A Mystery At Ravenscroft

Positively Identified

Madilyn

September 23rd, 2021

I start up my Mercedes Benz in the Ravenscroft Mini Market parking lot. I stopped to get gas on the way to tonight's meeting since I'm running on empty. As I'm slowly inching forward, trying to ease my way beyond the pumps, a Ravenscroft transit van speeds past, and I have to slam on the brakes. The driver is unfazed and just keeps going, speeding out of the station and onto the road. It's sad to say I am not surprised. The traffic here is extremely bad, especially at night.

I start driving along the never-ending road that leads to Veridian. It had been raining, and I'm just praying that my hair isn't messed up. I want to look good for Julian; he made a really good impression when I met him last. The woodsy smell of his cologne and the way he carried himself were immaculate. I don't want to chance losing him. If I play my cards right, we could do this thing for real. But what do I want exactly? A big family with four or five kids in a ranch-style house? Do I want an only child, or do I want to adopt? These thoughts race through my mind, especially after Chandler brought this up to me one night. It absolutely terrified me. Now I'm thinking about it so soon after one date with Julian? He holds a lot of power over me, and I'm not sure if I like that.

I pull into Veridian's parking lot, where the staff is directing traffic as usual. I wave at Megan, who's standing in the patch of grass to my right, usually greeting the oncoming traffic into Viridian. I make my way to my unofficial official parking space. Viridian's parking lot is a grand space that could fit well over 200 people, I would guess, and it's lined with little lanterns so we can see where we're going. It's pretty dark out, so I turn on my high beams to make sure that I can see well. I pull into my parking space successfully and turn my car off.

I take my keys out of the ignition and pamper myself in front of my compact mirror really fast. I have on more of a natural glam makeup look tonight, and I start to wonder if that's the wrong move. I probably should've loaded the makeup on my face, but as the days go on, I start to realize that that's just not me. I loathe having to hide under a pound of makeup. What you see is what you get. But with Julian, I just feel the need to make sure I'm perfect. It's a toxic thing, I know, but I have good intentions; that's all that matters, right?

I line my finger around the edges of my lips to catch any excess lipstick that might've run and curl my fingers with my eyelashes to make sure they have a dramatic effect. As I'm putting my compact away in my clutch, I glance over out of my window and see Viv and Cassandra's car parked next to each other along the narrow strip of the road beside me. I honestly sometimes feel like the outcast of the group. Yes, they love me, this I know, but I will never be as close as them. It sucks because I truly love them from the bottom of my heart, but I don't 100% believe that the feeling is reciprocated. They're probably in there with each other, gossiping or planning something without me, while I sit here with my thoughts.

I could've talked to Ken about something like this. She would've been here to listen, to tell me that everything was going to be okay and that I was overreacting. She would've stayed with me, no matter how long, to make sure that I was okay. I miss her; I truly miss her every single day. I miss getting texts from her for spontaneous shopping sprees, her random words of encouragement, the late-night study sessions for Chemistry class. Her presence was never something you could miss. Now that she's god knows where, it puts a pit in my stomach.

I try not to think of what might've happened to her. I just hope that she's just lost and she's found soon. I still can't shake what Claudia told me at their house last night. They were practically one of the last people to see Ken alive. Why didn't Claudia come forward with this information earlier? It makes me wonder how accurate they were about the situation. The sad thing is, I don't even know what to do with this information. Do I go to the police and tell them? But what good will that do? If the police are in cahoots with Viridian, which I'm positive they are, they will just sweep it under the rug. It would possibly put me on their suspect list too, for knowing something that I shouldn't.