Anne sat on the edge of the small bed in her small room, she felt uneasy, it was like something was wrong but she could not figure it out yet. She had just gotten back from work and she was tired but the way she was feeling, overshadowed the tiredness. She began to bite her nails and tap her feet continuously on the rug in her room, while the fingers on her other hand kept tapping her knee at the same time. This, she always did whenever she was anxious and needed to figure her thoughts out.
"Why do I feel so uneasy?" She asked herself, as she began to drown herself in different thoughts.
Anne Jones; my best friend, we met in college and we were roommates, well, that was before I dropped out of college since my parents could no longer sponsor my education and they ordered me to stop, due to reasons best known to them. They claimed they had no money anymore but I knew that was all a lie, they just had other plans up their sleeves.
Anne was not from a wealthy family but they were comfortable. Her mother died when she was just seventeen, after she had battled with a life-threatening sickness for a few years. She was so close to her mum before she died because her father was always never around, he was always on the road and the little time he had to stay at home, he preferred to go drinking with his friends.
He never wanted to stay at home with them, he never wanted to spend time with her and her mother which began to cause issues in their marriage. The main reason was that her mother was unable to have any more children after Anne and she was not a male child.
Although, before Anne was born, they tried for many years to conceive but they lost them all. It was either they ended up being still-born, with a birth defect or a miscarriage occurred before it reached its full term. Anne was the only one who was carried to term and after finding out there was going to be no birth complications, Her father had hoped for it to be a boy child but after the scan was done, it turned out they were going to be having a girl.
Anne's mother was overjoyous but her father was indifferent. He only pretended to be happy while hoping that the next child would probably be a boy but imagine his shock when after Anne's birth, the doctor told him that his wife would no longer be able to have children due to complications during childbirth.
At that moment, every single hope he had for having a male child flew out the window, as he broke down in tears. Ever since then, he paid no attention to his family, he would purposely accept any job offer that takes him far away from home.
Whenever he was home, they would always argue and have big fights about every little thing. These things caused Anne to be much closer to her mother than her father. She always preferred him away because that was the only time there was peace in their household.
When her mum died, there was really no relationship with her father, he only identified as her "Father" by virtue of being one of her parents and that was all. He tried to act as a father but the friction was just there, no matter how they tried, they knew it was just better to stay away from each other because there was no way they could cohabit without awkwardness.
Anne stood up suddenly and began to pace in her room, she then stopped and began to stare at the wall.
The wall was painted pink on two opposite sides and white on the other two opposite sides. The room wasn't big, it was just a regular room in a small rented apartment for an average person living and working in a convenience store. The room served as both a bedroom and a living area. It had a bathroom at one end of the room and a small kitchenette which had a small refrigerator, a microwave, a cooker and some basic dishes and utensils.
The furnishings were also minimal; it consisted of a bed, a table, a chair, and some storage space for clothes and personal items.
Since Anne graduated from college, she had tried countless times to get a good paying job but to no avail. She knew she couldn't ask her dad because there was barely any relationship between them. They hardly ever called each other too.
The little money her mother had left for her when she died, coupled with different part time jobs, was what she used to complete college and rent the apartment, hoping that she was going to get a job soon and move to a better place. All her dreams of being a rich and independent lady at a young age went down the drain when the only job she was able to finally get was that of an attendant at a convenience store, and it was a bit far from her house. She could not rent any apartment close to her workplace because she couldn't afford any apartment within the area. It was way too expensive.
The apartment was located in the affordable area in town, in an old complex. It sure had seen better days. The walls and floors were thin, and noise from neighbours and street traffic could be heard most of the time.
As if being struck by something, she suddenly jerked as she remembered why she had been feeling uneasy.
"Andrea! Yes!" She exclaimed and then began to speak to herself.
"Where could this girl be?" She asked herself. "I've not heard from her in a long while. I hope nothing bad has happened to her."
"I should give her a call right now." She said as she looked around in search of her phone which seemed to be out of sight.
"My phone! Why does it always seem missing whenever there is an important issue." She said as she searched for her phone.
After searching her whole house for her phone, it finally dawned on her that it wasn't in the house.
"Ah! Oh no!" She screamed as she suddenly remembered.
She had left work in a haste to catch up with the last bus to her area that she forgot she had been charging the phone.
"Anne!!!" She exclaimed angrily. "How stupid can you be!" She said as she fell on her bed, frustrated at her situation.
She sat up and decided to make use of her time. Since she wasn't sleepy yet and she couldn't go back to work because of the distance, she didn't want to keep sulking over the phone she had forgotten, so she decided to use her laptop to check for job offers.
She saw quite a number of job opportunities and began to apply to them.
"Since I have the requirements for these jobs, I might as well apply to all. Who knows if one of them might give a call." She said, encouraging herself.
"I'll just call Drea when I pick up my phone tomorrow morning." She said finally.
**************
Kelvin paced impatiently in the waiting room of the hospital. He didn't know what was going on and he couldn't figure it out yet. This was the first time in years that he was caught unaware. It hardly ever happened.
He thought to himself, " the last time I was ever confused like this was that year and we couldn't find the criminals. This must not repeat itself. Never!" He clenched his fists in rage. He was angry but still composed because he was in a hospital.
He could not go into the ICU with Sorin. Only immediate family members were allowed in and since it was a medical facility, he didn't want to interfere with anything but he decided to keep watch from outside while making numerous calls in the bid to find out what caused the accident and who the perpetrators were.
He got a call and picked it up immediately.
"Yes? What is it?" He said, as he picked the call.
"There's a problem sir." The person on the other end said.
"What is it this time?" Kelvin asked, now frustrated at all the events that had been unfolding lately.
"She's missing sir." The person responded.