“We’re going to find your friend, Mr. Richardson.”
Mr. Gable glanced at me, looking calm and confident as he was driving faster than I would have dared. But then again, he knew these surroundings.
I wasn’t calm and definitely not confident. I mean, I trusted the older man beside me, but I know Nick. That should speak for itself. Then again, maybe not. Maybe I should clarify and stop the rambling.
Nick isn’t the same kid he was when I left the group. He changed. Well, we all did, but I see the biggest change in him. He’s matured so much and it’s a wonderful thing to see.
He’s no longer the little brother that keeps me up all night because I worry about him and the path he’s chosen. He’s become a real man who knows what he wants in life, both work-related and in his personal life.
He’s become the kind of guy who actually feels comfortable in a long-term relationship with a woman he really loves and therefore he’s fully committed to her.
To be honest, I didn’t think he’d ever find love like that.
I’m by no means saying he doesn’t deserve it, I just thought he wouldn’t be able to appreciate and treasure it, simply because he never had a good example during his childhood. Or whatever you’d call the ‘childhood’ he had.
His home-life was a mess as you probably know. And even though I tried to be a constant factor during his younger years, the relationship I had back then with Kris, well, it was rocky, to say the least and therefore not the best example.
As he grew older, Howie and myself tried to teach him how to handle himself during a relationship, to stay true to himself and recognize the difference between someone who liked him for him or just the fact he’s a celebrity.
I’m not sure we did much good though, looking back on the women he dated. Do I even need to mention whom I’m referring to? Probably not.
But now, he’s a healthy guy, both physically and mentally and that’s why this whole situation had me worried even more.
When I got up two days ago, he wasn’t there, but I figured he’d went out for a jog.
When he hadn’t returned around noon, I started to worry. A.J. told me not to, saying our youngest was probably too busy following a squirrel to keep track of time.
I mean, he’s grown up a lot, but thankfully, he’s still a kid in many ways. I figured he was probably right, but couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling I had.
Being away from the guys hasn’t changed my ‘gift of knowing’, or whatever it is the others say when they mock my intuition. Although it never let me down, this time I didn’t act on it, trying to be a more relaxed kind of guy. A more laid-back, less uptight version of myself. That worked out great as we now know.
So as time passed, the others started to worry as well. We took turns calling his phone, but it went straight to voicemail most of the time. We left him messages until we no longer could.
We all grew restless, so as one of us tried to call him, others started pacing and I repeatedly found myself just outside the cabin, staring out into the woods hoping he’d show up as if nothing was wrong.
By the time it was almost dark, I called Mr. Gable. He told me he’d call a few of the other caretakers and do a search. I asked him if I should alert the authorities, knowing full well they’d probably wouldn’t do a thing until ‘the first 24 hours had passed’. Excuse my language, but that’s just bullshit.
But what can you do?
Since this was a business trip, our bodyguards didn’t come along. That seemed like a great idea, but now, not so much. For all we knew, Nick got kidnapped by some crazy ass axe killer. It was more likely he tripped and hurt himself, but that’s beside the point.
It wasn’t until the second day I realized nobody had informed Lauren. Honestly, I didn’t want to tell her. I mean, who wants to tell any woman her boyfriend is missing?
But of course it turned out to be me who had the ‘privilege’ of calling her. Much to my relief, she didn’t answer.
I remembered Nick telling me she’d be hard to reach because of her training schedule. She had a competition later that week. I decided not to leave her a message but call back later when there was news.
Mr. Gable came by after the search and told us they’d found absolutely nothing. Thankfully, it wasn’t a cold night, so we didn’t have to worry about Nick freezing to death. That only meant I had to worry about 99 other possible outcomes. And I’m sure the others were thinking the worst as well.
I had contemplated talking to the other guys and going out for a search ourselves, but decided against it, since we’d only be in the way of the people who actually knew these woods.
Instead, I headed out the back of the cabin and sat down on a wooden bench that fit right in the surroundings. I choose to have the forest as my view, hoping it’d take my mind of things for a little bit.
I wasn’t alone for long. It took no longer than five minutes for Brian to join me.
We didn’t say anything for a few minutes, both worn out and he was probably just as caught up in his own thoughts as I was.
“I hope so, Brian.”
“I didn’t say anything.” He looked at me all puzzled. “How did you know I was gonna-“
“Ask if I think he’s okay?” I looked at him. He looked as tired as I felt.
“Well yeah.” He grabbed an acorn and threw it as far as he could. “This-“
“Isn’t like him, I know.” I clasped my hands together and sighed.
“Could you please-“
“Let you finish your sentence? Sure.” I sent him a smile, which he returned. I couldn’t quite pass up on that opportunity even though we were in this messy situation.
“This whole reading-our-thoughts-thing has gotten even better, hasn’t it?” He softly chuckled as he looped an arm around my shoulder.
“I guess.” I shrugged. “Maybe I should’ve stayed away and instead try to make a living out of it.”
“Nah, you’d miss us too much.” He smiled, but it quickly fell away when we say Howie walk our way.
“Mr. Gable just came by.” Howie shook his head.
“Nothing?” I asked as he looked at him.
“Nothing.” Came his answer as he simply stood there. His hands shoved in his pockets, his shoulders down as he softly kicked a few acorns around.
“Dammit.” My cousin cursed as he got up and stormed off back into the cabin.
“I gotta say I agree with that.” I whispered as I ran my hands over my face, breathing out hard.
I felt Howie sat down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sure he’s okay. Sort of..”
“Let’s hope so, D.” I looked at him, hoping he was right, but not so sure myself.
The next day, when I tried to call Nick for the hundredth time, he finally answered.
To be honest, I was no longer expecting him to. I hadn’t giving up hope just yet, I just figured he’d lost his phone, the battery died or he was hurt too bad to answer it.
So, even though I was very much relieved, I was also scared for what he was going to tell me happened.
When I got my phone back from Mr. Gable, whom had tried to figure out where Nick was by asking him a dozen questions, Howie, Mr. Gable and myself ran to the car, the first carrying a few blankets, the second grabbing a bottle of water held out by Brian and myself trying to keep my voice steady as I debated about whether or not to tell Nick he’d been missing for this long.
Well, much to my surprise, he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell me a damn thing. He sounded scared and tired, but seemed mostly okay, except for hurting his head. Oh and when I eventually did tell him, there’s the miniscule fact he didn’t seem to know he’d been missing for over two days!
All of a sudden, the car came to a halt. I looked at the surroundings and thought it didn’t look like anything Nick had described to me.
“Mr. Richardson, Mr. Dorough, we need to walk the rest of the way.” Mr. Gable clarified as he got out of the car.
We quickly followed him as he started walking into the woods, warning us to look out for rabbit holes here and there. Honestly, I have to say he was in way better shape than Howie or myself. He even had to stop a few times to let us catch up with him.
At one point, when we were way behind again, I saw him bending over and picking up something, though I couldn’t quite make out what it was yet.
He turned around and waited for us to join him, then he asked: “Do you have any idea what Mr. Carter was wearing the day he went missing?”
I shook my head and saw Howie do the same. “He went out while we were still asleep.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I just found this.” He replied as he reached out to us, holding out what looked to be a red sports jacket that looked awfully familiar.
“I think we need to hurry.” He continued, as he held it by the hood and turned it so we could see the back.
I couldn’t believe my eyes at what I saw. It was all dirty, but more importantly, it was completely ripped apart, only small strands of fabric kept the back of the jacket together.
“What the hell happened?” Howie softly said, mostly to himself.
I found myself frozen to the spot, staring at the jacket I knew he’d love to wear while going for a run. I guess I was still staring as I heard Howie call my name, but couldn’t bring myself to respond.
Howie grew impatient quickly, because he grabbed my arm as he said my name again.
“Kevin!”
He then squeezed my arm hard, causing me to look at him, only to see him stare at something else.
“Look up there!!” he urged as he pointed upwards.
I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing and felt my jaw drop.
Apparently even Mr. Gable was shocked, because I could hear him softly swear.
“What the hell?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey, I'm back with a new chapter. I think it's absolutely amazing! (Just kidding, you guys, just kidding!).
I hope you enjoy! Please review.
I hope you enjoy! Please review.
Chapter End Notes:
I'll try to be back with an update soon!
