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The pen of course didn't work, so she chucked it in the trash, noting that she really should take the waste bin out What a Friday night I have planned! she thought to herself Trash and grocery shopping Who knew grad school was going to be so much fun?

She stepped on the foot pedal to open the trash can lid, reaching inside and wrenching out the bag The last thing she wanted to do was put her shoes back on and go back out into the late January weather, so instead she just set the trash bag on the porch to pick up and take out when she went out for the groceries She i into the trash can, thinking of what she was going to have for dinner

Pizza The idea carocery shopping The healthy eating could wait until she had enough ti since she had rinned, thinking of the delicious toppings she would get Maybe she would even splurge and get the cinnamon bread

Chloe reached for the phone in her backpack to order frootten it in the charger thatSince she technically wasn't supposed to have it on in the lab or classes anyway, so she hadn't been too worried about it She hurried to the bedroo with another missed call

The missed call was her e to knohat she wanted When are you coain? Claire could almost hear her mother's worried tone in her head She rolled her eyes and s the exact wording that Chloe had expected Chloe hit delete knowing she would have to add a call to her ht's plans

Then there was the savedbefore she had headed out the door She had saved it because she wanted to ain, she knew there was nowhat it said

"Check Fort Baskerville"

It was barely a whisper, but the words were clear Chloe stared at the phone in her hand, trying to e She kneasn't a w

rong nu hand she hit delete, unwilling to take the chance of the wrong person finding it on her phone

Weak in the knees, she sat down on the bed A picture of her and her brother sat on the nightstand, the two of theht Her brother's green eyes twinkled out fro her to remember

Blake was ten er than Chloe, almost to the day Irish twins, her mother had called theot here first," her mother used to say with a wink

Blake had been small and shy as a child, and Chloe had spent er kids Despite the sudden growth spurt and h school, Chloe still felt protective of her younger brother

Blake had joined the Arh school After being the one who had been picked on for so long, he said it was his duty to give back and help protect others Chloe and her mother had tried to dissuade him, but he had been detero

His first deployment to Iraq had been difficult for Chloe She still felt the need to protect her younger brother, but that was difficult to do frorateful that he had emailed every day when he could, and when he couldn't he would let her know not to worry She had all of his emails stored in a file on her cohtstand She didn't need to take the letters out of the box to remember what they said They were usually so he had seen in theterribly ile one since he stopped writing

Even when he was stateside, Blake made sure to talk to Chloe alo the letters stopped

At first, she hadn't been too worried He was supposed to be stateside at a base in Virginia Nothing bad could have happened to hi had, her mom would have received notification So, at first it just seemed weird Then his cell phone number was disconnected Not just transferred or unpaid Completely turned off

It was at that point that Chloe had really started to be concerned It was coer brother to shut her out Even when he was at hisAr to his old squadto find soone No word for three weeks had her to panic mode

Her mother had told her not to worry; Blake was in the s like this happen Chloe didn't accept that Blake wouldn't have left without at least a note She called everyone she could think of again

The base in Virginia had no record of hi, but his bunk had been occupied by another soldier for weeks Every former Army buddy she could find hadn't heard fro She finally had called up Delly, his best friend fro

"I haven't heard frorowled into the phone "You really need to just drop it He'll start writing again when he can"

"What do youto coax as much information out of him as she could

"Listen, Chloe, when sooes dark like this, it's best not to mess with it, do you understand? If he can't be found then there is probably a good reason for you not to go poking your nose in places it doesn't belong" He refused to say any more after that