Chapter 1
Left

Why me? Why my dad? It just isn’t fair. Everyone one else has a dad that will help with their homework or play catch. Not mine. He left me. He decided he didn’t care anymore and never came home. My mom believes that he died. She doesn’t have enough guts to say he left because of her.

Four months ago on August 14, it was just a normal day. The smell of coffee and chocolate chip pancakes poured through the house. Dad always makes breakfast for my three siblings and me. He makes the best chocolate pancakes.
“Hadley, come to the kitchen. Breakfast is ready!” yelled Mom.

“Coming!” I replied. As I race down the stairs, I hear something. It was coming from my parent’s bedroom. I was puzzled. My parents never fought.

I could hear the voices clearly. The fight was about money. Mom quit her job so that she could take her of my three year old twin brothers. Dad’s income is all we have, and he just got laid off. The fight just kept going until Mom finally couldn’t take it anymore and told him to leave. That’s the last time I ever saw him. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

I waited for my dad for months. Until one day, I just finally accepted that he left me. He was my very best friend. I told him everything. He was always there for me. He was my shoulder to cry on. Mom always called us partners in crime.

Four months later, he still hasn’t come back. Why? He hasn’t contacted us, probably moved on and started a new life. Mom still hasn’t moved on, she blamed herself. I blamed her too. I still can’t forgive her.
Since Mom had to find a job in order to support us, Ann and I were in charge of babysitting my brothers. Ann always wants to go somewhere with her friends, so I am stuck babysitting them. All they do is scream and need to eat. I never get peace and quiet. I am fifteen and Ann is eighteen, so my mom is perfectly fine with her forcing the job on me. Ann and I aren’t exactly close; we always fought as little girls. She is still angry with me because I was Dad’s favorite.

School is awful. My best friend is upset with me. Her name is Abbie, which is short for Abigail. She is upset because I told her that I would go to this concert with her. We were going to go see her favorite band, but in the end I flaked out. She hasn’t talked to me in a week. That is a long time from two inseparable best friends. She will get over it, eventually.
Anyway, after school today I found the little pink box addressed to me. I never get anything in the mail, so I was quite curious. What could it be? As I tear it open, all I find is a note that says, “Your dad is still alive, and this is your last chance to keep him that way.”

I reread the note about ten times, before it finally started to sink in. It cannot be true. It is probably just a joke, I thought. What if he is still alive? My mind kept drifting towards that idea. There is no way my dad is trapped. He was in the Army for twelve years until he retired when he met mother. They fell in love at first sight.

My dad could still be alive I kept thinking. My mind explored all the possibilities. Maybe this is the answer to all my questions, but how do I find him? Maybe another box will show up? I couldn’t wait another day if my dad only has a little while left to live.
Chapter 2
The Discovery

At school, I try and find Abbie, but she is nowhere to be seen. Oh, wait there she is, with Harper. Harper and I have never gotten along. Great, I think as I start to walk towards them. But then Abbie says something, and they all laughed. Is it about me? Probably, then they start walking in the opposite direction.
“Hey, Hadley!” says Darcie.
Darcie and I have been in the same class since kindergarten. We have always been kind of sort of friends. We say hi to each other in the hallway, but that is as far as the conversation goes.
“Hey!” I replied. We don’t talk very much, one because she is dating my old best friend, Aaron. Two, our mothers do not get along. They fight over everything.
“Abbie!” I yelled down the hallway.
She doesn’t even turn around. I ran after her. Finally, I catch up to her, breathing heavily.
“Abbie, I’m sorry. Ok, I didn’t realize that the concert meant that much to you. What will it take for you to forgive me?
“Oh, Hadley, you just don’t get it do you? It is always about you.”
“Sorry, Abbie I really am. I am trying to apologize.” I try to blink back the tears, “Have fun with your new friends.” I say, as I turn on my heel with tears in my eyes.
“Just keep walking, just keep walking.” I tell myself. I rush into the bathroom, tears streaming down my face. Abbie probably doesn’t even care. When I turn around, there she is, with tears in her eyes too.
“Hadley, I am really sorry. You aren’t selfish; I just have a lot on my plate. Can we just put this behind and move on?” asks Abbie. I am silent. I can’t find the right words to say.
“Please.” she squeaks. I just run to her and give her a hug.
“I have missed you,” I said.
“Nobody could ever, ever replace you,” responds Abbie. We walk out of the bathroom, arm in arm.
After school, I walk home and find another box, but this time it is purple. Weird, I rush to open and I stop. There is a picture of my dad lying in a pool of blood. Inside is a note that says, “You need to hurry. His blood is draining.” My lungs feel as if they have just collapsed. I can’t breathe. Everything went black.
Chapter 3
Finally


Two more boxes appear, one in red and the other in orange. Both of the notes telling me that my time is running out. I just don’t know how to find him. I feel like I am missing something, something big. I looked all over the boxes. I tried rearranging the letters in the notes but no significant clues have appeared, until the fifth box appears. It is a teal box. It looks a little smaller than the rest. I rip it open. Inside is a note that says “You have until the clock strikes twelve tonight. This isn’t a Cinderella story, Princess. You get no fairy godmother.” Oh no, this can’t be happening. I am really confused; my mind is racing about a 100 miles. I can’t think straight, just breath I tell myself. Wait, what is that? I tear off the teal wrapping paper, a return address!
I call Abbie, but she isn’t answering. I try Darcie she doesn’t answer either. So, finally I decide to call Aaron. He picks up on the first ring. “Hadley, we haven’t talked in forever, have you forgave me yet?” he says.
I ignored his question. “Aaron I need you, please come to my house now.” I said frantically as I hang up, before he has a chance to protest. I sat there waiting for him, and he pulls up with in three minutes. I ran outside and leap into his truck.
“Go!” I screamed at him.
“Where?” he replied calmly.
“To Greensboro.” I said in a lower voice.
“That’s 30 minutes away!”
“If you hurry it will be 20!”
“Hadley calm down, you need to explain why we are going on this high speed chase.”
“ I will tell you if you start driving.”
“No, tell me now.”
“Fine.” I said as a reach for the door handle. Aaron grabbed my hand and I feel a shock. My heart quickened.
“Wait Hadley, I will drive, just start from the beginning.”

As I told him the story from the beginning, he is still holding my hand. He remained calm. I finished the story and he says nothing. He just sped up, rest of the car ride was silent.

Finally, we made it to Greensboro, and I told him the address. We finally made it to what looks like an old apartment building. I dashed to the door and try to turn the doorknob. But it is locked. I start to freak out. “Hadley, do you have a Bobby pin?” says Aaron.
“Yes, but how is that going to help?”
“Just give it to me!”
“Here,” He picks the lock. There, we are inside. Thank goodness.

Once we make it to the top floor, I hear humming. It sounds like the song my dad hummed to me to help me fall asleep. I bursted through the door, there he is on the floor helpless. His hands are tied tight behind his back. He is a pool of blood. I just stand there. I open my mouth but nothing will come out. I am speechless. “Haddy, you found me.” croaks Dad. I finally snap out of it.
“Aaron, help me untie him!” I said.
“Stop!” yelled a deep voice. The deep voice, steps out from the corner with a gun.
“Who are you? Why did you kidnap my dad?” I say to the man.
“He killed my wife.” replied the man.
“No, my dad would never do that.”
“It was him, I know it!”
“Liar!” I scream at him.
“Don’t you lie to me” responds the man. He pulled a gun out and he fires.


I woke up in an ugly hospital gown. Why I am in a hospital? The last thing I remember is saving my dad. Wait, was that a dream or not? “Hadley…are you awake? Do you remember anything?” says my mom.
“Mom.” I sputtered out.
“Hey, honey do you feel ok?” That’s when it hit me, my stomach. It felt on fire.
“What happened?”
“You were shot sweetheart.” That’s when it came flowing back to me. The mysterious man pulled out a gun and shot me. Oh. My. Goodness.

“Wait, where is daddy?” I said
“He is in the ICU.” Mom responed.
“Will he be alright?”
“Yes, he just lost a lot of blood.”
“When can I leave?”
“In two days!”
“Hold on, how long have I been in here?”
“For three days.”
“What happened to that man?”
“What are you talking about? What man?”
“The man that shot me?”
“Oh, honey he is…”
“Mom…”
“He is paralyzed”
“Oh, how?” I said relived.
“He shot you, and he tried to run away but Aaron beat him up, but Aaron didn’t paralyze him.” Mom told me after seeing my worried face.
“Ok, then what?”
“He fell down the stairs and cracked his neck, but then he got up and tried to leave and that made it worse and he wasn’t looking where he was going and got ran over. He was hit head on.” “Oh.”

I fall in and out conscious over the next 24 hours. “Hadley?” I hear Aaron’s voice.
“Yeah,” I whisper.
“Do you feel better?”
“I guess. Aaron are you ok?” I know he isn’t telling me something. “I am fine, I am more concerned about you.”
“Don’t be, what are you not telling me.”
“Hadley… he pauses for a second, “we need to talk.”
“About?”
“Us.” He says flatly.
“Aaron, I forgive you.”
“Hadley that’s not it.” He is looking at the ground. “
Then what?”
“When I saw you on the floor bleeding, I realized how much you mean to me and how much I couldn’t lose you.”
“Aaron,”
“No, let me finish, Hadley you mean the world to me, and I love you.”
“I love you too.”


Two weeks later, my father and I are both out of the hospital and life I starting to go back to normal. Everything is finally starting to calm down and is just perfect. “Hadley?” Aaron calls out.
“What?” I yell back.
“Are you ready to go?”
“I will be down in a minute.”
“Hurry up!”
“Coming!” I pounded down the stairs. “I am ready.” Aaron and I walk out the door hand in hand.