Ello, Ello
Prolouge
Missing people usually have run away, or been kidnapped. There is almost always an explanation. With her, there was none. At least, none that anyone could see.
She reached for her alarm clock, pulling her thin blanket round her skinny shoulders. It was five am. She groaned, but heaved herself out of bed. Her mind was on the extended edition of the first Lord of the Rings movie she had seen on DVD last night, nine years after it had come out, and she fumbled clumsily in her cupboard for suitable clothes. Finally she settled on jeans, a long-sleeved top, a musty blue fitted jumper, and canvas pumps. Then she slumped down the maggot eaten stairs into the kitchen. Sighing, she ate breakfast in silence, glaring at the derelict apartment she and her four brothers and alcoholic mother called home. It had not been like that forever, but when her father had left seven years ago at the arrival of her youngest brothers, he had taken the soul of the whole family with him.
The girl knew that in an hour or so, her brothers would wake, and she would be told by the eldest to look after the youngest. So she had decided to leave. Forever. Her mother knew about the camping trip she was supposed to take later that day, but beside the love of her brothers, the girl saw no reason to stay. Her mother didn't care. She knew where she could find a free tent and she would escape. She would contact her brothers in a week, and they would join her. It was the perfect plan. She would have to take Pig, of course, that dog was too noisy to sneak out without. She tip toed into her bedroom and heaved the large back pack out from under her bed and slung it over her shoulders. Then, taking the dog's lead of the wall, she left the house.
Once she and the dog were outside, the stuffy heat hit her first. The girl quickly walked forward and was almost out of earshot of the windowless apartment when the dog stopped and began to whine. It was an odd high pitched keening sound, which would have chilled her bones if she was not so nervous already.
"Pig, move, move Pig move!" she hissed, pulling on the lead. But then the ground was no longer underneath her feet and she fell, down, down, down. No one on earth ever saw her again.