Chapter One

Searching for a friend, the four main heroines are introduced...

 

    “How can someone just disappear like that?” A young woman asked amongst a group of girls. This woman stood tallest out of the group as they stood at the back of a house in a form of a circle. With reddish brown hair just passed her shoulders, tied back in a small pony tail she was dressed more as a young boy wearing her favorite faded black baggy pants and brown hiking boots with a bright red t-shirt, rather then her feminine peers within her grade. Her skin tone had a natural pink tint which brought out the light amber color within her hazel eyes.

    “Why would you ask something that we can’t answer, Asha?” Another young woman said standing aside of the previous girl. Her curly dark, brown hair was rather long which she wore tied back and tightly braided. The pale creamy color of her skin had made her seem as if she never went out into direct sunlight, though she was a nature lover at heart and her deep, dark brown eyes, mimicked her black attire of a long sleeved shirt, jeans, and booted feet.

    “I meant, how could someone just disappear without anyone noticing at all, Jade?” Asha snapped back.

    “Asha calm down.” Another one of the young woman stated, standing on the other side of Asha, as she placed her hand onto her friend's shoulder. Her long hair, which reached down to the mid section of her back, was a very straight, silky black bringing out the light green within her hazel eyes which were further illuminated by her natural peach colored skin. Wearing dark washed jeans and homemade white t-shirt with black letters spelling out her name ‘Tygra’ and normal blue and black sneakers, Tygra could be considered one of the 'in girls' if not for her attitude towards those sort of people. She didn't know why, but the thought of giggling and prancing around in the latest fashions that mommy and daddy had to buy, didn't really seem appealing to her.

    “No need to be fighting amongst ourselves.” stated the last young woman in the group, and, in turn, the shortest one. She was the only one that looked to be touched by the sun a bit with a light bronze tan, making her caramel colored hair to look even brighter. Pale light blue eyes completed her natural look as she was casually dressed in faded baby blue jeans with white sneakers and a plain light pink t-shirt. She was much like Tygra in the department of the 'in girls', though she seemed to be the one to mingle with just about everyone her age. Detesting the thought of out casting someone just because they were different in some way was the main reason she hadn't parted from her small group of friends, whom bore her same philosophies of life.

    “But it's just…like…why?" Asha began as she thought on how to put the words together on what she thinks about their current situation. "He isn’t the type of guy that just disappears without at least letting someone know where he is going. But there is nothing. No one knows anything, no one has seen him. It’s like he disappeared from inside his own house!”

    “Don’t worry about it, Asha. You don’t need to be getting stressed over the little details. All that matters is that Drake is missing and that we need to find him.” Jade matter-of-factly.

    “But, we don’t even know where to start.” Tygra commented doubtfully.

    “But we do know where we last saw him. We were here last night with him having dinner. We know that he was here when we left him that night. And then nothing all day; not even a single word from him.” Jade explained as she turned to face the house. “We will have to look around inside of the house and see what we can find and go from there.” She began to walk towards the back door of the house, as Asha and Rose followed closely behind her.

    Tygra lagged behind, closing her eyes as a slight breeze passed over them. Jade abruptly stop in her tracks at that moment, closing her eyes as well. “Tygra…” she stated as she opened her eyes and facing the direction Tygra was in. Tygra opened her eyes, tears forming in her eyes as she quickly turned away from her friends and slowly walked towards the woods that made up the boundary of the back yard.

    Rose looked over at Tygra then glanced over to Jade. “Go talk to her for a little, we can wait for you two here.”

Jade nodded as she walked back towards Tygra as she stood with her back still facing them. She stopped walking, standing behind Tygra as her friend continued to allow her sorrowful tears to roll down her cheeks.

    “Tygra…”

    “I can’t believe this…" Tygra began in a solemn tone as she turned to face her concerned friend. "What's going on? Everything about this just doesn’t feel right.” she paused taking in a deep shaky breath. “It’s just not fair! Why Drake? I mean what would make him disappear all of a sudden like this? Do you really believe that this is all happening, Jade?" She shook her head slightly. "It just feels like a bad dream to me.”

    “Don‘t worry so much, Tygra." Jade began as she took a step closer towards her deeply distressed friend. "All that you have to think about at the moment is that we're going to find him and bring him back. Trust me.”

    “But we shouldn’t have to. He shouldn’t be missing in the first place. He should be here, right now, safe and sound. What happens if we never see him again and…?” Tygra allowed her words to trail off as more tears began to trickle down her flushed cheeks.

    Jade smiled slightly as she wiped away the newly formed tears then lowered her hand once more to her side. "…And you will regret that you never got to tell Drake how you really felt about him.”

    Tygra closed her eyes as she turned her head away from Jade. “Not like I can hide anything from you; no matter what it is. Is there anything that you don’t know?”

    “Of course, but you are like a sister to me. I know everything about you, happy or sad; you can’t hide what you are really feeling around me. But there are a lot of things that I don’t know. Just that you can’t fool me and you should know that by now.” Jade explained as she allowed her smile to widen.

    Tygra opened her eyes and looked to her friend's reassuring smile. That smile she knew all too well and the very one that always eased the pain within her heart whenever she was upset. She couldn’t resist smiling back at her. Her gaze then fell to the left side of her friend's shoulder as she saw Asha and Rose standing just before the back door to Drake's house, silently yet patiently waiting for them. She looked back to Jade. “You know no matter what you say, I’m still going to feel the way I do now…”

    Jade pulled Tygra into a brief, comforting hug. “But you shouldn’t have to. You know that sooner or later we will find Drake. And we aren’t going to stop until he is back with us; no matter what we have to do. So for right now, you have to stop feeling so down. It isn’t your fault that he disappeared. We just have to find out what is going on around here." She explained, pulling away from her. “So come on, Tygra. We have a lot of work to do.”

    “Ok…But how about letting me alone for a little while. I will join you in the house in a moment…I need to think by myself for a second." Tygra stated as she began to turn away.

    Jade laid a hand upon her left shoulder, stopping her from taking a step away. Tygra looked to her, confusion in her eyes. "You aren’t going to go off and go looking for Drake by yourself now, are you?” Jade questioned slyly.

    “No, Jade. I just want to collect myself before I do anything else. I just don’t want to worry Asha and Rose with all my crying over Drake.”

    “Ok, ok. I believe you, Tygra. I don’t blame you for how you feel.” Jade released her shoulder allowing her to turn away from her once more. She watched her for a moment longer before turning back towards the house and began to walk over towards Asha and Rose. Once she reached them, she stopped before them, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked from one to the other.

    “Is she going to be ok?” Rose asked concerned looking back to Tygra who was beginning to take slow strides around the backyard.

    Jade nodded. “You know Tygra. She may have a really cold attitude, but she has more compassion and emotions that you guys realize. She just likes to hide them a lot of the time.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t know why she is like that though. She must be in love with Drake or something like that, because you know that she wouldn’t be crying if it was me or Rose that went missing.” Asha joked with a laugh at the end.

    Jade looked to Asha with a small smile. “Ha. You are just so lucky that Tygra didn’t hear you say that. She isn’t cold when it comes to her temper.”

    Tygra stood with her back facing her friends and her eyes closed tight. A swift breeze flowed over her again, wrapping around her as she stood there alone. She wondered where Drake was now, and if he could feel the same breeze she felt right now, or if he was somewhere else…maybe even-

    She shook her head, pushing the thought away. Her eyes soon popped open when a strange sensation came over her. She scanned the yards quickly before her gaze fell upon the woods surrounding the property; something shined off one the tree branches. Tygra moved closer into the woods seeing the narrow worn path she was accustomed to seeing every time she and the others would go on a hike. She reached out to the first branch protruding from the woods to a silver chain hanging onto the branch’s end.

    Taking the small chain into her hand, she began to study it. She gasped. “Drake!”

The three girls turned to the sound of Tygra's call for their missing friend, expecting to see him there in the yard with her. However, all they saw was Tygra standing just inside of the pathway leading into the woods, her back facing them still. She then fell down onto her knees, staring off into the woods.

    The three girls rushed off towards her through the backyard of the house “Tygra, what’s wrong?” Asha exclaimed once they reached her. She was still down on her knees, sobbing quietly to herself with her right hand clenching something tightly as she held it up to her cheek.

Jade knelt down beside her, placing a hand onto her shoulder. Once Tygra looked to her, Jade motioned for her to get to her feet. Slowly, she and Tygra stood. She turned, facing Jade as she still clenched her fist tightly at her side.

    Jade looked down to her tightened hand before looking back to her. “Tygra, what is it?” Tygra then looked to her hand before holding it out before her. She unclenched her hand, revealing a solid silver chain with a broken clasp.

    “Someone’s broken necklace?” Rose questioned.

    “Not just someone’s; Drake’s.” Jade commented as she looked back towards Rose.

    “But how do you know for sure that this is his?” Ashe asked as she studied the silver chain which had Tygra all choked up.

    “I know it is. I’m the one who bought him this necklace. This same necklace. There is no mistake…" Tygra paused form a moment shaking her head before looking back to her friends. "He would never take it off. He would always be wearing it.” she finished as she wiped her tears away once more. “Something terrible must have happened to him!”

    “Calm down, Tygra. Where did you find it?” Jade asked as she scanned the wooded area.

    “Right here.”

    “Right where?” She questioned further.

    “Hanging right here, stuck on the branch.” Tygra stated pointing to the branch that she had found Drake’s necklace hanging down from.

    “Well maybe he just went for a walk and-” Rose began.

    But Tygra cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “Then how did his necklace end up here and most of all, broken?”

    Jade studied the surrounding area of where Tygra had originally found the necklace thoroughly, before turning her gaze back onto the group. “Well, from what I can tell, there are no signs of a struggle. Everything seems to be undisturbed.” She looked to Tygra, studying her closely. “I believe if we are going to find him, our best bet is to start within these woods.”