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Several months had passed since Ryn’s disappearance and each day didn’t get any easier than the last. The only thing that kept Serena going was Mackenzie. Serena recorded every milestone and she made sure that she spent as much time with Mackenzie as she could. She never wanted to leave her daughter’s side. Serena also had another thing on her mind that kept her mentally in check following her best friend’s mysterious disappearance. She had recently discovered that she was expecting another baby. Both Dominic and Serena had been shocked at the discovery at one of Serena’s routine check ups. She had no symptoms whatsoever, but nevertheless they were excited and anticipating their second child, whether it was too soon or not.

“This way Mackenzie can grow up close in age with a younger sibling” Serena reassured Dominic and thus he agreed. Serena was an only child herself and she neither had siblings or cousins. Ryn was the closest she had to a sibling, and now she was gone and nowhere to be found.

Serena started to get her usual pit of worry in her stomach, but she quickly swallowed the anxiety as she cooed and spoke to her baby.



Ryn had left sole-guardianship of Gigi to Serena in her will. Serena remembers the day Ryn had asked her about it back in 2012. She had written the will specifically in case Luca’s name ever came up. And in the wake of Ryn’s disappearance a judge had declared that considering Luca was nowhere to be found nor had he ever supported her, Gigi was to stay with Serena. Ryn’s parents however, wanted to have their granddaughter each weekend, and so Serena and the Sierras made custody arrangements, which also included Dorian, who Gigi would stay with one week at the end of every month.

Gigi was a very inquisitive child, and she would constantly ask about her mother. And Serena never filtered anything from her.



“They still haven’t found mommy’s car?” she asked looking up at Serena with wishful eyes

“No sweetie, they still haven’t found any trace of her. Not anywhere.”

Gigi wanted to cry but she was too confused to let the tears flow. “It’s not FAIR” she yelled stomping the floor, “mommy could be hurt and no one can find her. Not even the police?”

“The police are doing all they can sweetheart.” Serena felt infinite amounts of sympathy for Gigi and she couldn’t even bother thinking that Gigi would have to continue growing up without her.

“I don’t want you to worry” Serena started playing with Gigi’s hair, “I’m sure your mother would want you to be okay and to play and go about doing all the fun things that little girls do.”

“I wished especially hard on a star last night” Gigi whined, “mommy said that if you close your eyes really really hard and if you wished hard enough that it would come true. How come she hasn’t come home yet?”

“Oh sweetheart” Serena held Gigi close and Gigi buried her wet eyes into Serena’s stomach



When Serena went to check on Mackenzie she was sound asleep. Serena shuttered at the thought of Mackenzie losing her mother at a young age. Serena’s greatest fear was if something were to happen to her and Mackenzie was forced to grow up without her. And she was sure Ryn had the same fear for Gigi.

Serena checked the baby monitor to make sure it was functioning correctly. She had to go attend to some business with the Sierra’s and would leave the kids with Dominic, who was napping in the bedroom.



Ryn’s parents, Christian and Ellen Sierra had been investigating their daughter's disappearance ominously as soon as Serena had informed them that she was missing. They had hired several private investigators and none of them ever came up with any substance. As far as the Sierra’s and Serena had known, Ryn was going to do a comedy routine at Legend’s Comedy Nightclub which was located downtown. Serena noted that she remembered hearing Ryn as she was leaving the house. The time was 10:00 PM and Serena knew this because after being awoken by Ryn leaving, she had went to the kitchen to get a drink of water and checked the time.

By the end of Ryn’s stand-up comedy, there had been only one staff member working who was closing. The staff member had been fired the next day, because the night of Ryn’s disappearance he had drank and partied with guests and left the Nightclub without closing or locking up.

All of the guests who attended Ryn’s comedy routine noted that she was the last to leave the club.

Geoffrey Landgraab and his friends stated that they had talked with Ryn before they had all left. Geoffrey was the last person to talk to Ryn, but he said that she had only stopped to discuss her admiration for him as he was exiting the door.

(And no one would ever suspect a business tycoon such as Geoffrey to ever do anything horrible.)

This left Ryn alone.

And to make the investigation even more complicated, all of the surveillance cameras in the club had been shut off due to a circuit problem they had been experiencing for weeks.



Ryn’s whereabouts were like digging for gold. And Serena knew this. Christian knew this. Ellen knew this. But still they were relentless in trying to find out something about what happened on Ryn’s last night. That was until Serena contacted Christian and Ellen this morning and asked if she could come over. She had found something they had all been looking for.



“As you both know, the last private investigator that we hired tried to use the “Find My iPhone” locator on Ryn’s phone and came up with no signal.” Serena pulled out a paper from a red folder. It was the print out of the find my iPhone locator map. “Well” she said pointing at a dot on the paper. “I have been persistently checking to see if I would get a signal of Ryn’s phone. And this morning I got one.”

“Wow, so where is it located” Christian eyes were intrigued and excited to find something new in the case.

Ellen’s expression remained blank as she looked at Serena and then to Christian and then to the paper



“Well… here” Serena handed Christian the paper

Christian held the paper up as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, “this is near Swamp River in Strangetown?”

Serena’s expression matched what Christian was thinking

“How do you know any of this is accurate?” Ellen sounded unimpressed, “I say leave it to the police either way could be dangerous” And with that Ellen left the two of them standing in the yard.

Ellen had spent the past four months in constant fear of Ryn’s safety. But she was beginning to get burned out by all of the theories and speculations her husband and Serena thought up. And apart of her felt that Ryn was gone. For good.



“I’ll take the paper and contact the lead on the case” Christian’s eyes remained locked on Serena’s as they both silently acknowledged a sinking reality. “Thank you Serena, for all you’re doing to find Ryn. I am sure we are getting close to a resolution.”

As Christian began walking into the house, Joel had been standing behind them listening the whole time.



Joel was Ryn’s teenage brother. As teenagers themselves, Ryn and Serena would carry him everywhere they went when he was still a baby. He looked very much like Ryn in some ways, and his model-like features had gained the attention of a few modeling agencies, but Joel wasn’t interested in that stuff that he considered "frilly” and “plastic”. He was more into motorcycles and driving monster trucks and making out with chicks at mosh pits. Serena hadn’t heard much from Joel since Ryn’s disappearance, and she could imagine that it must have been taking a toll on him.



“You said you found my sisters phone?” he manage to choke up

“Yes.” Serena’s voice was calm as she could feel the tension that Joel was feeling

“I’m going to go find it. And then I’m going to kill the bastard that took her.” Joel growled

“Joel. That’s not safe. You would be best to-”

“I DON’T CARE. SERENA” he yelled

Serena was silent

“My sister is missing, she could be in danger, or worse.” Joel’s eyes began to tear up, “how could anyone do anything to her?” he said with a hard sniffle. “Hm? She has always been nice and friendly to everyone in this fucking town, how could anyone hurt her?”

Serena nodded her head in frustration, “I ask myself the same thing every night.”



Joel let out a sigh and looked up at the sky, the sun was setting and the sound of crickets were beginning to fill the air. “She’s dead isn’t she?” he said looking at Serena, and then he broke down in tears.

Joel. The tough guy Serena had known since he was born. Was crying.

Serena wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t answer his question. And Joel knew that she couldn’t. Neither of them knew the state of Ryn, or whether she was dead or alive. And so they stood for a moment and just hugged each other and cried together.