Disturbance

Sarah Knight was woken up by the ruckus coming from downstairs. She groaned and rolled over. It was the summer holidays that meant long, lovely and quiet snoozes until lunchtime struck. The ruckus just got louder. Sarah tried the old trick of a pillow over her head. This trick failed when the ruckus barged into her bedroom.

"Where's your camera?" Sarah glared at her younger sister but Lucy was oblivious to this, already searching the room and causing a trail of destruction as she did so. "I need a camera to take with me but mum says I can't take theirs because I'll break it."

"You can't take mine either!" Sarah argued. Lucy was mildly impressed that Sarah had managed coherent speech so early in the morning - but that was the extent of what she got from that statement. Lucy continued to rummage through her sisters things and Sarah's temper flared. Like a cranky bear she lumbered out of bed and attempted to drag her younger sister back through her bedroom door. "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" But try as she might the pesky blonde didn't budge. Sarah growled in frustration - it must have been because she was tired because usually shoving tiny Lucy around wasn't a problem.

"Morning." Both sisters straightened up on seeing Hannah standing in the doorway. She was smiling at their antics, her dark eyes kindled with warm affection. She handed Sarah a mug of hot tea. "Lucy you can borrow my camera but if you break it than you're buying me a new one." Lucy squealed her thanks before rushing downstairs to put the camera with the rest of her things.

Sarah felt a brief touch of inadequacy. I should have done that - instead of acting like a kid. Sarah was the elder of the cousins by two weeks but she lacked Hannah's steady calm and patience. Hannah was carefully tidying up after Lucy's path of books and clothes carnage and Sarah took the opportunity to properly look at her cousin. What she saw only made her concerned. There were dark shadows under Hannah's eyes and the eyes themselves were bloodshot from tiredness. The girl was exhausted and far too thin to be entirely healthy.

"Same old, same old." Hannah shrugged her shoulders.

"Not at all then." Hannah didn't contradict her. Hannah suffered from insomnia - Sarah had known this ever since she had first met her cousin six years ago.

"I best get off to work."

Hannah left the same time as Lucy and Hope did to drop Lucy off at the guide hut. The house returned once more to a calming silence filled only by the hum of the fridge and Sarah returned to the heavenly article that was her bed.

***

Hannah's alright day turned into a bad day when she saw Jordan Daniel's entering the shop. She carried on serving the customer she was with and hoped that today Jordan would just shut up, buy what he had come for and then leave. Unfortunately the shop was only a village newsagent with a sparse clientele, Mrs Phillip's was in the back and after her customer left it was just her and Jordan left alone.

"Hey babe," he greeted, swaggering over to the counter.

"What, forgotten my name already?" Hannah didn't even attempt politeness, this whole flirting thing he kept doing had been going on already for too long. Jordan didn't even look abashed, instead he kept up with his charming grin and lent against the counter. Hannah felt the disadvantage here. She was trapped, the only escape being to lift up the surface that Jordan was currently leaning against. Jordan's face was definitely too close for comfort.

"Of course not. Why don't you hang out with me today once your shift has finished?"

"No thanks I'm busy."

"I could show you a good time." His voice was extremely suggestive, which Hannah found nauseating. She truly couldn't understand why the girls at school swooned over Jordan - just because he was the popular guy, the sports guy - no doubt as thick as a plank but that didn't seem to matter. But what Hannah saw was a cocky, arrogant git.

"Doubtful," Hannah replied, aiming to wound a little. But Jordan only laughed causing her to grind her teeth.

"Ah one of those playing hard to get ones."

"Well you're certainly not." Just then the bell above the door tinkled and the Reverend entered the shop heading straight for the freezer area. Jordan quickly grabbed a packet of gum and Hannah swiped the bar code. She glanced over at the Reverend but he wasn't paying them any attention and so she turned back to Jordan and whispered firmly, " look I'm not interested".

Jordan handed her the correct amount in change.

"We both know that's not true." He whispered back before quickly exiting the shop so as not to give her the chance of having the last word. Hannah was fuming, suddenly filled with the intense desire to punch his irritating, smug, obnoxious face.

***

The night was still warm and inside the tent the air was oppressive. Wriggling in her sleeping bag Lucy shifted closer to the entrance of the tent and pulled the ridiculously complicated camping knots so as to release the thick cloth. She breathed in the fresh air, relishing it's cool caress against her damp face. But it wasn't enough. Moving quietly she gingerly escaped her sleeping bag and crept out of the tent. If Miss Kent caught her out of her tent after dark she would be in trouble. Again. Lucy looked up at the clear night sky and marvelled at the beauty of the full moon that was illuminating the camp site for her.

Jessica woke up when Alice Brown started snoring really loudly. She lifted her head up intending to nudge Lucy to give Alice a good kick but couldn't make out her friend's shape. Eventually, as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realised that Lucy's sleeping bag was empty. A gust of wind rattled through the tent from the open tent flaps. Being careful to not wake the others, Jessica groped in the dark - searching for her coat and wellies. As she crept over the sleeping forms of Alice and Fran she untied the torch suspended from the ceiling.

Once out of the tent Jessica crept around the campsite looking for any sign of her best friend. The silence was unsettling and Jessica clicked on the torch and directed its light at the forest bordering the campsite. At night the tree's seemed taller, their bark melting with the shadows of Jessica's wild imagination. She stuck to the path and mumbled cheering thoughts to herself. After a few minutes she glanced back only to realise that she couldn't see the tents anymore - only trees. Fear built up inside of her as she realised that she was very much alone.

"Lucy?" She stage whispered into the darkness willing her friend to answer her.

A high pitched scream pierced the air.

Miss Kent woke up with a start. What had that noise been? She listened intently to the clamours of the forest. The night was abnormally quiet until suddenly angry squawks of birds erupted before a rush of flapping wings. Miss Kent sighed and quickly fell back to sleep. Bloody nature.

***

Sarah was woken up by the shrill call of the house phone ringing. She groaned and pulled her pillow over her head. She'd been enjoying such a lovely dream - she'd just become a world famous artist and Joe Smith had taken her out on a date. She blushed slightly. In reality Joe and her were just friends...

Sarah heard the sounds of a commotion downstairs. She liked sleep, she needed her sleep and her family were getting in the way of her sleep. Her bedroom door burst open but this time she was ready. Hannah quickly dodged the alarm clock that was thrown in the direction of her head.

"Sarah get up." Hannah's voice was frantic and Sarah's eyes opened wide.

"Why?"

"Lucy and Jessica have gone missing."