Little Differences

After school, Jessie and I go for a walk to the park. We have a lot to discuss. “Do you mind telling me what happened between you and Samantha”, I say eyeballing Jessie. “I told her that I didn’t appreciate how she humiliated you this morning in the hallways”. Jessie is fidgeting with her fingers. “She said it was no big deal. I told her it was a big deal to me and I didn’t want to be friends with such a mean person”, Jessie goes on to say. “Wow, Jessie I had no idea. Thanks for standing up for me” “That’s what best friends are for”, Jessie says.

Jessie and I decide to take a shortcut to the park. We are anxious to get there and get on the swings. We cut through some trees and end up on an unfamiliar street. “I think we made a wrong turn through those trees”, Jessie says sounding scared. “Yeah, we better go back the way we came” As we turn to go through the trees, we notice a bright red car speeding around the corner.

“Some people drive so reckless”, Jessie says. A man jumps out of the car, opens the back door and a girl jumps out of the back seat and begins running in our direction.

“Is that who I think it is”? “It sure looks like her”, Jessie says. “Quick, get down so they don’t see us”. Jessie and I duck behind a tree and slowly we peek out around the tree. “That is Alani”, Jessie says. “Great. That means she isn’t lost in the woods anymore”, I say. “But I wonder who that man is and why he’s chasing her”. “I don’t know but we are not going to stay here to find out”, Jessie says. “You’re right. Let’s go get help and bring them back”, I say. We take off running through the trees and all the way back home.

“Mom, dad!”, I holler at the top of my lungs once I finally get in the house. “What’s with all the shouting”, mom says as she comes downstairs. “We just saw Alani. A man was chasing her.” “Hold on a second. Where did you guys see her?” “She was at a house by the park. We can show you”, Jessie tells her. “Let me run upstairs and get dad and my purse. Then we can go”, she says. Dad comes downstairs and we all pile into our Baby Blue Dodge Challenger. We point our parents in the direction of Alani. “It’s not a good idea for us to go to the house. We’ll call the police and send them over to check things out”, Dad says.

We sit and wait for the police to arrive. “Shouldn’t we like, hide or something?” “If they see us, they might get mad and come after us because we called the police”, Jessie says. “Don’t worry Jessie, no one is going to come after us”, mom reassures Jessie.

Jessie and I look out of our windows as mom and dad stand on the other side talking to the police. Mom points toward the house with the red car we seen Alani climb out of. Two police officers walk over to the house and knock on the door. The blonde-haired woman – Alani’s mom – Ayla opens the door holding a little Chihuahua. The two policemen push in past Ayla. Ayla steps outside and the other policemen stand outside talking to her.

“What do you think their saying to her”, Jessie asks curiously. “Maybe they’re telling her that she’s under arrest”, I say. “Under arrest for what”, Jessie asks. “I’m not sure”, I say with a giggle. “You watch too much television, my friend.” Jessie and I both laugh.

Moments later, we see one of the officers come out holding onto Alani’s hand. She is wrapped in a blanket. The officer goes over to his patrol car and opens the door for Alani to get in. Alani and the officer pull away from the house. Next, the other two officers come out. They have Ayla and the man we seen chasing Alani, in hand cuffs. “Woah, they did arrest them”, Jessie says. I am at a loss for words. I can’t imagine what those two could have done but now I’m almost sure they had something to do with Alani coming up missing.