I walked into my room and picked up my phone off my desk. I saw I had three unread notifications. One of them was a YouTube notification, one was reminding me to collect my eggs on Township, and the third was a text from my best friend, Jakob, asking me if I was busy.

Jakob: Hey, r u doing anything rn?

Miles: Yeah, texting you

Jakob: I mean r u busy

Miles: Depends

Jakob: Can u come over 2 hang

Miles: Probably not, my mom needs some time to herself to think.

Miles: But I can video chat

Jakob. That works, c u in a min

Miles: K

I sat down in my bean bag chair again and opened the FaceTime app on my phone. I selected Jakob's name and pressed call. My ringtone played as I waited for the answer. Less than a minute later, Jakob's face covered the screen.

"Hi," he said

"Hey," I replied

"How're things going? How's life?"

"My parents are fighting all the time now, it's been happening for almost a month." Jakob was the kind of friend I could tell anything too. We could share every second of our lives if we wanted to. Between Jakob and I, barely anything was too personal for us.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what that's like, I hope you're still doing fine."

"I'm holding up." We talked for a while longer until, on Jakob's end of the call, I could hear his dad calling his name and his older brother shouting.

"Sorry, I gotta go. Joey's mad at me," Jakob said quickly before hanging up. I was about to put my phone away when it started to vibrate and make an alarm sound. I looked at it and saw that it was an amber alert. I got those every once in a while and it was never anyone I knew or had seen before, so I just decided to ignore it.

It was around 3:40 p.m and I was getting hungry, but it was too early to have supper. Instead, I got up out of my chair and walked over to my dresser. I opened the bottom drawer where I kept my secret snack stash. Hmm, what should I have? I thought as I scanned the drawer. I had an unopened box of goldfish, some Oreos, and various other little packages.

"I'll have this," I said aloud to no one but myself, taking out a bag of Cheezits and popping a few in my mouth. I closed the drawer and sat back down.

Things were calm right now, and I liked it. No shouting parents, (at least not yet) no whining sister, and nothing but the sounds of the outside. I sat there with my eyes closed, just listening to the birds chirping and the occasional car horn. I was happy.

Unfortunately, my peaceful relaxation time was cut short due to a loud noise, and then a screeching meow. Dusky came running in, looking terrified, and Dad ran out of his bedroom. I pet Dusky to calm him down.

"What happened boy?" I asked him, even though he couldn't understand me, "What'd he do?" Curious about the situation, I got up and walked into Mom and Dad's room. The room smelled strongly of smoke. There was a cigarette butt on Dad's nightstand, and on Mom's side, a book entitled How To Deal With Divorce. I looked to my left and discovered a piece of broken glass on the floor by Dad's dresser. On the dresser, was the rest of the mug the piece of glass belonged to. It was Dad's anniversary mug, given to him 17 years ago on Mom and Dad's first wedding anniversary. Either Dad broke it to get rid of the memory, or it broke naturally and now he's blaming Mom for it.

When I came back into my room, I checked the time. It was nearly 4:10. Vivian should be back by now, maybe they were just running late. I decided to go ask Mom, just to be sure.

"Mom, is Vivian running late? She's not back yet," I asked her,

"Oh, she decided to stay the night," she replied.

For the rest of the afternoon and evening, after eating supper at 5:30, I just watched a couple of movies on Netflix and then watched a few YouTube videos. I worked some more on my Coding Club project and read a book right before bed.

I was woken up abruptly the next morning by a vibration and loud alarm sound coming from my phone. I picked it up, slightly annoyed, to discover that it was an Amber Alert. Instead of ignoring it like I did the day before, I clicked on it to read the information.

A female, 10 years old, shoulder-length sandy brown hair and green eyes. Wearing a red and blue striped short sleeve shirt and khaki shorts. Last seen playing in the driveway of 2275 N Marie St. in Cumberland County. A man was seen on street nearby right before the time of the incident.

I couldn't believe it. That description sounded EXACTLY like Vivian! That address was Bella's house! Vivian was missing, most likely kidnapped! I needed to find out for sure if she really was gone. I needed to go to the Keelys' house. I ran downstairs as fast as I could and threw my shoes on.

"Mom, I'm going to the Keelys', Vivian is in possible danger. Bye!" I announced before running out the door and pulling out my bike. I rode off, peddling rapidly down the sidewalk. I finally arrived at the Keelys' and stopped my bike in the middle of the driveway. This time, the black car wasn't the only vehicle in the driveway. Next to the usual car was a navy blue and black police car. My heart was beating fast as I walked up to the door. I knocked and got an answer almost immediately.

"Mrs. Keely!" I asked, "Where is Vivian!?" Mrs. Keely looked sorry.

"Oh, Miles," she started, "We don't know, Bella and I have looked all over the neighborhood for her and she's nowhere to be found. I called the police and they've been searching, too." I didn't know what to say.

"Mom! Dad! Look at this!' I shouted, running into the house. They both happened to be in the living room at the same time, which was helpful. I showed them the Amber Alert description on my phone screen, but they weren't paying attention to me.

"Vivian's been kidnapped!" I yelled. That got their attention quickly.

"Yes, we know already. Mrs. Keely called us and I called the police late last night." Dad explained.

"We didn't want you to worry so we weren't going to tell you," Mom said

"Well, you wouldn't have needed to anyway. My phone went off this morning and woke me up."

"It will all be taken care of, don't you worry."

"But I do need to worry, Mom, and I'm going get her back."

This dramatic incident was bringing Mom and Dad to the same side and causing them to not shout at each other for the time being. But right now, Mom and Dad's relationship was not my top priority. I needed to figure out who kidnapped Vivian and where she was now. I needed to question everyone I knew who might've been involved. I would try Mrs. Keely first, and then Bella, since they were with her when it happened.

"Dad, I'm leaving for a while. I'll be back before lunch," I called out. I didn't bother to tell them where I was going because they were preoccupied trying to solve the issue themselves.

"Text me when you get to wherever you're going, and let us know that you're safe!" was all I heard before closing the door and leaving for the Keelys' house. It had barely been half an hour since I was just there, so Mrs. Keely was a little surprised to see me back so soon.

"I need you to tell me everything you know about last night and what happened," I asked strongly, and when she looked hesitant, I added a polite "please".

"Okay, I'll agree to this," she said after a while, gesturing me inside, "I can tell you really care about your sister." She led me into the living room and she pointed at an empty chair for me to sit in, then sat in one right across from me.

"Okay," I started, taking a deep breath. "From your perspective, what happened last night?"

"I knew the girls were playing with some chalk and balls and that sort outside in the driveway, and at some point, Bella came inside to go to the bathroom." I wrote some things down in my notebook I had with me, I felt like a real detective. "Bella went back outside when she was finished but came back merely a minute later looking terrified. She told me that she couldn't find Vivian anywhere and she had searched all around the house." This was all adding up so far.

"So, how did you react? How soon did you call the police?"

"First, I went outside to look for her down the street a little ways, but still couldn't find her. We asked some of the neighbors if they had seen her, but they had all been inside at the time. That's when I called your parents." All that information made sense from what she had likely experienced, but it didn't really give enough information about the kidnapper.

"Could you see anyone around the street while they were playing?"

"There are always neighborhood kids around every day, but I didn't know anything had happened until Bella told me."

"Thank you for your information, now I need to interview Bella."

"She's in her room right now. Second door on the right." I walked upstairs and knocked on her door and waited.

"Come in, Mom." came a glum voice from behind the door, "And you don't need to knock."

"No, it's me," I said as I pushed open the door, "I need to ask you about last night." I came in and sat down beside her.

"I can't tell you that," she said, "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" She just shook her head. "I need to know what happened so I can find out how to rescue her. Don't you want your friend back?" She folded her arms and turned away from me. I shrugged and walked out of the room/

"She wouldn't tell me anything, so I need to investigate for myself," I told Mrs. Keely.

Back at home, I needed to find information, so I looked in the place that Vivian knows best. Her bedroom was untidy with a pile of dirty clothes on the floor and things scattered throughout on her shelves. I knew she had a secret crate hidden in a corner, I had seen her dig through it before when I was spying on her. I hurried over to it and saw her journal lying there on the top of the pile. I picked it up and flipped through the pages, skimming them for any possibly useful information. One of the most recent pages caught my eye:

September 27th

Mom and Dad are always yelling and arguing and I don't like it. I feel uncomfortable in this house most of the time and I'm always finding excuses to get out and get some fresh air. I was able to get outside today by volunteering to take out the trash. (which I would never do) This house and the fighting is causing me to do things I would never do, just do escape the violence. I can't stand it.

I had a feeling this would be important, so I ripped out the page and stuffed it into my pocket. I didn't know what to do next, but the first thought that came to mind was to go back to the Keelys' and try to get Bella to tell me something. I scanned the room one last time before walking out into the hallway.

Going back and forth from my house to the Keelys' was getting really tedious, so to be more efficient, I grabbed everything I might possibly need and put it in my backpack. I bid farewell once more to my parents, although I doubt they could hear me, and walked out the door. I put my backpack on and rode away down the street.

"I have something that will probably be helpful in finding out Vivian's whereabouts!" I told Mrs. Keely when I entered, "and it also might help Bella to talk." I headed back upstairs and into Bella's bedroom. Bella stopped what she was doing quickly and turned to look at me.

"Look at this," I told her, pulling out the journal entry and uncrumpling it, "I ripped this out of Vivian's journal, and you're her best friend, so I thought you might know something about it." Her eyes widened for a second but then she snapped out of it, clearly not wanting to give anything away.

"I don't know anything about that." She muttered, but I was certain she was hiding something.

"Are you sure Vivian never mentioned anything like this to you? At all?" Bella took the paper from my hand and read through it, but then quickly answered,

"Even if she did I wouldn't tell you." She got up and was about to leave the room but I managed to get there quicker and block her way out.

"I don't know what you want from me!" Bella said, almost shouting.

"I want you to tell me what you know. She's your best friend, you ought to know something!"

"I promise to keep secrets with my best friends like a good friend should."

"So you do know something!" Bella seemed to be getting more annoyed by the second, but I needed to know everything I could to save Vivian.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll tell you, but not even my mom knows this."

"Should you tell her, too?"

"No, no, no. She doesn't need to know." I felt like whatever it was, Mrs. Keely should know so she could help us.

"I think she needs to know as well, that way there will be three people with the same information."

"Fine." I opened her door and we walked downstairs together and into the living room where Mrs. Keely sat.

"Bella knows something that we don't and she's going to tell us both right now," I said to Mrs. Keely as Bella and I sat down on separate couches. "Okay," I turned to Bella, "Spill." Bella took a deep breath.

"Vivian didn't get kidnapped. She ran away." Mrs. Keely gasped audibly and I just opened my mouth. "I kept her secret for her because she didn't want her parents to find out."

"Why would she do that?!" I asked.

"You read her journal, she feels uncomfortable at home! Your Mom and Dad are always yelling and fighting." I had no idea Vivian felt that way, she had never told me. But then again, maybe I had never asked.

"Mom! Dad! Look at this!' I shouted, running into the house. They both happened to be in the living room at the same time, which was helpful. I showed them the Amber Alert description on my phone screen, but they weren't paying attention to me.

"Vivian's been kidnapped!" I yelled. That got their attention quickly.

"Yes, we know already. Mrs. Keely called us and I called the police late last night." Dad explained.

"We didn't want you to worry so we weren't going to tell you," Mom said

"Well, you wouldn't have needed to anyway. My phone went off this morning and woke me up."

"It will all be taken care of, don't you worry."

"But I do need to worry, Mom, and I'm going get her back."

This dramatic incident was bringing Mom and Dad to the same side and causing them to not shout at each other for the time being. But right now, Mom and Dad's relationship was not my top priority. I needed to figure out who kidnapped Vivian and where she was now. I needed to question everyone I knew who might've been involved. I would try Mrs. Keely first, and then Bella, since they were with her when it happened.

"Dad, I'm leaving for a while. I'll be back before lunch," I called out. I didn't bother to tell them where I was going because they were preoccupied trying to solve the issue themselves.

"Text me when you get to wherever you're going, and let us know that you're safe!" was all I heard before closing the door and leaving for the Keelys' house. It had barely been half an hour since I was just there, so Mrs. Keely was a little surprised to see me back so soon.

"I need you to tell me everything you know about last night and what happened," I asked strongly, and when she looked hesitant, I added a polite "please".

"Okay, I'll agree to this," she said after a while, gesturing me inside, "I can tell you really care about your sister." She led me into the living room and she pointed at an empty chair for me to sit in, then sat in one right across from me.

"Okay," I started, taking a deep breath. "From your perspective, what happened last night?"

"I knew the girls were playing with some chalk and balls and that sort outside in the driveway, and at some point, Bella came inside to go to the bathroom." I wrote some things down in my notebook I had with me, I felt like a real detective. "Bella went back outside when she was finished but came back merely a minute later looking terrified. She told me that she couldn't find Vivian anywhere and she had searched all around the house." This was all adding up so far.

"So, how did you react? How soon did you call the police?"

"First, I went outside to look for her down the street a little ways, but still couldn't find her. We asked some of the neighbors if they had seen her, but they had all been inside at the time. That's when I called your parents." All that information made sense from what she had likely experienced, but it didn't really give enough information about the kidnapper.

"Could you see anyone around the street while they were playing?"

"There are always neighborhood kids around every day, but I didn't know anything had happened until Bella told me."

"Thank you for your information, now I need to interview Bella."

"She's in her room right now. Second door on the right." I walked upstairs and knocked on her door and waited.

"Come in, Mom." came a glum voice from behind the door, "And you don't need to knock."

"No, it's me," I said as I pushed open the door, "I need to ask you about last night." I came in and sat down beside her.

"I can't tell you that," she said, "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?" She just shook her head. "I need to know what happened so I can find out how to rescue her. Don't you want your friend back?" She folded her arms and turned away from me. I shrugged and walked out of the room/

"She wouldn't tell me anything, so I need to investigate for myself," I told Mrs. Keely.

Back at home, I needed to find information, so I looked in the place that Vivian knows best. Her bedroom was untidy with a pile of dirty clothes on the floor and things scattered throughout on her shelves. I knew she had a secret crate hidden in a corner, I had seen her dig through it before when I was spying on her. I hurried over to it and saw her journal lying there on the top of the pile. I picked it up and flipped through the pages, skimming them for any possibly useful information. One of the most recent pages caught my eye:

September 27th

Mom and Dad are always yelling and arguing and I don't like it. I feel uncomfortable in this house most of the time and I'm always finding excuses to get out and get some fresh air. I was able to get outside today by volunteering to take out the trash. (which I would never do) This house and the fighting is causing me to do things I would never do, just do escape the violence. I can't stand it.

I had a feeling this would be important, so I ripped out the page and stuffed it into my pocket. I didn't know what to do next, but the first thought that came to mind was to go back to the Keelys' and try to get Bella to tell me something. I scanned the room one last time before walking out into the hallway.

Going back and forth from my house to the Keelys' was getting really tedious, so to be more efficient, I grabbed everything I might possibly need and put it in my backpack. I bid farewell once more to my parents, although I doubt they could hear me, and walked out the door. I put my backpack on and rode away down the street.

"I have something that will probably be helpful in finding out Vivian's whereabouts!" I told Mrs. Keely when I entered, "and it also might help Bella to talk." I headed back upstairs and into Bella's bedroom. Bella stopped what she was doing quickly and turned to look at me.

"Look at this," I told her, pulling out the journal entry and uncrumpling it, "I ripped this out of Vivian's journal, and you're her best friend, so I thought you might know something about it." Her eyes widened for a second but then she snapped out of it, clearly not wanting to give anything away.

"I don't know anything about that." She muttered, but I was certain she was hiding something.

"Are you sure Vivian never mentioned anything like this to you? At all?" Bella took the paper from my hand and read through it, but then quickly answered,

"Even if she did I wouldn't tell you." She got up and was about to leave the room but I managed to get there quicker and block her way out.

"I don't know what you want from me!" Bella said, almost shouting.

"I want you to tell me what you know. She's your best friend, you ought to know something!"

"I promise to keep secrets with my best friends like a good friend should."

"So you do know something!" Bella seemed to be getting more annoyed by the second, but I needed to know everything I could to save Vivian.

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll tell you, but not even my mom knows this."

"Should you tell her, too?"

"No, no, no. She doesn't need to know." I felt like whatever it was, Mrs. Keely should know so she could help us.

"I think she needs to know as well, that way there will be three people with the same information."

"Fine." I opened her door and we walked downstairs together and into the living room where Mrs. Keely sat.

"Bella knows something that we don't and she's going to tell us both right now," I said to Mrs. Keely as Bella and I sat down on separate couches. "Okay," I turned to Bella, "Spill." Bella took a deep breath.

"Vivian didn't get kidnapped. She ran away." Mrs. Keely gasped audibly and I just opened my mouth. "I kept her secret for her because she didn't want her parents to find out."

"Why would she do that?!" I asked.

"You read her journal, she feels uncomfortable at home! Your Mom and Dad are always yelling and fighting." I had no idea Vivian felt that way, she had never told me. But then again, maybe I had never asked.

2:00 the next day couldn't have come any slower. I felt like time was frozen for me, but speeding ahead for Vivian, allowing lots of opportunities for something bad to happen to her. I spent most of the day before the meeting waiting for time to pass. I read some books, but by the time I had finished three chapters, it was only 3:45. Even after I had watched a whole movie and taken a shower, it was still only 6:00 p.m. I decided I would go to bed way earlier than usual, just to speed up the clock. I was like a child on Christmas Eve, anticipating the day ahead and constantly checking the time.

It was only 8:40 when I got ready for bed, and I usually didn't go to sleep until 10:15, even on school nights. It felt strange brushing my teeth and changing into my pajamas so early, my body wasn't used to it, and neither was I. I had a hard time falling asleep that night, as it was still light out when I got into bed. 

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! My alarm was going off. I checked the time. 9:30 a.m, the time I had set my alarm to last night. I sat up and stretched before sliding off my bed and pressing "off" on my alarm clock. Next, I got dressed. I needed to wear something nice to make a good first impression, but nothing too formal. I dug through my dresser drawers until I found the right outfit. I pulled out a sky blue, button-up shirt and a nice pair of jean shorts. I got dressed then finished getting ready for the day.

"Good morning!" Mom said when I came downstairs. She was already awake.

"Morning," I replied. I opened the kitchen cabinet and pulled out the box of Fruity Pebbles. I then opened the fridge and grabbed the milk. A bowl of cereal wasn't anything big, but I didn't need too much to eat. Plus, cereal was quick and easy.

I still did my usual chores: Take out the trash, feed Dusky, and clean out the litter box, but even my chores didn't make the day go by any quicker. I checked the time again. 10:20, only 3 more hours and twenty more minutes.

The police station was different than I expected it to be. I had imagined a big, blue and white building with a few jail cells on the inside. I thought there would've been a lot more interesting rooms than there were. Instead, the police station looked like any other building, with a brown, brick exterior and a bunch of offices on the inside. When we got there, we were led into a medium-sized conference room after being checked in. The police officer Mom had spoken on the phone with was already there. Next to her was another officer.

"Good afternoon," she said, pulling out two chairs for us, "Glad to see you here." Mom and I sat down. Mom started digging through her purse and I pulled out my investigator notebook. Not very much later, Bella and Mrs. Keely arrived. 

"Great," said the first officer, "We're all here. Now we may begin. First of all, I'm Madison Hart, and this is Ricky Shawn, he's in charge of the missing person cases." 

"Nice to meet ya'll," Officer Ricky said.

"So, you have updates on the Vivian case?" Officer Madison asked us all,

"Yes, and I think my son here should share it since he the one who found out," answered Mom.

"I actually think that Bella should be the one to do it. She was the one who told me," I responded, pointing to Bella. She gulped.

"Um, well, you see, Vivian ran away. She wasn't kidnapped," she said. Both the officers kept a straight face, and Officer Ricky wrote something down on his clipboard.

"That will be very helpful when in the near future when we begin to search more thoroughly." Wait. Search more thoroughly? They weren't searching thoroughly enough this whole time. I decided to speak up.

"Wait a minute, so are you saying that this whole time, you weren't trying very hard to find her?" 

"No, no, it's not that," Officer Madison said, "We were only searching using drones before, and now we'll need to use the search dogs." What? Search dogs?

"I don't understand."

"These dogs have been trained to recognize a person's scent and follow it. We will need something of the girl's with her scent all over it." Officer Ricky explained.

"A piece of her clothing will work," Mom said, I nodded. This all sounded so interesting and I wanted to help with the search.

"Could I help you look for her?" I asked Officer Ricky. He looked confused at first but then responded,

"Well, I suppose if you'd like to you could come along with me. If it's okay with your mother." I turned to Mom.

"I feel like you would get bored quickly if you did," she answered.

"No, I wouldn't. I want to find her. I would help them."

Mom sighed, "I guess it'd be alright if you helped." 

At home, after the meeting, Mom went into the bathroom to get a DNA sample from Vivian's hairbrush, and I got a shirt from one of the piles in Vivian's room. Once I had that, I went into the living room to wait for Mom; she was already standing by the door. She handed me a plastic bag with a few strands of Vivian's brunette hair. 

"Bye, Miles," Mom hugged me before I left, "I hope you're able to track her down."

"We all are." I replied. I pulled on my backpack and started outside to begin the search. Officer Ricky was waiting for me at the end of my driveway, a German Shepherd dog standing next to him.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yep," I replied. I handed him Vivian's dirty T-shirt and he looked down at the dog.

"Alright, Buster, here's the scent." He put the shirt right in front of Buster's nose, who started sniffing. He barked soon after and skipped off towards the Keelys' house. We arrived around 7 minutes later and Buster turned into the driveway and almost up the stairs.

"Of course he smells her inside, she spent the whole afternoon there. We need to look farther." I told Officer Ricky.

"Come here, Buster," he called out, and Buster ran back to his side. "Keep sniffing, boy." Buster headed off down the sidewalk, us trailing behind.

Buster didn't lead us anywhere possibly meaningful until we turned left off my street's sidewalk. He led us to a gas station that my parents had been to before. I thought he was going to go past it, as I doubted Vivian would go inside for any reason, but Buster walked straight towards the door to the store. 

"She must've gone in there at some point," said Officer Ricky, "I'll stay out here with Buster, you go check with the clerks." The door jingled as I walked inside. The gas station was small, with rows of various candy and snack items. There were three check-out counters in the back. I went up to one of them and asked the woman standing there.

"Um, excuse me," I asked her. "Have you seen a little girl come in here by herself in the past few days? She has brunette hair." 

"Oh, well yes," the woman answered, "She came in here yesterday to use the restroom and then she went out."

"Did she say anything?"

"I tried to ask her where her parents were but she wouldn't say anything."

"Okay, thanks for your help, Ma'am." I thought about leaving her a dollar for her help, but I had already turned around so it would be awkward. Instead, I just gave her a little wave goodbye and left the store. 

"Any clues?" Officer Ricky asked.

"Yes! But I don't know how big of a clue it is," I told him, "Vivian went inside here yesterday to go to the bathroom."

"That could be helpful, at least we know we're going the right direction." At that he bent down and pat Buster on his head. "Good boy, Buster. Now keep going." Buster hurried off again, his nose working hard, and we followed.

He led us past many buildings I've never even heard of and didn't stop again until we got up to a Taco Bell. Taco Bell was Vivian's favorite fast food place, so it was no surprise that she went there. She must've bought food or she wouldn't have stopped here, but I didn't think she had any money to spend. I knew she had some money saved up in her room, but I wasn't sure how much.

"I'll go in again," I said

"Actually, we don't really need to check here," Officer Ricky replied, "We know her scent is all over here, so we can assume she purchased something from here." That logic made sense, as she likely wouldn't have left any important trace here. Officer Ricky told Buster to move on and we followed him. 

It didn't look like we were getting any closer for a long time, we had already gone about four blocks (If you could call them blocks in our small suburban town) and still hadn't found anything else important. Finally, however, Buster turned abruptly when we got close to a house and started sniffing. I looked up at the house. I recognized it, it was the home of an old family friend. I looked back at Buster. He was sniffing quickly and heavily now. He sniffed the sidewalk right outside the house, he sniffed the driveway, some trees around the area, and even the fence around the house. Vivian was close, I could tell.

Through the windows of the house, I could see the silhouette of a person moving around. She turned her head to look out the window and shuffled. Now I could see her face more clearly: She gave a nervous glance back to the window and hustled away. Strange.

"She's gotta be close, I know it. Her scent is clearly all over the place!" I said,

"Can we be so sure, though?" Officer Ricky responded, "The only place she could be around here is in one of these few houses."

"I know a family friend that lives here," I pointed to the house closest to us. "Maybe she went in here for the night or something." Officer Ricky walked over to the door and knocked, I followed right behind him. After a long time, the woman I saw in the window finally answered.

"H-hello, Officer." She said,

"Hello, Ma'am," Officer Ricky replied. 

"What are you here for?" Officer Ricky stood up a little straighter.

"I am the chief officer for missing person cases, and right now I'm on the lookout for a little girl called Vivian." At this, the woman let out a very soft noise, like a quiet gasp. "I was wondering if you know anything about a girl being in or around your house recently." The woman was silent for a long time, contemplating an answer, but she did finally reply.

"I don't think so, I wouldn't even know what this girl looks like."

"She has brunette hair and hazel eyes."

"And an adorable smile," I added. The woman seemed surprised that I was there, but by the look on her face, I could tell she recognized me.

"I don't-" The woman couldn't finish her sentence, as there was a voice from in the house.

"Ms. Hueber, I'm finished." It was a voice I would know anywhere. At this, the woman started to move more frantically, pacing back and forth in the doorway. She turned back to us after ten or so paces.

"Okay, okay. The truth is, I have the girl with me. She's the daughter of one of my old friends and I knew roughly the situation at her home. She begged me to let her stay with me and keep the secret, but now you're here and-" The woman took a breath. "Please don't arrest me." Officer Ricky just smiled.

"I won't do anything, thank you for telling the truth. Now, can we please speak with the girl."

"Um," The woman left the front room and I could hear muffled voices. A minute later, the woman came back with Vivian following behind her.  Before Officer Ricky could say anything to her, I ran over and gave her a huge hug.

"Vivian! You're safe!"

"Miles? Why are you here? I'm so sorry!" 

"Hello, Vivian." Officer Ricky said as Vivian pulled out of the hug, "I'm Officer Ricky, and I need to talk to you for a little bit." Vivian looked terrified.

"Miles, please don't make me talk to a police officer. I don't want to go back home right now." Vivian said to me, tears started to well up.

"Viv, it's okay." I assured her, "Things will be better at home, just come back."

"Do I have to talk to him?" 

"Things will be all okay if you do. Please." I knew that Vivian talking to Officer Ricky would all be better in the end; Vivian would be back and safe, and we would continue our lives as a family, even though it would be harder with Dad gone.

Vivian walked over to Officer Ricky.

"Hello, Officer," she said, "Am I going to get in trouble?" Officer Ricky chuckled.

"Most likely not, we're all just glad that we've found you."

"Most likely not? So there's a chance I will?" 

"Well, yes. If your mother decides to press charges against you." Mom definitely wouldn't make Vivian have any criminal charges, she's just a girl, and Mom understood her reason for running away;

"I can guarantee that she won't." I said to ease her worries.

"Will she be punished?" Vivian pointed to the woman, "For helping me?"

"No, she did the right thing and turned you in, no charges will be made against her."

"I guess I need to go back home, then." Vivian looked at me.

"Yes, and Mom will be overjoyed to see you. Just like I am."

"Not so fast," said Officer Ricky, "We have some more questioning to do at the police station." 

A little while later, Vivian, Officer Ricky and I were at the police station in a little room, smaller than the one I was in before. We waited there for a couple minutes until Mom entered. As soon as she noticed Vivian, she ran over to her and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hi, Mom," Vivian said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"I was so worried about you, something terrible could've happened!" 

Officer Ricky cleared his throat. Mom and Vivian stopped and turned to look at him. Standing beside him was a woman I didn't know. She was an officer from the Department of Family Services.

"I need to ask you some questions," she said. She was looking at Vivian. "Sit down here." Vivian took a seat in a plastic chair and the officer then addressed Mom and me.

"If we could have some privacy, please." We left the room. They were in the room for what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 10 minutes, as we patiently (Me, somewhat impatiently) waited outside the door.  

Finally, Vivian and the Family Services officer came out of the room. Mom had to fill out some paperwork , so Vivian and I walked over to some chairs by the front door and sat down. I leaned over to Vivian and put my arm on her shoulder. 

"What'd she ask you?" I whispered.

"Oh, a lot of things," she said, "Why I ran away, if I would do it again, what can help me or prevent this from happening again, those sort of questions." All those questions seemed like okay questions for Mom and I to hear.

"Why did you need privacy then?"

"I dunno, I guess she didn't want any extra answers from you or Mom, she wanted just me to tell her." That didn't make much sense, as we could've given great input, but I guess I can understand where's she was getting at.

Mom came over to us when she was finished signing some papers and talking to the officers, probably about Vivian. 

"It's time to go, you guys," she said. We stood up and followed her out the door. Normally, I sat shotgun, as I'm the oldest, but I slid into the back seat with Vivian this time. No one said much for most of the car ride, but after a while, Vivian broke the silence.

"Hey, um, what happened with Dad?" she asked, "Why didn't he come to see me?"

"Sweetie," Mom started, but I cut her off,

"What's the best way to put this," I said, and I explained to her Dad's sudden exit from the family. When I was done, Vivian looked undecided: somewhere between tears and utter shock. "It's got nothing to do with you," I told her.

It was almost 6:00 by the time we got home, I had spent most of the day searching, but it definitely paid off. Mom thought we should have a big dinner to celebrate Vivian's return, but I had a better idea. 

"We had a tiring day today, why don't we just order pizza or something, just to relax."  I explained. We had spent the whole day either searching or worrying, that it would've been best to chill out with something easy like pizza. Vivian agreed.

"We can have a big dinner tomorrow, I'm exhausted." Vivian slumped onto the couch and Mom sat down next to her. Soft, pattering footsteps came down the stairs and pranced over to Vivian.

"Hey, boy." Vivian said as Dusky jumped up onto the couched and squeezed himself between the cushions. Dusky gave a short and sweet response: Merow, and nuzzled closer to her.

Mom had let me stay home from school the past few days, and I didn't have to go to school again the next day. Vivian and I were able to skip another day to recover from the past days' incidents. We did also have a big dinner that night, as agreed on. Mom cooked a big meal that was enough for ten! We invited the Keelys', and Bella was thrilled to have her best friend back, yet a little guilty.

"I'm sorry for telling your secret," Bella said, "But he got it out of me." She pointed at me, I shrugged.

"It's okay, it made everything better anyway." Vivian replied. 

"In a way," I added, "It was Bella who started the whole search, she told us your secret. Bella's the reason you're here right now." Vivian smiled.

After dinner, Vivian led Bella up to her room to play, I stood up and took everyone's plates to the dishwasher, Mom went into her office to do some work, and Mrs. Keely picked up a book from our shelf in the living room - Catcher In The Rye - and got comfortable on the couch. However, she was barely a page in when the doorbell rang. I finished putting a plate away and walked over to the front door. A tall man with an almost bald head stood on the porch. 

"Oh, hello, Mr. Keely," I said. Mrs. Keely put down her book and walked over to me. 

"Charles, hello. I missed you. How was your trip?" Apparently, Mr. Keely had been away, all the way up in Chicago, on a business trip for the past few weeks.

"Where's my Bella?" Mr. Keely asked. I pointed upstairs to Vivian's room.  I watched him as he stomped in his big work boots up the staircase. I followed him, to check on Viv.

"Hi, Daddy!" Bella said when she saw him. She ran over and hugged him. I walked into the room and sat down next to Vivian. Her head was down, a pencil in her hand, writing in her journal. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like she was writing the last sentence. i leaned in closer and read over her shoulder.

October 1st

I am back and safe. I don't know why I ran away, well, I do, but I regret it. I decided that things were to hard I home and I hated it, so I ran away. Bella promised to keep my secret, but Miles got it out of her. Once I left, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I was alone and lost, I spent most of the time staying at a house with one of Mom and Dad's friends. The police eventually found me and I was so scared, but Miles was there to comfort me. He helped me get home safely and talked to me all the way to the police station. I am so thankful to have such a great big brother.

I'm alone. I'm scared, but I don't want to go back. I can't live in a house with constant arguing. Parents are supposed to love each other, not yell at each other like they've been doing for the past three weeks. Actually, it's mostly Dad who was yelling. Mom was trying to still take care of the family, and she was doing a great job. Oh no, now she's gonna think it's her fault I left, I don't want that, but I can't go back.

All I have with me is a pocketful of money - about $25 - and a water bottle in my hand. I'm only a block away from Bella's house and I have no idea where to go now that I'm "on the run". I just have to keep going and hope I can get some sort of food. I also have to hope that no one finds me walking by myself and reports it to me. I told Bella to make up a lie about me being kidnapped, and to not tell her mom the secret. I know I can trust her.

I still haven't stopped anywhere yet and I've been walking for a little while. I know I should settle down somewhere as the sky is starting to darken. I decide I should sleep on a bench or something at a park for tonight.

A little bit later, when the sun has nearly set, I arrive at Kentuckyville Park. I look around to make sure no one is around to notice me. There are no kids or adults out right now, and I'm sure there is a guard, but he probably won't come until much later in the evening when it's pitch black. I find a bench near some trees and sit down. It feels good to sit down after walking all that way. I eventually lay down and drift off to sleep.

I awake in the morning to voices nearby. I look up and see a group of three people talking to each other farther off in the park. I recognize them from the neighborhood, I've seen them walking around there before. One of them looks at me and points. He turns to the others and whispers something. Another person, a girl, then pulls out her phone and taps around on it. She shows her phone screen to the others and they all nod. The girl quickly starts to tap buttons and put the phone to her ear.

Vrrrrr, vrrrrr. I hear it soon after the group of people left. I look up. Flying above me appears to be a drone. Oh no, I thought, they're looking for me. I need to go somewhere else. I pick up my water bottle and feel in my pocket, checking to see if my money's still safe. I have to go the long way out of the park to avoid being followed by the drone.

Once I'm out of the park and back on the main sidewalk, I realize I have to go to the bathroom pretty badly. My parents have driven down this street many times, so I know there's a small gas station around here somewhere. I finally find it a minute or so later and go inside. This area can have some creepy, suspicious people around it sometimes, so I go in quickly without saying anything.

"Excuse me, little girl," a woman at one of the counters says to me as I walk out of the bathroom, "Where are you're parents? Are you all alone?" I rush out of the gas station quickly without saying a word. 

By now, I'm starving. I haven't eaten anything since I was at Bella's yesterday. My stomach growls as I tread onward down the street to find someplace to eat. I soon smell the delicious aroma of Taco Bell, my favorite fast food place. The smell was so close now that I should be close by it, and I was right. 

I walked through the door and stood at the counter. I ordered my usual: A soft taco and a crunchy taco with a cheese roll up and a small Sprite. I expect the cashier to ask questions about my parents or how I'm so young, but he doesn't. Once I hand him the money and get my food, I slip into a seat in the far back corner to avoid being seen. 

While I eat, it gives me some time to think. I'm kind of regretting leaving. I miss my family, even with Mom and Dad fighting. I miss Miles and his bravery, his kindness, too. He's always willing to help me with my homework and even take me to places on his bike by himself. I wish I could go back, but it's too late now, the damage is done. I guess I can stop avoiding the police as much now, though.

I approach a different neighborhood and decide to go through it instead of around it. People wouldn't be concerned if a little girl was walking through a neighborhood, they would probably assume I live here. I pass about four houses, however, when I notice a familiar house. I look through the window and spot Ms. Hueber, one of Mom's old friends, on the inside. I walk up to the door and knock. 

"Hello?" she looks surprised when she spots me. 

"Hi, Ms. Hueber," I say. "It's Vivian, your old friend Sandy's daughter."

"Oh, yes, Vivian, I know you. What are you doing here? Where are Sandy and Nick?"

"The thing is that my parents are fighting all the time now, and I had to run away. I thought I could come here to stay with you because I know you and please let me stay." I said all this really quickly, and when I had finished. Ms. Hueber had her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Sandy and Nick? Really? I'm so sorry, Vivian. I'll let you stay for tonight." She holds out her arm for me to walk inside and I do. I step inside and sit down on a chair. Ms. Hueber closes the door and moves closer to me.

"Are you hungry?" she asks.

"Not too hungry, I just got some Taco Bell," I reply. Ms. Hueber goes into a different room and comes back with some cookies, I guess as a nice gesture. I take one from her hand.

"No, take two, please." I hesitate but grab another one. Then, Ms. Hueber looks down at my clothes.

"Those are filthy!" she exclaims, "Let me get you some different clothes to wear." She hurries upstairs and goes into a room. When she gets there, she calls out, "What's your adult shirt size?" Adult shirt size? I don't wear adult shirts.

"Extra extra small?" I call back up.

"Extra small it is!" She returns a minute later with a red T-shirt that is too big and a nice pair of pants. The clothes don't fit me very well but they're better than none at all.

I stay with Ms. Hueber for the night, and the next day. She is still doing a great job of hiding me but I know she has worries. I overhear her sometimes worrying to herself. What if they find us, I'll be arrested, I can't be arrested, but I can't turn her in, I mean, I could, but I don't want to. Those are the kind of things I hear her saying.

A little while later, I'm in Ms. Hueber's guest bedroom, working on a craft, when there's a knock on the door downstairs. I assume it's nothing important, maybe a delivery, so I keep working, I've nearly perfected it. When I am finished, I walk downstairs to show Ms. Hueber.

"Ms/ Hueber, I'm finished!" I say, she comes back from the front room with her hands shaking and toes slightly rocking on the ground.

"Who was at the door?" I ask.

"Vivian, it was a police officer. They're looking for you and they suspect I know where you are."

"What are you going to do?" Ms. Hueber stops pacing and looks directly at me. 

"I'm going to have to turn you in." 

"No, please!"

"I'm so sorry." I reluctantly go with her, partly because I do miss my family. I follow her into the front room and see a police officer standing at the door. He doesn't say anything before, to my great surprise, Miles runs over and squeezes me tight. I'm so happy to see him.

"Vivian! You're safe!" He says

"Miles?!" I say, "Why are you here? I'm so sorry!" I have to apologize. I'm apologizing for running away and not telling him. The officer breaks up our hug by speaking. He says he needs to speak with me. I don't want to talk to him.

"Miles, please don't make me go with him. I don't want to go home right now."

"Viv, it's okay, things will be better at home, just come back." he assures me. I'm uncertain, but he keeps comforting me, saying it will all be okay.  I walk up to the officer,  whose name is Officer Ricky, I'm nervous. He tells me I won't get in trouble unless Mom wants me to, and he says that Ms. Hueber won't get in trouble for helping me, either.

"I guess I have to go back home, then." I say

"Yes, and Mom will be overjoyed to see you, just like I am." Miles responds. That makes me feel great, that he is overjoyed to see me.

I grab Miles' hand and we follow Officer Ricky down the neighborhood and all the way back the way I came here. Miles and I talk the whole time.

"How'd you guys find me?" I ask.

"Buster up there, the search dog. Your scent was everywhere" Miles replies. He points to a German Shepherd dog in front of us, walking next to Officer Ricky. I didn't even notice the dog was there until now.

"Were you okay on your own?" Miles asks.

"I was scared, Miles, but I couldn't go back right away! I regret it, I'm sorry!" I'm almost crying now. Miles pulls me closer to him and comforts me.I'm glad to have him as a brother.

Back at home the next day, Mom invites Bella's family over for a big dinner. When I'm finished eating, however, Bella and I run up to my room to play. I forgive her for telling Miles, because thanks to that secret, I'm back home and safe.  Bella grabs one of my toys and asks me to play, but I have other plans. I go over to my secret crate in the corner of my room to find my journal. I open it and discover that one of the pages is ripped out: The page from November 27th where I wrote about my feelings about being at home. I flip to a new, blank page and grab a pen off my desk. I start writing:

I am back and safe. I don't know why I ran away, well, I do, but I regret it. I decided that things were to hard I home and I hated it, so I ran away. Bella promised to keep my secret, but Miles got it out of her. Once I left, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I was alone and lost, I spent most of the time staying at a house with one of Mom and Dad's friends. The police eventually found me and I was so scared, but Miles was there to comfort me. He helped me get home safely and talked to me all the way to the police station. I am so thankful to have such a great big brother.

Miles comes into my room and starts reading over my shoulder. I write the last word and look up to see him smiling down at me. I hug him and he gives me a little kiss on the cheek, like a great big brother.