Page 101 of Red Hot Harmony

Miss me?it whispered to me.

I grinded my teeth and hissed out, “Well, where is he?”

“Don’t know.” A shrug.

The smell of alcohol on his breath crept up my nose and slid into my lungs. “And if I refresh your memory?” I wasn’t quite sure how exactly I was going to do that, but the words just slipped out of my mouth.

The dude frowned again, his forehead wrinkling. “Fuck off, man.”

At that, my patience ran out. I grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt and yanked him up, the loud music only aggravating me more.

“Fuck off,” he repeated and tried to wrestle out of my grip, but I was sober and he was drunk and his motor functions didn’t work.

“I saw him go upstairs,” the dude finally whined, and I let him go. He stumbled back, leaning against the nearest wall.

A different song played now, rocking the house. It wasn’t one I knew. Newer band, judging by the sound.

I searched the room for Camille and found her harassing some girl with neon-blue hair. In this light, her face looked even paler, panic evident.

Wordlessly, I walked over and nudged her toward the corridor, where we climbed the narrow staircase lined with couples who were making out. Something told me this party was going to become an orgy in a few hours. I’d seen this before. I may have participated even, but those weren’t the type of things I cared to remember.

“Ally?” Camille yelled, knocking on the closed doors as we stomped down the dark hallway. Here, upstairs, the music wasn’t as loud.

I spotted two people in the shadows—age and gender unidentifiable—making out. Possibly fucking. I didn’t stop to confirm.

All I knew was that this wasn’t a place for a fifteen-year-old girl.

To my left, one of the doors flung open and I heard someone barking out, “Who the fuck are you?”

Whether the question was addressed to me or Camille wasn’t clear, but I pushed past the dude and into the room anyway and scanned the scene, noting a half-naked female on the bed.

She flipped me off and told me to get lost.

I shot back into the hallway and saw Camille at the end of it, still calling her daughter’s name.

Dread seized my chest and trickled down and into my stomach.

If Ally was here, she wasn’t going to respond, either because she didn’t want to be embarrassed or because she was too intoxicated.

Then it all came crashing down on me at once. The revelation.

I dashed for the first door my eyes landed on, and, not bothering to knock or announce myself, I shoved it open.

“Ally?” My voice didn’t sound like my own.

Dark stillness greeted me.

There was no one inside.

Behind me, the dude I’d interrupted moments earlier, shouted, “Hey, what’s your problem, man?”

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and entered the hallway.

I turned toward the noise and saw two silhouettes before moving to another room.

Again, all pleasantries aside, I bulldozed through the door, my pulse spiking and my heartbeats echoing the wild throb of the drums.

There was no light here except for a dimmed nightstand lamp and all I could make out was a lump on the bed.

---