I step outside of my house into the sand and start to run along the beach, as I do every Saturday morning and enjoy the beautiful, peachy sunrise. As I run, I hear an ear-piercing screech, and I recognize it as my sister’s scream. I'm not far from home, so as I get there I see shadows dart across my neighbor’s yard and start to chase after them. I sprint as fast as I can and push people out of my way to get to my sister. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and I realize they are too far gone to catch. Tears start streaming down my cheeks, knowing that I might never see my sister again. My family past was already a sad story, I'm not going to lose my sister too.

My name is Hope, I’m 17 years old, and I live in Massachusetts. I don’t have many hobbies, besides taking care of my sister everyday. I live in an apartment with my little sister and mom. My dad left when I was about 5 years old, right after my my sister was born. My mom is almost never home anymore, because she is always working now. My sister, Lucy, is my favorite person on earth with brown hair, blue eyes, and the kindest heart of anyone you’ve ever imagined.
  I don’t know who would want to hurt Lucy, she wouldn’t harm a fly, let alone a person. I decide to think about who could hold grudges against my family and there was a couple people I thought of. There was Mrs. Edwards, a grumpy old lady who owns the Sewing Center and Mr. Carl, a salesman, who is mean and doesn't like anyone. My mom found out that he was abusing his son, so the police took away his son, Mr. Carl’s only joy, so maybe he wants to do that to my mom. There was also Mrs. Peters, our landowner, who mom got into a fight with because we didn’t pay our rent, but we weren’t leaving. Or maybe it was Aunt Sue, who we never talked to because she betrayed my family.
I get back home, and I call the police and tell them what happened. They say they will do the very best they can to find her, but I know the police aren’t the best, so I decide to look for myself. I start looking from where I stopped running on the edge of town. As I start looking, out of the corner of my eye, I see something pink sticking up in the mud. I pick it up and see that it was my sister’s, with the name Lucy sewed in the pink thread with white lettering. I find it by the Sewing Center, where I know Lucy loves to go. It is owned by Mrs. Edwards, and it is a fairly big space with rows and rows of fabric in just about any pattern or color you would want. It smelled of coffee, as the employees always have a cup of coffee in their hand.
I walk up to the cashier and ask, “By any chance, were you in here earlier and happened to see a little girl wandering around?”
“There was a little girl in here earlier, brown hair blue eyes, but she wasn’t with anyone just wanted to buy some pink fabric,” she replies.
  “Did she say anything?”
“Actually, she said something about hoping her sister would be alright without her.”
“Thank you,” I say.
As I walk out of the store, I wonder what she meant by, “She was hoping she would be alright without me.” I walk out when I hear someone yell after me, “Wait, wait, I forgot to tell you, this is her jacket, she left it here earlier. I figured since you came here looking for her you would know her, so I wanted to give you her jacket to give to her when you see her.”
I take the jacket and decide to look in the pockets to see if there is anything in them. I find a note in one of her pockets. This is what it says.
“Dear Hope, I know I have been a burden to you these past few years, so I'm running away to stop the guilt. I don't want to get in the way of your success. I decided to write this so you wouldn't come looking for me thinking I was hurt or something. I also wanted to let you know the scream you heard wasn't me getting hurt, I was scared to leave so I screamed to let all the anger and sadness out. I love you. Your sister, Lucy.”
           I can't believe what the note said, but as I look at it closer I realize it isn't Lucy's handwriting, but somebody else's. It isn't Lucy who wrote it, it must have been the person who kidnapped her.  I look at the paper closer and realize it had a logo at where it was written. It was written at The Place, a restaurant down the street from the Sewing Center, so I decide to check it out, and head down the street to The Place.
As I walk in, I immediately smell french fries and hamburgers hot on the grill. I look around and see a jukebox playing music, which I soon figure out was playing one of Lucy’s favorite songs. As soon as I hear the music, I know Lucy had been there and just imagine Lucy sitting there eating her cheeseburger, nodding her head to the music as she swallowed her first bite of the best cheeseburgers in town. I walk around trying to find something of Lucy’s and finally a waiter comes up to me and asks if I want anything.
“No, thank you…  Actually can you tell me if someone was in here earlier with my sister, Lucy. You remember her, don’t you?” I ask him.
He replies, “In fact, there was a woman here earlier with long brown hair, a dirty old t-shirt, jeans, and some cowboy boots, but I didn’t get a good look at the face. I thought it was your mom, so I didn’t think anything of it.”
“No, my mom went to work early this morning, and I went on a run. While I was out, I heard a scream, and when I got to the house, she was gone,” I tell him, my eyes starting to water.
“Well, I did overhear her on the phone, saying she was going to the next town over to find a place to sleep, and then something about trying to find plane tickets to Washington, so they wouldn’t get caught.”
After I know Lucy was going to be in the next town over I stop worrying so much for a while and get something to eat. I order a cheeseburger and fries with a water. The food comes quickly and I gobble it right up, not even tasting it because right before I get my food I realize, Lucy could end up in Washington if I don’t find her first! I run out of The Place and get on the first bus to the next town.
It is the longest bus ride ever, that feels like two days instead of two hours. The bus is small and filled with people, dark and musty, and if you sit on a seat you will likely break it. I think about all the people who could have done it and cross out all of the men on it. I go through my list and look at all the women on it, but I don’t think any of them would have the heart to kidnap Lucy. I figure I must be missing something.
I finally arrive at Bronson township at about 10 o'clock at night, and I find a hotel room for the night. I wonder about Lucy, thinking maybe she is in a hotel room as well. I find a small hotel for a good price, but it looks like it is ready for Christmas, with green carpet and red curtains, and it even smells like eggnog. I don’t think too much of it though, for as soon as I get there, I lay my head down on the fluffiest pillow and I fall asleep, even before I take my shoes off.
I wake up at about 7 in the morning to get an early start on the day and to find out where Lucy is. I start thinking of places that people would keep kidnapped kids, like abandoned houses, the old cheesecake factory, or even the creepy, abandoned boat down at the docks, that nobody ever goes in. I decide to check the abandoned houses first and I only find one in the whole area. I start walking down the stairs, outside, and onto Waverly Avenue. I start walking and, right away, realize nobody will be as friendly as they are back in my town. I immediately start dodging people on bikes, people walking, and people walking dogs, who won't even budge, if I walk in front of them. I finally get to the house by walking down an alley that still has damp clotheslines hung up, broken glass and trash on the ground everywhere, and it is so depressing that everything in the alley was sagging.
I find the house but it looks like it went through a hurricane, the windows are broken, the door looks like it is going to fall off, the wood is all chipped, and there are cobwebs everywhere. Except… there is a pathway about the size of a grown man where there are no cobwebs in the doorway and it happens all throughout the house. Only, there is a room that has no cobwebs in it, whatsoever, and looks like it has been lived in for a couple of days, at least. Although, right away I realize someone left in a hurry because blankets are left thrown around on the floor, and a cabinet is wide open with fresh, little crumbs that have been left there. I also find water dripping from a faucet, which it won't be unless someone has just used it. I look around the room and find no evidence of where they are going except a business card for Crazy Sue’s, the greasiest food place in town. I decide that if anyone doesn’t want to be found they would go to Crazy Sue’s.
I head back down the alley, running this time, so I can get out of there as fast as I can, feeling like there were spiders crawling around inside of me. I take a right turn, head down the street, take a left and I am right in front of Crazy Sue’s and it doesn’t look very good. It is very run down, but it is still up and running, and almost no one goes in it. I walk in and I see a place very colorful and cheery, with high tech computers, a game room, and the most advanced kitchen I’d ever seen. I was thinking, this doesn't make any sense, the last time I was here it was almost out of business and no one was within half a mile from this place. I guess Sue finally got money to fix this place up, instead of trying to get money from my parents. Right then, as I was thinking about Sue, she comes out and says hello to me.
“Well, what an unexpected surprise from my favorite niece,” She sneers.
“Hello, Auntie. When did you fix this all up? You barely have enough money to take care of yourself, how do you have enough money to rebuild this place? I know, did you go trick another innocent family, or did you rob bank this time?” I ask.
Aunt Sue has always been a trickster, but one day my mom caught her in the act and Sue had to have a parole officer. Sue never forgave my mom and has wanted to get revenge on her for all these years. She blames my mom for becoming crazy, because my mom had everything, a family, a job, and a good life. If she wants revenge, she might have kidnapped Lucy! It made perfect sense, Sue lived in this town, wants revenge on my mom, looks like my mom,  and most importantly, she is crazy!
She replies, “Now is that how you talk to your favorite aunt? Can’t we just put the past behind us? I’ve changed, I learned my lesson, I would never do that again. Now, why didn’t you bring little Lucy with you.”
I answer, “Actually, that’s why I’m here, I wanted to know if you had seen her anywhere.”
“Nope, I haven’t seen her anywhere, sugarplum. So sorry. I do hope you find her, wouldn’t want a little girl like her out in the city alone.”
I don't see any point in interrogating her, so I start to leave, but before I do someone rushes past me, I see long dark hair, holding something. It looks like a small person, Lucy, I ponder. I run out of there as fast as I can, chase her through an alley, where I almost lose them. I have to climb fences and sprint through fields, I am so close I can feel it, and finally come to a dead end and see the face of my sister’s kidnapper.
“DAD!” I exclaim. The kidnapper is my father, who abandoned us years ago, because he didn’t want another kid. Oh my goodness, if my dad is the kidnapper, that means, it was my dad at the diner and not a lady, I thought! That makes sense now, he has long, dark hair, blue eyes, big ears, and he has torn up clothes on that the waiter at the diner told me about.
I say to him with tears streaming down my cheeks, “Give me my sister. I will not have another family member taken from me. I will do whatever it takes to get her back. She is my only family.”
“You may be her sister, but I’m her father, but you are not taking her from me! I haven’t had a family in 12 years! I would like to start one now!” he yells.
“I will get her back one way or another, even if I have to fight you. Lucy is the most important thing to me in the world,” I tell him. “No one, not even you, will take my sister from me.”
He puts down Lucy, and I tell her to run, run to safety, and to go get help. She says she wants to stay, to help me, but I tell her no, she can't see this. I know that this won't end well. My father is still fairly young, he has the strength, he has the speed, he has the wisdom, he has the advantage. I know that I have one thing he doesn't, courage, and knowing when to stay and not to run. I have no idea if I can win, but I have to try, for myself, and for Lucy. I keep telling myself  “I can do this, I can do this, do it for Lucy, do it for Lucy,” because, after all, I have the greatest advantage of all, not wanting to lose my only family.
My father starts by trying to catch me off guard with a hit right to the mouth, but I am prepared, and dodge the hit. My dad never learned how to fight, so he just starts off punching and kicking. I do a back handspring, dodge every one of his attacks, not knowing if I will land it. I think that my karate lessons have payed off and I know exactly what to do. I do a sweep kick and I knock him off his feet, but what I don't know is that right behind him is a rock. He hits his head and my world comes crashing down. I have never hurt anyone before, at least, not on purpose, but I don't know what to do. At the exact time that he hit his head, the police come down the alley and as soon as I tell them what happened, they take him to the hospital, but they still have to ask me a few questions.
“Excuse me, miss, what happened here? What made him hit his head so hard?” Someone asks me.
“Well earlier in the week my sister had been kidnapped, and I went off to find her,” Sniffling back tears. “What I found out was that, that man, my father, was the kidnapper.”
“Ok, so why did he end up hurt and why didn’t you just call the police?”
“I did call the police, but they are so slow when this has happened before, and I couldn’t wait that long. So, I took matters into my own hands and decided to find her myself.” At that moment, I was as joyful as puppy, because Lucy comes running out of the cop car and into my arms. I hug her as tight as I can, and hope for her sake, that she will never go through this again.
The police officer takes us to the hospital, where we meet my mom and the nurse.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried sick about you two. Come here,” my mother says.  She hugs us so hard it is hard to breathe.
The nurse interrupted our family reunion when she tells us there is bad news, “ Excuse me, I hate to break up the family reunion, but your father had some serious brain damage, when he hit his head on that rock, and I’m afraid that he just didn’t make it. By the time he got to the hospital, there was too much bleeding, and he died at 1:42 this afternoon. I’m so sorry.”
“This is all my fault, this is all my fault,” I say over and over again. I killed him, I killed my dad. If I hadn’t fought him, he wouldn’t have died, but if I didn’t I wouldn’t have gotten Lucy back. I just needed to face the facts that, I did it, I killed my own father, but I got Lucy back in return.