(if you haven’t read parts 1 and 2 - this probably won’t make much sense to you)

So, Megan refused to even tell us where she was staying. Instead she would just say, “at a friend’s apartment.” After some rather pointed questions from my mom she finally divulged that it was “Greg’s apartment,” but nothing more than that.

In a family like ours, you just don’t tease people with secrets. It doesn’t work. I hate to make my mom and I sound that way… but if you flaunt things like that (as Megan was doing, constantly, these series of posts are really a Reader’s Digest version, I’m not even scraping the tip of the ice berg here) eventually we’ll decide to find out… at almost any cost. We aren’t a family who keeps secrets. Especially between my mom, sister and I. There’s never been any need. We’d accept anything, love and support each other no matter what. That’s the truth.

One afternoon Ethan, GJ, Kate, and I decided to stake out the grocery store where Megan worked. I was tired of my mom worrying where Megan was staying, if she was safe, or if she was in a decent part of town. My mom’s worrying made me worry… I’ve already got three kids to worry about adding my 25 year old sister to the list was not something I wanted to do.

We waited for an hour or so for her to get off work. Then we watched as she came out and hopped into her 4-Runner. The 4-Runner with the Mickey Mouse antennae ball that Kate and picked out for her on our last trip to Disneyland… the 4-Runner with the license plate frame that read, “Raised on Milk… and Disney,” the 4-Runner that just a year and half earlier Megan had laughed at me as I attempted to climb up into it while 8 months pregnant with Maggie. The 4-Runner that 95% of the time is now driven by Megan’s roommate with Megan in the passenger seat for some very strange reason.

Weaving in and out of traffic we followed Megan from one end of town almost to the other. When she headed downtown I wasn’t worried, when we followed her to the edge of downtown, where it began to get seedy, I began to worry. I finally found her car parked at an apartment complex surrounded by a chain link fence with razor wire ran along the top. This wasn’t a bad apartment complex, it was clean and most of the cars were nice. But, the area was less than… prime. It was scary… seedy… icky. And, this is where my sister was choosing to sleep at night rather than the beautifully decorated bedroom in a very nice part of town less than 2 minutes from work.

I think it was late April when Megan came in to pick up more clothes and pack for a trip. She and her new friends (now roommates) were going to the beach for the weekend. She was 25 years old, an adult, she could come and go as she pleased as she had gone out of her way to demonstrate. Still, we’re a close family, my husband and I don’t go out of town without at least letting my mom know where we are going and where we will be staying. No one demands this, we aren’t that kind of family, it’s just a common courtesy, and quite frankly, it’s just good common sense.

Megan blatantly avoided telling us where she was going or where she would be staying, either by changing the subject or simply refusing to answer when we asked. And, no one was grilling her, it was just friendly interest, common conversation, and it was very strange that she was so secretive of her plans.

That Friday when I knew she was on her way out of town I decided to call her and have a heart-to-heart with her. I explained to her that we were worried about her, she was acting so different and that we just wanted to make sure she was safe. She told me she had already told Mom where she was going and where she would be staying, an outright lie. Then her story became hazy as she admitted to not having a cemented plan on where she was staying. I asked her to call me when she got to a hotel so that we would know she had arrived safely… she promised she would. She never did.

My sister is not known for being a liar. In fact, just a year ago if you had asked me if my sister lied I would have told you there was a better chance of my being struck by lightening on a clear day. For her to make a promise and deliberately not keep it was so out of the ordinary that I was too surprised to be hurt.

Mother’s Day - she didn’t even call our mom, which is BEYOND unusual. We didn’t hear from her on the 4th of July either. My mom’s birthday came and went with just a phone call…

To Be Continued…

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Other posts you might like:

1. Megan’s Birthday Pt. 3
2. Megan’s Birthday Pt. 3