The day I went missing was like every other day had been that summer. I woke up two hours later than I would have for school, showered, did my hair, and went to eat breakfast by myself. My mom was in the laundry room off the side of the kitchen, my little sister in the living room watching cartoons, and Jeff was at work.

"What are your plans today Ana?" My mom asked while I made my toast.

"I think Christian and I are hanging out and I'm probably gonna have dinner with him and his family."

"Well that will be nice. When does Katie get back?" My mom always called Kate, Katie and she still does to this day.

"A week before school starts."

"That's a long vacation but I'm sure her poor father needs it that man works everyday I swear. Isn't Ethan in town?"

"Yes."

"Have you two spoke?"

"Briefly."

"I thought you guys broke up on good terms?" My mom was always concerned that I never burned bridges but instead built fences at each end in case I needed back.

"We did mom, we were friendly, but it was just awkward I guess."

My mom rubbed my back lightly, "Well sweetie to be honest I never understood why you two broke up in the first place. It was like one day things were great and the next you said you weren't together."

I let out a huge sigh, "I've told you mom we both agreed to break up before he left for college. That way he could enjoy college without ties back here and I could see what it was like on my own."

My mom threw her hands up in a surrender fashion, "Okay, okay I understand. And you and Christian are obviously happy."

We left the conversation at that and then I went upstairs to put on make-up and get dressed. Want some more life advice from the dead girl? Never treat you parents badly because at the end of the day you're their child and they love you a lot more than anything else in the world. I don't think that we realize in everyday life how important people around us really are. See you know things when you're gone; things from before, during, and after your own life. Looking back there's a lot of things that I would take back if ever given the chance.

When my make-up was done I slipped into a pair of my favorite high wasted shorts and a lose fitted crop top with a pair of black converse. By this point it was around noon and I was to meet Christian at his house. After I got there we made plans to go get burgers and run to the mall.

"Can I ask you something?" Christian asked while I looked at a pair of jeans.

"Sure."

"What happen last spring break?"

I turned around to look at him confused, "What do you mean? That's kinda vague."

He wrapped his hands around my waist, "You came back different. Something, I can't pin-point what exactly, but something isn't the same."

"Nothing happen baby. I guess it just kinda opened my eyes that things had really changed between Ethan and I."

He dropped the conversation, I guess not wanting to push it, or to upset me and ruin the day. We carried on shopping, picking out different things I wanted to get before school, and things I thought looked good on Christian. We left the mall, drove back to his house, and spent the rest of the time over there. At about six his mom got home from work and started on dinner. At seven we sat down to eat and by eight we'd finished.

"I better head home. I'll call you tomorrow." He walked me to my car like he always does. I leaned up to kiss him goodbye. I would not call him the next day and this would be the last time I would see or kiss him.

9:30 p.m

By this time my mom is nervously watching the news while looking at the clock every other chance. Jeff has repeatedly told her that everything was fine and she didn't need to panic. But being a mother of course she couldn't help the feeling that was growing deep, deep down. Inside of her was a light that was saying something isn't right. She put my little sister to bed and told her to have sweet dreams. She went back down stairs and joined Jeff on the couch again.

"Jeff I'm worried."

"I know you're worried but she's eighteen years old sweetie. She's bound to do this at least once. We'll stay up until eleven and then we both need to get some sleep."

My mom agrees to this and they flip through channels while quietly watching the clock. Eleven comes and there's still no sign of me. Jeff gave my mom a sleeping pill to help her fall asleep and tells her he's sure that I'll be there when they wake up. That night my mom had awful nightmares but the sleeping pill wouldn't allow her to wake up early. The next morning Jeff wakes up his usual time and while walking down the hall pays no mind to my shut bedroom door as I always slept with the door shut. He made his way to the kitchen and begins to make breakfast. At nine thirty my little sister wakes up eager to get breakfast and at ten my mom begins to wake. As soon as she's more than half way conscious she is up and haling ass to my bedroom.

"Jeff!" Bloody murder is a good way to explain it. It echoed through our entire house and my sister's eyes became wide and fearful to which Jeff said everything is fine you stay here.

He jogged up the stairs only to find my mother in the floor of my door way, "She's not here." Was all he could make out of her loud sobbing and mumbled sentences.

Jeff looked into my room to check that she hadn't somehow missed me being in there, "Okay I'll go call Frank."

Frank was a good friend of Jeff's' who worked at the police station. That phone call would turn out to be practically pointless. You'll have to call back tomorrow when it's been forty eight hours. Breaking the news to my mom was harder than anything. She propelled herself to my bed grabbing onto anything that reminded her of me. At this point with nothing left she hoped that maybe I had stayed at Christians' house.

"Grey residence."

"Grace hello this is Carla. I hate to call so early but Ana didn't come home last night. Did she stay over there?"

"No Carla I'm sorry she didn't. I think she left our house around eight o'clock after we ate dinner."

This did nothing to help my poor mother. If anything it probably just broke her more. She couldn't help but feel like she isn't the first person to feel this way. She'd started to feel like she had imagined Krista's mother had felt months before. Knowing Kate was out of town she knew calling them was probably pointless but she still called the house in hopes that maybe Ethan would answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi is this Ethan? This is Mrs. Steele."

"Oh hello Mrs. Steele."

"I'm sorry to call so early but you haven't seen Ana have you?"

"Uh, no, no ma'am I haven't. Is everything okay?"

"Well no not really. She didn't come home last night so we're starting to get a bit worried."

She went on to explain that I had left Christians' house at eight and hadn't been heard from since then. He told her if she needed anything to call and not worry about what time it was. The rest of the day they both sat around by the phone. Ethan and my mom both are having similar feelings. Ethan worried that he might not get another chance to get the love of his life back. My mom now worried that her little girl, first born, was not going to be coming home ever again. And both of them were right. Eleven p.m came and went and twenty four hours was marked. Mom tossed and turned all night and Ethan stayed up sitting by the phone hoping that either my mom or I would call. He hadn't given up hope that I would come back, that I would call or come over one day, and say Ethan I still love you and I want us back. But I didn't want that. I had long moved on and too much had happen to change that.

The next morning when Jeff went to my room only to find it empty again he called Frank. At that point I was marked officially as a missing person. Shortly after hanging up with Frank, Ethan called and upon hearing I still had not been heard from he decided that he would go looking. It was help that neither mom nor dad would turn down. Frank asked that both mom and dad come down to the station to get statements made to try and find a time line.

This started the first round of questioning with many more sure to follow. Mom and Jeff were cleared after just this first time. After finding out the last place I'd been known to be they called in Christian and his family. They all agreed I'd been there since earlier that afternoon, ate dinner, and left at about eight. Then it was a dead end. With nothing left they asked if anyone else had seen me after this to please come forward. Within a day or two a young lady, probably mid-twenties, called and said she'd seen me.

"You believe that you saw Ms. Steele sometime after eight that night?"

"Yes sir. I'm sure I did. She came into the store I work at, bought a few things, and left."

"Did she leave with anyone?"

"No sir. She came in and left by herself."

"Is there any video system at your work ma'am?"

"Yes we have a really high tech one."

"If you could write down your bosses information for me that would be greatly appreciated."

The woman left a phone number and was about to become the police stations favorite person. Her manager willingly gave them the video tape of that day and they now knew I had been well and alive after eight o'clock. After watching the video they saw me enter the store at around eight twenty pm and leave the store at about nine. They then went through and watched to see if anyone had followed me around, spoke to me, anything that seemed off pretty much. That turned up nothing. They now had a better time line for when I really was last seen. The problem? Well the video camera showed me walking outside and little bit through the parking lot but I'd decided to park far back that night for fear of carts or someone hitting it with their car door. So this left two options; I was grabbed by someone while walking through the parking lot or I left a live and something happen afterwards. My decisions of that day was making their jobs a little on the difficult side.

While all this was happening Ethan drove around like crazy hoping to find anything that might lead to me. The first day turned up nothing and the same with the few days to follow. But almost a week after I went missing while riding through some old back roads he found it; my car. He immediately called the police who were out there in no time. It was identified as mine by both the tag on the back, I was so happy it was registered to me, and my purse that was sitting just as I'd left it in the back. While inspecting they realized I had a flat tire but not just a flat tire a cut tire. They were now sure this was no accident. The next two days they searched all around my car and turned up nothing.

At this point I'd been missing two weeks and my mom was a complete wreck. My little sister couldn't understand why I hadn't come home in so long or where I was. It's not easy to tell an almost eight year old what was really going on. My real father had been called from New York where he was living and was staying in a hotel not too far away from the police station. My mom hadn't left bed any if it wasn't to go to the police station, Jeff had been given a leave of absence with pay to try an spend all his time on this, and my dad was trying his hardest to remain calm. All the while they'd go on TV and beg the person responsible to please let me go and offering more money than I had ever seen before. But no calls came, no new information, and they were running out of options. The saddest part was that they were making such a big effort to bring me home, praying every night for a safe return, and I was already gone.

I'd been dead shortly into week two of my abduction. Which if you knew everything that was happening, and you don't just yet, it was probably best that I was. Of course that meant that while my mother spent a majority of her day begging God to bring me home, offering herself, anything, and everything she could it was all in vain.

Dying is not what they make it out to be. I saw no white light, no tunnel, and no shiny gate with someone taking names to see if you made the cut. The first thing I remember was a feeling like waves rolling over my entire body, like water washing me clean inside and out, and then this peacefulness that I had never felt while alive. When you're dead it's kind of hard to really feel emotions it has to be strong, very intense to really feel it. Oh and no one really explains to you what is happening you just kind of figure out day by day. I guess I kind of expected someone to say "this is how this works" and "this is how we do things here" but no one does. No pamphlet either. I have met a few people though. One man died from a heart attack, one little girl swimming, and one girl around my age who died almost just like me but years before. I'll get to her a little bit later though. I've never seen Krista even though I've thought really hard to try to. I don't really know where she ever went maybe there are different parts that I've just never seen.

The police began to look into my car searching for finger prints or hair but it had been scrubbed clean and vacuumed out. It actually was cleaner than it was when I was alive. They now knew whoever did this it wasn't the first time they seemed to know about how to clean up all traces of themselves. But with no leads there wasn't much they could do but wait. And they wouldn't have to wait much longer.

Just a few days later a group of friends out hiking in some woods about fifty miles away from where my car was found saw something odd. They called the police after believing they could see someone's foot in some bushes. The police came first and after moving the bush realized it was a body but whose was still a mystery. It was obvious that whoever it was had been dead a while and would need testing to confirm but the cops had a feeling they already knew.

"Mrs. Steele I need you to come up to the station for me."

"Have you found her?"

"It will be best that you come up here with you husband and Ana's father."

My mom gathered Jeff, sent my sister to my grandmothers, and told my dad to meet them at the station. After arriving at the station they were pulled a side and sat down. This is where things get kind of hard.

"Carla, I'm sorry but-"At this point my mother's chest had that aching feeling and the tears were building in her eyes. She took Jeff's hand and prepared for the worst, "We found her. And it's not like we'd hoped."

He went on to explain that some hikers saw something odd while looking around and it was a body. After the body was brought in and examined they called for dental records. The news had come back bad. That body in the woods, shoved under a bush, and left to just wither away was in fact me. Of course they couldn't tell mom everything that had happen to me before I died, she probably would've had a heart ache right on the spot.

And this is where the story gets really interesting. Let's see if you can figure out who it really was.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and let me know your thoughts! I'd love to hear. Also just going to throw this out there this is no way meant to insult anyone's beliefs as to the afterlife so I hope that no one is feeling insulted or angry.