Chapter 11 Gabi
GABI
Present Day
“Ele, I need you to get the fuck in your car and come pick me up immediately.”
My hips and arms swing wildly, and I must look borderline deranged walking at this speed, but Adrianna’s secrets are burning a hole in my pocket, and no amount of power walking will get me back to our apartment fast enough.
After what feels like an eternity, a car lightly taps on its horn as it pulls up next to me.
“Jesus, what took you so long?” I huff as I climb into the back seat of Ele’s Subaru. Sweat pools at the base of my bra and runs down my temples as I struggle to shimmy off my heavy backpack.
Ele and Viv have their windows down, and I crinkle my nose at the faint smell of marijuana and sunscreen.
“Where were you two?” I ask accusingly.
Viv turns around, and I see my annoyed scowl reflected in her oversized designer sunglasses. “We went for a swim in the gorges.”
The mention of the gorges makes me remember all the times the four of us went swimming together and how Monroe would fearlessly jump off the high cliffs into the water.
I’ve never met anyone as courageous as she was, is, when it comes to heights.
God, the thought of those happier, simpler times makes my heart hurt.
“We were going to invite you,” Ele chimes in from behind the wheel, “but you left in such a foul mood, we figured you wanted some time alone to stew.”
“Whatever, there are probably dead bodies in that water, anyway.”
“Okay, morbid,” Viv states, holding a cigarette between her teeth. Two seconds later, the smell of smoke blasts me in the face, and I’m torn between finding it repulsive and soothing.
“Well, while you two were out on a joy ride, I was doing reconnaissance. I went to DG to find Kasey. She wasn’t there, but I had quite the interesting chat with her roommate, Adrianna.”
I retell every bit of Adrianna’s overshare, down to the last detail, and watch as my friends’ faces change from curiously intrigued to stunned and disgusted.
“And, as if that’s not crazy enough, I also ran into Jace at the campus store, and he was more cryptic than ever.”
“Wait, hold on,” Ele interjects, shocked, “can we go back to the part about the fucking brand? You know, the whole seared flesh bit. Is that for real?”
“Adrianna says she saw it with her own eyes!”
“And you trust this Adrianna person?” Viv asks skeptically.
“I guess, but I mean, who would make up something like that?”
“That makes me deeply uncomfortable,” Ele states.
“It’s disgusting,” I agree. “But leave it to the all-mighty Sigma to come up with something as diabolical as recruiting girls under the guise they’re going to part of a special little sisters thing only to brand them like property.”
“How does something like this even happen in this day and age?” Ele asks, infuriated. “At a fucking Ivy League school, no less. God, the world is so sick.”
I swallow and lean back against the seat. Students walk in front of the car while we wait at a crosswalk. A group of girls in lively conversation smile gleefully. Sticky, humid air clings to my clammy skin as unrest settles in my stomach like lead.
“We need to confront Kasey tomorrow after the chapter meeting,” I state. “Something very wrong is happening at Sigma, and we need to figure out the truth.”
The silver tongs in my hand squeeze into the firm white flesh of another overcooked and under-seasoned chicken breast – one of Colleen’s Sunday dinner specialties.
I’m pretty sure Colleen has been Delta Gamma’s resident chef for longer than I’ve been alive, yet the woman cannot cook a decent meal to save her life.
Next to the chicken is a banquet serving tray of green beans swimming in a questionable, watery sludge, which should have taken the prize for worst dish of the night, but was upstaged halfway through dinner service when Colleen brought out a tray of lukewarm tofu smothered in marinara.
“I was really hoping for lasagna,” Ele confesses in a low whisper as she cautiously places three green beans on her plate. Although I echo her sentiment, because lasagna is one of those dishes that seems impossible to fuck up, I’m too preoccupied with scanning the room for Kasey to respond.
Ele and I sit across from each other at the end of a long wooden dining table in the back of the room.
We’re the only seniors here, and our presence sticks out like a sore thumb.
By comparison, the rest of the sorority members at dinner appear to be sophomores living in the house.
Most seniors live in College Town, where there are restaurants aplenty, and understandably, have opted to eat elsewhere.
Ele gags on a bite of a green bean and covertly spits it out in her napkin.
“I can’t,” she states.
I push my plate away in agreement. My stomach is in no mood to ingest food. We clear our untouched plates and head into the living room, where the chapter meeting will be held.
Minutes tick by, and members filter into the room from dinner in a slow procession. A few juniors I recognize have arrived and sit across from us in the matching set of armchairs. Everyone is on their phone, scrolling.
Younger, sophomore members sit cross-legged on the floor, facing one direction. The front door opens, and a petite girl with mousy-brown hair steps inside carrying a notebook. It takes me a minute to place her, and then I remember she’s in the pledge class below mine.
I hinge forward to get Ele’s attention. “What’s her name?” I mouth.
“Dana,” Ele whispers back. She leans closer. “She’s the Secretary. She took over when Monroe disappeared.”
“Oh,” I say quietly.
I study Dana as she makes her way into the living room from the foyer.
If Monroe had a polar opposite, it would be Dana.
Monroe isn’t particularly tall, and if I had to guess, I’d put her somewhere around five and a half feet – same as me.
It’s the way Monroe carries herself, the way her presence lights up a room, that is of stark contrast to Dana, who I watch scuttle inside like a terrified kitten.
She meekly takes her place at the head of the room, but none of the members notice. Several uncomfortable seconds pass as poor Dana attempts to garner everyone’s attention. The room is a cacophony of voices, and to no surprise, she fails, and my hangry frustration gets the best of me.
“Everyone shut up!” I shout. “Chapter is starting.”
Ele cocks an eyebrow at me and I shrug. I’m annoyed. I have yet to spot Kasey, and I want to get this stupid meeting over with so I can find her, convince her to tell me everything she knows, and leave.
Roll call begins, and I slouch into the winged armchair. I’m never coming to one of these chapter meetings again. I’ve done my time, and besides, what will they do? Kick me out? I’d like to see them try.
I’m picking at my cuticles when a loud, demanding knock at the front door interrupts opening announcements.
Dana looks around, uncertain of what to do.
Another forceful knock rattles the room, and I spring to my feet, because Jesus Christ, someone has to open the goddamn door.
I’m also five seconds away from falling asleep in my chair and need the distraction.
I swing open the door, and my eyes go wide.
“Good evening,” one of the officers begins. “We were asked to do a wellness check on a Kasey Morelli. Does she live here?”
I fumble over my next words. “She lives here, but I don’t know if she’s here right now.”
“May we come inside?”
My mind races. What’s the protocol here? They’re police, but do I just let them in? Are they going to try to search the place, and if so, don’t they need a warrant?
I freeze, staring at them as I think through what to say. Finally, I settle on, “Sure, come in. We’re in the middle of our weekly chapter meeting.”
The two officers step inside, scanning the multitude of pledge class pictures on the foyer walls, and the living room goes silent.
Finding my voice, I address the fifty gawking faces staring back at me.
“The officers are here to do a wellness check for Kasey. Has anyone seen her?”
Hushed whispers hot potato around the room, and I sense the two officers now standing on either side of me.
“Anyone?” I ask again.
“We got a call from her parents,” one of the officers says, and I’m taken aback by how his voice fills the space.
“Apparently, yesterday was her birthday, and they couldn’t get in touch with her, which they said was unusual for their relationship.
Then, when they couldn’t reach her again today, they called us. ”
“None of us have seen her since Friday,” a voice peeps from the back of the room.
“Since Friday?” the cop clarifies. “What time on Friday did you see her?”
“She was at dinner here on Friday,” another voice says. “She said she was going out, but she hasn’t been back since then.”
“Did she say where she was headed?” the second cop asks.
A few girls answer with ‘no’ and I am floored.
“She was at Sigma on Friday,” I answer, hoping the girls in the back hear the brash, clipped tone of my response. “I ran into her there. I saw her briefly, and we only talked for a few seconds before she was pulled away by one of the guys in the fraternity.”
I want to say more, like she appeared to be out of her mind and possibly on drugs, but I don’t want to out her in front of the entire sorority or the police.
“Do you remember the name of this guy?”
“Yeah, Kieren Hunt.” I swear I hear hushed whispers when I say his name.
“Does anyone have her number?” the shorter of the two officers asks. “Has anyone tried calling her?”
“We’ve texted her, but she hasn’t responded,” says a voice in the back. I crane my neck to figure out who this person is, but I can’t see around the many clusters of heads all doing the same.
“Can you call her?” the officer asks.
Seconds pass before the girl confirms, “I’m calling her now.”
Everyone waits with anticipation. “It went straight to voicemail.”
Worried chatter balloons from the room, and I have to silence the crowd once again. I feel like Judge Judy up here.
“What else can we do to help?” I ask the officers.
“Just call us if anyone hears anything. We’ll leave our cards. If she does show up, please tell her to call her parents immediately.”
The officers turn to leave, and the room descends into chaos. I follow the two men as they head for the door.
“What happens next?” I ask. “Is she formally a missing person?”
One of the officers gives me an infuriatingly nonchalant shrug. “These situations happen all the time on college campuses. A girl goes on a bender with her boyfriend, doesn’t call her parents for a few days, parents get spooked and they call us. Things usually resolved themselves after a week.”
“A week?” I gasp. “But what if something awful did happen? What if she were taken?”
“If she doesn’t show up in a week, and the parents still are unable to contact her, usually that’s when we open an investigation.”
“Look, last time you saw her, she was at a frat party with a boy, right?” the taller officer reasons like it’s supposed to ease my paranoia. “She’s probably still there with him, you know, as girls are known to do at these fraternities.”
“No, I don’t know,” I snap. “What is that supposed to mean?”
The officers exchange knowing glances, and I have to actively tell myself not to rage-scream at them. “Just, call us if you hear anything, okay?”
I’m handed a set of business cards and then watch in utter dismay as the two cops leisurely walk down the stone path and back to their parked cruiser.
“Wait!” I call after them, bounding toward the sidewalk. “Are you going to stop by Sigma to see if she’s there or investigate?”
The two cops give each other an odd look as if they’re mocking my question.
“If we don’t find her after a week and they open an investigation, we’ll swing by,” the taller officer says in a cocky, dismissive tone. “Now, if you don’t mind miss, we’ll be going.”
Stupefied, I stand on the sidewalk as they pull away. What in the actual fuck was that? They literally implied Kasey, who was last seen at Sigma forty-eight hours ago, is probably still at Sigma, whoring it up, ‘you know,’ like ‘girls are known to do.’
A girl is missing.
A girl is fucking missing!
My fingers shake as I pull my phone from my back pocket to text Ele, because fuck that. If the cops aren’t going to give a shit, then we’re taking matters into our own hands, and all I need is a single excuse to burn that entire piece of shit fraternity to the goddamned ground.