"Can I come with you? I'll be alone at home once you leave," said Anna, Gwen's older sister aged twelve, as she gave her a pleading look.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Don't you have your own friends? No way you're coming with!" she retorted, already heading towards the door.

Anna was silent for a while, her eyes downcast. However, she lifted her head soon after, a beaming smile stretched across her face.

"Okay, fine. See you later," Anna exclaimed.

Anna never seemed offended by Gwen. She rarely yelled back or scolded, despite being the older sister, even when Gwen was being very disrespectful. Meanwhile, Gwen never noticed how she truly hurt her.

The scene dissolved.

Gwen now stood hugging Anna, tears rolling down her eyes. Anna stroked her back gently while watching their mother leave the house. Their father wore an unreadable expression. Sad, angry, frustrated, confused. It was an incomprehensible mixture.The door slammed shut. Their mother never returned.

The images flashed rapidly now.

Their father was almost always working. Anna doing all she could to take care of her sister. Gwen never noticed their sacrifices. The memories played a vivid image of when their father came back looking wasted. A bottle in his hands, clothes disheveled. Anna, now aged eighteen, shoved her sixteen-year-old sister into her bedroom. Gwen pressing her ear to the door, heard shattering glass, cracking noises of slaps, and most definitely the sobs of her sister.

The images flashed again.

Now, Gwen was sitting on the couch of her aunt's house, chatting enthusiastically with her friends on the phone. Pausing for a moment to give her sister a hug, almost out of courtesy, before continuing her chat, not watching her sister grab her luggage and getting into a taxi, off to college.

The rapid flashback began to go so fast sounds became muted.

She was sitting in the dining table, reading a folder her aunt accidentally left behind. Her eyes shocked. She remembered the folder, was her sister's health report. At that moment, she found out her sister had depression. She dreaded the worse, jumping into her car, and speeding off to her sister's apartment.

The final images began to slow down.

At last, stepping into the apartment, Gwen felt like she was wading through mud. Every step felt heavy, and it was too difficult to push forward. The world was slowing her down.

Finally swinging her sister's door open, she watched in terror as her sister fell to her death.

Gwendy's eyes shot open. She was panting, beads of sweat rolled off her forehead. She sat up from her bed and regained her senses.

"What a nightmare," she murmured to herself.

The dream of her sister still vivid in her mind. She hardly dreamt about it. But today, a whole flashback replayed in her head. She hugged herself, shivering not from the cold. Her mother leaving, her father becoming an alcoholic, abusing Anna. The memories left a bitter taste in her tongue and a horrible ache in her heart.

She was a terrible daughter, sister, person. How could she make things right?

She shook her head. No, she would not think like that. She swore to solve this murder mystery, and she would do just that. God might not forgive her sins, but at least she tried.

She took in her surroundings, realising sheets of paper and a few scattered notebooks on her bed. Her body was not under her blanket, so she assumed she fell asleep while doing some work. Shaking her head, she cleared the mess on her bed. That was why she tended to not sleep in her room. She usually crashed in the room next door, which belonged to her housemate. Her friend moved out a few months ago. And so Gwen renamed her room to the work room while she made the other her bedroom.

Once off the bed, she headed back to the room next door, when her eyes locked onto something. She widened her eyes and rushed to the pin board. All the pins were out of order, arranged in a different pattern. Someone had pulled them out and pinned them back on.

Analyzing the mess, she the pattern began to make sense. The pins were forming letters on the board. She took a few steps back and widened her eyes, then her knees gave out as she fell to the ground.

The pins were arranged to form a message, and it read

You will never find me.

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Please vote and comment if you liked the chapter. I would love to hear your thoughts.
~Akshu