Her face stared at me from the corner of my eye, but I was too busy getting ready for work to pay attention.

“Amber Harding, a sixteen year old from Wallis Chase has been missing since nine o’clock last night, the Met reported. She is believed to be in a vulnerable state, and anyone with any information of her whereabouts should contact the police as soon as possible.”

I carried on ironing my shirt, that red haired girl wasn’t my problem. She was a kid, kids ran away all the time, she’d be found. That’s what I thought.

As I took my shirt off the ironing board and placed it on my body, I heard a knock at the door. I hurried over to it, buttoning my shirt up as I went, and as I opened the door I looked down briefly to button up my cuffs before looking up to see her face.

The face of Amber Harding.

She let herself in without a word, pushed right past me. I protested, but she just looked at me blankly as if she were possessed. And then she did something I’ll never forget.

She picked up the iron from off the ironing board, continued staring at me, and then put it to her face.

Her scream was earth shattering. I ran over to her and wrestled the iron from her hand, pulling it from her skin as the sound of footsteps ran into my home.

In the commotion I’d forgotten to close the door behind me.

“GET OFF HER!!!” Distant voices screamed at me as they tackled me to the ground. Their many faces combined into a blur, as her red hair danced in the corner of my eye, being dragged away from my grasp. Like fire in the distance.

Amber Harding sat propped up against the wall being helped by my neighbours.

“WHY?” I screamed at her.

“WHY?” I couldn’t make sense of it.

I was being dragged out of my own house, half-dressed with no shoes on, my socks getting wet from the damp rain soaked steps leading up to my front door, all whilst Amber Harding sat in the corner of my living room smiling at me.