Jade:

There was no sign of Tori anywhere throughout the entire drive from her home to school, including the forty minutes Mulholland route.

Where are you, Tori?!

I can't help but imagine the worst happening to her. My Tori could be violated and shot, dying in a pool of her own blood in some dark alleyway right now. I really need to find her as soon as possible. I can't… I can't lose her. I just can't.

Sitting in my car back at the Vegas' driveway, I took out my phone and proceeded to call all of our friends, asking if Tori's with them or have contacted them today. To my utter disappointment, none of them gave me a satisfactory answer. The last one to meet with her privately was André, when they hung out at her house till around ten the day before yesterday.

I burst into the Vegas' house. Detective Vega spun around to look at me on hearing the door open, eyes lit up with hope. But it quickly faded away and was replaced with similar apprehension and despondence in his eyes. "Did you find anything, Jade?"

"No, I drove around the entire block and both routes to school and back, but there's no trace of her anywhere. I'm going to search around in her room, see if she left any notes or anything," I said as I pushed past him, taking two steps at a time to Tori's room.

The white glow from the dome shaped lights flooded the room as soon as I turned on the switch. The purple walls were filled with posters of the bands she liked, just like it had looked this morning. The bed had been made as usual, and all her makeup and hair brushes were sorted in various drawers in her vanity, where a picture frame containing a photo of us and her laptop sat. There was a faint dampness in the bathroom, where she must have took a shower some time ago. I checked the hamper: the mustache pyjamas she slept in were tossed in there. There were a couple of empty hangers on one side of her bed, and her favorite pair of sneakers were nowhere to be found.

She must have been preparing to go out with me, and likely already dressed up. Her phone and purse were missing, and there were no signs of any struggles in the room or house. This must mean that no one came into the room. Vega must have opened the door to some stranger or left the house to go somewhere. More likely the latter.

But where could she have gone to? There were no notes, no texts, nothing at all. This is so unlike her.

Desperate, I decided to call André again. "Hey André, when you were hanging out with Tori on Thursday, did she do or say anything unusual?"

"No? She was pretty normal? She wanted me to go over to help write a song for you. Did something happen?"

"Yes. Tori has gone missing, and no one has any idea where she has disappeared to. Please try hard to remember, did she display any strange behavior or say anything weird? Like talking about depressive things or even trying to hurt herself?"

"What?! Tori is missing?! She was actually really happy when we hung out that day, and was telling me about wanting to ask you out today, hoping that you won't choose to bring her to some haunted house or cemetery."

"Ok. I'll go and continue searching for her. Let me know immediately if she calls you or anything."

I felt like screaming and throwing my phone at the wall when I hung up the call. Tori couldn't have just vanished into thin air for no reason. There must be some clue somewhere as to where she has gone to. There's a roaring trepidation I can't shake from my torso, and I'm hit with the suffocating sense of foreboding that I won't ever see her again.

No. It won't be. I just need to search harder. She must be out there. Somewhere.

I dug around in her room for the next two hours, but found nothing out of the ordinary, except a secret diary she hid under her bed that she's been writing in. The last entry was dated a week ago, that ended with her wanting to keep holding on because of all of us. There were mentions of some asswipes in school making fun of her, and they'd better not let me find out who they are.

That aside, there was no hints as to where she could have gone to. Maybe I should just go drive around again, see if she shows up anywhere. I have to find her.

Just as I was about to get off her bed and exit her room, the door was pushed opened and Trina walked in, arms crossed and legs bent slightly at the knees, blocking the door with her frame.

"You haven't been bullying my little sis, have you?"

"No, of course not! Why would you even think so?"

"Well, you used to do that. Before Yerba."

"In case you haven't noticed, we haven't even had a single real argument in the past six months. And I won't ever hurt her again, if you don't already know that."

Trina sighed, dropping her protective big sister stance and moving out of the way. "Yes, I know, but I just needed to make sure."

"Come on, let's go drive around the neighborhood again. I don't believe Tori could just disappear like this."