Sophie’s Quest – Episode 1

By Tess

 

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Episode 1..

 

…… ZOE’S P.O.V ……

 

“Name: Sophie Andrews

 

Age: 16

 

Nationality: African-American

 

School: Mark-Bedders….” I paused and snorted in slight amusement and curiosity, turning the book I

 

held in my hand over to glance at the beautifully-designed pink and blue cover once more “What’s this book about?” I asked no one in particular,then looked at the door of Sophie’s room, wondering what was taking her so long. She’d left the room over 40 minutes ago just to get us both some cookies and milkshake from the kitchen.

 

Sophie’s my best friend and I’d met her at Mark-Bedders,our school. She’s a black…Inter-racial…just like me and we’re based here in Georgia.Kindly share out more interesting stories from generalloaded.com using the floating social media icon button at the bottom of the screen

 

 

I grabbed one of Sophie’s fluffy pillows and sat properly on her bed before opening the book again. I flipped through the first and second pages and got to the third page

 

“January 31” I read the heading,then gasped and quickly slammed the book shut. Her diary!. I dropped the book back on her study desk where I’d found it and quickly returned back to the bed but the date I’d read out kept playing in my head. January 31… That’s when Austin, Sophie’s brother,was murdered at a Frat party. His body hasn’t been found…At all.

 

 

I jerked, completely out of impulse as the door of the room opened and Sophie walked in, smiling slightly with a tray of cookies in one hand and milkshake in the other

 

“Anything wrong?” She asked as she dropped the tray of cookies on the bedside table. Gosh…She must have seen me jerk.

 

“Err..Yes. I mean,No”

 

“Zoe?” Sophie drawled, giving me a funny questioning look as she settled on the bed and stretched two cookies to me

 

“Nothing’s wrong, really. I was just lost in thoughts and you happened to open the door, which was sudden for me,making me jerk” I munched a cookie as I spoke,then shrugged. At least that wasn’t a lie.

 

I watched as Sophie nodded and placed her headphones over her black,curly afro hair before grabbing her phone, scrolling through for some music

 

“So what took you so long?”

 

“Julianna”

 

“Oh” I muttered. That’s her baby sister. Four months old. “Diaper changing?” I asked, chuckling

 

“Exactly” Sophie responded,giving an exasperated sigh before smiling

 

“Hey!” I whined,reaching for the headphones “You don’t get to listen to the music all alone” I pulled out the headphones and grabbed her phone, heading for the Disco Player “This will do instead”

 

“Don’t raise the volume too high,Zoe. Mama’s home”

 

“Like I care!” I yelled over the increasing music and we both laughed heartily.

 

 

 

SOPHIE

 

I watched Zoe leave before finally closing the door

 

“Time for dinner,Sophie” I heard mom say from the kitchen,poking her head out as I walked across the living room

 

“Save mine” I replied and went up the stairs into my room. First, I wiped the crumbs of cookies from the table and pushed the tray aside, then took it again as an afterthought to drop it back into the kitchen. My eyes moved to my study desk where my diary lay…Just where I kept it,but not just how I kept it—On top of my Science textbook. I shook my head with a little smile, knowing Zoe must have touched my diary.

 

Halfway down the stairs,the doorbell rang and I dropped the tray in the kitchen before going to get the door

 

“Hi, Sophie”

 

 

I looked up slowly at the blonde officer before taking a step back. His broad smile soon faded once he saw that instead of smiling back,I had a totally blank expression on my face

 

“Hi,Officer Wilson” I finally spoke and stepped aside,letting him in. He stepped in and put both arms behind his back just as mom stepped out from the kitchen into the living room. There were dark circles around her eyes which looked dull themselves. They’ve been like that since the news of her son’s death reached her just two weeks ago. She paused the movements of her hands on a small towel just as her eyes met with that of the cop.

 

“Have you found his body yet? Any news?” She asked urgently,moving closer to the officer.

 

I moved my gaze to mom,then back at the officer before I turned to close the door. Austin’s body’s been missing since the day he was murdered. There’d been a witness,a boy… and he’d told the officers that he’d seen Austin been stabbed by some boys. His body,though, has not been found. It’s been two weeks.

 

“No,Ma’am. There are no traces of where his body might have been disposed yet,but…..”

 

“Then leave! Leave!” Mom yelled,balling her fists as she spoke “I made it clear,Officer Wilson. No visits till my son…or his body…is found. No visits ..” Mom broke down in tears and sat on the couch,burying her face in her hands as her shoulders shook.

 

Officer Wilson sighed and turned to me

 

“Sophie,Can I talk to you outside,please?”

 

I moved my gaze back to the Officer slowly and blinked once

 

“Ok”

 

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“So,Sophie,I and my team went to the frat house where the party was held two weeks ago” He stopped walking,making me stop too. I folded my arms and waited for him to continue “We found this. Somewhere in the backyard…Among some bushes”. I recognized the small knife as he raised it up and turned it over with his thumb and index finger. There were noticeable blood stains on it,though dry. “This must have been the tool for his murder. We already did a scan of the object and we’ve found out the owner of the fingerprints on it. A certain Zoe Peterson. Do you… happen to know her? Any Zoe at all?”

 

My head snapped up at Officer Wilson sharply,then my eyes narrowed as I unfolded my arms

 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,Officer”

 

“You know her?”

 

“Forgive me,Officer,but that’s bullshit. I’m outta here!”

 

“Sophie,wait!”

 

I walked faster and ran up the porch “I don’t know any Zoe!. You can as well leave me alone!” I yelled,then entered and slammed the door shut. That’s it! He’s high on some cheap Vodka!.

 

 

I checked the time…7:25pm. I sighed and slipped my phone out from my pocket as I went up the stairs. I’m texting Paul right away. I,Zoe and Paul all met at Mark-Bedders High School. Paul’s completely a white,unlike I and Zoe…and for some reasons,I’m closer to Paul recently than Zoe

 

 

 

Something’s up,Paul. We’ll meet at school tomorrow

 

 

 

I tapped the ‘Send’ button,then stopped at a locked door located somewhere behind our study room which has mostly never been used. This particular door leads to the basement. I fetched the keys from my pocket and viewed the area once before slipping the key into the key-hole and then turning it. The brown wooden door made slight creaking noises as I slowly pushed it open. Once ajar,I looked down at the stairs which disappeared into the dark room below. I took two steps down then reached out and traced the wall with my fingers for the light switch

 

“Found it” I muttered,then pulled the switch down with a finger,lighting up the basement. I left the door a little bit open before taking the stairs down.

 

The basement was stuffed at one side while the other larger side was cleared up. I and Paul had done a pretty good job in cleaning this basement and pushing most of the things,which were old stuffs,to one side. Yeah…Paul knows about this place. We’ll talk about that later. No one in the family ever comes down here. It’s like a long, long forgotten place in the house.

 

My phone buzzed just as I approached a bed at one side of the cleared-up area. I stood very close to the bed,then raised my phone to glance at the screen. Paul. I opened his text

 

 

 

Something’s up?. Whoa. Can’t wait. See you in class tomorrow

 

 

 

My gaze went up slowly from the phone’s screen to the bed where Austin’s body was covered with a blue blanket up to his stomach. His eyes were closed and his body lay still.

 

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TBC

 

SOPHIE’S QUEST

 

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By Tess