Chapter 1: Bella

Bella hit the end call button so hard that she could see faint ripples emanating from her fingertip on the LCD screen of her cheap no name supermarket phone. Once the call disconnected screen disappeared, a photo of her sister - Allison - and her together, Bella's arm wrapped around her shoulder. showed up on the home screen, torturing her with a reminder that Allie was still missing. The photo had been taken the day that Allie had moved from our home in Cedar Falls of southwestern Kentucky to a five hour's drive away in eastern Kentucky, to a small town called Willowridge.Bella let out a sigh, tossing her phone onto the end table. It clattered and skidded across the hard wooden surface, landing on the floor.At the moment, she didn't really care. She slid onto my sofa and placed her head into her hands. The conversation she had just had with the Willowridge police department was still ringing in her ears, leaving her only further confused and with more questions than answers. It brought back painful memories, which Bella allowed herself to slip into.It had been six months since her sister moved away in pursuit of a sudden job opportunity in the middle of nowhere Kentucky. Bella was very skeptical of the job offer at first, even trying to convince her sister not to go. She didn't want to lose the only family left she had left, but Bella had eventually relented when Allie promised to call every day and had promised that Bella could visit any time that she wanted.Bella had just started to relax and think things would work out when Allie seemingly had disappeared overnight four months ago. She had stopped answering Bella's phone calls. After a day of no response she called the local police. They were no help, telling her that it was too soon. They refused to even do a wellness check. After a week of her not answering her phone and five more calls to the police station in Willowridge Bella went there myself.The house Allie had been renting was completely emptied, showing no signs of anyone ever living there. All belongings Allie had ever owned were gone. Even the fridge and cabinets had been emptied. The strangest thing was there was layers of dust on all of the counters, as if no one had been in the house for months. Bella had gone straight to the police department, begging them for help.Bella had entered the station, taking in her surroundings. The place had seemed almost baron, nothing like what she would have imagined a police station being. Plain white drywall with a few plastic chairs lining it. The rest of the place was empty, no other furniture or décor in sight. There was a window in the back with an older, pale looking woman sitting behind it. She was just staring straight ahead as if she didn't even realize Bella had entered. Her small beady brown eyes had an almost blank expression behind them.Bella had approached her and started to explain her situation. All the while the woman kept staring at her with that blank, lazy expression. "Sorry, ma'am," she had mumbled, her southern accent drawing out the words. "All our officers are busy.""Please," Bella had begged. "This is important. My sister is missing. She hasn't been heard from in over a week. Her place is-""Ma'am, you will have to wait your turn," the woman interrupted, giving a huge yawn as if this conversation had bored her further. "Our officers are very busy.""But my sister-""Fill out this report and wait your turn," she had pulled out a paper from her desk drawer and handed it to Bella through a small opening in the window. "We will get to you when we got a chance.""Miss, with all do respect-" Bella had started but the woman had already turned away from her. "Next!" She had yelled, though there was no one else inside of the department at the moment.Bella had grabbed a pen from the cup sitting up on the window's ledge and sat down in one of the chairs, looking over the paper that had been handed to her. It was a standard, run of the mill police report. Bella slowly began filling it out, making sure to give as much detail as possible, especially about the part where her sister's home had been completely emptied. Once she was done, she handed it back to the lady at the desk. "Please, this is urgent. I would like to speak with an officer. My sister is missing, for Christ's sake. This needs to be handled immediately. She could be-" Bella had choked on that last part. She didn't want to say it. Dead. There was no way that was the case, Bella had to tell myself. She couldn't lose the last family she had."We will call you when we get to your case," the woman said. "Now, please leave.""No, I can't leave until I speak with an officer." Bella had insisted. "Please.""No ma'am, all our officers are very busy. Now leave." The woman repeated that same line.Bella had clenched her fists, if nothing but to stop herself from wringing the woman's neck. "Get me an officer, now."The woman let out a long, drawn out sigh and picked up her desk phone. She pressed in a few numbers and waited a few moments. "Yes, I have a woman out here who refuses to leave. I know your very busy, but I need you to come out here."Finally,  Bella had thought and sat back down, staring at the door that she presumed led off further into the police station where the officers would be. It could have only been a few minutes before someone came through that door, but it had felt like hours. He had been a tall, skinny cop dressed in his officer's blues. He was young, maybe 20 years old. His brown hair had been shaved into a buzz cut. Baby blue eyes that was filled with the same level of boredom the woman at the desk had."Miss," he had said. Bella could have imagined it, but did he just roll his eyes at her? "Carol here told me that you are refusing to leave. As you can see, we are very busy at the moment. We will get to your case when we can. Now, please let me see you to the door." He had that same southern draw to his voice. And there it was again. We are very busy."Listen, my sister is missing. This can't wait." Bella had stood up to face him. "We need to find my sister before something bad happens to her! Something bad may ha-""Yes, yes miss. Lots of important cases round here," the officer interrupted. "Now miss, we are gonna have to ask you to leave. We will give you a call when we can." He gestured to the door."I'm not leaving until you take a look at my case," she was getting very frustrated at this point. Why wasn't anyone in this police department listening? Didn't they care that there was a woman missing right now?"Yes, I understand miss," he really didn't sound like he understood. He sounded like he had been ready to get rid of her. "Now come with me, I will walk you out. We will get to your case when we can.""You aren't listening!""Miss, please don't get that tone with me." He grabbed hold of Bella arm. "Come now."Bella had tried to pull away but his grip on her arm tightened. He began to drag me to the entrance, pushing me out the door. "We will call you when we can, miss." He slammed the door behind her. Bella tried to reenter but he had the nerve to lock it behind her. She had looked down at her arm. A red mark had already began forming on the place where he had grabbed her. Bella had banged on the door, begging for someone to come back, to help her locate her sister.That's the way the police department had treated Bella since then, like she was a bother. They never did call her back so she took it upon herself to call them, many times. Each time she would always get the same responses.Our officers are very busy.It made her sick to her stomach. Her sister was missing and no one seemed to care. No one except Bella. She was still living in Cedar Springs, but she made frequent trips back to Willowridge when she could to find any leads that she could on her sister. Bella put up so many missing person's posters that seemed to always get ripped down. She called the police department every week, asking for more updates.Our officers are very busy.Bella was getting so tired of hearing that phrase over and over. The phone call she just had infuriated her even more."Maybe she just doesn't want to be found." The officer had suggested."Did you maybe get into a fight with your sister?" He had asked."Maybe she just wanted to get away." He had insisted.Maybe she had, but that doesn't explain why Allie hadn't reached out to Bella beforehand. Allie would have never caused her any unnecessary grief, especially when all we had was each other. It didn't matter how many times Bella had reached out to the police, insisting that wasn't how her sister was. They were adamant that her sister had just moved away and didn't want to be found.If that were the case, could they have not investigated it far enough to locate Allie and at least let me know she was safe?There were so many flaws in their logic, and they refused to even just acknowledge it. Which was why Bella planned on moving to Willowridge when she had enough money saved up.If they wasn't going to take things seriously Bella was going to take matters into her own hands.