'Girl, the party is awesome! Everyone is having fun! You did a great job with this!', screamed in my ear my best friend, Sarah, while we were dancing on the dance floor.

My apartment was full of teenagers who were either eating, dancing or just talking and having fun.

Suddenly we all heard a loud knock on the door. We ignored it and carried on partying. Soon there were three much louder knocks. We froze. The room became as silent as a grave, not a single person was talking or dancing.

I was the hostess of the party, so I went to answer the door. Random thoughts were crossing my mind. Who could that be? More guests? My parents? Other furious neighbours? I opened the door hesitantly. There were four police officers trying to get into my apartment. I instantly knew I was in trouble because the music was really loud and more than three people in my block had complained in just a few hours, but we didn't care too much. We were a bunch of teens after all.

You are probably wondering how I got myself and my friends into this. My name is Anais Evans, I am 16 years old and I'm going to tell you the whole story from the beginning.

I was the geek of the class. My appearance didn´'t attract anyone and I wanted to be popular. Actually, my parents were in the Philippine Islands with some friends on holidays, so I took advantage of it and made a party in my apartment.

Now I will continue with my story. As you know, the police came to my apartment:

'Are you Anais Evans?', asked the police officer.

'Y-yes, it's me', I replied, 'Is there anything wrong?'

'Officer Dave Summers. I’m sorry to inform you that your parents are missing, believed dead. Your parents' companions reported their disappearance this morning, Miss Evans.'

I was broken, perplexed, I didn't know what to do. An uncomfortable silence fell on my flat like a heavy blanket, and my best friend (Catherine Jackson) ran quickly to me to know what was happening.

'Are you ok? What happened?', she asked.

Between tears, I tried to say a word. 'My...my parents'. I finally managed to say, 'my parents... are missing'.

Catherine was shocked, but she tried to help me. The rest of the guests were angry and disappointed, but I didn't care. In that moment, I lost interest of being popular and, with that mood, who was I gonna impress? I just wanted to see my parents, to take them back home.

'How can I help?' I asked.

'The only thing you can do is giving us more information about your parents', replied Dave.

'Understood', I said, 'Catherine, could you please leave? If I need you, I´'ll call you.'

'Are you sure you don't want me to be with you?' she asked.

'No  need', I said, 'We'll talk later, now leave, please.

Catherine left. I thought it would be complicated to convince her, because she was a bit stubborn, but she understood everything perfectly.

'Come in', I told the police.

'Thank you', answered another agent. 'Do you mind if we check your apartment?'

'No, I don't,' I said.

Some time later...

The cops finished checking the apartment and Dave finished with the questions.

'Can I go to look for clues with you?' I asked.

'I’m sorry but you can’t', answered the policeman.

'Besides you are too young to travel alone.'

'But I wouldn’t go alone', I insisted, 'I would go with you...'

'I said NO, don’t you get it!? Stay at home and let us do our job!', Dave answered angrily.

The police officers left, but one, who came next to me.

'How old is your friend?', asked the policeman.

'Catherine? She is 18, why would you care?' I answered.

'You're a minor, but she isn't', he explained, 'why don't you try to convince her to go to the Philippine Islands? Also, she looked like she wanted to help you.'

The policeman smiled with kindness and left. I kept thinking why he told me that, but I decided to listen to him, so I called Catherine and explained her what happened.

'Are you sure?,' asked Catherine, 'I don't think it's a good idea.'

'Okay,' said Catherine, 'but for this time only.'

'Thank you very much!' I hugged her, 'I owe you one!'

One Day Later

We went to the airport together, leaving Tom, my cousin, in the apartment to look for it while we were on the island, with the excuse that my parents let me stay for a week at Catherine’s house.

When I arrived at the airport, I was shocked, I didn’t know what to do or if what I was doing was a good idea or not, but I stopped thinking about that and we continued with what was planned. I would not stop until my parents came back home.