Find Her

“911. What’s your emergency?”
“My daughter….she’s gone.”

**********************
I run my hands through my hair, take a sip of coffee, and take a hard look around one more time. I’m standing in the room of Sarah Johnson. Her mom discovered she was gone an hour ago, after not returning from a friend’s house. I tried not to question Mrs. Johnson a great deal for two reasons. One she is in shock and questioning her will only upset her more. Secondly, I know teenagers, and they do not tell their parents the truth about their lives. This room could give me the evidence needed to find Sarah. I take a look at the books on her desk. They’re mostly textbooks, but at the bottom of the stack there is a journal. Opening up the journal reveals it is Sarah's diary. The first entry was written about a year ago, and according to Sarah’s mother, that was when they first moved here to Los Angeles. Picking up the journal, I place it into an evidence bag, and exit the room.
“I have gathered some evidence and will examine it back at the station. I’m going to find your daughter Mrs. Johnson.”
She nods as tears runs down her face.  I think to myself, “god, I hope I can find her...alive” and I continue out the door.
When I return to the station I slowly pull out the journal. I examine the outside. It’s a simple journal with a plain cover. I open it up hesitantly. I can’t help thinking that reading this journal is an invasion of this girl's privacy, but this is my job and I can’t let anything get in the way of finding her.

Dear Diary,
Tomorrow is my first day at my new school. I already know it’s going to be hell. I hate my mom for doing this to me, but at the same time I know she needed to get away from my father; well, we both did. He just wasn’t the same after he lost his job; he started drinking to the point where he would sleep for two days straight. We both tried to support him, but things were never good between my parents, I think I was the only thing keeping them together. Now my mom has moved us to California, where she grew up. And I get to start off at a new school halfway through freshman year. I just need to survive tomorrow, and then I’ll worry about the next day. Who knows maybe I’ll even make a friend, it's not like I was a loser at my old school. Well wish me luck tomorrow.
-Sarah

I take a deep breath.
All her feelings have been written down. If I’m going to find out what really goes on in her life, this diary will be the only thing that tells me. I jot down some of the feelings she had during this time in her life. Confusion. Fear. Loneliness.

Dear Diary,
Day one went better than expected. I met this girl, Ashley, she is in a few of my classes. We got to talking and it looks like we have a lot in common, although I saw who she was friends with at lunch and they seemed pretty weird. I ended up sitting with this girl Kate who is in one of my classes and her friends were more normal. I think they’re really popular so if I start hanging out with them I’ll be able to make a ton of friends and actually become someone at this school. I got a lot of compliments on my outfit, thank god I did shopping before I went to school because my old clothes wouldn't have fit in here. But now I have a ton of homework to do. I’ll let you know how my day goes tomorrow.
-Sarah

Sarah is a classic teenager who cares too much about popularity and what people think of her. I know what happens to these types of kids, especially living in the city, they get caught up in drugs and alcohol. I scribble down the names Kate and Ashley. These girls could know something about what has happened to Sarah. Lifting my hand, I check my watch. Sarah was reported missing two hours ago.

Dear Diary,
It’s been a month since I started school here in California. I don’t really talk to Ashley that much, only when we’re at lacrosse. But I have become really close friends with Kate, and her friends (Charlotte, Blake, Peyton, and Paige). They invited me to a party on Saturday at Blake’s house. Her parents won't be home and a bunch of people are coming. I don’t really know what to expect from it. I know people in LA party hard and when I lived in Oregon, not much partying happened. One thing is for sure the people here are so different from the people in Oregon. They’re more wild. Like the other day, Peyton and Paige egged their English teachers car because he gave them both D’s on their papers. They didn’t even get caught! I just don’t know how they get away with these kinds of things.
-Sarah

These girls Sarah was hanging out with seem to be troublemakers. I’ll have to question them and their teachers. I jot down Charlotte, Blake, Peyton and Paige next to the names I’ve already written. Finishing off my coffee, I continue reading.

Dear Diary,
It’s Sunday morning. The party was last night and it was a whole lot different than what I expected. I got ready at Blake’s house with all the other girls. When people started showing up, they got out the alcohol. I don’t even know where they got it. Most of the kids there were sophomores since Blake is a sophomore, but I spotted a few upperclassmen as well. Everyone was getting totally wasted, and I’ve never even had a sip of alcohol. But they were all telling me to drink, so I did. This isn’t like me. I can feel myself changing, but I like it. I liked the feeling of butterflies in my stomach because I knew if I got caught, my life would be over. But then I noticed something. I saw Charlotte handing a few of the upperclassman a little package, and in return they gave her money. I don’t want to accuse her of anything but it looked like she was selling drugs. I haven’t gotten a chance to really think this over yet. On one hand, I know I shouldn’t get involved. This is so different than just drinking. Selling drugs could get me in so much trouble. But I can’t stop being friends with these girls. I get the feeling they don’t let just anyone in their group and I would be ruined if I just left, or worse told them to stop. At this point I can have any guy, pretty much anything I want. I guess I’ll just keep my mouth shut and look the other way.
-Sarah
And so it begins. I knew she was inevitably going to get caught up in this. But selling drugs at her age, even at any age, is bad. I take more notes about her feelings, Charlotte, and the upperclassmen.

Dear Diary,
A few weeks later I went to a party at Paige's house. And this time I saw Kate selling drugs. I just never thought Kate would deal. Out of all the girls I know her the best and I just wouldn’t expect this from her. She is so smart and she knows better than to do something like this. I feel like I should talk to her, see if I’m wrong about what she is doing. Maybe it's not even drugs they’re selling.
-Sarah

I need to talk to Kate.

Dear Diary,
I talked to Kate. And they are selling drugs. She is crazy. I mean she could get in so much trouble for this. But she wants me to help them. We would split all the money between us. She said they get everything from this man who lives in the city. Apparently he is an idiot and sells them whatever they want for barely anything. They make a ton of money. They meet the guy in some alley next to a coffee shop. To cover up the fact that they all of a sudden have money and that they’re spending a lot of time away from home, they tell their parents they have a job at the smoothie shop across the street. The girls know they won't get caught because they sell the drugs to just one guy, who distributes it to anyone who wants it. That's who I saw Charlotte and Kate selling to. They said I don’t have to join them, but of course I’m going to. If I don’t they won’t hang out with me anymore and I’ll become a loser. There’s no harm in doing it right? They haven’t gotten caught in the 4 months they’ve been working this business. It will all work out for me in the end, it’s got to.
-Sarah

It looks like these girls just got caught. I make note of the location of the alley; next to a coffee shop and across the street from a smoothie shop. When I question the girls, I’ll be able to find out where that is.

Dear Diary,
I’m going with Kate to meet the guy on friday. He’s going to give us the drugs and then we will pay him. We go in, we go out, no problem. It will be my first time and I don’t know how I feel. I just keep thinking of how disappointed my mom would be if she found out what I was doing. If anything goes wrong I could get in an unbelievable amount of trouble. But I have to do it. If I don’t, I will be a friendless loser for the rest of highschool. At least I’m not using the drugs.
-Sarah

Dear Diary,
That first drug deal changed me. It has been a year. I have sold more drugs, and made more money than I could imagine. And I also started to use the drugs I was selling. It started off slow, but now I’m either high or drunk every weekend. I can’t help thinking about what happened to me. How did I become this person? Yes my life seems great. I’m the most popular girl in school. Now I’m the leader of my group, and this whole drug business. I’m dating the hottest guy in school and I can afford anything. I party every weekend. But what people don’t see is that my boyfriend abuses me. My friends hate me. My mom knows who I’ve become and she suddenly doesn’t care about me anymore. I’m failing almost all my classes and suddenly don’t care about anyone or anything. I have no future, or at least I don’t see one for myself. I only get high to cover up the pain of being alone. This must be my rock bottom. But I don’t think I will rise up and become a better person, I just want to leave.
-Sarah

This is the final entry in Sarah’s journal. It was written a week ago. It looks like she has fallen into depression. She thought her life was pointless. But I don’t think she killed herself because why wouldn't she do it at home? After finishing the notes about the journal, I get in my car and drive to Los Angeles High School. When I get there I go to the main office and ask them to call down Kate. I take her into an empty office for questioning.
“Hello Kate, I’m detective Roberts. I have some questions about your friend, Sarah Johnson.”
“Is she okay?” Her lips start to quiver.
“Well Sarah was reported missing a few hours ago by her mother.”
“Oh my god. This can’t be real. I was just with her yesterday morning. She left my house around 10 and said she was going home.”
“Kate, I know about the drug business. And in order to find your friend I need you to tell me if you have any idea of where she could be.”
“Oh, you know. Okay well yesterday she told me she was going into LA for a deal at 11. We owed the guy from our last deal but as far as I knew we still didn’t have the money, but Sarah said she had it taken care of. Afterwards she would've gone home. We normally don’t go alone, and I insisted I should go with her, but she said if I tried to she would ruin me, so I let her go. That was so stupid of me I shouldn’t have let her go by herself. What was I thinking?!” She is starting to panic.
“Kate I need you to calm down. Where do you meet the dealer?”
She takes a deep breath, “We meet him next to the coffee shop on Melrose Ave.”
I run out of the office, get in my car and drive straight to Melrose Ave. I park at the smoothie shop and run directly across the street to the alley. When I get there I see Sarah, tied to a chair with duct tape over her mouth. She crying and trying to scream. Suddenly a man, about the age of 45 jumps out behind a dumpster. He’s fragile and tipsy. I bring him to the ground and handcuff him. Sarah is fidgeting to get out of the chair. Hastily, I realise her from the entrapment of the ropes and duct tape. She is still sobbing and wraps her arms around me.
“You’re safe now Sarah. Everything is going to be ok.”
I immediately call Sarah's mom and the paramedics. Then I talk to Sarah and ask her what happened. She tells me how she owed this man money. When she showed up, without the money, he hit her over the head with a bottle and tied her up. She doesn’t know how long she was knocked out but when she woke up the man was standing over her. He told her she would stay tied up here until her friends came with the money. Then Sarah looks up and begins to cry again.
“Mom?!”
“Sarah,” Mrs. Johnson sobbed, ”Sarah I’m here. Everything is going to be okay.” They embrace in a hug with uncontrollable tears streaming down their faces.
“Mom I’m so sorry! You don't deserve this, especially after what happened with dad. I swear to you I’ll become a better daughter. I’m so sorry.”
“We will talk about it later Sarah. For now, I’m just happy to have you back.”

**********************

Dear Diary,
It’s been a year since I was taken hostage. The cops found out about our drug business. They let us off easy, mainly because they were able to find two other major drug dealers (the guy we got the drugs from and the guy we sold them to). Me and the girls had to spend 4 months in a rehabilitation center and complete 60 hours of community service as our punishment. I stopped hanging out with those girls after what happened, and I’m proud to say I’ve been sober for one year. I’m so grateful that we were found out because I was able to restart my life. I have brought my grades back up and I’m happy for the first time in a very long time. Getting caught was the best mistake of my life.
-Sarah