“She’s going to die isn't she?” I asked Brian, the shelter owner and my boss. He looked down at the beautiful grey and black Border Collie, tears swelling in his crystal blue eyes.
“Yes, but you already knew that, didn’t you, Sadie?”  I looked up at him and slowly shook my head yes. I hate having to look up at people, but it's my life on account of me being only 4’8 and sixteen.
“I’m going to say a few kind words. Emma was a great dog, she was always obedient and gave the best puppy kisses.”
I didn’t really know what else to say.  I’m not a very comforting person.
“That was nice of you to say, thank you.” Ugh. He gets emotional over everything. “It's time to say goodbye.”
I look at the dog one more time, pet her and then watch as Brian carefully puts the needle in her side. She yelped a little and then, silence. I felt sad but Emma had been in the shelter her whole life and had developed a critical stage of cancer. She had been in pain for a long time. I wrapped her limp body in a blanket and took her to the back of the shelter where  Brian and I had dug a grave. When I came back into the shelter, Brian was sobbing on the table.
“You need to stop getting so emotional over every animal that we get here.”
Oops there I go again speaking my mind when I shouldn’t be.  He picked up his head and looked at me. I knew he was about to yell, but nothing came out. He just threw the trash can across the room, turned away and walked into the other room. I took that as my cue to go home.
I walked in the front door and yelled, “I’m home!” Even though I already knew I wouldn’t get a response.
Dad was at work as always, because who else is going to pay the bills? And Mary, my older sister, (only by two years) is always out with friends partying. I can’t get any pets because my dad's allergic to most animals, so it’s pretty lonely at my house. I went to my room and locked the door. It's a habit on account of my sister likes to walk into my room whenever she pleases. I looked over at my dresser where a picture of my mom sits. She was so beautiful.
When I was nine my mother was shot right in front of me. My dad was working his long hours as usual, and Mary was spending the night at my grandma's house. It was only my mom and I. The person had on all black, completely covered. I couldn’t even see their eyes. They just broke into our house for no reason, and just killed her. A straight shot to the head. The weird thing is they never once even glanced at me. The target was my mother. After the person left I sat by my mom, my clothes soaking up her blood. When my dad got home, he went into shock. After about an hour of both of us standing in the same place, he called the police.
They looked for mom’s killer, but failed to figure out who it was. To this day I still don’t know who killed her, and it fills me with such rage when I think about it, that I could do serious damage to someone. They gave up. That’s exactly what they did, gave up.
I don’t think about my mother a lot, only when I’m sad. I wish she would be there to comfort me. I need her now more than ever. It’s the worst part of the year, school. I live in Indiana so we start school in early August. It's so not fair that we have to go back so early. I have really bad anxiety so at this exact moment, millions of thoughts of what could go wrong are racing through my mind. I guess I better go to sleep so that I am well rested tomorrow.
Ugh. It's 5:15 in the morning when my alarm goes off. I hate that alarm. It  lets me know that I am in for a world of stress. I decided to wear a green jacket with a black tank top underneath, white converse, and blue jeans. I didn’t do anything with my brown highlighted  hair except straighten it. Then the last thing I did is slap on a little makeup and I’m out the door, letting it slam behind me.
After the long bumpy and dreadful busride I finally arrived at East Burry High School. As soon as I walked into the school all eyes were on me. Then came all the people saying things like “I’m so sorry” or “I’m praying for you”. What in the world is happening? Then I look beyond the faces of the sorrowful faces and see the posters. Posters that say “MISSING Mary Bond 18 of East Burry County was reported missing on August 14th, if you have any details about her disappearance then please contact the number below.” Under the number was a picture of my smiling sister.
In that moment, my heart stopped. I could feel a cold sweat on my hands. I know that she had stayed out late before, but never once had she not come home or to school. I started thinking about all the possibilities that could have happened, when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned to see my dad, wrinkly worry lines stretching across his forehead.
“Come on sweetie, let's go home we have a lot to discuss.”
He took me by the hand as if I were 2, but I let him. The car ride home was so quiet, it was almost painful.
When we finally got into the house, I had a total breakdown.
“I can’t do this again!” I screamed so loud that it hurt.  “I can’t sit and watch another member of this family die. I can’t I just can’t!”
“Sadie Bond you listen here, and listen good.” Your sister is not dead, and you will never watch her die. Do you hear me?” I nodded very slowly. At this point there were streams of angry and confused tears streaming down my face.
“It’s going to be okay, I promise.” Then dad did something that he hadn’t done in a long time. He cried.
I went up to my room for the night because I couldn’t talk anymore. Two reasons why. One, I had been screaming so hard that I hurt my throat, and two I had nothing left to say. I clicked on the television in hope that there would be good news on. Boy was I wrong. Mary was just one of the top stories along with the other twelve kids that also went missing. I listened so hard to what the news reporter had to say that it seemed as if the whole world stopped to listen to what the man had to say.
“Twelve kids went missing Monday August 14th at precisely 11 A.M. They were all last seen at a party Sunday. They never returned home. It is predicted that after the party they were kidnapped. Witnesses say that they saw the teens getting into a large moving van, and the person driving was wearing a black hoodie. There was no facial identification, so if you have any details please call the following number. This concludes the news for today, stay safe Indiana.”
This changed everything. Why would someone want to kidnap my sister and her friends? Who did it? They could be dead by now. Whenever someone gets kidnapped on movies it usually doesn’t turn out good. After the police gave up on my mother's case all those years ago, I don’t trust them. So I guess I had to take matters into my own hands, I was going to find my sister and her friends and no one is going to stop me.
“Stop! We need to ask you a few questions about the last time you saw your sister. It would help us greatly in the investigation.”
“I need to get to school.” That was a lie. School didn’t start for another half hour but I don’t necessarily feel like talking to a bunch of useless detectives.
“Was the last night you saw her Saturday?”
“Do you know all the people that she was with?”
“Do you know if anyone had anything against her?”
“Do you think…
“Shut up! “Just shut up and leave me alone. “Find someone else to give you useless details.” After that they didn’t say anything to me again.
Every school year is always the same. I stay with my same group of friends and I don’t associate with anyone else because lord knows what I did last time.
There was this girl a couple years ago and she knew just the right ways to push me over the edge. So one day I just turned around without thinking (which I do a lot) and threw a punch. It hit her square in the nose, breaking it. From that point on no one at my high school messed with me that included not wanting to be my friend.
The day went by really slowly and when the final bell rang I practically ran out of the school. I needed to start gathering information to find Mary and her friends.
When I got to my house I turned on the news. Eleven. I needed to now find eleven kids altogether.  Asher Chaplin was found dead by the pond near the community park. I needed to act fast. Who knows if Mary will be the next victim.
I knew Asher. He used to help me with my reading when I was younger. He was so nice and funny. I prayed for his family and then went to bed. It had been a long day.
My dad was already at work when I got up in the morning so I decided to skip school today and focus on my top priority, finding them.
I looked up all of the witness’s on the news website.There were four witnesses in all.  I decide to start with a women named Maria Velpo.
When I arrived at her house the first thing I noticed was all of the animals. She had dozens and dozens of dogs. When I rang the doorbell all I could hear was barking. It gave me a headache. When the door opened I saw a very skinny woman in black leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. She actually looked a lot like a model.
“What do you need? I am on a very tight schedule right now,” she said while trying to keep the dogs contained in the house.
“I’ll try not to take too much of your time but could you please tell me what you know about the twelve teens that went missing?”
“A detective already came earlier.  I told him everything I know.”
“Please ma’am my sister was one of the kids who went missing and I need to find her.” She looked irritated but then she invited me into her house.
“I’ll tell you everything I told the first guy!” she said shouting over the noise of the dogs.
“Quiet!” she screamed at the dogs and they all fell silent. Pretty amazing if I do say so.
“I was at my friends house and the party that they were at was in the house across the street.” The music was extremely loud, I could hear it from inside the house. When I got into my car to leave I saw a bunch of kids getting into a huge moving van which I found peculiar. I just figured they were going somewhere else to party. I guess I was wrong. That's all that I know I’m sorry.”
I thanked her and left. Not any help at all. The good news is one of the kids was found, alive. Time to talk to Jarod Ilada.
I went to the police station where he was patiently waiting to be questioned. The first thing that I noticed was that he was kind of cute. Ugh. Get that thought of your head Sadie.
“Hi Jarod, I’m Sadie, my sister was one of the kids at the party with you,” my voice was kind of shaky. He honestly made me nervous.
“Hi Sadie, are you the detective on the case?”
“You could say that,” I said real slick.
“Okay then I’ll tell you everything that went down.”
He is so dreamy I thought to myself.
“So start at the beginning if you could,” I said real cute. Or at least I thought it was cute.
“So there was this really lit party that was going on at 2569 North West Avenue, and me and a bunch of my friends including your sister went. Everything was going great there were strobe lights and they were blaring Lil Yatchy. Then this weird dude said he knew where there was a better party and that we should go. So twelve of us decided to go, big mistake. He said the only car he had was a moving van so we decided that it didn’t seem too weird and we went.”
“What did the guy look like? Height, weight, hair color, anything?”
“He was about 6’5 with brown hair and really blue eyes. He was wearing all black. I heard that before he drove away though, he put on a black face mask.”
It didn’t seem like anyone that I knew. After some more evidence I could probably put the pieces together.
“Do you know where he took you guys and how did Asher die?” He hesitated a moment. I know that it was hard for him. I looked very closely at him and it was the first time that I noticed all of the gashes, bruises, and cuts on his body.
“He took us to some sort of storage unit, I think it was. None of us could see of course because after we had arrived at the “party.” He gassed us and when we woke we were tied up completely. I figure it was a storage unit because of the way the door sounded when he opened it. I can still hear the screams of the girls,” he shuddered. “I’m not exactly sure how Asher died but I know that it was brutal. I could hear him getting shoved around and the guy cussing him out for resisting. Then flesh getting hit repeatedly, until you could hear bone. Then he must have dragged his body to the pond where they found him. I have no idea why anyone would want to kill a harmless kid, it's not fair.”
I was silent for a long time and then asked “What about my sister? Is she alright did he do that to her?”
“She was fine the last time I saw her, but a lot can change in those kind of situations in just a small amount of time.”
“I have one more question for you.”
“Sure what is it?”
“How did you escape and what did he do to you?”
“I was the strongest out of the group and after he had left I somehow managed to break free. He caught me trying to help the others and beat me with a lead pipe. I was able to escape through a busted window and ran straight to the police station.”
This is great! I just got a whole lot of new information that is going to help drastically.
“Thank you for your time Jarod,” I said sticking out my hand to be formal. He didn't shake my hand though, what he did was hug me.
“Stay strong Sadie, stay strong.”
I looked back on the website for the last two witnesses but by their names in fine print read “No questioning available.” Great. What am I supposed to do now. I have information but not enough. Then I got a devious yet brilliant idea. I was  going to go through the police files and see who the suspects are.
When I went back to the station, there was no one at the front desk. It was as if it was a miracle that was destined to happen. I quickly got on the computer and opened up the “New Cases” tab.
The description of the guy was all the same as what Jarod told me. Then I found the little button that said “Suspects.” This was it, this could lead me to who did all of this. When I clicked on the tab three names showed up. Jarod Illada, dad, and me!
This is crazy! This is so unfair. Dad was at work the whole time obviously I didn’t do it and Jarod…
Suddenly a thought popped into my head that I hadn’t thought of before. There are lots of kids in there and it just so happens he was the only one that could escape. It just doesn't seem right.  I hung my head in disbelief and disappointment. Then I heard footsteps and I ran out of that dreadful police station with tears streaming down my face.
I layed in my bed contemplating what I had just discovered. I trusted him. I thought that after this was all over we could be together and live happily ever after news flash, I'm not living in a fairytale. I sighed real long and said to myself out loud. “But what was the motive?”
The motive. Oh god. I threw on my shoes and raced down to the animal shelter. As I expected it was closed. The animal shelter is never closed. It wasn’t Jarod it was Brian.
It all makes sense. My mind was racing with a million different thoughts. The description, blue eyes, brown hair tall, and the reason he did it was because of me.
I knew that Brian  had problems in the past but I never knew it was this bad. He hadn’t gone to jail for a long time because he managed to contain himself, but I think when I went off on him that day calling him over emotional, it messed with his mind and now he wants revenge.
I sat down by the doors for a minute catching my breath. I felt so overwhelmed yet so proud that I had solved this.
I still had one question though. Where are they at? Then it came to me. They are right here.
The back door of the shelter sounds like a storage unit door. I went to the back very quietly not knowing what I would find behind that door. I put my hand on the cold handle of the door, counted to three and threw the door open.
Nothing. They weren't there. Brian might be crazy but he's smart. He probably figured someone would catch on and come here. My heart felt so heavy in my chest that I thought it might fall out. I needed to think of somewhere else he might have taken them.
His house! I had only been there once or twice but I knew where it was at. Luckily I had money left in my pocket from getting pizza earlier so I bought a bus ticket to get to Brian’s house.
When the bus pulled up to the worn and beaten down house I got a feeling that I couldn’t explain.
I went to the side of the house and looked through the window. I could see people! I didn’t see Brian anywhere, which made me nervous.
I went to the back to see if there was another door leading inside and there was. I turned the doorknob so delicately that it made no noise what so ever. I opened up the door slowly and, I was in!
The first thing I noticed was the smell. The smell of decaying flesh. I looked to the right of me and I almost screamed. Laying on the floor was the body of my sisters best friend Angie. She looked like she had been there awhile. My vision got blurry and I rubbed the tears away with my sweatshirt. I tiptoed around to the room where I had seen the kids through the window. They were all there! I saw my sister tied up. She looked weak. Like she hadn’t eaten in days. They all looked like that. A girl that I didn’t recognize saw me and started freaking out.
“Shh! If you’re quiet I can get you all out of here,” I whispered.
She immediately got quiet and I got to work.
There were nine kids to get untied and out safely. I started with the girl who had been making all the noise.
“What’s your name,” I asked.  No response. I figured that her throat was too dry to talk because they all hadn’t had water for days.
I got her untied and told her to help with the rest of them. I went to my sister next. I saw a shimmer of hope in her eyes and then a look of terror. I turned around to see Brian, a giant knife dripping with blood  in his hand. The girl that I had untied first was laying on the floor a pool of blood forming around her.
“Why are you doing this?” I screamed at him.
“The real question is why do I do a lot of things?” He said while twirling the knife around. “You see Sadie when I got to the age where I could understand this screwed up world, I realized I was adopted. That made me really mad. So mad that I decided to kill my adoption parents. Ever since then the feeling of cutting into flesh and bone and getting blood on my hands has felt so good that I just had to do it again. After all I am a very emotional guy as you said!” His shouting chilled me to the bone.
“Let them go, please just let them go and you can do whatever you want to me in return. Just don’t hurt any more of them, please.”
“Hmm, deal.” Then before I knew it he had tackled me onto the ground and had the knife pointed at my throat.
“You said deal!” I said through tears of anger.
“I never agreed to what the deal was.” As the knife tip touched my neck, I saw the flashing blue and red lights and before long the door was busted down and Brian was in handcuffs getting into a police car. It all happened so fast.
Brian was sentenced to life in prison in a restricted area where no one could see him. There was a funeral for the three kids that died and the whole school attended. It turns out the girl that I had helped had called the cops before Brian got to her, she was a hero. My sister managed to leave with only minor bruising and a broken leg. She no longer goes to parties, as well as the other kids. I met up with Jarod after everything.
“You are the bravest girl I have ever met and I would love if you would go out with me tonight.”
Score! “Sure I guess that would be cool.” I was smiling so hard that he probably thought that I was crazy but that's okay, because crazy isn't always bad.