ROSELAKE

A PRINCESS, like the royal beauty in fairytales. Like the sunset and the sunrise, the ocean as it glistened. An angel. A Queen.

There were many ways to describe Aurora Zephyr. And, in regards to not only her personality, grace and kindness, but also her face, all were true. Honey hair that held the sun's rays and eyes like the forest; different shades of green scattered around her irises. Both were characteristics inherited from her doting father. Her mother, on the other hand, had passed down her most defining traits. Kind features, a heart of gold, skin a deep mocha tone.

Each one a factor in creating Roselake's ultimate beauty queen.

Well, Roselake's missing beauty queen.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT." Auburn Hammond's eyes widened in distaste. She crossed her arms, disbelief still the colour painted on her face.

"I'm sorry, father, who do you take me as? I'm your daughter, not your coworker." She snapped, standing in the middle of her father's study. He, Peter Hammond, ducked around the room, rummaging through his doors and the mess on his desk that he called 'important work documents'. Auburn disagreed - she had never been one for absolute cleanliness perfection, but if they were so important, why did it look like they had been thrown around in an earthquake?

"Take mum with you. Take Aaron with you - he is literally your best mate and a detective who works with you! I don't care who you take, as long as it's not me."

Peter finally turned to face his daughter, his tired eyes resting on her's. He shared a few similar features with Auburn - diamond face and misty grey eyes - but she definitely got her thick strawberry blonde hair and unfairly long eyelashes from her mother's side.

He sighed, raising his eyebrows at his daughter, just as Auburn mocked his expression, crossing her arms.

"Auburn, please." Peter said, his tone soft, but its undertones sounded lethargic, "Don't argue. I know this isn't what you want to do right now, or at all, but you don't have a choice. Your mother's away with friends, and Aaron wasn't assigned to this case. And, I'm not leaving you alone for over four weeks, even if you are sixteen. If it was one, fine. But it's not, Auburn. You don't have a choice."

Before Auburn even had a chance to protest, Peter cut continued, "Besides, we're interviewing teenagers for this case. You might even be able to help." He turned away from Auburn, continuing to collect his things and his normal, cheery tone returned.

Auburn wanted to rip her hair out, but instead, she suppressed a sigh. "Fine." She surrendered, "I better start packing."

She trekked it up the two flights of stairs to her loft bedroom. Despite being the previous attic, her bedroom wasn't small at all - large windows, a queen-sized bed and desk, with a built-in bookcase, and room to spare for luxuries such as window seat and a semi-walk-in-wardrobe that took up almost a whole wall. Plus, it was always warm up there, even in winter - Auburn's least favourite season.

Perks of being an only child.

Auburn pulled out a suitcase and another overnight bag and began to pack all the necessities for the trip to Roselake - two and a half hours away from where she currently lived, in Bellmare.

Bellmare was a relatively large but quiet coastal town, situated right next to the beach. It was where Auburn had lived for almost her entire life, and she loved it. It was where she went to school and where she worked as a receptionist in a fancy beautician, but it was also a place that held smaller memories, like it was where her mother had taught her to first surf, and it was where she'd walk to her almost-but-not-quite boyfriend's, Ryder, place every Sunday morning to go to the beach.

Roselake would be a bit different. It was a bit smaller than Bellmare, but with almost double as many people, which probably wouldn't help well Auburn's small anxieties. It was more city-ish than Bellmare, with its big name stores and exclusive clubs, but it did give off a bit of a rural vibe the closer to the outskirts you kept.

Which wasn't where Auburn was going at all.

No, Auburn was lucky enough to be journeying to the very middle of Roselake, where her father would be temporarily working with the Roselake detectives and officers there, and Auburn would be temporarily be attending Roselake High.

Suitcase and bag packed, Auburn trudged back down the stairs and back into her father's study, where he seemed to have disappeared from.

After searching for a bit, Auburn found him in the kitchen, starting dinner. As soon as she entered she dumped her suitcase on the white tiled floor with a crash. Peter looked up, frowning at the commotion his daughter had created. Upon spotting the suitcase, he looked at Auburn and frowned even more.

"Auburn, we're not leaving until midday tomorrow. Why is your stuff in the middle of the kitchen?"

Auburn threw her head back and groaned. "You didn't exactly tell me when we were leaving! Just trying to be prepared here!" She threw over her shoulder, already halfway back to the stairs.

She heard her father give a small laugh before he called out to her, "Come back down soon, dinner will be ready in about fifteen!"

Auburn just grunted in response, making her way up the second flight of stairs. The bottom level of her house held a living-dining room, the kitchen, her father's study and the laundry, with a door leading outside to the backyard. On the second level, there was a bathroom, her parents' bedroom and a second bedroom, along with another living room. The top level held just Auburn's bedroom and a second bathroom.

Auburn made a beeline straight for her wardrobe, where two small shelves were dedicated to her jewellery, makeup and other small things she had.

Auburn stood at the wardrobe for a few moments, deciding what colour nail polish she'd like to use for that week. She eventually settled on a sparkly silvery-gold, called Cold Champagne, taking it off the shelf along with nail polish remover and a packet of cotton makeup pads.

She flopped down on to her bed, tracing her fingers over the patterns on her coverlet. Her coverlet set she would change often - her mother worked in an important position for a big designing and manufacturing company, and so she often received new sets to trial. This week, it was white, with small bunches of blue flowers over it.

Auburn rolled over on to her stomach and reached out for her phone on her bedside table. She pulled up her messages, deciding she should probably let her best friend, Mimi, know when she was leaving.

TO: mimi

hey mimi sorry for not letting you know sooner but i just found out i'm leaving tomorrow for dad’s case x

FROM: mimi

aww auburn that sucks! you're going to miss my birthday! I'm going to miss you sm x

TO: mimi

ugh i know i'm going to miss you too and i'm so sorry about your birthday! hopefully i'll be able to drop by tomorrow before i leave

FROM: mimi

alright babe I might see you then. love you xo

TO: mimi

you too x

Mimi Parrish and Auburn had been best friends since they had started high school together four and a half years ago. Even though Auburn had other close friends, some of which had she had known longer than Mimi, the pair were pretty much inseparable.

Auburn, along with many other people, she was her, believed that without Mimi she'd be a completely different person - probably one of the cliché mean girls in the movies. She owed a lot to Mimi and loved her as if she was her own sister. She couldn't imagine life without her, which was one of the reasons why she was so apprehensive about leaving for Roselake - without Mimi as her rock in Roselake High, Auburn feared that she'd eventually rise to the very top of the social hierarchy - and not in a good way.

DINNER WAS the same it always had been. Except, with Eleanor, Auburn's mother, away, it was a little quieter. But with the mouth Auburn had inherited from her mother's side, it wasn't too much quieter. Auburn loved her mum, and while Eleanor was definitely the fun parent, it didn't mean she didn't get along well with her dad, either.

Peter was a lot quieter and calmer than his wife and this always made for a good balance in Auburn's life, even if both parents let her do pretty much whatever she wanted.

"So," Auburn started, taking another two roasted potatoes and placing them on her plate, "when is mum getting back?"

"In two weeks, on the twenty-first. She's going to meet us down in Roselake for the last week."

"Ok. Question: have we rented out a big house to stay in?"

Peter laughed as he placed his glass of water back down of the table, and Auburn smiled, too. While, maybe, a potentially strange question to be asking, she didn't want to leave her home and bedroom behind just to downsize to a tiny condo in the middle of nowhere.

"We're renting out what is usually used as a holiday house, with the help of Roselake Police Department. It's not as big as our house, but you're also lucky you're not going to be sleeping on the couch. They offered us one room accommodation at the Department itself, but I thought you and your mother would appreciate something a little bit bigger." He said with a smile.

"Agreed." She laughed, "Thanks, dad." She said, giving him a small, grateful smile. And she meant it - her dad did a lot for her, especially when Eleanor was away, and while it didn't always seem like the case, she really did appreciate it.

Once dinner was finished and Auburn had helped her father clear the table, she went back up into her room, picking up her nail polish from where she'd left it on her bed and sitting down in front of the television. She turned it on, flicking through the channels. It was a Thursday night, so there wasn't really anything on, but she managed to settle on a random channel of no particular interest, opting to focus on painting her nails instead.

The sounds from the television became more muffled and more incoherent as Auburn focused on other thoughts. It wasn't until the word Roselake caught in Auburn's ears and spiked her interest. Upon looking at the screen, Auburn found a late night news break on, the title of the segment: ROSELAKE MISSING STUDENT.

"... sixteen-year-old Roselake High student was reported missing by concerned parents two weeks ago, after her they'd received a message from the school telling them that Aurora hadn't arrived that day." The news reporter on the screen read, "No one has seen or heard anything from Aurora since, and after a series of suspicious letters from an anonymous writer, concerned Roselake citizens have sparked a search of their own. Aurora was last seen at her dance school by friends and teachers on the twentieth of June last month."

The segment cut to an interview of a frantic couple, who Auburn assumed were Aurora's parents. Could this be the case that her father was moving to Roselake for?

Slightly shaken by the announcement, Auburn turned the TV off and called downstairs a goodnight to her father before flicking off the bedroom light and making her way back to her bed. She pulled out her phone, sending a quick goodnight text to her mother, and another to Ryder - her almost-but-not-quite boyfriend - saying goodnight, as well as letting him know that she'd be leaving tomorrow.

Auburn placed her phone back on the bedside table and pushed her bed coverlet aside, tucking herself underneath the blanket, hoping to get in good night's sleep for what was happening tomorrow.

R O S E L A K E

hey! thank you for reading the first chapter of Roselake, hope you enjoyed it. feel free to comment your thoughts, and if there are any typos/errors, don't hesitate to let me know!

till next chapter,

ruby xx