Elevation

'I just need somewhere to dump all my negativity. - Van Morrison
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Where could Amber have gone without her jeep?

"What the hell is going on?" Harlyn asked aloud, going back into the house and shutting the door behind her.

She searched through the living room and kitchen for a note that she might have left explaining that the jeep hadn't been able to start or something. There had to be something, people don't just leave their cars parked in front of their friends' houses when they leave. It's kind of next to impossible, unless for some reason they want to hoof it.

But why would Amber want to walk anywhere? She'd never shown an even remote interest in athleticism or staying fit before.

"This can't be right," she sighed, sliding her fingers through her hair and cradling her head for a moment in her hands. Angry with herself for being so unsurprised when she hadn't found her in the guest bedroom when she'd checked for her, she stalked back into the room.

Harlyn tried to remember if she'd seen Amber get into bed the night before, but there was nothing, her mind was blank. She thought that maybe she had shut the door before she had. She couldn't be sure.

The guest room didn't look as if it had been slept in at all, it was made up too neatly and Amber had never been that great at tidying. She'd noticed how neat the bed was when she'd poked her head in, why hadn't she thought anything of it?

Scanning the rom, her dark eyes stopped on the floor beside the nightstand where Amber's shiny orange purse looked as if it had been dropped, the contents scattered around and under the bed.

She found Amber's cell phone by the foot of the bed, glowing and buzzing, and picked it up, holding it to her ear and answering, "Hello?"

"Amber, is that you, honey?" Rachel sounded relieved, she'd probably been calling since she'd called the house earlier.

Harlyn frowned, "No Ms. Shield, it's Harlyn again. I just found Amber's bag in my guest room, her phone was in it."

She paused, unable to think of exactly what to say. How do you tell a worried mother that her daughter might be missing, but you have no idea how or when she could have disappeared?

"What do you mean you found her purse and phone?" She sounded frantic, as if she were barely hanging on to the hope that perhaps there was a reasonable explanation behind it all.

"There's something else..." Her tongue poked out and wet her lips out of nervous habit, "I think maybe you should call the police, her jeep's still outside my house and looking at the guest room now, I can't tell if it's been slept in."

"Harlyn, I want you to stay put, I'm coming over as soon as I get off the phone with the police." Her voice was calm and collected, as it always was when she was worried or frustrated. Amber had hated her ability to completely detach herself from situations. "Call your parents and let them know what's going on, they should probably come home too."