Chapter Four: Losing Hope

After five months of nonstop searching, everyone was starting to lose hope in finding Lil. Phil was still, and always will be, upset about his sister going missing, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't figure out who would want her gone, only some sick guy.

He was supposed to be starting college, but he didn't want to go without Lil. Kimi was gone already, so he couldn't hang out with her. And he was pretty sure that Tommy was busy packing for a family trip. He slouched on the couch, bored. His parents were finally in a better mood and they still got visits from Detective Riley, the only person who hasn't given up hope.

Phil thought about Tommy and Lil's relationship. Five months she's still gone, and five months girls have thrown themselves at Tommy and he's refused to go out with anyone. Phil was glad that Lil had someone like Tommy, faithful. Then, Phil's mind wandered to Lil. How much he missed her. How empty the house was without her. He missed arguing with her over pointless stuff. He hoped she was okay and still alive. And deep down he hoped she was going to come home.

Phil was deep in thought when Betty called him into to come to the kitchen. He got off the couch and walked over in to where she was "They want to end the search for Lil..."

Phil felt an ache in his chest, he didn't want them to stop looking for her. He did want her home, but he didn't really have hope anymore. He slowly nodded and was about to leave but Betty stopped him "There's more Philly." he looked at his mom waiting for her to continue "They found a body the other day... Wally."

"Wally's... Dead?" Phil could feel the tears starting to form. He would have thought Wally was found by now.

"We're sorry, Philly" Betty said giving Phil a sad look.

Lil was sitting in the floor in the basement, her knees to her chest. She's been down here for too long. She hasn't seen what she looks like in five months. Jeffery isn't showing any sign of letting her go, and that's what scared her. She wanted to be back with her family, her friends, her boyfriend.

She was still in the same clothes she had been wearing the day she was kidnapped. She felt disgusting. She felt dirty. Every other day Jeffery would come down and have his way with her, each time her begging him to stop and let her go. She could feel the tears starting to form. She was tired of crying and was tired of being scared. She just wanted to go home.

The door opened and down came Jeffery. Lil knew what was about to happen and she didn't want it to. Jeffery smiled at her before putting a hand on her shoulder "Are you ready for today?"

Lil shook her head. Jeffery pushed her back and glared at her "Too bad"

Phil was walking down the street when he decided to stop and go to the Java Lava. He walked in and saw Tommy sitting at one of the tables. He made his way over and sat across from him "Hey T"

Tommy smiled "Hey, how are things?"

"Things were okay. But mom just told me that... They found Wally's body."

Tommy almost choked on his smoothie. He didn't think that Wally would be... Dead. He knew why this freaked Phil out. Lil. Tommy knew what was going through Phil's head, she's probably dead.

"Do you think that...-"

"Don't say it, Phil." Tommy looked down at the table. He was thinking the same thing. That thought hadn't run through his head in a while. "Lil's... Lil. She's strong. I'm sure she's fine."

"But there's no way to know"

Tommy nodded in understanding. The door to the Java Lava opened and Tommy looked over to see Chuckie walk in. Kimi by his side. Tommy smiled at them and they walked over to the table.

Kimi sat next to Phil and put a hand on his shoulder "We heard about Wally. We knew you'd need someone" she gave him a smile.

Phil looked over at her and couldn't help but return the smile. "Thanks guys"

This was the first time any of them had seen Chuckie since he left for college. It was the first time he was around them since Lil went missing. He knew Phil and Tommy were both going to need support.

"I just hope she's still alive." Phil said quietly.

Tommy and Kimi nodded. "She is, Phil. Your her twin, I'm sure if she wasn't you would have been able to feel some sort of pain, right?"

Phil looked over at Chuckie. He hadn't even thought of that. He remembered the first day that Lil went missing he had a pain in his wrist for a while and he didn't know why. Lil could have broken her wrist and he felt it, but didn't think anything of it. "That's true, Chuck.." what Chuckie had said gave Phil a little more hope than he had before, but not much. Five months of searching can make a person lose a lot of hope. "We have to look for her again" Phil said standing up.

Kimi smiled up at him "I'll help."

"Us too" Tommy said with a smile and standing up.

Lil sat on the dirty basement floor as Jeffery walked up the stairs. She listened for the door to close and lock before she stood up. She walked around a bit, stretching her legs. She was tired of being locked up, having to see the same thing everyday. Which wasn't eventful for her since all she could see was darkness.

She looked up at the only window that was in the room and wondered if there was anyway she would be able to reach it somehow. She walked over and this was the moment she wished she was a little taller. She reached for the window but she wasn't able to actually reach it. She was too short. She cursed under her breath and looked around with the little light she had to see if there was anything that she could use to help her reach it.

She sighed when she couldn't find anything and sat on the bottom step of the stairs. She was thinking of a way that she could get out when she realized she never heard the door lock. She slowly walked up the stairs and turned the handle, hoping Jeffery wasn't around.