Souls Of The Innocent

Chapter Eight: Lisa Martin

Amber closed the door to her bedroom, she slowly turned the key and locked herself in. Since Nora's disappearance, she was forbidden by her parents to lock her bedroom door. They were scared that something could happen to her, but Amber thinks that they were afraid that she will do something to herself. But today, Amber was breaking that rule, she didn't want to be disturbed by anyone. She had been waiting for this the whole day, a quiet time for her to start her investigation. Amber sat down in the middle of her bed, with her back against the headboard, cross-legged with her phone on her lap. A serious look clouded her face as she clicked on the picture gallery on her phone and looked at the picture she took of the Newspaper article. She zoomed in the photo and slowly read the article;

" A frantic search is still underway for the missing 13 -year- old girl from the small town, Snowflakes. Lisa  Martin disappeared mysteriously during the weekend of the first week of March. If anyone has seen Lisa Martin please  contact the nearest police station or her family on the following numbers ..."

As she read the article so many things came back to her mind. She remembered that Monday morning in the dining room. Her constant bickering with her sister, her mother asking Nora to go and change her top, her sister teasing her about the way she dresses, she was reading the same article whilst her dad was busy reading the sports section. She closed her eyes and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. It only seemed like yesterday, she wouldn't agree with the saying that time heals all wounds, she cannot think of anything that could heal them apart from Nora coming back home. She opened her eyes and wiped away her tears, she took in a deep breath and cleared her throat. Amber didn't want her emotions to get in the way of what she wanted to achieve, she had to turn her sadness and weakness into strength. 

I need to be strong, Amber silently said to herself.

She grabbed a pen on her bedside table and  noted down the phone numbers in her notebook and then continue to read the article;

".., according to her friends she left the school fundraising dance at around 11 pm,  but Lisa never made it back home. She was wearing a  white coat, a white swing dress, and silver crystal-embellished kitten heels . Lisa was wearing a golden necklace with a small golden Angelic Flower pendant with a peridot stone in the middle. The same as in the picture below. " We want to find our daughter. ..Why will anyone want to hurt our dear Lisa?....", her mother said in an interview with the Newspaper....."

Amber finished reading the article and then zoomed in the picture of Lisa for her to have a closer look at the young lady.

" I have to meet her family...she disappeared two months before Nora. Same age, so young,  pretty and innocent ", she softly said as she looked at Lisa's photo.  

She put her phone down and picked up the notebook and tear out the page where she had written the phone numbers on. Amber glanced at her alarm clock to check the time, it was past 8.30 pm. She glanced at the paper in her hand, she picked up her phone, regardless of the time, she was going to try her luck to see if someone answers the phone. She hesitated a moment before she dialed the number and her heart started to beat faster as she heard the ringback tone. The phone rang, but no one answered the call. The call was diverted to an answering machine, Amber listened carefully and as soon as she heard the answering machine saying that you have reached the Martin's residence she quickly hung up. She had reassured herself that the number was indeed for the Martin's. She folded the piece of paper and placed it in her bedside table drawer. 

I'll call again tomorrow morning, it's kinda late as well. I'll try and Google up as much information as I could about that family. One way or another, I'm going there, I have to go to Snowflakes...Amber said to herself. 

Determination was her number one motivation to find her sister and to solve all of those mysteries that had been tormenting her since the disappearance of Nora. She still had hope that Nora was still out there,  alive and she will do the impossible to find her and bring her back home. Amber typed Lisa Martin's name in Google Search and the first thing that popped up was a picture of a beautiful girl with red curly hair and hazel eyes. Around her neck was the same necklace which had been described in the news article.

She scrolled through the different posts and she came across what she had been looking for, the address of Lisa Martin's family. She quickly took a snapshot of the picture of her house and address. 

There was a picture of Lisa and her whole family. Amber slowly read what was written underneath the photo,

 " Lisa Martin's family . From left to right her sister Farrah, brother Gregory, her mother Priscilla and father Paul". 

"Looks like she has a brother almost my age ..", Amber was saying when she heard a loud noise coming from somewhere inside the house. That took her attention away from her phone. She slowly stood up and walked towards her bedroom door and listened attentively . She wondered where was that noise coming from and she rolled her eyes thinking that it was probably Oscar who had gotten himself in some sort of trouble, their British Shorthair could be a handful sometimes. Amber had noticed that the past weeks he would stay away from the first floor of the house, he preferred staying downstairs close to the fireplace area. He would often sit there looking anxiously towards the staircase meowing loudly and the sudden change in his behavior often gave Amber goosebumps. 

Amber slowly unlocked the door and pulled it open and looked across to her parent's room and the door to their bedroom was closed. She walked out of her room and hesitatingly she tiptoed towards the staircase. Looking down the dark staircase a cold chill washed over her and to make it worst she saw a shadow lurking at the bottom of the stairs.

" Hello.. who is there!?... Oscar...", she called out her cat's name but silence was the only reply that she got.

She heard a weird noise coming from behind her, she slowly turned around looking towards the creaking sound and noticed it was Nora's bedroom door which had opened. Amber found it strange since her parents had locked the door and they have been keeping the key with them. Her heart started to beat faster, the cold chill of fear ran through her again as she walked towards her sister's bedroom. As she approached Nora's room she noticed a shadow standing in the doorway.Amber remembered the day that Nathan had brought her dinner to her room, she had blamed him for opening her sister’s bedroom door, could he had experience the same thing? She asked herself as she gazed towards the opened door.

" Who is there?", she shouted.

The shadow moved backward inside Nora's room and in what sounded like a whisper Amber heard her name being called and it sounded like her sister's voice.

" Nora!", Amber shouted and ran inside her sister's bedroom. Once inside the bedroom she felt cold as if she was out on a cold winter's night without a coat on. She rubbed her hands together to keep herself warm as she glanced around the darkroom. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her and she quickly turned to open it but found that it was jammed. Amber's heart started to race and her breath came quickly as she pulled the doorknob with all her strength. Her body froze when behind her she heard her name being whispered by a chorus of girl's voices. Terror spun through her and she started to hit at the door with all of her might. The voices got closer and closer, she felt like someone was playing in her hair and she thought that her heart was about to explode as adrenaline flooded her body. She didn't have anywhere to go, she didn't want to turn around and see who was behind her. 

I have to be brave ... I have to try and figure out how to get out of here... with that thought, she started hitting at the door with all of her strength. The whispers got louder and she felt like someone was grabbing her shoulder. Long nails dug in her flesh, she couldn't even scream as her throat was dry.

The door to the bedroom suddenly opened and her parents stood there looking at her in surprise.

" Amber .. how did you get in here?", her father asked as she hurried  into his arms.

" I ...I didn't open it. I found the door opened and ...", Amber started to say and then she stopped talking. Her parents wouldn't believe her if she tells them what happened to her inside that room which a moment ago was like a cold storage. 

Harry could feel that his daughter was scared, she was trembling like a leaf, her hair was humid as if she had been out in the cold. He glanced towards Nora's room and wondered what had happened in there as he gently cradled his daughter in his arms. Amber's mother walked inside Nora's bedroom and switched on the lights, she looked around the room and didn't find anything strange, everything was in order just the way Nora had left it the day she disappeared. She glanced at her husband and then at her daughter's face. The only thing that crossed her mind was that Amber was starting to be delusional or sleepwalking. Could it be those pills that she's taking that are causing her to act like that? Her mother asked herself as she slowly smiled at her daughter. The best thing they could do for Amber was to speak to her psychologist, it was something that she was going to discuss with her husband as soon as they put Amber back in her room.

Amber looked at her mother as she stood in the doorway. She saw that look in her eyes and somehow she knew what she was thinking about. 

If I told them what I experienced a few minutes ago, they will be worried that I'm losing my sanity, Amber said to herself.

" How did you open that  door Amber?", her mother asked as she closed the door and locked it.

Amber couldn't speak she just looked at her parents and then ran to her bedroom and locked the door regardless of her parents asking her not to. She couldn't tell them anything, they wouldn't believe her anyway. As soon as she got into her bedroom, she crawled into her bed, and as she switched off the light the whispering started again. The whispering voices kept going around in her mind and she covered her ears and shouted " leave me alone!". 

The whispers stopped and Amber sat down on her bed with her legs pulled up to her chest, she heard her dad's frantic voice as he knocked loudly on her bedroom door.  Amber switched on the lights and walked towards the door.

" Amber, open the door! What's wrong?", he asked worriedly.

" Dad ... I'm ok.. we will speak in the morning", Amber answered standing close to the door.

" Amber what did we say about locking the door to your bedroom! Open it right now !", her father ordered. She slowly unlocked the door and pulled it  open.

" I'm fine. I need to sleep", Amber said as she peered through the small gap.

" We will speak in the morning. Just don't lock the door again", her father said and Amber nodded as she closed the door and walked back to her bed.

" I wonder what happened tonight? How did Amber get inside Nora's room?!", Harry asked his wife as they walked back to their bedroom.

" I'm worried about her Harry", Anna replied.

" Amber has been affected by what happened to Nora and she is not talking to us about what she's going through!", she added.

Harry looked at his wife he didn't know what to say to ease the pain which was showing on his wife's face. He had noticed the change in her eldest daughter, but what could they do to help her? They were also still feeling down in the dumps about the disappearance of Nora and they had not been there for Amber as much as they should be as her parents. She needed them to help her emotionally, to give her their full attention and support, instead they had just been relying on her weekly visit to the psychologist to help to ease the pain that she was going through. They walked back to their room with a heavy heart, they were scared of losing their other daughter, but what can they do? How will they help Amber? It was clear that she wasn't going to talk to them about what was bothering her. All they will have to rely upon was time to heal all of them.

The next day Amber woke up early and made her way out of the house before her parents came downstairs for breakfast. She left a note on the dining table just in case her parents would wonder where she was. She simply said she had research to do and have gone to school earlier. She quickly made her way to the bus stop, she had her mind fixed on what she was going to do today. Though she was feeling extremely anxious about meeting that family, she needed to put fear behind her if she wanted to dig further into the disappearance of her sister.Amber got off the bus and walked towards the house across the road. She took out her phone and looked at the picture of Martin’s residence. She raised her head and looked towards the house in front of her, she took in a deep breath.

“ Here goes”, she whispered.