compassion.
She let out a heavy sigh. “Just come and get some lunch.”
Mom headed towards the kitchen, pushing her way through the swinging door that separated the rooms. The idea of sitting around the table with my family, listening to Graham and Eliza giggle and carry on without a care in the world, made me cringe.
“I’m not hungry,” I told her through the door. “I’m going for a walk.”
“Alone?” she asked emphatically, sticking her face in the doorway.
“Yeah. Who else am I going to go with?” Not Brad.
“I don’t think that’s a very smart thing to do. Not after all that has happened…”
“Mom!” I threw my hands in the air. “Two minutes ago you were convinced Brad ran away to become a drug dealer or something. Now you’re telling me I can’t even walk down my own street because he is missing?”
“Our street is exactly where he went missing from , Lillian,” she said as she returned to the living room. “You need to consider your own safety.”
“Wait. Are you saying you believe that something happened to him and he didn’t just run away?” I asked. “Do you believe me?”
It took her a moment to answer. “I don’t know, Lillian,” she sighed. “I just don’t know.”
In the kitchen, I could hear Eliza relaying the details of craft time in that morning’s Sunday school class to Dad and Graham. Mom looked towards the door with a long face.
“Just be careful,” she finally said. “Take your phone.”
“I will.”
“I’ll save you some casserole.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I nodded, not wanting to start another argument by telling her I had lost all traces of an appetite since Brad had disappeared.
Mom pulled me in for a long hug and stroked the back of my head as she held me. I had grown a few inches taller than her over the summer before eighth grade, but in that moment, I felt so small in her arms.
Unasked Questions Go Unanswered
The sun was bright and the warm breeze made the green leaves on the trees around our house dance as if celebrating the first Sunday of summer. It was a beautiful day; too beautiful for the occasion. It was the type of day Brad and I would have loved to spend at the lake with Anna and Thomas, swimming and laughing until the moon was high in the sky. But instead I was alone; walking down the street Brad vanished from as the police, my parents, and assumedly the rest of the town, were dragging his name through the mud.
The stretch of road that divided Anna’s property line from mine was enveloped by dense rows of trees, their branches stretching high across the roadway and providing me with shade as I walked. Somewhere in this tunnel of foliage, Brad disappeared. He could have met with any fate that night that would have gone unseen by anyone on the other side of the trees. I knew the search groups had combed the area the night before, but I couldn’t help but bring out my inner CSI. I looked for tire tracks, scraps of clothing, or broken branches that might signify some sort of accident or struggle. If he was struck by a car, possibly a drunk driver leaving one of the local parties, he may have been tossed off the road into the ditch. The driver could have panicked and decided to force Brad into their vehicle and hold him somewhere to cover their tracks. Or…
I tried to shake off the grimmer possibilities and think back to Friday night. Did any cars drive by after Brad left? If so, I hadn’t bothered to notice. I had lain there thinking about Brad until I dozed off. Who knows what could have been happening to Brad just a few hundred yards from my window while I was fast asleep. The Lees had asked Anna whether she had seen anything that night since her house sat only a quarter mile from mine and past the wall of trees. But she had been at Thomas’s until after eleven and then slept over at Tess’ house across town. Anna’s mom and stepdad claimed to have been asleep since just after nine o’clock, exhausted from the work
She let out a heavy sigh. “Just come and get some lunch.”
Mom headed towards the kitchen, pushing her way through the swinging door that separated the rooms. The idea of sitting around the table with my family, listening to Graham and Eliza giggle and carry on without a care in the world, made me cringe.
“I’m not hungry,” I told her through the door. “I’m going for a walk.”
“Alone?” she asked emphatically, sticking her face in the doorway.
“Yeah. Who else am I going to go with?” Not Brad.
“I don’t think that’s a very smart thing to do. Not after all that has happened…”
“Mom!” I threw my hands in the air. “Two minutes ago you were convinced Brad ran away to become a drug dealer or something. Now you’re telling me I can’t even walk down my own street because he is missing?”
“Our street is exactly where he went missing from , Lillian,” she said as she returned to the living room. “You need to consider your own safety.”
“Wait. Are you saying you believe that something happened to him and he didn’t just run away?” I asked. “Do you believe me?”
It took her a moment to answer. “I don’t know, Lillian,” she sighed. “I just don’t know.”
In the kitchen, I could hear Eliza relaying the details of craft time in that morning’s Sunday school class to Dad and Graham. Mom looked towards the door with a long face.
“Just be careful,” she finally said. “Take your phone.”
“I will.”
“I’ll save you some casserole.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I nodded, not wanting to start another argument by telling her I had lost all traces of an appetite since Brad had disappeared.
Mom pulled me in for a long hug and stroked the back of my head as she held me. I had grown a few inches taller than her over the summer before eighth grade, but in that moment, I felt so small in her arms.
Unasked Questions Go Unanswered
The sun was bright and the warm breeze made the green leaves on the trees around our house dance as if celebrating the first Sunday of summer. It was a beautiful day; too beautiful for the occasion. It was the type of day Brad and I would have loved to spend at the lake with Anna and Thomas, swimming and laughing until the moon was high in the sky. But instead I was alone; walking down the street Brad vanished from as the police, my parents, and assumedly the rest of the town, were dragging his name through the mud.
The stretch of road that divided Anna’s property line from mine was enveloped by dense rows of trees, their branches stretching high across the roadway and providing me with shade as I walked. Somewhere in this tunnel of foliage, Brad disappeared. He could have met with any fate that night that would have gone unseen by anyone on the other side of the trees. I knew the search groups had combed the area the night before, but I couldn’t help but bring out my inner CSI. I looked for tire tracks, scraps of clothing, or broken branches that might signify some sort of accident or struggle. If he was struck by a car, possibly a drunk driver leaving one of the local parties, he may have been tossed off the road into the ditch. The driver could have panicked and decided to force Brad into their vehicle and hold him somewhere to cover their tracks. Or…
I tried to shake off the grimmer possibilities and think back to Friday night. Did any cars drive by after Brad left? If so, I hadn’t bothered to notice. I had lain there thinking about Brad until I dozed off. Who knows what could have been happening to Brad just a few hundred yards from my window while I was fast asleep. The Lees had asked Anna whether she had seen anything that night since her house sat only a quarter mile from mine and past the wall of trees. But she had been at Thomas’s until after eleven and then slept over at Tess’ house across town. Anna’s mom and stepdad claimed to have been asleep since just after nine o’clock, exhausted from the work
Similar Books
