Wasn't Expecting You

Team Indigo

There were four of us, including David and myself on our search team. Team Indigo. The officer in charge of our team, who introduced himself as Lieutenant Dalhouse, but said to call him Pat, was an older man, no bull shit kind of guy. He was kind of intimidating and seemed less than impressed to have me with them. The other officer, introduced as Luke, was quite young, I'd estimate mid-twenties. He was friendly, more supportive and very knowledgeable on the area.

We made our way into the forest in single file. Pat lead, followed by David, then me and Luke at the back. The search had been carefully planned out to cover the tracks the team took to their camp ground in case Martin and Joey had doubled back, but also ground below it, because it was suspected that they had taken a fall and ended up lost.

It was warmer than expected and I was beginning to sweat profusely in the protective gear we were made to wear. David was constantly turning to check on me, his blue eyes the same as Joey's not hiding any of the concern. I was determined though, I would keep up with the men and I would do anything and everything in my power to find Joey.

Every now and then the radio that Pat was carrying would spring to life, giving updates from other teams. He would reply with similar updates. But still, no one had seen any sign of them.

"It's pretty brave of you to want to be part of the ground search. I noticed all the other women stayed back," Luke tried to initiate conversation.

"I would do anything for Joey. Not saying the others won't too, but I'd rather be out here searching," I defended my actions.

"That's admirable. You must really love him."

"I do, very much," David turned around as I said that, appreciation in his eyes and gave me a soft smile, which I returned.

"When my dad was missing in the ocean I was too young to be of any use, it was an awful feeling just sitting around and waiting. I couldn't do it again," I explained further.

"Sorry to hear that. Did they find your dad?" He asked, genuine concern in his tone.

"No, well not till his body washed up. He drowned, boating accident in a storm."

"I'm sorry."

The conversation ended then, now that my motive behind joining the search was clear nothing more needed to be said.

We reached a small clearing and took a break. Again the radio went off and again Pat updated our location and status. We each took our water bottle from our bag and had a drink. Luke passed out some granola bars to help keep up our energy levels. I didn't particularly feel like eating, but did anyway as I knew I needed all the energy I could get.

It was then as I was standing and munching mindlessly on the granola bar that I noticed it.

Tied to a tree branch was a piece of material. It looked new, like it had only recently been placed there and it was bright red, the same colour as the college basketball team t-shirts the boys all wore and would have been wearing this trip.

I rushed over to the branch, gaining the attention of the rest of the team as I moved quickly. Grabbing the tied piece of material from the branch I tore it off to get a closer look. There was no doubt in my mind.

"This is Joey's!" I exclaimed.

"How can you be so sure?" Pat asked me.

"It's from his basketball t-shirt. It has a faint smell of him too. Trust me, I know it's his. He would have left it here to help find him! He is smart, it's exactly something he would do!"

"She's right. He would know we are out looking and he would try to be smart about it. My son isn't stupid," David said.

"Ok, I'll update base with the information. We will change our route slightly and head north, hopefully he has left more clues or better yet, stayed put somewhere," Pat said, pulling out the radio.