The Night's Watch

[Laurels]

Bridget Langdon should have been studying for her bar exam. She had graduated law school over a month ago and needed to pass the exam to be certified to practice law in the state of Washington. She moved back home, and had little to distract her beyond her sister's high school graduation. She should have spent her days reviewing her books and researching cases online.

Instead, she was at her laptop, searching the laptop for details about what happened to her sister.

Rachael was supposed to be going to Disneyland with her classmates and be back shortly after. Somehow, the plane disappeared with her class. The next few weeks were spent waiting for a phone call and watching the news in hopes of finding out if the plane was found, whether it was on some Gilligan's Island like scenario or at the bottom of the sea. Sadly, nothing had come up.

Things in the Langdon home were worrying. Bridget's dad continued to go to work in order to distract himself from the issues and to ensure the family still had money to pay the bills. Aaron Langdon tried to delude himself into thinking that there was a chance Rachael would be okay. Bridget's mom was on summer break, now that her school had finished its school year. Leanna Langdon had hoped to spend the summer helping Rachael prepare for college in the Fall, but now she spent most of her days nursing some wine and paying attention to the news.

This meant Bridget had to try and keep some stability in the home. When Rachael's class first went missing, Bridget had to handle all the calls and letters being sent to the home from friends and family. Neighbors would bring casseroles and offer their sympathies, and Bridget would kindly accept. Still, the lack of news was beginning to wear thin on the family.

That is until the news broke. On July 4, Aaron left early for work. Leanna had stayed in bed until lunch time. Bridget got up before ten in hopes of doing some studying. After eating breakfast, Bridget quickly checked Twitter to see if there was any special news on Independence Day. That's when she saw the news had broken. The 2012 class of Aurora High was captured for Survival of the Fittest.

Bridget spent most of the day searching for any information about what might have happened to Rachael. Part of her felt terrified at the idea of looking up any footage related to SOTF. Still, this was her sister, and if she was dead, Bridget needed to confirm it, just so her family could try to grieve and recover.

However, it looked like she had finally found the source she was looking for. Now, she just had to see where Rachael had gone.

[Laurels]

Bridget stared at the screen. Rachael was standing in a field with three other boys. Bridget knew one of the boys was a good friend of Rachael's, and the other two seemed to be pretty friendly with her. Bridget sighed in relief. It looked like Rachael would at least be in good company for a while. If anything, it was better than watching her sister wander around alone and in terror.

Bridget noticed her phone vibrating on the table beside her. She had been answering calls all morning, usually from friends who knew her sister was in the class, or journalists hoping to get some quotes. Bridget had ignored the journalists, but tried to make most calls brief. She needed to see where her sister was going, and she couldn't focus long.

However, she noticed the ID: Dad. Bridget felt her heart sink.

Okay, you've got nothing to hide. She's okay.

Bridget picked up the phone and answered.

"Hi Dad..." she said.

"Y-yeah, I heard. I'm watching the feed now. She's okay so far. She had a quick scare when she fell through a hayloft, but there was a boy there to catch her. She's also just met up with that deaf friend of hers, and he got a really big gun. She's probably in good hands for now."

Bridget could hear her dad's voice wavering. He was probably stuck at work, and knowing that his youngest daughter was put on such a horrible program.

"Look, I'm gonna keep an eye on her. Try to ignore it all, and I'll call you if something comes up. I love you, Dad."

Bridget hung up and covered her face with her hands. There was more feed to watch. Rachael and her friends were walking now, so it didn't look like there was much going on. However, Bridget knew that there was always a chance it could turn ugly really quickly.