Present Time…

“Ohmigod,” Serena whispered dropping the phone.

She backed away from the disgarded instrument, covering her cries with a hand.

“What’s taking you so long, girl?” Veronica asked walking into the kitchen.

She saw her friend’s shocked expression and heard screams coming from the floor.

“Serena, what is it? Who’s on the phone?” Veronica asked picking up the phone.

“She’s dead,” Serena whispered.

“What? Who’s dead?”

Serena continued to look at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

“Who’s dead?” Veronica asked the unknown person on the phone.

“Who is this?” the voice asked.

“This is Veronica, who’s this?”

“Ronnie, it’s me, Alice.”

“Alice.”

“No one is dead. At least we pray that no one is. But Evan is missing.”

“Missing? She’s in New York,” Veronica explained hoping to calm their fears.

“No, she’s not. She boarded a plane this morning to California,” Serena stated.

The terror that began to build in Serena was temporarily quieted, listening for news.

“Oh God,” Veronica replied with a matching wide eyed look.

“Her plane is missing.”

“Where is it?” Veronica demanded.

“I don’t know. They don’t know. There has been no radio contact of any kind. They think that it went down sometime this afternoon,” Alice repeated the information as told to her.

*****

After leaving Bette and Tina’s, Alice called the airport using her reporter’s creditials trying to gain new information. But there were none. And with Shane by her side, Alice collapsed on her couch handing her little black book to her friend. Veronica was listed under S, for straight.

“You can’t be serious, Al,” Shane questioned.

“What?” Alice answered innocently.

“I don’t even want to know what I’m under,” Shane scoffed.

Alice only smiled.

*****

“Oh god, how are Bette and Tina holding up?” Veronica asked suddenly remembered the parents.

“Not good,” Alice sighed, “Neither are the rest of us. Evan is like a daughter to me. The only thing stopping me from having a breakdown right now… that honor should go to Bette and Tina first,” she admitted.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. But I think that ‘theory’ doesn’t hold to Serena right now,” Veronica said looking at her best friend slumped against the kitchen counter with tears rolling down her face.