I walked up to the house, tugging my jacket around me, trying to keep warm. It was pouring, rain pelting against my cheeks, a harsh wind flicking my hair and sending a chill down my spine.

The house was quiet, lights off, only the sound of wind howling as I snuck through the back door, easing it closed.

Everything was in darkness and an eerie feeling crept through my bones. "Hello? Is anyone here?" I called out, walking further down the hall. My heart thudded with adrenaline, something didn't feel right.

I tiptoed towards the kitchen, and the closer I got, the more fear and uneasiness built up and threatened to smother me.

Turning the corner, and entering, something caught my eye. I stepped forward, squinting, realization dawning.

I screamed, the body of Jed laying facedown on the floor, his head turned slightly enough for me to see his face.

Eyes lifeless, blood trickling from his mouth and nose. It was everywhere. Blood pooled around him, a sucky crimson red splattered on the white island.

"What do we have here?"

I tensed, the voice coming behind me. I turned, slowly, and sucked in a breath. A masked figure stood in front of me, gripping my mother by the hair.

"So, who's next?" The masked figure asked, croaky. He threw my mom to the ground and pulled a gun, clocking it.

My mom snapped her head up, eyes wide. "Run, Tarryn. Run."

I woke up with a gasp, a panicked sob escaping. I scanned the room, searching for danger, my heart thudding against my chest like it was about to explode.

Matty must have left sometime during the night as he was no longer beside me. I rubbed my eyes, groggy, and threw the blankets off. I hated mornings, waking up without an ounce of energy. 

I stood, a wave of dizziness crashing over me. I pulled on a pair of my dads old slippers and sweater, reaching for my phone from the nightstand and the yellow pill bottle, stuffing them both in my pocket. 

On my way down to the kitchen, I noticed it was quiet. Where were my brothers and sister? Usually I could hear them bickering from a mile away. Quietness wasn't a concept within this family. I hoped my dad hadn't left yet, because we had some things to discuss. The dead woman being number one. 

A soft meow caught my attention and I bent down.

"Gilbert," I said, scratching behind his ear, "are you hungry? Come on, follow me." I picked him up and he rested his head on my shoulder, purring loudly as we entered the kitchen. 

"Good morning, sweetheart." My father leaned against the island, decked out in a black dress shirt with a tie, buttoned and not a single wrinkle. He has a tattoo that began at his wrist, travelling up his arm, all the way to his shoulder blades. I studied him, entering the kitchen. He may have been dressed to the nines, but I could see the exhaustion in his features.

"How did you sleep?" He asked, straightening, his eyes glazing over with concern. I wanted to blurt out what I had found last night in his computer, but decided against it. He probably wouldn't tell me the truth anyway.

"Good. Carson is a bit of a nuisance though," I muttered. "He wakes me up every few hours, shining his stupid penlight in my eyes and asks if I have a headache."

My dad chortled. "He's just making sure your concussion doesn't worsen. You know how he is," he said and reached behind him, taking a glass from the cupboard. I accepted it and reached the fridge; pouring water from the pitcher.

"I know, but can you tell him to back off? Where is he anyway?" I asked, the house quiet. Usually, when my siblings were in one area together, at least one argument broke out.

"Skyler and Trey went for a run," he said, lifting up his coffee mug and sipping. "Carson is at the hospital and June had a client this morning."

They didn't seem fazed at all about mom. How can they go on with their normal routines, knowing she was missing and the person who murdered our stepfather was roaming the world?

I dismissed the thought and moved to the island, sitting on a stool. "Oh. And Matty?"

Irritation flashed in his eyes at the mention of my older brother. "He's took off, hopefully to class," he said. "Speaking of school, I had Clarice research online classes for you."

"Online classes?"

My dad nodded, tilting his head. "Yes, Tarryn. Is there a problem? You need to continue with school."

"That's absurd," I cried, a lump forming in my throat. "I can't focus on school right now. How can you be so nonchalant about this? Mom is missing and it seems like no one cares," I snapped, gripping the glass tight.

He frowned, shaking his head. "We absolutely care and I am doing everything I can to find her," he murmured. "I understand this is overwhelming and terrifying, but you have to trust me."

"What exactly are you doing?" I wanted to know. Why should i fucking trust him?

He flicked his wrist, checking the time. I grew more irritated at his calmness and ignorance. "Dad. We need to talk."

"Listen, Tarryn, I have a meeting in fifteen minutes," he said, "and I can't be late."

It irked me that he didn't seem to hear what I had to say. It left me no choice. "Who is Eleanor? Why do you have crime scene photographs in your email? Photographs of a dead woman?"

My dads eyes widened a slight fraction and his entire body tensed. "You went on my laptop?"

I scoffed, gripping the glass. "That's what your worried about? Tell me what's happening, dad. Please. Who is that woman and is she connected to mom?"

I studied him close, his jaw tightening. For a moment, I thought he might explode with anger, his ears reddening and his eyes burning with annoyance. His chest rose in a deep breath and he straightened his jacket.

"I have to get to the office," he said, his words a slap in the face. He walked around the island to stand in front of me, leaning forward to kiss my forehead. "See you tonight for dinner."

Without another word, he walked out of the room, leaving me confused and bewildered at his behaviour. "Dad, tell me why you have photographs of a dead woman," I shouted, running after him. I caught him as he opened the front door, making him pause. "I will find out, from you or someone else, but I'd rather hear it from you."

He glanced over his shoulder, frowning. "Tarryn, we will speak about this tonight. As a family," he said. "Right now, I have to go. I cannot miss this meeting."

I scrunched up my face. "But -"

"I love you, Tarryn. I will see you tonight." I opened my mouth but he had walked out, letting the door slam behind him. 

+++

An hour later, 11:39 a.m, I finished searching my dad office. He had locked it, though I knew how to pick a lock.

I didn't find any useful information, no clues as to who that woman was or why my father had photos. All I found were books and files on policies and insurance documents, but those were expected. My dad ran an insurance company, but his company also provided another service. An illegal service.

Despite the chance one of my siblings could stride through the door any second or my father coming home to discover I was snooping around again, I sat down at his desk and opened his desktop.

Except when I tried to open a browser, an error page popped up, I tried to refresh and it came up again. Looking in the bottom right corner, I noticed a yellow dot and clicked on it.

Internet is disconnected.

"What the hell," I mumbled, attempting to reconnect but had the same error message. I reached for my phone in my sweater pocket, noticing the wifi had also been disconnected.

First, I called my dad but it went straight to voicemail. After multiple tries, I called Skyler. Surprise, surprise, he didn't pick up either.

I didn't want to bother Carson at work. June didn't have a clue about computers to save her life and Trey and Matthew were in class. It left me one more option.

"Good afternoon, this is Clarice Mayfield with Callisto Corporation. How may I help you?" My fathers secretary and administrative assistant.

"Hey, Clarice," I said, "is my dad in the office? I need to speak with him."

"Oh, Tarryn. How are you?" She asked, her tone shifting to a more sympathetic than I appreciated.

"Uh, good. I mean, sorta. I really need to talk to my dad," I urged, biting the inside of my cheek. "Is he there?"

"He hasn't been in yet today, hon. Can I pass along a message?"

"No, I need to speak with him, it's important. Are you sure he's not there? He said he had a meeting this morning."

She sighed. "No, he told me yesterday to cancel his meetings for today. He said something came up and to reschedule."

That didn't make sense. None of this made sense ...

"Right, thanks. Bye." I hung up and took a deep breath, realizing my dad lied this morning. He was hiding something. If he wasn't at his office, where did he go this morning?

I wanted to call one of my siblings, but they seemed to be distant, and I didn't know if they would even help me. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on and I called the one person I knew wouldn't dismiss me.

Josiah picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" He sounded like he'd just woken up. I felt guilt tug at my heart, but it quickly faded when I remembered why I'd been calling. "Tarryn, is everything okay?"

"No, something is ... off," I whispered. "Something ain't right.

"Hmm? What?"

I rolled my eyes. "Wake up, Joey. I need your help." I heard rustling in the background. "Everyone is being weird."

"Weird?" He emphasized. "You'll have to be more specific, Tee."

"Can you meet me? The library."

"Wait, you want me to come all the way up there?" He asked, more awake.

"Yes. Please, Joey. I need your help," I murmured.

He stayed quiet for a moment. "Okay, I'll come ... but you're buying my dinner," he said and I smiled. "And snacks."

"Great, you're the best."

"Tell me something I don't know," he said, teasing.

"My dad had photographs of a dead woman in his computer. I think ... I think maybe it might be related to my mom. I need to find out more but ... there's no internet connection. I think my dad called the company and had it paused or something."

I'd bet my life my father had something to do with the internet. Having no access meant I had no way to do research. I couldn't use email, read news articles online, nothing. Sneaky.

"Well, fuck, Tarryn. Okay, okay," he mumbled, "I'm coming. Don't do anything stupid until I get there."

+++

"Trey, take me to the city," I demanded, barging into his room. My brother turned from his book, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Don't boss me around," he muttered, crossing his arms. "Why do you need to go to the city?"

"I have business to attend to," I stated, and then kicked myself in the butt for sounding so suspicious. My brother raised an eyebrow, an amused glint in his eyes. "Okay, fine, I need some tampons ... y'know, because I'm on my period ... a real bloody mess."

Trey's face paled, eyes widening in horror. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from laughing. Was I lying? Absolutely. I had no other choice. Carson said if I tried to sneak off in the middle of the night again, he'd lock me in my room at night. He's such an overprotective twit.

I tapped my foot on the wooden floor. "Well, can you take me? I'm literally bleeding to death, y'know." Lies but desperate times called for desperate measures. I was supposed to meet Josiah in twenty minutes.

"I w-why can't you ask June. I'm sure she has something that will help," my brother stammered, clearly flustered.

I shook my head. "She doesn't use the same brand as me ... look, you don't understand okay? You're a dude. You don't know how much pain I'm in and there's so much blood. Take me into the city, Trey. The others are busy and I'm going to ruin all my underwear if -"

"Alright, alright," he cried, covering his ears. "I'll take you, just shut up."

I smirked. "Great. See you downstairs in ten."

"Mhm."

On my way back down stairs, I heard Skyler and June bickering down the hall. I listened, not caring about eavesdropping.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Skyler hissed, his voice low and angry. "Your actions have consequences, bug."

June scoffed. "It's like no matter what I do, you're angry with me about it!"

What the heck were they arguing about?

"I don't like being angry with you all the time! I know you're trying, I do, but you keep going about it the wrong way."

"Going about what the wrong way?" My sister shouted, her voice cracking at the end.

"Everything!" He yelled. "Everything you do makes a mess for me to clean up."

"Well, you don't have to worry about me anymore. I'm -"

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, making me jump. I twisted around, heart pounding, vision blurring.

Trey stood in front of me, his eyes hard with concern. "Hey, are you ready?"

I let a breath I didn't realize I was holding and nodded. "Yes, let's go." My older brother waited for me to walk ahead of him. I hesitated, glancing back, the arguing from my siblings ceased. Trey reached out and gripped my hand, pulling me along, pushing the concern down.

I needed to focus on what happened next. A tinge of anxiousness prickled in my chest, a bad feeling curdling in my stomach.

+++

Hey guys!!

What are your thoughts? What will happen with Josiah and Tarryn? What is her father hiding? What are Skyler and June arguing about?

Thank you for reading, it means the world. I hope you are all staying safe and well. Take care, lots of love - Charlie 🧡