I ran over to the bartender. “Have you seen my girlfriend?” I asked. “The blonde girl?” the bartender asked as she wiped down the table. “Yeah. I don’t know where she is, have you seen her?” “She went to the bathroom and I didn’t see her after that. Some brunette was eyeing her the entire time though and asked questions about your girl like if she went here often.” “Shit. Did they leave together? Do you know?” “I didn’t actually see them leave together, but I’m pretty sure they left around the same time. Is your girl a faithful one is the question.” “It’s not her I don’t trust; it’s that Lauren.” I said darkly. “Good luck finding her.” She said. I ran back to my car and called Kyla. “Kyla, where’s Lauren.” I said quickly. “Wha? Ash, it’s 3 in the morning, can’t you call –” “Shut up Kyla and tell me where Lauren is.” “Ok, ok. Gee, why do you care so much ‘bout our cousin all a sudden? Haha, that rhymes! I’m good.” She giggled to herself. “KYLA!” I shrieked into the phone. “She possibly walked home or to God knows where with Spencer!” I barked. “What?! Wait, I’ll call her. Hold on.” Kyla replied, finally gaining a sense of seriousness. “Gah. She’s not answering.” “Kyla, Spencer’s been gone for hours, no calls, no nothin’ from her. On top of that, I found her phone in the bathroom at the bar here.” “Crap, Ash. Maybe we should call 911 and report her as missing?” My bottom lip trembled as I considered it. “Kyla, I’m just so lost without her, I need her! If anything happened to her, I don’t think I could ever-” “Ash, calm down. Even if something did happen, it’s not your fault. Things happen.” “Yes it would be my fault! I’m supposed to take good care of her Kyla, and I failed! I upset her! If I hadn’t, she’d be safe and sound in my arms right this moment!” I cried, my voice cracking over the phone. “Come over to the apartments off campus. I’m going over to Lauren’s right now to see if she’s there.”

            I don’t know how fast I drove to the apartments; all I knew was that all of a sudden a 10 minute drive was turned into a 3 minute drive that night. By the time I got there Kyla was already up the stairs. We both banged on the door. The front of the apartment was dark, but I thought I could see tell-tale streaks of light from the back. Someone had to be home. Please let Spencer be alright if she is here, I pleaded silently. “Lauren! Open up!” Kyla yelled, kicking and banging the door. No response. I peered through a window on the side. There was definitely someone home. A light was on in the other room. I slammed my fist hard against this window. “Open up!” I cried at the top of my lungs. There was no way she couldn’t hear us. By now I was frantic, desperate, panicked. I charged against her door, ignoring the brief pain that surged through my shoulder. I was going to bust this door’s hinges if I had to. After several tries with Kyla’s help, the door still wouldn’t give. That was it. I took a crowbar out of my trunk and ripped off the hinges of the door and kicked it down with a mighty BAM! “Lauren!” Kyla cried. “What the hell?!” Lauren cried, stepping out of her bedroom in just boxers and a rumpled shirt that wasn’t quite pulled down. She looked as if she just threw the clothes on as we came into her house. I noticed there was a scratch mark on her cheek. “You guys just broke down my door!” she protested. “Whatever. I’ll pay for it.” I growled. “Where’s Spencer?” I snapped. Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s your girlfriend; shouldn’t you be keeping track of her instead of me? Admit it, Ashley. Spencer’s tired of you. I’m not surprised if she’s moving onto bigger and better things.” “You clearly aren’t one of them.” I shot back. “And how would you know?” she said, smirking back at me. “She’s here, isn’t she?!” I raged, lunging at Lauren. I grabbed her by the shirt and held my fist against her face menacingly. “See how insecure you are? I knew you’d think that.” I shoved her into the wall and tried to move past her to check the rooms. Lauren shoved me back. “You can’t just barge into my place like that!” she snarled. “I can and I will.” I said, ramming my shoulder into her. “Hell no.” she said, clipping me on the side of the head with a quick punch. I caught her in the jaw with a right hook, immediately following it up with a knee to the stomach. While Lauren was doubled over in pain, I kicked open the first door down the hall. Nothing in the bathroom. I kicked open all the other doors as I went down the hall. Nothing in the closet or the guest room. Nothing in the laundry room either. Finally I reached the last door. It was locked. I banged on it. “Spencer?!” I cried. No response. If Spencer was in this place, she had to be in this room. “Kyla!” I yelled. “Bring me the crowbar!” “Ashley!” Kyla yelled down the hall. Lauren had grabbed the crowbar and was headed straight for me.

                Kick-boxing can come in awfully handy sometimes. I waited till she swung it at me to duck and nail her in the stomach. “Oof!” I grabbed the crowbar and tried to pull it out of her hands. “Get the fuck out of my apartment right now!” she growled, still holding onto it tightly. I pushed her against the wall. “Spencer is here, isn’t she? You took her here.” “She isn’t here, Ashley. As much as we both know she’d love to be.” This time Lauren pushed me against the opposite wall, bearing down on the crowbar with all her weight so it was dangerously close to my neck. I pushed back with all my might, slowly moving it away from my neck and suddenly letting go of it while ducking so she ended up shoving it into the wall. She then lunged and swung it at me again, missing and busting the door handle of the locked room. I slammed her against the door, causing it to swing open. There was Spencer on the bed. Kyla jumped on the bed and shook Spencer. Lauren took advantage of my initial shock to dive at my feet, knocking me down. As I wrestled with her on the floor, Kyla cried out something to me that made my heart stop: “Ashley! She’s not breathing! Spencer’s not breathing!”