A chill ran down my spine when Arabella cleared her throat to speak.

  "Those were Renne's favourites!" she laughed but it caught in her throat, coming out like a cough.

    Fumiko instinctively grabbed her hand. I looked away, not knowing exactly what to do, making myself useful by looking at the information littered around the table. 

  "When was she last seen?" I felt ridiculous asking. I was still holding out hope that this was one of her ridiculous schemes and she would appear from behind the armchair and scare the living daylights out of us. The angry voice at the back of my head told me to stop dreaming succumb to the fact that she was.....  No... No.. No. No. No, she wasn't gone. She wasn't. She couldn't. The evidence said otherwise. 

    I must've looked like I was having an internal battle because I was softly shaken out of my thoughts by Fumiko's motherly hand.

  "We'll find her... I know we will. She's a fighter." Miko smiled at me warmly. But her eyes. They betrayed her. It was well hidden in the chocolate brown of her eyes but I could see the uncertanity lingering. But the uncertanity was drowned by the hope. 

    It made me feel helpless. What if we didn't find her? What if that hope extinguishes? What if we're too late? I felt like I was drowning. I wanted to scream, hug her and curl up into a ball, all at once. But instead I forced myself to look into her eyes and smiled. She seemed to have bought my smile because she pulled her hand away from my shoulder and startled straightening out the papers in front of her. 

  "Now, no time to waste. Good question, Kalon, when was she last seen?" she had turned to Arabella who was scrolling mindlessly through the news on her phone, but clearly not actually reading it. She looked up, deep in thought. 

  "Well, it was in the morning before the fire. Because I'd helped her pick out her outfit to go out with some classmates..." she scruched her eybrows together, trying to remember the details, "Then she texted me and attached a selfie of her with her friend... Sylvana, I think?"

- - - - - - - - - -

    Kalon felt a stab of betrayal. "What was she doing with Sylvana?" his voice came out sharp, accusatory and his face contorted into an involuntary scowl as he said her name. Sylvana. Her name made him sick. Her mocking laugh echoed in his ears. The memory of her face in a disgusting smirk ran through his head. He clenched his fist and tried to breathe.

  "Renne had said she had invited her and Irene for lunch and shopping to smooth something over... but Irene was busy with family things..." 

    He just nodded. He didn't trust himself to say anything. He tried to focus on his breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

  "Ok..." he'd muttered through clenched teeth, after composing himself. He was bloody certain Sylvana had done something to Renne. He knew he was letting emotions cloud his judgement, but Sylvana was a conniving snake who didn't like her reputation being ruined. 

  "Sorry, I need to take a walk..." he stood up and flew across the room and into another room before they could say anything. He could feel their eyes burning into the back of his neck as he disappeared into one of the other rooms. Once the door was shut, he closed his eyes, breathing deeply. Upon opening them again, he realised which room he had walked into.

    It was Adrienne's. He'd been in here once before to wake her up after she had fallen asleep in her armchair. Nothing much had changed. The waste paper basket was still overflowing. The mirror was still in the corner, collecting dust. The black-out curtains drawn so there was only a crack to let a bit of light in. It felt so strange. He walked over to the armchair. He sat down and felt something hard and cold, like plastic. It was a remote, so being any reasonable person, he pressed the on button. The galaxy projector whirred to life, basking the room in a purple glow. It was such an Adrienne thing. He found himself smiling. He felt the arm-rests of the chair. 

    That was when his hand brushed against something. He traced his hand back. There was a sheet of paper lodged into the crease between the body and the arm of the chair. He carefully slid it out. The date on the top was 3rd of January... a day before the memorial. His heart leapt. He could only make out the first few lines in the dim lighting, but it was enough to send him flying back into the living room.

    "to whoever finds this,

it's Adrienne... i need help."