I remember visiting my uncle Todd and Auntie Elle with my older sister, Serena, when she first taught me how to swim. It was the best time I ever had with Serena, but it was also the worst.571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0T7bbCZsQ4
My sister was eight so that made me four years old the last time I saw her, when she had disappeared from my life forever. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDzEX0SOIX
It happened right after we were done swimming that same day. My auntie and uncle were inside cooking dinner while Serena pushed me gently on a swing. The wind brushed against my face making my smile even bigger than it already had been. I loved it when she played with me. Especially now since she started talking about boys at school. I had thought, what stupid boy could be more fun than me, her own sister. I hated boys back then—they were always dirty and smelled awful. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQ5WYh90x2
A silver car had pulled up with the window down. The man inside, I remember, had dark features, but not black. Serena walked over to him with no problem. I heard him ask about directions. I had thought he was out of luck because my sister didn't know where anything was, or maybe I just hadn't. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBlUHWXopS
She raised a finger pointing down the street. That's when the strange man had grabbed her arm and yanked her hair. She started screaming. I wanted to do something but my swing was still going. It was going too fast and high for me to jump. Heights had always been a fear of mine. Then he struck the back of her head, which instantly quieted her screams. He then pulled her supple body through the window and drove off. That was the last of what I had remembered. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRmyjgIzQN
The next thing I knew, I was in a different bed. It wasn't mine because mine wasn't this hard and this high off the ground. Plus there were bars around it and really bright lights shining. I had looked around and saw almost my whole family there. All of them crying. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KCHPYAfJk
They had told me I had been asleep for three days. In the hospital, I remember dreaming of Serena, but not her being kidnapped. She had came to me in a green meadow with a huge waterfall cascading down into a bright, reflecting river. She had whispered something I couldn't remember then gave me a hug. After that she wiped a tear from my eye, but I hadn't known why I was upset. After that, she disappeared and I woke up. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfikMdU9jhI
My mom and Dad took me back home with the rest of the family, where I found out my sister had been found. I was ecstatic. I asked, "Where is she? Where's Sissy?" Thinking she was going to appear around the corner at any second. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoFqOm9n37
That's when the weird and worried faces appeared. They were all staring at me. Was it something I had said? Did I say one of those naughty words that Sissy told me not to say? I retraced my words and didn't find any. Then Mom started to cry. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwXhGk6kfD
She and Dad would be like this for a long time. But after a few days of my third degree, bugging them to death about where my sister was, they had finally sat me down. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZ3cckRXOj
"Sweetie, Sissy isn't here anymore. She is," my mom sniffled, "in Heaven... with the angels."571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oBtZGNBtS
"But I thought you only go there when you," I paused, "you know," then whispered, "die."571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbrtTUwQQk
I don't know why I had whispered the word. I guess, because it was so unknown to me. All I had known was when you die, you get flushed down the toilet that goes to Heaven, like Serena's pet goldfish, Sam, when he died. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8acAIF1642
They had both stared at me with scared faces. Tears were now running down dad's red cheeks. They didn't say anything then my mom put her head down into her hands and started crying louder than before. She reached out and grabbed me, lifting me up into her lap where she hugged me tight. It was while in my mom's embrace I realized, they didn't have to say anything. It had clicked inside of me. I suddenly knew I wasn't ever going to see my big sister again. 571Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGG7o397QPb
And so I joined them in tears.
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