on her bedside table. She stretched out a hand from underneath the covers and slapped the snooze button. She rolled over in her bed and slept for what felt like 2 seconds, before her alarm clock sent out another annoying wake up call. She yawned, stretched and then swung her legs over the edge of the bed and made her way past the mirror featured on her cupboard doors. She looked in the mirror, and staring back at her was a chocolate brown haired girl of only short stature. She wasn't the skinniest of girls. She was about a size fourteen. She then made her way down to the kitchen.
"Good morning, honey," her mother chimed as Ditto dragged herself into the kitchen. Her father of course, was never there when Ditto woke, because his job permitted him to travel at least half an hour, to get to his job. Ditto plonked herself down on one of the stools at the kitchen bench.
"Mornin'," Ditto sighed unenthusiastically. She laid her head in her hands. She stayed like that for a little bit.
"Come on. Make a move. You'll be late," Her mother suggested, staring at her daughter worriedly. Ditto groaned, picked herself up and made her way to the pantry and pulled out a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. She placed them on the table and then reached for a bowl from another cupboard. She poured the cereals into the bowl then made her way to the fridge. She grasped the cold and shiny, silver handle and pulled it open. She subconsciously placed a hand, where the milk should be, only to find it missing.
"KATIE!" Ditto called out to her sister.
"Yes," she appeared from the bathroom. Katie was a lot taller than her sister Ditto. She had blonde hair that you could only just tie into a ponytail. And she liked to think she was a beauty. She always hade makeup on, did her hair up and constantly spent her days, staring at herself in the mirror.
"You little brat you used all of the milk". Ditto placed her hands on her hips.
"I didn't use the milk. I haven't even eaten yet," replied her younger sister poking out her tongue.
"Did to," Ditto said a little louder rolling her eyes.
"Did not!"
"Did to!"
"Stop fighting girls. I have to go to work now", their mother called out to them, as she made her way to the front door. Ditto could hear her mother's voice in the next room.
"Please make sure they don't fight. Can you take them to school on your way home?" She asked her son, Mark.
"Yeah, I could if they' don't tear each other apart," he offered.
"Thanks, luv" she sighed. "At least you help me out". She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him goodbye. She slowly pulled the door closed and made her way to the car.
"I hate you! Always accusing me of something I didn't do!" her sister screamed from the kitchen, at the top of her lungs.
"Whatever," Ditto sighed, as she grabbed two pieces of bread and placed them in the toaster. Her sister went back into the bathroom to fix her hair once more.
Ditto's brother walked into the Kitchen. He was in his early 30's and was fairly solid. His hair was an oily black and he was of Maori origin. He lived in a major city known as Melly City. Ditto often went to the big smoke to visit her brother but this time he had traveled a good three hours to reach the quiet town of Mootville, to see his family.
"You two fighting again?" he sighed.
"Well if someone wouldn't use all the milk, I wouldn't have to." Ditto placed her hands on her hips and pouted. A small popping sound could be heard from the toaster.
"Fighting won't make milk appear you know," he exited the room again. Ditto then began spreading hazelnut spread on her toast. She then placed the warm toast on a plate and walked out into the lounge room to watch TV with her brother. Ditto sat down on the couch beside her brother and looked at the scene. Nothing exciting was on the tele. Just a the local morning talk show, "Sunrise."
After she finished her toast, it was off to her room to get changed into her school uniform. Students attending the Mootville Secondary College wore a rugby top that was a darkish blue with three burgundy stripes around the middle, a white shirt and a pair of navy shorts or slacks and black shoes. Many of the other girls also wore a blue and white checked school dress. Ditto never dreamed she'd wear one of the daggy school dresses.
Ditto put on her uniform and went to the bathroom to do her hair and teeth. By this time, it was about a quarter past eight. She found her sister admiring herself in the mirror.
"Move over! Stop looking at your ugly face in the mirror. You might break it," Ditto teased.
"Whatever," her sister moved, ignoring the remark. Ditto grabbed her toothbrush and began cleaning her teeth. She then brushed her hair. She went back to her room and walked down stairs. She grabbed her lunch from the fridge and stuffed it into her bag moaning about another day at school.
"Come on you two. I gotta get going," Mark yelled from the lounge room. Ditto walked toward the door and Mark followed her out to his shiny red car. They both climbed into the car.
"She coming or not?" her brother called from his side of the car.
"We might be waiting for her a while. She's still adjusting her hair," Ditto smirked sarcastically from her seat. Mark was getting frustrated and tooted the horn. Katie appeared in the rear view mirror of the car. She opened the door and slide in.
"Ready yet?" Ditto asked her younger sibling.
"Yes."
"It really looks like it. Not. What hairstyle are we wearing to day? No wait let me guess. Birds nest?" the older sister smirked.
"Get in and shut up you two!" their brother threatened "Or you can walk."
"You've ruined my reputation," Katie huffed adjusting her seat belt as they reversed.
"Come again?" Ditto wasn't following.
"I always sit in the front. I don't want my friends seeing me in the back."
"Stiff cheddar!" Ditto called out from the front, giggling a little. "Losers don't sit in the front." Katie tried to swipe her sister from behind. "Missed Me." Ditto poked out her tongue as she moved forward.
In three minutes they had arrived at school. Ditto and her sister climbed out of the car, said their good-byes and enter the school grounds. Their brother drove off for home. Ditto walked up to the front of the school and entered into it's main corridor. Many students had arrived on their buses but the halls weren't packed yet. Not a lot of students attended, it only being a small country town. Many traveled from other smaller towns to attend. In all there was only about one hundred and fifty students. Everyone knew everyone at school and if anything happened it wouldn't be long before the whole town knew.
Ditto walked up to her locker, placed her books inside and went to meet up with her fellow classmates and friends. Her group of friends consisted of Korudo Peterson the local policeman's son, a tall boy with short, prickly hair. He was a close friend of Ditto. She had a major crush on him but she never had the guts to tell him. Secondly there was Evy Sanders. Her parents ran the local pub. She marked an uncanny resemblance to Brittany Spears. Last but not least, there was Rory Embers. Her mother was a nurse at the local hospital and her father was a farmer. She was a mix of farm girl with a high-class snob. Not the sort of person you'd want to bitch about, but all the same she had a warm, friendly attitude. She was someone you could count on.
A typical Wednesday for Ditto was English, Art and Maths. In the morning was a period of English followed with a double of Maths. Ditto was never any good at Maths. She ended up chatting with Evy. After what seem like hours, they were allowed to have recess for half an hour. They spent this time in the canteen playing table soccer. Korudo always would win
The bell would then go and they went off to Art, but only Rory joined her. Korudo and Evy had PE (Physical Education). Then at lunchtime they all met under a large tree, out the front of the school. They usually talked and listened to the radio.
While they were listening to their local radio station, a weather report came on. The afternoon was to be clear and sunny one with not a cloud in the sky. Rory and Evy spent their lunchtime talking about what was on TV the night before. Ditto and Korudo lay down on their backs on the soft peppermint green grass. They looked up at the blue sky admiring the peace and quiet.
Lunch passed rather quickly and in 50 minutes they were back in English learning about the tools of persuasion and they had completed various worksheets on it. Ditto stared out the window at about 15 minutes to home time. She'd had enough. She whispered to Korudo.
"Do you get any of this rot?" Ditto asked. This made Korudo giggled.
"Nah, who would?"
"No one should have to learn it…" Ditto was interupted. She was greeted with a face rather similar to an old grandma's.
"EEK!" Ditto cried.
"Do you want to share it with the rest of the class?" Her teacher spat.
"No Mam," Ditto replied.
"Good! Now can I get back to teaching?"
"Teach away". Ditto sighed and placed her head on the table. The last fifteen minutes dragged by like a century. At last school was out. She grabbed her bag and met up with Korudo and Evy as they all walked home together. They all waved goodbye to Rory's bus as it departed from the school grounds. She stuck her head out the window.
"See ya later guys," she said.
"Bye" Korudo, Evy and Ditto said in unison. Evy's house wasn't to far from school only a block away. So she left them, leaving Korudo and Ditto to walk the rest of the way. When they reached the main street Ditto said her goodbyes to Korudo and they walked their separate ways.
"Wait up!" a voice interrupted her. It was her sister.
"Oh great," Ditto sighed to herself.
"See ya tomorrow," Korudo said.
"Yeah if I survive that," Ditto pointed to her sister. Korudo giggled to himself as he walked away. Suddenly he noticed a wind whip up make the leaves in the trees dance. He looked up at the sky and gasped.
"You'd better get home fast," Korudo warned pointing to the blackening sky.
"Where did that come from?" Ditto asked. "Wasn't it supposed to be sunny?"
"Yeah. Just get home soon. Looks like a storms coming," he called over his shoulder.
Ditto walked the rest of the way home with her sister as she usually did. They were almost home when suddenly they heard a loud rumble from the clouds above and the wind, picked up more and blew dust into their face. They then saw the sky lit up by lightning.
"That wasn't forecasted." Ditto faced her sister. Ditto sensed something move behind her. She stopped to look around. Another lighting bolt came so close they had to jump out of the road. But Ditto was too late and she was struck by the lightning. Her sister shielded her eyes from the light. She then opened her eyes and looked around.
"Ditto?!" her sister questioned, but when she heard no reply she started to panic. "DITTO!" She screamed. She searched around for a while trying to find her, but gave up because the storm was getting worse. Katie was surprised she hadn't even seen a body. Katie bolted home and strait to the phone. She punched in her mothers work number. As she listened to the dial tone, she remembered saying to Ditto, that morning "I hate you." Her mother answered the phone and Katie told her mum the news.
As much as the distraught family and the police tried they couldn't find the girl. By the next day the news was all over the town. The incident got the whole town talking. At the high school they had a special assembly and a minute silence for the missing girl. Korudo, Rory and Evy all huddled together in a group hug, crying for their missing friend.
A/N: Please review!!! Tell me what you think. I need your input. Please help!!!!