VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

f i v e ✔

A/N
I have never had the opportunity to visit the place referenced in this chapter, so please... if you see anything really outrageous, let me know; otherwise, remember this is a work of fiction :)
♥

Seven and a half hours went by faster than expected. Only one pit-stop to switch drivers—Stella's neck ached—and one drive-through run for sustenance, and the girls wheeled into Philadelphia in the late evening.

They were quiet, for once, when they arrived in their off-freeway, falling-apart, not-so-reputable Motel Six. Exhaustion washed over them in heavy waves. They barely unpacked their pajamas before getting the urge to slide into their queen-sized beds—though Arielle was pretty sure they were large twins. It didn't take long for them to doze off into semi-restful slumbers.

Semi, because only Stella slept. Arielle was plagued with nightmares of Jade calling her name, reaching her bony white hands out to brush through her tresses. Her eyes were black and demonic, and her voice a scratchy, croaking noise that woke Arielle in a cold sweat.

No... she's fine, I'm fine. We're fine.

She glanced at Stella, whose platinum curls gleamed in the moonlight streaming in through the flimsy, hole-ridden curtain covering their barred window. It reminded her of a prison; and how fitting, since tomorrow they'd visit one such place.

Throwing off the covers, Arielle waded to the bathroom and filled a plastic cup with water. The liquid trickling down her throat quenched her thirst but didn't give her solace.

Why did Jade hide her spooky excursions with Trevor?

"Did she think I'd be jealous?" She scoffed, took another swig of the metallic-tasting liquid, and cringed at her faded outline in the mirror. "Me? Jealous? I'm not... I've never been..."

Cramming her eyelids shut, she snorted. Who was she kidding? Arielle was the jealous type. When she met Jade and Stella, learning to follow their friendly routine and rituals had been tough. She needed so badly to be included, but had such a hard time opening up, due to how things ended with her last best friend.

Oh, fuck... look at my pattern of death... fantastic.

She sniffled. Obsessing over ghosts was their thing. Something she and Jade shared, bonded over late at night, sent each other puzzling text messages about, dreamed about. No matter how Arielle made fun of her friend's passions, she couldn't help but be almost as intrigued; and more so now that Jade was dead. Specters, death, the paranormal—Arielle had accumulated so much research lately she had no idea what to do with it.

Questions burned inside her skull—where did Jade go, if there was some sort of afterlife world? And would she come to the prison, meet them there, talk?

"I'm nuts." She refilled the cup as she opened her eyes and glared at her reflection. Though the lights were off, the outside street lamps pooled all the way to the bathroom's entrance, splashing her face in a gloomy glow. With her bloodshot eyes, her messy mane of auburn and crimson, her pointy shoulders and barely-there chest, she was a cursed girl with death at her heels.

She downed the rest of the liquid and shook out her hair. Why did Jade's omission affect her so? It wouldn't be the first time. She'd lied about her partying habits, lied about her alcohol consumption. Heck, in the beginning she even lied about Trevor, thinking Arielle and Stella would mock her.

But why would we mock her if she cared for him?

Stella had secrets. Arielle had some, too. But Jade's were the deeper, more mysterious ones.