Rebecca Warwick

Rebecca's parents both worked when she was growing up. She learned to be self-sufficient from an early age. She amused herself with crossword puzzles, though she was never very good at them. She would solve all the "obvious" ones, and then start making guesses on the more obtuse one. Then, she would find herself with obvious wrong words and, because she did the crosswords in pen, she would give up. She hated crossing things out; it looked too messy.

Not that Rebecca is OCD, far from it. Her bedroom is always a bit of a mess. There are dirty clothes on the floor, receipts from eating out (she hates cooking), and at least 4 or 5 glasses with varying degrees of water in them on her dresser. The water is from medication that she takes at night because it causes drowsiness. She used to take it in the morning because it was easier for her to remember, it was part of a routine from even when she was a child. But at night, her mind is so focused on sleep that sometimes she forgets to take her pills. They're allergy pills by the way, nothing too drastic. She's on three different allergy pills, which has finally subdued her once raucous allergies.

Rebecca's best friend in the whole wide world is her younger sister, Jody, even though they usually only speak once every few months. They went to college together, for a single year (Rebecca was a senior when Jody came in as a freshman). Rebecca was worried that Jody would encroach on her social life, but Rebecca was glad to have her sister there during her break-up with Peter Stugg, her boyfriend of two years. At the time, Rebecca didn't confide the reason for her break-up to her sister (Rebecca was coming to understand that she was gay), but Jody found out while talking to Peter. Despite her lack of "desire" for Peter, Rebecca was incensed when her sister started dating him. She took it as a major slight against her, as if her sister had betrayed her. Jody's reasoning was, "You didn't want him, and he likes me."

This was the first barrier that came between the sisters. The others came down the line... The worst was the money. Because Rebecca had a steady job as a marketing director in a non-profit and Jody was choosing careers like she was pulling them randomly from a hat (this was only the case with one of Jody's jobs), Rebecca found herself loaning Jody money. It started with a couple hundred to cover a single rent payment and then escalated into a couple thousand. Rebecca would fantasize about taking her sister onto "Judge Judy" or something to get some of the money back, but that was only a fantasy. Rebecca knew that she shouldn't expect to get any of the money back from her sister, but Jody's obvious selfishness was so irritating. It put a strain on Rebecca's relationship with her girlfriend, Laura. Laura kept telling Rebecca that she should cut her sister off completely. It caused too many fights than it was worth, and, in order to cope, Rebecca added another pill to her assortment of allergy medication: Paxil. When Rebecca finally ended the relationship with Laura (though Laura says she's the one who ended it), Rebecca found herself completely devastated emotionally that even an upped dosage of Paxil didn't really do the trick.

It was about 6 months after the break-up that Rebecca got a call from her sister, Jody. Jody asked if she "had a couch she could borrow." Rebecca was conflicted about letting her sister come and live with her, but she said, "yes," hoping that maybe it could start some healing on both their ends. Jody was pretty silent about why she needed to move in, and Rebecca never really made the effort to ask. Rebecca didn't even ask questions when she accompanied Jody to the doctor's office the day that Jody found out she was pregnant. Rebecca didn't even ask who the father was. It wasn't her business. Rebecca only listened to her sister as she spoke of getting an abortion. Who was Rebecca to judge, she'd already had an abortion herself... Rebecca fell asleep that night, holding her sister. She woke up the next morning, Jody was gone. Rebecca assumed she'd gone to work, so Rebecca didn't think anything of it and went to work herself. In the middle of her departmental meeting, Rebecca's cellphone rang obnoxiously, causing a scene. She saw that it was Jody calling, so decided it could wait. She turned off her phone.

After the meeting, Rebecca checked her phone. No messages. "It must not've been important," she told herself. When she got home, Rebecca noticed that Jody wasn't home. She probably had to work late. Then, Rebecca found Jody's cellphone on the dining room table, as if it were waiting to be found. Rebecca thought nothing of it and went on her night: a crossword puzzle and "American Idol." But when Jody didn't come home, Rebecca started to worry. And she couldn't call Jody because Rebecca had her phone. So, she waited. And waited. And went to the police. And waited. And Jody was gone, seemingly disappeared. And almost two years passed.