Life before missing

1514 Words
The night sky was still. Not a single star was on sight. The vast stretch of sky was lonely and only the moon was shining palely. The rain just stopped pouring like a madman. It had been raining for quite some time, the grass was damp and puddles of mud were shimmering under the moonlight. It was cold and the night sky was unevenly still. Lightning struck and thunder roared. A shrill scream came from the distant deserted Army base. “Amy, wake up! You are having nightmares again!” A slap on her face woke her up. Amy held her burning cheeks as she stared at the open window of her and Stacy’s shared bedroom. She saw a shadow lingering. And then it was gone. “D*mn it, you always do this and you always leave this window open.” Stacy stomped to the window and closed it. She did not like it whenever the windows were left open. Amy, on the other hand, love the cold natural air that comes in. Their mother would not let them open the air conditioning unit they got for their room last Christmas even if the sun come closer to Arizona. She did not take her eyes off her sister, for fear of whatever she heard, whatever she saw, might take her away from Amy. Deep inside her heart, she know it was just just out there, watching. “I’m sorry.” Amy said softly. Stacy sighed.”It’s not your fault you are having these dreams. I am sorry that I slapped you.” Amy smiled. She does not like hurting her, that was for sure, but sometimes, it’s all that they could think of whenever her nightmares strike again. They are sisters. Stacy was three years older, and she is Amy Wright, fifteen. They live in Arizona together with their wonderful parents in their modest three bedroom house. They also have a younger brother ,Edward who occupies the other room. Amy and Stacy used to have separate bedrooms but when she started to have this disturbing dreams, their parents best thought that it was wise for them to be together so Stacy can slap the hell out of Amy and also so the only boy in the family can have his own sanctuary. “Yeah, if I am not mistaken, I got slapped three times this week.” “About that, sis, I think this is getting out of hand. Do you think we should go seek medical help?” “Mom and Dad won’t approve. You know what they always say, that it is all in my head.” Amy shook her head vigorously sending her hairs into a mess. “Maybe it is just in your head?” Stacy probed. “Come on. Stace. You see it every time. You know that I do not make this nightmares. It’s not like I can control them. “ Amy answered in frustration.The dreams started a year ago, at first she thought that it was just a phase, that they will go away on their own. Apparently not because she is still having them and they are more frequent now. Eventually, Amy got tired of telling her parents when they told her that it was high time to see a shrink. There is no way that it would happen. Seeing a shrink at those time was like admitting that you are borderline crazy. So the sisters decided to keep it in between them. A little secret won’t hurt. Stacy was eighteen then, Amy was fifteen. Tonight was the last night that they were sleeping together. Stacy will be moving out and starting her own life in the big city. She was kind of sad, but Amy does not want to be the reason why her sister had to hold back down for her dreams. Stacy wanted to be a lawyer and she just recently passed the exam to the famous Harvard School of Law and their parents could not be any more happier. The younger siblings were proud too. If everything goes well, Stacy will be the first lawyer in the family. “Nah, if you are worried that no one will be here to slap me, I am glad to inform you that Cherry will be sleeping here for a while.” “If that is the case, then, I am not worried. Cherry has big hands.” The two giggled at her joke, for Cherry , indeed, have big hands. Cherry was their first cousin who was Amy’s age and they get along pretty well. Tonight, Stacy wanted to share bed. She will miss her, but she also know deep inside that she will miss them more. As they were just fixing the bed, the door opened and there stood Edward with Luffy, his stuffed bear. Edward is six and was adorable. “Can I sleep here?” Of course, he can. It was their last night sleeping together. There was no better way to spend it but with your siblings, right? All three did not get much sleep because they talked a lot and played a lot. In the morning, they were all groggy and still wanted some sleep but Stacy had to prepare her stuff. Edward slept some more. The following day, they said their goodbyes to Stacy at the airport. And they have not heard from her since then. Everyone waited for her phone call because she said that she will call the minute she lands in Massachussets. Their parents did not slept the entire night and took turns guarding the phone in case she calls. Nothing came. On the second day that they still did not heard from her, the father, Fred Wright, decided to fly to Massachusetts and check on in Stacy personally. That was back in 1995. Cellphones were not a thing yet and the internet was not accessible to many. Fred had to know for himself. They waited for their father and prayed that when he comes back, they can all go back to normal knowing that Stacy had just been so busy and lazy and did not have the time to call them. It was better if that was the case. Fred came back after three days. No Stacy in tow. Jenny Wright was devastated, she said that she should have not stayed and tagged along because he will do a shitty job and did not do everything to find her. Amy knows that her father did all that he could and what he thought was everything was. He looked so tired and disheveled. He had bags under his eyes.In three days, he lost so much weight. That is why Stacy knew that he did all there was. Edward and Amy stood in the middle of their now sad, living room not knowing what to do. They were kids and there was nothing they could do but to cry and pray. Back in those days, all that they had was faith. Faith that somehow, Stacy will turn up one day. It had been ten years now. Life went on for the Wright family. Fred and Jenny were never the same but they managed to survive the last ten years. Amy is now twenty five years old. Because she wanted to know where her sister was, she applied for Harvard law and passed.The truth was, she never lost hope that Stacy is still alive. But life went on for her. Amy shoved her sister’s case at the back of her head and studied hard. She never heard of anything about Stacy Wright except for the fact that she was accepted and was supposed to show up in the dormitory ten years ago but no Stacy Wright came. Edward is now sixteen and still living in Arizona with their parents.They live in the same house and never wanted to move because Amy does not want to put the house in the market for sale yet. That brother of hers is quite the heart breaker. He is a varsity player for the basketball team and is a consistent member of the academic honor list. Like Amy, he too wanted to go to Harvard. For the same reason, they were both convinced that something was amiss here. The only problem was, they just did not find out what that was. Her parents did not like the idea Amy leaving for Harvard too. The fear of a parent losing another kid to that same reason ten years ago was still strong. Her mother never trusted any Ivy league after what happened to Stacy. The family have exhausted every effort that was available to them. Even the police finally gave up on Stacy Wright’s case. Not her. Not Edward. Amy was on her last two weeks in Harvard, today they were just signing off some school paper works to get them ready for the board exams when a man came to her and mistook Amy for someone else. “Stacy? Is that you? Oh my God, you managed to escape!? “
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