Hey guys. Well, this chapter just sort of wrote itself so I may as well put it up. Haha. Enjoy.

CHAPTER ONE

The country…

A secluded, peaceful place of rolling hills and endless fields filled with cattle and horses, mysterious, yet beautiful, wildlife with an extraordinary, clear blue sky by day and a cloudless, star-filled sky at night.

For most people, the sentence written above would most likely paint a picture of unmistakable heaven in their minds. But for Sarah Myers (a.k.a. me), the country… equals hell. A hell without shopping, without buildings, without my boyfriend, Jake. But most importantly, a hell without my friends.

This is why I went ballistic at my parents when they told me that we were moving from my home – the perfect, beautiful city – to this… place for the school holidays. I mean, I’m supposed to be hanging out with my mates over the holidays, my last chance to have fun before my final year of school.

The strangest part of all was my parents seemed to think I’d be happy about the change. I bet they didn’t expect my not-too-joyous reaction…

“Wait… what?” I gasped, my disbelieving gaze flicking between to two annoyingly calm and somewhat hopeful faces of my parents.

“Settle down, honey, it’s not that big of a deal,” Mum said slowly, her eyes drawn to the knife and fork I held in my hands as though she was worried I was going to have a emotional or mental break down and throw the sharp utensils at her (Well, she should have thought about that before telling me this… news during dinner).

“Not that big of a deal?” I repeated, inwardly noticing that my voice had raised several octaves in my current emotional state. I leapt to my feet, sending my chair skidding backwards and creating slight burn marks in the floor.

Mum winced at my actions. She disliked angry behaviour of any level. No, whilst I enjoy a good shouting match, she would rather sit me down and talk ‘maturely’ through our problems, only succeeding in making me more furious at her calmness when I wanted to rage and storm at her.

“It is a big deal, Mum!” I exclaimed, waving my knife and fork around for emphasis. “You just told me that we’re moving to Whateverville in the country –”

“Robinsville…” corrected Dad almost under his breath.

“I don’t care what its bloody-well called! It’s in the country and I haven’t heard of it before, which means it is obviously somewhere totally remote!”

“It doesn’t matter where it is, Sarah, we’re going,” Mum said.

“But, why?” I groaned, my voice taking on a whiny tone.

“Because… Because you’re mother’s sister, Wendy, is going through a terrible time at the moment…”

They then proceeded to tell me about Uncle John’s death and my cousin Abigail’s disappearance. I admit, I felt horrible about shouting after I realised what had happened. But the truth was, no matter how sorry I felt for the woman, I didn’t even really know Wendy. Mum and her had had a falling out nine years ago when I was seven and this was the first we’d heard from her since.

But, even if I didn’t know her, I knew I still had to go, and even though I felt really sorry for Aunt Wendy and all, it still sucked to leave my friends and civilization behind to go out to the country all summer. Hey, I am still a teenager.

So, anyway, that’s how I ended up in the backseat of my Dad’s car as we drove down a seemingly endless dirt road, heading for Robinsville. What kind of name was that anyway? Mum had tried to explain the ‘historic significance’ of the name to me about an hour ago but I had tuned her out after about two seconds.

Presently, I stared out of the car window, watching the green fields pass by. It felt like I was watching a short section of an extremely boring film over and over and over and over again. Grass… tree… cow… more grass… oh, a sheep, that’s different… grass… cow… tree… kill me now…

I glared out at everything we passed by as if it had all done me some great wrong just by existing.

“Oh, look, Sarah, a brown and white cow!” cried Mum, pointing out of the window like an over-excited toddler.

I glared at the animal before muttering sarcastically, “Yes, Mum, how very exciting. That must only be the millionth cow I’ve seen in the hours we’ve been driving. Oh, and look there! The hundredth horse! You don’t get many of them out here.”

Mum swiveled in her seat to look at me sternly. “You might enjoy this little adventure we’re having a bit more if you just cheered up.”

“It’s a bit hard to even stay awake let alone cheer up when I’ve been staring at this crap for just under three hours,” I sniped.

Mum rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re not this annoying when we see Wendy for the first time in nine years,” she muttered.

I sighed. Of course I wouldn’t be. The poor woman had just lost her husband and daughter. But that didn’t mean I was going to let this experience be any less painful for my parents on the way.

I was jerked back to the present as the car bounced painfully over a deep ditch in the dirt road, throwing my head against the car window. I yelped in pain and cursed the country for causing the throbbing in my head.

It was then that I noticed the car was slowing down rapidly.

‘Oh God, please don’t let it be a flat,’ I silently thought to myself, actually raising my eyes to the roof of the car.

Dad rolled the car to the side of the road and switched off the engine. Mum and he climbed out of the car and I followed suit.

Dad bent down to examine the front left tire. “Flat,” he announced, straightening.

“Great,” I muttered, rolling my eyes and folding my arms across my chest.

Mum ignored me as she walked around to the trunk to find the spare tyre. After a few moments, I heard her say, “Oh no, it looks like we forgot to pack the spare.”

“And I can’t get a signal either,” Dad said, holding up his useless mobile.

“Even better,” I grumbled, kicking at a rock to vent some frustration. “It’s just my luck to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere under the boiling sun.”

“Go and sit in the car if you’re hot,” Mum said as she closed the trunk. “We’ll just have to wait for a car to pass.”

I ignored her and trudged over to the fence that lined the field next to the road. I dragged myself onto the wood, swinging my legs as I pulled my iPod out of my pocket.

I attempted to turn the small machine on but, just to put the cherry on top of this already wonderful day, my iPod had gone flat after the hours of use on the way from the city. I groaned and stuffed it back into my pocket.

Today was going to be a long day.

--

Almost two hours passed.

I was lying in the grass under the car’s shadow on the side of the road, out of the sun, when I heard it.

A car.

It’s strange how something I take for granted every day can cause so much happiness in a time like this.

I leapt to my feet and hurried around the car to the road, waving my arms frantically at the approaching vehicle as Mum and Dad climbed out of our useless car. The blue pickup truck slowed to a stop in front of us. The door opened the driver stepped out.

He looked about my age but he didn’t look like any of the boys back in the city, who usually had at least one piercing and gelled hair. He didn’t dress like them either, with their baggy jeans and T-shirts.

No, his tanned face was completely void of metal. An old and battered looking cowboy hat sat on his dark brown hair which flopped messily around his face. His bright hazel eyes sparkled in the shining sun. He wore a red checkered button-up shirt, faded jeans and dusty brown boots.

‘He looks like he just stepped out of a bad Western movie,’ I scoffed silently to myself, looking the guy up and down and trying to deny his obvious attractiveness.

“Hey, do you guys need any help?” the guy asked in a kind voice.

“Oh, yes, please! You wouldn’t happen to have a spare tyre, would you?” Mum asked hopefully.

The guy nodded with a brilliant smile. “I’ll just get it for you,” he said as he walked around the back of the truck.

“Thank you so much Mr… er…” Mum said when the guy rolled the tyre over to Dad.

“Chris… Chris Robinson,” the guy said.

“Nice to meet you Chris. I’m Mary Myers and this is my husband Tom and my daughter Sarah.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Chris said politely, however he seemed thoughtful.

Dad nodded as he bent down to remove the old tyre.

“Do you need any help?” Chris offered.

“No thanks, you’ve done more than enough,” Mum said, smiling warmly. She made to walk off but not before whispering to me, with her back to Chris, “He’s a nice boy.” She winked suggestively before walking off to help Dad.

I groaned inwardly, hating when Mum tried to set me up with ‘nice, respectable boys’. Noticing Chris watching me, I looked back at him. He grinned and I mustered a half-smile in return.

“Er… hi,” I said awkwardly.

“Hey,” Chris replied.

We lapsed into a more than awkward silence and I saw Chris’s smile fade slightly as he visibly tried to think of something else to say.

Finally, he said, “So, where are you headed?”

‘Two minutes of deep thinking and that’s the best you can come up with?’ I thought to myself. ‘Wow, country boys really don’t know how to flirt.’

“Um… Robinsville,” I answered. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of it... It sounds like a pretty damn boring place and the only reason I’m going is because of my parents.”

Chris laughed loudly. “Yeah, I think I know of it… Well, it would be a bit of a worry if I didn’t considering I’ve lived there my whole life and my ancestor was the one that founded the place.”

I blushed furiously. Whoops…

“So, you’re Myers as in Wendy Myers then?” Chris said after a moment.

I frowned. “You know my Aunt?”

Chris shrugged. “Everyone in Robinsville knows each other. It’s not a very big place.” His expression grew somber. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

It took me a moment to realise he was talking about Uncle John and Abigail. I sighed.

“Well, I should probably be the one saying that to you considering you probably know them better than I do.” When seeing Chris’s frown, I explained, “Mum and Wendy had a falling out when I was seven and I haven’t seen her or her family since.”

Chris nodded slowly. “They were great people,” he said quietly.

I swallowed as another awkward silence enveloped us.

“So…” Chris began after a few moments. “What’s the city like?”

I frowned. “How did you know we’re from the city?” I asked.

Chris shrugged. “Well, first off, no one who’s from around here ever forgets a spare tire because of all the potholes in the road and stuff. Also, no country girl dresses like you do,” he said, grinning.

I glanced down at my white, low-cut shirt, brown short shorts and flip flops. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Let’s just say boots are definitely better for walking around here and that white shirt won’t stay white for too much longer,” Chris said, his laughter reaching my ears.

I looked back up at him, my eyes narrowed. “Are you paying me out?”

Chris only laughed harder.

My temper, which had been bubbling just below the surface at my frustration over the blow tyre, was now reaching boiling point. I opened my mouth to snap at Chris when my Mum suddenly popped out of nowhere saying, “Well, thanks for the spare but we better be on our way now.”

Chris cut his laughter short and nodded at my Mum, smiling. “Well, it was nice to meet you all. I’ll see you around town,” he said. “Bye Sarah.”

I didn’t reply but instead folded my arms over my white top and glared at a cow in the field next to us. I heard Chris climb into his truck and close the door, but it wasn’t until his engine started that I looked up… which was a mistake.

As soon as he took off up the dirt road, a cloud of dust rushed over me, stinging my eyes and causing me to cough uncontrollably. When the cloud finally cleared, I looked down at my top to see it was now completely coated in dust.

“Oh, Sarah, look at your top! It’s completely ruined!” Mum said, clicking her tongue.

I let out a cry of frustration and stormed over to the car, climbing in and slamming the door behind me.

Bloody country boys! Who did Chris think he was, to have a go at how I dress and then cover me in dirt? How could he talk anyway, with his stupid freakin’ stereotypical outfit?!

This ‘adventure’ was definitely not going to be fun.

--

“Sarah? Sarah, wake up. We’re coming up to Robinsville.”

I groaned and rolled over in my sleep, slipping back into the comfortable folds of Slumber Land. That is, until a sharp object began to poke me in the side.

Grumbling in annoyance, I slowly cracked open my eyes to see my Mum’s grinning face through the gap in the two front seats. I moaned.

“What do you want Mum?” I mumbled, my voice croaky.

“We’re nearly at Robinsville. Come on, look out the window. It’s beautiful.”

I sighed, knowing that she wouldn’t stop poking me until I sat up and look out. Slowly, I straightened in my seat, muttering, “I swear, if I look out that window and see another bloody field – even if it has a rainbow spotted cow in it – I will scream…”

The words died on my tongue as my tired eyes found the scenery outside the window. My breath caught in my throat as I took in my surroundings.

We were driving along a dirt road that wound through a slowly thinning forest. We emerged out of the edge of the trees and I finally laid eyes on Robinsville.

The sun slowly set against the horizon, staining the sky and clouds beautiful colours and lighting the small town with its last rays. The town itself consisted of a main street with shops at the bottom of a large, grassy and forested hill. I could see cottages and log cabins dotting the side of the hill and right on the top was the large cottage I knew was Aunt Wendy’s.

A rushing river fed by a rushing waterfall bordered the town, meaning that we had to drive over a wide bridge before hitting the main street.

“Wow,” I breathed. Maybe the country wasn’t so bad after all.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Dad said happily.

I simply nodded as we drove along the main street, which only held two other cars. Locals who had just finished their evening shopping waved as we drove past.

“Mum, do you know those people?” I asked, waving half heartedly at a beaming elderly couple outside of the small supermarket.

“No…” Mum said slowly. “But I think that nice boy Chris Robinson might have told them that we were coming.”

‘Pfft, nice boy… Yeah, right,’ I thought darkly.

We continued along the main street, smiling awkwardly out at all the cheerful townspeople we passed. Dad turned onto a narrower path that wound the entire way up the steep hill to Wendy’s homey-looking cottage.

“Well, here we are,” Mum said, taking a deep breath.

I frowned, noticing her nervous state. It was the first time I actually realised how hard it was for Mum to face her sister after nine years of no contact what-so-ever.

Dad rolled the car to a stop to the side of the dirt driveway and turned off the ignition. Heaving a great sigh, Mum climbed out of the car, her eyes fixed on Wendy’s front door. Dad and I climbed out too and I breathed in a great gulp of air.

I wondered what it would feel like to meet Aunt Wendy again after all these years. Would it be awkward? Joyous? Emotional?

Just then, the front door swung open and a woman – who I took to be Wendy – appeared in the doorway. She had dirty blonde hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Her eyes were red-rimmed behind her glasses.

There was a moment during which Mum and Wendy simply stared at each other in silence, before Wendy suddenly let out a choking sob and ran into Mum’s arms. Mum seemed to deflate slightly as she wrapped her arms around her younger sister’s trembling body.

Dad and I gave the pair a few moments before Dad suggested that we all go inside for a nice hot cup of tea. It was then that I realised how much the temperature had dropped since the sun had set.

Once we were all seated around Wendy’s wooden kitchen table with steaming mugs of tea in our hands, Wendy finally turned her teary gave on me. A small smile tugged at her lips as she seemed to take in my appearance. I shifted self-consciously under her gaze.

“Look at you, Sarah. All grown up.” Her smile wavered. “It makes me wonder what A – Abby would look like at your age.” Her voice cracked and tears spilled down her cheeks.

Mum slid an arm around Wendy’s shoulders and tried to comfort her.

“Wendy, it’s OK. The police are searching for Abigail as we speak. It’s only been four days; they’ll find her.”

Wendy shook her head, too overcome with emotion to speak. I averted my eyes from her trembling state and instead watched the steam rise from my tea.

I’ve never exactly known why, but I’ve never been too good at watching other people cry, or display any great amount of any emotion for that matter. I, myself, haven’t cried since… well, since as long as I can remember.

It’s not that I don’t feel sad or anything, it’s just that I don’t really display anything I feel.

This actually has impacted on my relationship with Jake – my boyfriend of five months. For our five month anniversary, he took me on a really romantic night out. It was all going really great and all… until he dropped the ‘L bomb’.

I mean, we’re sixteen for God’s sakes! Who falls in love at sixteen?!

Unfortunately, for Jake – and me – I blurted all this out before thinking. Let’s just say the romantic mood was definitely ruined. In fact, we haven’t spoken since that night, which was three days ago.

Presently, however, Wendy reached toward a photo frame with shaking fingers. She stared down at the picture and a fat tear rolled down her blotchy cheek, landing on the glass of the photo frame. She raised the picture to her lips and kissed the glass before setting it back down on the table with a sob.

I leaned to my right slightly so that I could see the picture. It was of a man with curly brown hair with his arms wrapped around Wendy’s slim frame. The photo had obviously been taken several years ago, and the young couple looked happy and completely at peace with the world.

Looking at Wendy now, she was hardly recognizable, with puffy, blood-shot eyes and pale skin.

“I promised…” Wendy gulped emotionally, her eyes glued to the photo.

“Promised what…?” Dad asked, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

“I… I promised myself when John… died…” Wendy paused to suck in a shaky breath, wiping a fresh wave of tears away from her cheeks. “I promised that I would take care of Abby… that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her… and – and now something has happened and I’ve lost them b – both.” She sobbed into her hands. “It’s all my f – fault.”

“What? There’s no way it’s your fault!” I found myself blurting out.

Wendy looked up at me as though surprised I could actually speak. I flushed, embarrassed to have all the attention on me.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “It’s just that you can’t beat yourself up over it. It wasn’t your fault at all.”

“How is it not?” Wendy sniffed. “If I hadn’t left her alone at the police station no one could have taken her! It’s just that I was so fixated on figuring out who killed John –”

“Wait,” Mum suddenly interrupted, “I thought you said John died in a fire?”

“Yeah, he did,” Wendy said emotionally. “The question is, was the fire an accident?”

Mum and Dad exchanged strange looks over Wendy’s head. Mum caught my questioning eye and cleared her throat slightly.

“Um, Wendy, I think Sarah might be a little tired from the drive up here…” Mum began.

“Oh, of course,” Wendy said, clearing her throat while I stared at Mum in confusion. “The guest room is just down the hall, second door on your right.”

I opened my mouth to say something but Mum overrode me: “Thanks. Sarah, you can go have a lie down now. Your dad and I will bring your bags in later.”

I clamped my mouth shut, shot a curious glance at my parents before smiling politely at Wendy. Without a word, I stood and made my way out of the kitchen and, following Wendy’s directions, found my way into the surprisingly spacious guest room.

A large wooden dresser sat to the right of the room with a matching wardrobe next to it. An intricately designed red rug lay on the floor. But the best part of it was the…

“Beautiful, big bed!” I exclaimed happily, practically bouncing over to the mass of comfy sheets and leaping on top of them.

I immediately sunk into the soft, soft mattress, all my thoughts flying away as I closed my eyes, a smile playing across my lips.

‘Brrrr, brrrr.’

‘Brrrr, brrrr.’

I opened my eyes, frowning. Was that a cat purring?

It was then that I realised my pocket was vibrating. Confused, I pulled out my ringing mobile phone.

Oh, duh, Sarah.

I pressed the ‘answer’ button and held the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Sarah! Hey girl! Wass goin’ onnnn?!”

A grin quickly formed on my lips. It was the joint forces of my three best friends: Matt, Christy and Jessica.

“Hey guys!” I grinned. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Not much babe,” Matt replied. “How bout you?”

“Yeah, how’s the country?” Christy added.

I sighed. “It’s alright, I suppose.”

“We miss you,” Christy whined.

I laughed. “Yeah, I miss you too.”

“Well, babe, I wish we could stay on the phone and talk to you forever… but we’re actually on our way out,” Jess said apologetically.

“Oh.” I couldn’t help but feel slightly put out and maybe just a little bit hurt. “Well… have fun.”

“You too,” Christy said.

“Get some hot country boys’ numbers for me!” Jess half-joked.

I laughed.

“Bye!”

The line went dead.

I sighed and tossed my mobile onto the bedside table, trying to swallow my jealousy. This was the first time in years that my friends had gone out without me.

Sucking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly and sunk into the pillows, my eye lids fluttering closed.

I could always unpack in the morning…

Well, let me know what you think!