Template:Chapter1

To think, when it truly started, it started with me losing my cell-phone.

"God, why do you hate me?" I sighed towards the ceiling, pushing myself off the ground. It wasn't in the living room, that's for sure. Even though it was the very place I lost it, it wasn't there anymore.

I glanced up once I hear foot steps. It was just my mother.

"Zooey, I'm going to work at Mr.Pacon's, I'll be back around 1:30 PM, lunch is in the fridge if you don't feel like waiting. Love you, bye." Then my mother was gone, the door slamming shut behind her.

I hold back a sigh as I ploped down on the couch.

Mr.Pacon. I scowled slightly. He was the only customer that my mother has cleaned for for years, but we've never had dinner with or anything. All my mother had ever said about Mr.Pacon is he had a young, petite wife, and two sons, and a daughter in university.

My father told me once that the reason our family isn't friendly with Mr.Pacon and his family is because he was or is a raging alcoholic, and his wife left with one of his sons, and his daughter. And left him with his schizophrenic son. His schizophrenic son tends to do..."messed" up things. The family could never have pets, as the son would kill them in harsh manners. He would often hurt his older sister, so two years before she went to university, she had moved in with Mr.Pacon's father and mother.

And our mother apparently doesn't want me around Mr.Pacon and his son.

But then again, my father has always been one for playing jokes on people, especially me as a young child.

I still found it strange, but why would my mother clean for a family like that, if the Pacons were really as my father had said?

I had no choice but to be neutral on the situation, though. We needed all the money we could possibly get at the moment. Even the Pacons'.

I got off the sofa and sighed hopelessly. Well, my phone would just have to wait.

I ran up to my room quickly, grabbing a five dollar bill off of my dresser, then turning and flying back down the stairs. I slowly walked past my father's office, stopping for a half a second to listen. I could hear mumbling.

He was probably just in a video conference. He had been sick all week and unable to go to the office.

Oh well, I thought. He didn't have to know where I was going for ten minutes. Power Plant, the closest gas station was a five minutes walk away.

I shut the door behind me, turning left and starting my walk towards Power Plant.

Conveniently, the Pacons' home was on the way to the place.

Pacon Manor had a creepy feel to it, despite having a clean white paneling and a large bed of pastel-colored flowers bordering the house and yard. The feeling made you want to practically run past the place.

I walked quickly, by not paying too much attention to the house. Last thing I wanted to do is think about the Pacon Family situation. It made my head hurt.

I walked into Power Plant and straight to the fridge part. I grabbed a half and half WashingTon ice tea/lemonaide. I then grabbed a random bag of chips and headed for the counter to pay.

My friend, Chantel, worked the cash register, as she did every week day for three hours.

Chantel was a tall girl with extremely dark brunette--almost black--hair and lightly tanned skin. She wore her own style of clothes all that she sew herself. The clothes she wore is undescribable. Though they usually had built-in lights or something crazy that made people stare.

But none the less, Chantel's awesome.

"You're going to get fat." Chantel said upon seeing what I was going to pay for. "You should eat Skinny Gal and drink a bottle of water."

"You just keep on boasting my self-esteem," I grumbled. Chantel grinned, scanning the items.

"$3.92." She said as I dug through my pockets, searching for the five dollar bill I had taken from home. My hand resurfaced a few moments later with it.

Chantel takes it and returns the change.

"Have a good day, Fatty." She chuckled. I rolled my eyes.

"So you'd rather have me anorexic, huh?"

"Hey! I'm not saying that...directly."

I walked out, letting Chantel get back to work.

Once I was a block from Power Plant, three police cars sped past me, and to my horror, pulled up to the curb in front of the Pacons' home.

My mother was still at work there.

I dropped both the chips and the WashingTon ice tea/lemonaide and sprinted towards the house, as powerful adrenaline rushed over me.

I pushed two cops aside and started screaming my mother's name.

There was no response from her; only the cops yelling to each other to get me. I booked it up the stairs, screaming my mother's name.

I ran into a darker room to find, in horror, Mr.Pacon dead.

After I'd found the body, one of the cops caught me and locked me in a bedroom.

I stood in the middle of the room until my mother walked in.

I fell into her arms, crying like I did when I was a little girl and had a nightscare. She rubbed my back and assured me it would all be okay.

"What happened to Mr.Pacon?" I asked her after I finally calmed down.

"He had a heart attack." My mother said. "I found him dead and Absolon called the police."

"Absolon?" I questioned.

"The Pacons have three children---two sons and a daughter. Absolon is one of their sons."

"The story dad told me was true...wasn't it?" I asked quietly. My mother nodded slowly, a sad look on her face and in her eyes.

"Yes, sadly. But Mrs.Pacon is moving back here to care for Absolon and to get him more help. This is actually Absolon's room." I looked around quickly, though my eyes landed on his desk: Where my phone laid.

Only one question haunted my mind; what was my phone doing three blocks away in the Pacons' home?