Page 3 of Savior
Paige leans her head on my shoulder. “I hope you’re right. I just worry.”
“Mother hen,” I tease, and she elbows me in the ribs.
A part of me is worried, too. Skipping her midterms isn’t like Carly, our roommate. She’s a typical college girl—a bit boy crazy with a reckless streak. She’s also on a scholarship and studies hard, never skips classes, and always attends the group sessions. I know I have a lot less faith in people than Paige does, but not even I think it is normal for Carly to just dip out on exams. I have a lot less faith in people than Paige does.
“Do you think I should try calling her again?” Paige says after a few second of silence. Her normally cheerful voice is quiet, soft. It quakes with unshed tears.
I squeeze her closer to my side and suck back the words I want to say. I’m glad it’s Carly and not Paige. Carly and I are close, but Paige and I are inseparable, especially since we started college. Most twins grow apart as they get older, but not us. If anything, independence has only strengthened our bond.
“I have a business class later with her. If she’s not there, we’ll track her down and read her the riot act. It’s Monday morning. She probably hasn’t crawled out of whatever bed she landed in over the weekend.”
Paige sighs and rubs a hand over her face. She punctuates this with a groan and then surges to her feet. “Ugh, you’re right. I know you’re probably right. I just don’t have a good feeling.”
“Send her another text.” I get to my feet because her talk of bad feelings has my own stomach twisting with unease—and I’m already stressing about midterms. While Paige starts to pace in front of my bed, I distract myself with getting dressed. Just to spite Paige, I choose my rattiest pair of yoga pants and an over-sized T-shirt the same bright blue as my eyes. “Tell her I said she owes us a round for making us worry about her.”
Behind me, I hear the click of Paige’s nails against the screen of her phone as she taps out a message. I finish changing and turn around to sit on the bed to put on my socks and tennis shoes. After classes, I like to go out for a run to loosen up. Paige takes one look at my outfit and rolls her eyes.
Her brief smile fades and then her eyes drop to her hands and the phone, which is still lit up and shows about a dozen unanswered texts to Carly.
“It’s just not like her,” she says. “I’m worried...I’m worried she might be hurt.”
“I know you are. And if she doesn’t show up by tonight, we’ll call her parents. The cops, even.”
She chews on the inside of her cheek and seems to struggle over her next words. “You don’t think she’s was...kidnapped or something, do you?”
She doesn’t have to say anything for me to know what she’s talking about, or rather...who.
Three weeks ago, a pretty blonde senior went missing from campus. She just disappeared one morning during a run before classes. For a few days, no one suspected anything until her roommate reported her missing to the police. When they searched the area where her roommates indicated she’d like to jog, they found none of her belongings. They did, however, find blood. It wasn’t enough for them to say conclusively what happened to her, but it was enough to spur a county-wide search that lasted two weeks. Now, they’re only anticipating finding her body and they searches are a fourth of the size they were at the beginning.
Most people are convinced she up and ran away, but who does that? I try not to think about how similar the senior girl is to Carly. Carly wouldn’t run away, so there has to be another explanation. One she damn well better have by the time I get to class, or I’ll be just as neurotic as Paige is.
I brush off both of our fears with a shake of my long ponytail. “You watch. She’ll be calling us after lunch with tales of the dude she picked up.”
My voice sounds confident, but Paige has known me our whole lives and doesn’t buy it for a second.
“C’mon,” I say with false cheer, “I’ll pick you up a coffee at the cafe.”
* * *
I’m not a needy person. In fact, I like to believe I’m self-sufficient. But when Carly doesn’t show up for class, I start spinning out of control with worry. I don’t want to freak Paige out before I get back to the apartment, so I swing by the campus bookstore where my boyfriend, Gavin, is working the afternoon shift.
I step into the frigid air with relief, comforted by the familiar fragrance of the strawberry candles the manager likes mixed with the crisp, clean scent of new books. Scanning the check-out counters for Gavin, I frown when I don’t find him assisting any of the customers. Normally, he prefers to be up front and right in the middle of the chaos, but he’s not there or in the manager’s office where everyone takes their break, which is strange.
There’s a small café area to my right, so I take a seat on one of the benches to wait and pull out my phone. Carly hasn’t returned any of my or Paige’s messages since Friday, which is odd considering she keeps her phone glued to her side. I checked in with some of her teachers, and they told me she missed three important midterms, which will have a devastating effect on her near perfect GPA. Then as I was leaving each of her classes, I stopped a few other students and asked if they had seen her, not a single one of them had.
The next rational step is to call her parents and the police. They would take it seriously and investigate or send out more search parties. It had only been a few weeks since the senior went missing, so I know the police wouldn’t drag their feet about another missing girl. I don’t want to cry foul play and look like an insipid college chick, but I’m also worried about my friend.
A few minutes pass and Gavin still hasn’t shown up, so I push myself from the little table and stride across the room to check-out counter where a friendly face looks up and smiles openly.
“Hey, Joseph.” I volunteer at an animal shelter and Joseph is one of the extras who comes in when we need additional help.
He looks up, his eyes brightening when they land on me. “Piper. Haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Midterms,” I say and make a face.
He finishes checking out the freshman and hands him his change. He turns his attention to me and says, “Killer. Need help with something?” Flashing a teasing grin, he leans a hip on the counter.
His brilliant smile brings out my own if only for a moment. “Actually, yes.”