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I was lounging on the couch of my small one-bedroom apartment, thinking of nothing in particular and surrounded by my friend group of four- Max Darenson, Zack Ceynese, Emma Rathony and me, Avery Ethan. But nobody really called me that except for my uncle Ben. To my friends, I would always and forever be Ava.

Me, Max and Emma had been best friends all throughout highschool, while Zack had been a later addition to our clique. He had met Emma at the zoo they both worked and soon after they announced they were dating.

I had been afraid our friend group would fall apart after that, with me and Max becoming third wheels. But, honestly, nothing really changed. We were all still best friends, even if two of us were more than that.

But that didn't stop me from distrusting Zack. While we were all together, he seemed like a great guy and I've never seen him be anything but kind to Emma. But I still had a bad feeling about him.

In the three months since they've been together, Emma has been acting different from her usual cheerful and carefree self. She seems jumpier, always looking ready to bolt if need be and she's constantly looking over her shoulder.

I haven't asked her about but I have a feeling Zack has some involvement in the whole thing.

"How was work today?" asked the ever-thoughtful Max.

I jumped at being addressed, apparently more spaced out than I thought.

"Tiring, as usual." I replied with a stretch and a groan.

I worked at the local Target because I couldn't afford to work anywhere else. Money had always been tight growing up and I'd spent the majority of highschool working minimum wage part-time jobs. Still, it was barely enough to get by. I never had the resources to go to college, so my childhood dream of becoming a detective had been deemed impossible long ago.

Still, I enjoyed reading mystery books, even though my curious nature often caused me to skip to the end of the book when I couldn't take the suspense any longer.

Suddenly, I had an idea. One that could satisfy my urge of solving mysteries, while also not giving me the chance to cheat and check the back of the book. Plus, it would give me something to think about while I was restocking shelves at Target and Emma something to plan while she's feeding baby penguins.

"Oh, Emma, I just had an idea!" I told her excitedly.

Emma perked up from her spot on my kitchen table, eager to help.

"Yes?"

"Whenever you have the time, could you maybe write me a short mystery story? But don't write the ending so I can figure it out myself! It would mean a lot!" I asked her.

Emma was an amazing writer. In her free time, she wrote the most interesting short stories and heartfelt poems. Once she left the zoo, she wanted to become a full time author. She loved it whenever we gave her ideas or requests for new stories, whether we did it on purpose or on accident. Sometimes she wrote stories based on events that happened in our town or funny things than happened to us.

"Of course!" she agreed, for some reason sharing a quick glance with Max.

I brushed it off and beamed back at her.

"Thank a million, Em!" I said.

וו×

My slumber was rather rudely interrupted by a loud knock at the door.

I groggily slid out of my heavenly bed, still clad in my baggy pajamas. I trudged over to the door and opened it. I blinked the eye boogers from my hazel eyes and looked up at my callers.

"Good morning, Ava!" said Emma's sweet voice with a nervous undertone.

Next to Emma was Max, who was smiling brightly at me.

"Can I help you?" I asked sleepily, rubbing my eyes.

"I just came to give you this!"

Emma handed my a sheet of paper covered in her fancy handwriting.

"It's the mystery you asked for!"

"Oh, thanks! That was fast!" I commented, confused about why Max was there.

I assumed, based on Emma's attire, that she was on her way to work. Was Max escorting her? Did they have a sleepover? Without me!?

"Well, I should go." said Emma, giving me one last wave. "See you later, Ava!"

"Bye, Ava!" added Max.

"Um yeah, later, guys." I mumbled, my groggy brain still processing what had happened.

I shrugged and tossed the paper onto the counter, before crawling into my bed. I still had an hour before I had to be at work, which meant another fifty-five minutes to sleep.

After about twenty seconds, I dozed off again, not even sparing Emma's strange behavior or Max's presence a second thought before sleep consumed me.

וו×

I slid out of bed for the second time that morning and switched off my fourth alarm.

Another day, another long shift at Target.

I quickly changed into my work clothes and slipped on my 'Hello, My Name Is Avery' name tag.

I slipped on my shoes before noticing a paper on my kitchen counter. Curiously, I walked over and picked it up.

Oh yeah, Emma's mystery. I'd forgotten.

I quickly read it, eager to see what the aspiring author had managed to come up with:

'Once upon a time, there was an amazing, beautiful and talented detective named Eva Athan.'

I smiled to myself at the way she switched my first and last name's first letters. I kept reading:

'One day Eva was given a case: a break in at the local animal shelter and a young lady named Martha Menoy's disappearance; On Tuesday, Martha hadn't come home from the animal shelter she worked at. Her boyfriend, Case McKenzey, phoned the police as soon as he'd discovered she'd gone missing, but the police found no sign of a struggle and the cameras had been disabled.
And so, Eva set out to uncover the truth, with the help of her trusty assistant Xander Mason.
With a little bit of digging, these are the clues they found:
Case also worked at the animal shelter.
You need a key that only the guards had to get into the room where the cameras are operated.
Her assistant, Xander, had been close to Martha.
Her assistant kept disappearing for short periods of time.
You must uncover the truth before it's too late.

Hearts will be broken.
Eva will be betrayed by a friend.
Love makes people do crazy things.
People often misjudge their friends.

Good luck, detective Eva ;)'

I looked down at my wrist watch and saw that if I didn't leave now, I'd be late for work. I quickly stuffed the sheet of paper into my bag and hastily left my apartment. I'd have time to think about it later.

וו×

I thought about Emma's mystery while I folded a pair of boy's shorts.

So far, these are the possible answers I'd come up with, from likeliest to least likely:
The boyfriend, Case, had done it (but I still couldn't figure out why).
The assistant, Xander, had done it, maybe because Martha had wronged him when they were kids or something.
Martha staged it with the help of a guard.

If only Emma had given me more information, I thought. But, I reasoned with myself, most detectives had even less than this.

But then there was also those four lines at the end. They made it seem like Case was more involved than the first part led on, them being about love and all.

But then again, maybe it was something completely different, like Xander was secretly in love with Eva or something.

Wait... That was it!

Xander wasn't in love with Eva, but he was in love with Martha!

But what about the cameras? Did he get one of the guards to turn them off? Was it Xander that betrayed Eva or was it someone else? And who got their heart broken?

Though I was pretty confident that I had figured out the main part, many unanswered questions plagued my mind.

And sadly, those questions would have to stay unanswered for at least a little while, because I was soon approached by an elderly man asking me something about the fishing rods.

I tried my best to answer his inquiries but honestly, I didn't know squat about fishing and he left grumbling about 'this generation'.

I sighed and went back to folding clothes and putting up various items for display that were on sale.

Unfortunately, I'd already lost my train of thought and would have to ponder over Emma's mystery later.

וו×

I stepped out of the shower, wearing a soft bathrobe and drying my hair with a towel. After a hard day at work, I always liked to unwind with a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice-cream and a warm shower.

I plopped onto the couch and turned on the news.

My bowl of ice-cream fell out of my hands clattered onto the floor. The bowl rolled away, splattering ice-cream onto the carpet, but I was too stunned to care.

On the TV, was a picture of my best friend Emma's face with the big red word 'MISSING' written underneath.

I barely heard the reporters voice in my utter disbelief and dread:

"Emma Rathony, age 20, has been missing since early this morning. Her boyfriend, Zack Ceynese, called the police when she didn't come home from the zoo where she worked. Mr Ceynese also worked at the zoo, though he is in the medical department and finishes earlier than Ms Rathony. The police have searched the area but found no sign of a struggle and the cameras had been disabled. They are working to uncover the truth and find Ms Rathony as we speak. Let's just hope it's not too late..."

My heart sank as the news switched over to the weather. Emma was gone.

But I had a strange feeling that I'd heard the reporter's exact words before, though I couldn't remember where. It was like Deja Vu; I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I felt bad for Zack, but at the same time I couldn't help but wonder if he had any sort of connection to the whole thing.

I got up and started cleaning the ice-cream off the floor. As I put the bowl into the sink, I noticed a piece of paper on the kitchen counter: Emma's mystery.

I might never get to ask her how it ended.

Wait... That was it! Emma's mystery! That was why the report's words had sounded so familiar! They were almost word for word with the story Emma had written.

Instead of Martha, it was Emma, instead of Case it was Zack and instead of a zoo, it was an animal shelter. The resemblance was so uncanny, it almost made me think Emma knew she was about to get kidnapped.

I looked at the clock on the living room wall: 11:22 pm. As much as I wanted to stay up all night worrying about Emma, if I didn't go to bed now, I wouldn't make it to work on time.

Even though I loved my friend much more than my job, I really couldn't afford to be late.

Putting Emma's mystery safely away in a drawer, I reluctantly got into bed.

After a while, my exausted body got the better of my whirring brain and I fell into an uneasy sleep.

וו×