“Where exactly are we supposed to help you look for her, Howie?” Brian asked.
“Yea, I mean it’s not as if we knew her well enough to know where she’d go or anything.” Kevin added.
“Well if you all would have taken the time to get to know her, and not her age, that might not have been a problem, now would it?” Howie retorted.
Aj, seeing a confrontation starting decided to intervene. “Hey, hey now… everyone just calm down. Yes we probably should know more about her, but the fact is we don’t. So help us out here a bit Howie. Where do you think she would go? What do you think she would do? What would she be thinking?” Aj asked.
Howie sighed. “She might of just gone home, but I doubt that. She could be at any one of her friends house, but knowing her she won’t be there for long… she’ll start to feel like a burden. Tori will start looking for somewhere to live on her own.”
“What about her job?” Nick asked. “I thought she was working at some catering business thing. She liked talking about that I remember.”
Howie nodded. “Yea she did love working there. We could call and see if she’s been there recently.”
“I’ll do it.” Aj volunteered as he picked up the phone. Howie gave him the number and he called. Just as he finished dialing the number, Howie’s doorbell rang. Howie got up and after looking through the peephole and seeing that it was a UPS worker he opened the door.
“You Howard Do-rough?” the man asked looking at his clipboard. Howie nodded. “Sign here please.” Howie signed and the man gave him a package about the size of a microwave and turned around and left.
Howie looked at the package intriguingly and brought it inside and into the living room where the others were. As he sat the box down, Nick hung up the phone and sighed.
“The manager there said that she quit suddenly, said she was moving away and didn’t give any address for where to send her last paycheck.” Nick said.
Howie sighed and looked at the box.
“What’s that?” Brian asked.
Howie shrugged. “I don’t know… I haven’t ordered anything recently.” He went into the kitchen to receive a box cutter to open the box. Once the box was open and he looked inside, he let out a shaky breath and sat down slowly.
The guys looked at him concernedly.
“What is it, Howie?” Kevin asked.
“It’s… just some shirts of mine that she liked to wear all the time… and this.” He said taking out the beautiful heart shaped locket he gave to her as a graduation/birthday gift.
They looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry man.” Aj said.
Howie shook his head and sighed shakily. “It’s ok… it doesn’t change anything… it just makes me more determined to find her. She loved this locket… I don’t know why she sent this to me.” He said slightly dejectedly.
“Maybe she’s trying to move on.” Kevin said.
“Maybe.” Howie replied looking through the shirts in the box.
Suddenly he heard the sound of something metal hitting the floor. He looked towards the sound and saw a small silver ring settling on the floor. He picked it up and looked at it.
“Did you give that to her to? I don’t remember that.” Brian said.
Howie shook his head absently still staring at the ring. “No…” he said softly. “I didn’t give this to her. Her mom did before she died. She loves this ring, she never takes it off.”
“Wow… why’d she send that to you then?” Aj asked.
“I… don’t know.” Howie said bewildered.
“Maybe it’s a hint.”
They all looked at Nick.
“What?” he said.
“What do you mean a hint?” Brian asked.
“Well maybe she sent that to him so that he’d know she wants him to find her. If the ring means as much to her as you say it does Howie, then she’d definitely want it back right?” Howie nodded. “So maybe she’s giving you a reason to find her now.” Nick said.
Howie looked at him. “I think you might be right.”
Nick nodded. “I don’t think she really wanted to leave you Howie, and this proves it.”
“Yea… maybe she didn’t even leave of her own will.”
“What are you talking about J?” Kevin asked.
“I’m saying, what if her sending Howie that ring was a way to let him know that something is wrong?”
(AN: I've been nominated! Thank you whoever nominated me!)
