The bike skidded to a halt on the pavement in front of the hollow house. The curtains had been stripped, all the furniture looted and the people that once lived there vanished.
Another bike skidded behind her. Jordan shook herself out of the trance. She hadn’t intended on turning into the neighborhood. Somehow she was in front of the house that she had once been so comfortable in. Why did it feel like an enemy?
‘Jordan what are you doing here?! I thought we were going to the park.’ Ruby said.
Jordan exhaled. She couldn’t take her eyes off the house. It was as if Leah was going to burst through the front door with her full cheeks and bright smile.
‘Jordan, they’re gone. They’re not coming back.’ Ruby’s hand rubbed her friends shoulder.
‘I know Ruby.’ Jordan snapped. She gripped the bikes handles and sighed. ‘It hasn’t even been a year, how could they just leave?!’
‘Maybe they couldn’t handle it. People process grief differently you know.’
Jordan nodded. ‘I don’t want to believe Leah’s gone Ruby. We were supposed to ditch our bikes for my car. But she never even saw it.’ Jordan hadn’t been able to drive the car she got for her birthday since Leah…
Ruby shook her head. ‘You have to accept it. I know she was your best friend, but you have to heal. Grief does horrible things to a person!’
Jordan rolled her brown eyes. ‘Ugh, Ruby.’
‘You know it’s true Jordan!’
Jordan blinked the tears away. The upstairs bedroom had been Leah’s. They’d had countless sleepovers in that room. Made so many plans. They all went up in smoke. She turned her bike, being in the neighborhood only hurt as much as a thousand hornet stings.

Her best friend was gone! She wouldn’t go to school and find her smiling face first thing in the morning. They wouldn’t get to enjoy their last two years of high school together. How would she make it through this?
‘Everything will be okay don’t worry.’ Ruby said as Jordan began riding away from the house. ‘I won’t go anywhere.’ She added.

Leah’s parents didn’t think she’d go anywhere either. That all changed one average day in Hollow Cove. Leah went to the hardware store for her Dad like she did so many times before and was never heard from again.