Claire
It was 9:00 p.m. and I was at home. Usually Margo would've been home by now. I'd called her cell phone several times but she hadn't answered either because A: she was busy, B: it was on silent, C: it was turned off or D: it was dead. She'd left her charger in her room that morning before she went out. Because we lived in the same house I hadn't another way to reach her. That I knew of, I seemed to be the only one who cared where she was.
I was sitting on my bed in my and Margo's room, reading Prozac Nation for the 2nd time and snacking on nuts. My friend from modeling Ruthie Camden was sitting on Margo's bed reading Little Altars Everywhere. Her dad was out as was her older brother Matt. Her mom and other siblings were home. As usual, Dad had stayed at his office overnight. Molly's friend Jessi was over, as was her younger sister Reba who was Vanessa's age and their friends Charlotte and Haley. Jessi was in Molly's room, Charlotte, Haley and Reba were all in Vanessa's room. Mom, Molly and my brothers were arguing downstairs. I could hear them yelling but tried to block it out by reading. This happened every single night. It didn't help that Dad spent nights at the office. Down the hall in Vanessa's room I heard Tori Amos playing.
I was the youngest in the family at 13, with Molly being the oldest at 19. Vanessa was 17 as was Reba, Jessi was 19 and Margo was 15. We were like stepping stones, I guess. Our mom was around 40 and our dad was 52. My brothers were all 18, with Nicky being the younger 18. Ruthie was 13 and Charlotte and Haley were 17.
I put my book face down on my bed, went out of my room, down the hall and into Vanessa's doorway. I smelled incense. Vanessa, Charlotte, Reba and Haley were in the room. Vanessa and Charlotte were sitting on Vanessa's purple bed while Reba and Haley were sitting on the floor.
"Vanessa?" I asked.
She looked up from her writing.
"What Claire?" she asked, exasperated by the argument downstairs.
"Where's Margo?"
"I don't…wait, what?"
"Margo's not here."
"Oh no," Charlotte said.
"I tried to call her but she won't answer her phone."
"Jessi!" Reba yelled.
Jessi came into the room. I heard a door slam downstairs. This meant my brothers had left to go off somewhere. Molly came up the stairs.
"Molly!" Haley called.
Molly came and stood behind me in the doorway.
"Yeah?" Jessi asked.
"Um, we can't find Margo," Vanessa told them.
"Oh god."
"Claire was the one who noticed it," Charlotte said.
"How long has she been gone?" Molly asked.
"Idinno but she would've been home by now."
"Yes, she would've."
"And you checked her room?" Reba asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah. It's empty."
"Oh."
"I've called her, too. But she didn't answer."
"We can't tell Ginger, you know how she gets," Haley said.
Ginger was our mom.
"Yeah. Ok, Molly and I are going to drive around and try and find her. Claire, have Ruthie call Lucy and her mom. The rest of yall stay here. We can't call the police yet not untill it's been 24 hours," Jessi said.
I nodded; "ok."
Lucy was one of Ruthie's older sisters. Mary was the other one.
I went back to my room. Ruthie looked up from her reading.
"So no one knows where Margo is," I told her.
"Oh."
"Jessi and Molly are going to go look for her. We're not calling the police just yet and Haley told me not to tell Mom yet."
"Oh."
"However, they want you to call Lucy and your mom to see if they know anything."
Ruthie sighed; "ok."
She pulled out her cell phone and called her house.
"Hi Mom?" she asked.
"Oh hi Mary. Is Mom there?...ok. Hi Mom…hi. Um have you seen Margo lately?...yes. . .oh ok. is Lucy there? Ok."
"My mom says she hasn't seen Margo anywhere today," Ruthie told me.
"Oh."
"Yeah. ….. hi Lucy…um, ok, you?...oh. Yeah, I guess so…um well have you seen Margo anywhere lately?...yeah, her."
"How many other Margos could she know?" Ruthie mouthed.
"There is Margot Fonteyn," I replied.
Ruthie nodded.
My sister Margo had a poster of Margot Fonteyn on one of our walls as well as one of Anna Pavlova.
"Oh ok…..yeah that's it. Bye."
Ruthie turned and looked at me; "my mom hasn't seen Margo but she'll go look. And Lucy met Margo at the church but Margo didn't say where she was going."
"Oh," I said.
