Angels and Swords

Chapter 2 - Search

"Kaylen!" I shout through the forest, the one we talked in just yesterday morning, playing and teasing each other.

We already searched the market, the stands opening and preparing for another day of work. Me and Emmett searched one part of the market, asking everyone who came within range if they had seen her, giving them details of my sister: brown, wavy hair, auburn eyes, my height, carrying a filled satchel, wearing a brown shirt and black pants.

"Kaylen!" I shout through the trees, Emmett walking beside me. Mom and Dad went to search the village since we had no luck in the market, although some people volunteered to keep an eye out for her, which we thanked them for before walking away to search the market aimlessly.

"Do you have a snack?" Emmett asks, and I grab an apple from my satchel and hand it to him, food the last thing on my mind.

The crunch of him biting into the apple is quiet compared to the bird's harmonies, and a few minutes later, he offers the remaining piece of the apple he didn't eat.

"Do you want some?" he asks, dangling the apple by the stem.

"I'm not hungry," I say, moving a branch out of my way before continuing to look for Kaylen.

"Did you eat breakfast?" he asks me, and I shake my head.

He sighs before saying, "You need to eat, Jacky. Even I grabbed a biscuit before heading out."

I ignore him as the sound of water starts to fill my ears. The waterfall.

"Let's go look at the lake; she might be over there." The reservoir shouldn't be too hard to get to, and I have enough things in my satchel if things go south.

He continues eating the rest of the apple as we walk towards the sound of the waterfall. It takes about half an hour to get there, and when we do make it, the water drowns out our voices.

"Kaylen!" I shout, my voice cracking as I scream, and my throat burns from yelling her name all day.

The waterfall crashes against the pond, and the sprinkling water falls onto me and Emmett, the chill freezing my pale cheeks. Boulders and moss fill the space around the lake, and behind the waterfall, onyx black looms there.

We walk over to the side, both of us shouting her name, although Emmett's roar is louder as he hasn't been shouting all day, just silent and watching, waiting, looking.

Fish skim the water, adding to the ripples on the surface, and a bird sings a melody in the distance, although its song is drowned out by the waterfall. I would admire the landscape more if guilt and hopelessness weren't clawing their way through me, burrowing into my very bones and seeping outward.

"Jacky, look," Emmett says, pointing at something that lies on the boulders. He runs over there with me, and when I get close enough, I determine that it is a piece of paper. With writing. My heart beats like a drum as we approach it, and I take deep breaths, trying to calm the racing beat within me.

Emmett picks it up, reads it, and his eyebrows scrunch together with confusion before he hands it to me, the paper damp in my hands as I delicately grab it from his fingers.

Look where others would not think to.

"That's her handwriting," I say as I examine the words, although the actual sentence leaves me confused.

"I never considered Kaylen one for making riddles, but I guess I learn something everyday," Emmett jokes, and I cut him a glare before leaning against the wet boulder.

"Why would she disappear like that," I sigh before continuing, "And then leave a cryptic note for us to figure out?"

"The paper still looks decently fresh, untouched by the water enough for us to read, so she probably placed it here last night," Emmett determines, rubbing the bridge of his nose.