Meredith found herself standing in front of a pitch black door. The only piece of light was the glowing doorknob upon the door. She stretched her hand out to it and turned it carefully. Once she was in the next room the door slammed sharply behind her. Then the lights came on, one by one along the edge of the room. It was a circular room with a white floor and ceiling. There were mirrors lining all of the walls. Then Olivia walked into view of the mirrors, her image reflected in the others. She was wearing a bold purple dress with a sash around her petite waist, tied in a grand bow. She systematically sat down, her legs making an acute arch as she hugged them to her. She began to rock back and forth, her head never turning, her eyes never looking, at anything but the air in front of her.
Meredith tried in vain to find Olivia, but every time she moved the mirrors iris-ed out. Finally she just stood in the center of the room, completely still. Then Olivia snapped her head to look at Meredith. She had a slight smirk on her face, as usual. "Get up" she told her. "Get she repeated. Meredith stared at Olivia mocking reflection. "Get up" Olivia screamed.
Meredith finally woke up, jerking her torso forward. When she had caught her breath she noticed someone beside her bed. She rubbed her eyes and looked up to see Bianca Scavo looking down at her. She was wearing a silver tank with sequins adorning it here and there. And gray skinny jeans with silver stilettos at the end of them.
"You know, you're a really heavy sleeper" "Not heavy enough" Meredith muttered under her breath, as she pulled back the black and white covers. It wasn't until she had gone in the bathroom to get ready that she was truly aware of Bianca's unusual presence. "Um by the way, what are you doing here?" she inquired, poking her head out of the bathroom. "Didn't your mom tell you?" Meredith racked her brain for a moment. Nope, nothing. "My dad and I are moving some of our things in". Great, another reminder of my impending lifetime bond with Bianca, Meredith thought. "Are you just gonna stand there?" Bianca quipped. Meredith rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna get ready". Meredith closed the bathroom door and locked it. Today just wasn't her day.
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She felt a little better after she showered and put on fresh clothes. When she walked downstairs she saw her mom and Bianca'a dad cozying up to each other at the kitchen table with their morning coffee. Well I guess I won't be eating at the kitchen table anymore, she thought. "Oh good morning!" Meredith tried to appear cheery. "Good morning! Good morning Mr.Scavo" "Good morning Meredith, and please, call me Max" "Okay, Max". It felt strange to her to be calling Bianca's dad Max. "Did you have a bad dream honey? Bianca came down and said you seem really frazzled right after you woke up" "No, I'm fine, I was just a little out of it" she said convincingly. "Okay".
Meredith walked to the cupboard and got a teal cereal bowl, then proceeded to look in the next cabinet for her favorite cereal, fruit loops. She searched a few times, each time thinking she had overlooked the box. "Mom, do you know where my fruit loops are?". Mrs.Davis took a generous sip from her mug. "Oh I'm sorry Meredith, those are Bianca's favorite, and we didn't know it yours', if I had known she could have eaten something else". Meredith concealed her bitterness. not wanting to appear savage and rude. "It's okay, I'll just have bran flakes". And with that she reached up in the cabinet and brought them out.
Clop! Clop! Clop! That was the sound of Bianca's heels making their way down the steps. Meredith continued to prepare her breakfast, the whole time watching Bianca out of the corner of her eye. Meredith had just taken a spoonful of cereal when Bianca asked in a shrill voice, "when are you going to come help me move my things?". Meredith turned to face her, swallowing her food with a gulp. "I didn't know I was" "Oh I almost forgot! When Max said he was planning on moving his things in I suggested that you could help Bianca put her room together". Meredith thought for just a moment searching for the perfect excuse. " Oh well, Mom, you see, I already made plans, if I had known earlier" "You can postpone or cancel, I think it would be nice for you both to get to know each other". Meredith looked from her mom, to Max, to Bianca, knowing she wasn't going to get out of this. She sat her cereal bowl down on the counter and put on a halfhearted smile. "Let's get started".
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Two hours later. Meredith was sweaty, sore, and a little peeved. Okay, that's a lie. She was ready to slap Bianca. The whole time all Bianca had done was tell Meredith where to put things from the boxes. It was boxes madness.
"No, to the left! Not that far left!" Bianca dictated. Meredith finally found precisely where she wanted it when she heard a loud crunch. When she glanced down she saw a crimson heel lying on the floor, it's heel dangling from it. "Oh my gosh! You klutz". Bianca swiftly shoved Meredith out if her way of the shoe. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" Well you did. Oh I'm going to kill you!" "You know what, I think I'll just leave, I'll be back when you've calmed down". Meredith was practically out the door when Bianca sneered, "Whatever, I don't need your stubby little hands moving my things anyway". She clenched her fist, fiercely, she pivoted on her heel toward Bianca. "It's really amazing" "What's amazing?" "How you've danced all these years with a stick up your butt".
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After that Meredith grabbed her keys, left her mom a note, and took off. She drove in no particular direction, just looking for a little distance. Eventually she turned onto one of the many tree lined roads, and pulled into the drive-way of a beige house. She got out of the car, made her way to the door. Ding Dong! The doorbell sang. She heard someone unlocking the door. "Hey! It's good to see you" "It's good to see you too, Lars"
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"Has he talked to you since last night?" Sophie shook her head as she took a shallow sip of coffee, careful not to burn herself. Carson was sitting adjacent to her, in a comfy burgundy chair at their favorite coffee house, The Morning Roast. Carson was full of questions about last night. "You should have seen his face, I wouldn't even know what to say to him now" "I'm sure he's fine, he just didn't want to say the wrong thing" "Yeah. Yeah you're probably right" "Did your parents say anything this morning?".
Sophie thought about that morning. Her parents did seem to be acting strange, but she could sense that it wasn't about last night. No, it felt like more. She just couldn't out her finger on it. The only thing they said in regard to last night was "So how's Ian?".
"They didn't really say much, it was kinda weird" "Were they mad?" "Last night, yes, this morning, it was like last night didn't even happen""Maybe that's for the best". Sophie gave an agreeing look. They drank their coffee in silence for a few moments, feeling the steam cloud their faces. "Why aren't you with Mr.Lars today?" "Oh I told him I'd see him later tonight, I needed some girl time" "It's funny to think Olivia would probably be sitting here with us right now, drinking her usual Columbian roast with skim milk and two sugars" "Telling us about some brillant scheme she's thought up" "Critiquing everyone's outfits here" "What are you guys talking about?". Carson and Sophie looked up to find the owner of the voice, Meredith. "Olivia, and what she'd be doing if she was here right now" Carson filled her in on the conversation. Meredith shoved one of the other chairs closer to Carson and Sophie, plopping down in the chair. "Hmmm, she would probably be picking the blueberries out of her blueberry muffin" Meredith said with a reminscing smile. "Oh yeah, I remember that! She said she didn't like the actual blueberries, only the flavor" added Carson. "That reminds me!" Meredith exclaimed. "What? Blueberries?" Sophie quipped. "No! Olivia, I had a dream about her last night" Meredith told them, leaning closer so curious ears couldn't hear. "Really? What was the dream about?" Carson asked. "Well, I was in this circular room, with all these mirrors, then I saw Olivia, she was in the mirrors, but when I tried to find her the mirrors would move" Meredith explained. "Did you tell anyone?" Sophie inquired. "No, just you two" Meredith answered quickly. "That must have been a little disturbing" Carson said, toying with her aqua bracelet. "Actually, I was glad to see her, it feels like years have gone by since she went missing" Meredith confided.
"It shouldn't be like this" Sophie said, making circles with her thumb on the rim of her mug. "What do you mean?" Meredith asked. "I mean Olivia should be here, I mean I shouldn't have covered for her, I mean I should have told her parents" she replied almost frantically. "You have to stop beating yourself up about this, Olivia still would have found some way to sneak out, you've told the police everything you know" Carson reassured her. "And there still a chance that they'll find her, we can't give up hope" Meredith interjected. "And what if they don't find her?" Sophie inquired, raising her eyebrow. "I'm going to go get some coffee, y'all need anything?" Meredith said, trying to change the subject. Sophie and Carson shook their heads. Meredith got up and went to the counter.
Sophie was reaching for her coffee when she heard the door swing open. The man walked up to the counter, taking long strides. Something about the man was very familiar to Sophie. He appeared to be about twenty-three to twenty-five, had dark brown hair, close cut facial hair, was probably five feet nine inches, maybe even six feet. The man turned in the direction of Sophie and Carson. He spotted Sophie, smiled big, and said "well if it isn't my little sister!".
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