Chapter 58

May 6, 2026- Seattle, Washington

"Celine?" an older man said, stopping her in the hallway of her high school.

Celine turned around and faced an old man with salt and pepper hair. She'd had him for a class a few years ago, but she still saw him often in her various activities, "Yes, Mr. Kendall?"

"Is your sister alright?" he asked.

Celine immediately became confused and a little worried at the same time, "My sister? What happened? Why wouldn't she be alright?"

"Oh, nothing happened," he said reacting to her change of attitude, "Well at least not that I know of. She wasn't in class today and I was just wondering where she was."

"What? She loves your art class. Out of all of her classes, why would she ditch art?" Celine asked, mainly talking to herself, not Mr. Kendall.

"I thought the same thing. I checked with the office. She didn't come in today," Mr. Kendal continued.

"Well, I left before her this morning and I didn't see her before I left, so I'm not sure if she was feeling bad or anything. She might just be sick," Celine said, shrugging the issue off. She was just sick, right?

"Thanks anyways, Celine."

"Anytime, Mr. Kendall," Celine said before walking away. She had an odd feeling about this. She didn't like odd feelings. It's been said that she gets them from her mother and one time her mother had an odd feeling and she almost blew up. Celine had to find something out.

May 6, 2026- Seattle, Washington

As soon as Celine's last class let out, instead of hurrying to her car, she headed towards the back of the school. She felt a little weird doing this. After all, she was what could be considered preppy and she was going to be the valedictorian of her graduating class. There was defiantly no need for her to be walking around her school to where her opposites hung out after hours, or in other words, her sister's friends.

"What are you doing here?" a red head asked once Celine turned the corner.

"I.. umm," Celine began, suddenly losing her skill of public speaking.

"Hey, you're Luke's chick Aimee's sister, right? The perfect one?" a guy asked a few yard away.

"Yeah, Celine Shepherd. Do you happen to know where Aimee is?" Celine asked.

"She ain't here. You're her sister, shouldn't you know?" the girl asked.

"Well, she hangs out with you all, so I thought she just might be over here," Celine said, still sounding uncomfortable.

"I think she left with Luke," another guy sitting by the dumpster said. Celine hadn't even noticed he was there.

"Left? When? Did she cut her last class?" Celine asked.

"More like all of them," the red head said, "Luke said they were leaving last night."

"What?" Celine asked, both scared and surprised, "Where were they going?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "Do you think we would tell you, even if we knew?"

May 6, 2026- Seattle, Washington

"Mom? Mom!" Celine yelled as she hurried into her house.

"Celine, please stop yelling," Derek said coming from the living room.

"Where's Mom?" Celine asked with a worried look on her face.

"She's in her room. I finally got her to sleep, please just calm down. We need to talk," Derek said, trying to calmly lead her back into the living room.

"I already know, Dad," Celine said making her father stop.

His calm yet worried look became desperate as he turned towards Celine, "What do you know, Celine? Do you know where she is? Tell me right now if you know where she is."

"No," Celine said, almost scared at his reaction, "I don't know where she is. I just talked to her friends. Apparently she left with Luke last night. They wouldn't tell me why."

"Damn it!" Derek yelled turning away from his daughter.

"Dad? Dad, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay because my sixteen year old daughter is god knows where with some scum bag and my wife is falling apart. Why the hell would I be okay?" he asked angrily. After looking at his daughter and her scared expression, he took a deep breath and relaxed, "I'm sorry, Celine. I'm just stressed. I'm going to go check on your mother."

Celine nervously nodded and watched her father head down the hallway.

May 6, 2026- Seattle, Washington

Meredith heard Derek walk into their room and sit on their bed. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but she could tell he was upset. Of course he was. Their daughter was gone. Gone. As he lay down, he just stared at the ceiling, not even looking Meredith's way. She immediately cuddled close to him and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Derek? What did we do wrong?" Meredith asked, "I didn't like my house, but I never left. Were we really that bad of parents?"

Derek didn't say anything for a moment, but Meredith could tell he was fighting with his mind. He sensed Meredith was suspecting something, so he looked at her with so much sincerity and sadness in his eyes when he quietly whispered, "I don't know."

May 6, 2026- Seattle, Washington

Celine nervously walked up the stairs. She'd lived in this house almost her entire life, but she couldn't help but feel different about it now. Her and her sister's rooms were the only bedrooms upstairs other than a guest room. It just seemed weird without Aimee there.

Celine opened the door of her sister's room and saw a sheet of paper on the floor. She bent down and picked it up. She could immediately recognize her sister's handwriting. It was simple and clear. Just like her message. "I'm sorry, but I had to go. I'll see everyone soon. I promise." Celine felt her tears falling as she collapsed on her sister's bed.

December 10, 2014- Seattle, Washington

Celine woke up and looked over at her clock. It was 2:34 in the morning. The house was quiet. Maybe she'd dreamt it. Nope, someone was screaming again. She recognized that scream easily. She forced herself out of her pink comforter and off of her bed. She slipped on her new princess slippers and walked to the room next to hers.

She slowly opened the door and sure enough, the screams intensified. "Shhh, it's just me," Celine said as she walked in, closing the door behind her. The screams quieted down and became muffled sobs. "What happened?"

"I… I had a bad dream," the little girl stammered out.

Celine was about to get extremely annoyed, but decided against it, "Just do what Mommy always tells me to do. Think about Christmas. Then all of your nightmares will go away," Celine said before turning around to leave.

"Don't leave me," Aimee said, stopping her sister.

"But I need sleep," Celine protested.

"Don't leave me," Aimee repeated, this time quieter and more desperate.

Celine sighed and walked over to her sister's bed. She slipped out of her slippers and pulled back the comforter, getting in the bed with her sister, "'Night, Aimee."

As her head hit the pillow, the memory flashed through her head and her sister's scent rushed through her senses. As she rolled over on the bed, her head slammed into something hard. She sat up and pulled a diary out from under the pillow. She opened it up and flew through a few pages until she found the last entry. It was written last night. Celine slowly read it and got a new perspective on her sister. She couldn't believe what it said.