Gone

26

Weeks following that night, Destin's parents posted on Facebook how Destin was missing and he took their car. With each day, my anxiety increased. Not only me, but everyone who knew who he was was worried. Unfortunately, after weeks had gone by, no one had found any trace of Destin. My mother noticed on Facebook that his parents posted a picture of a white Subaru outback that had crashed into a stream a couple of miles away. The police assumed from the impact of the car that Destin died immediately and fell out of the car and fell downstream, due to the driver's side door being on the other side of the embankment. I could not write my feelings down nor describe them at all for months.

In August, Destin's family decided to hold a memorial for Destin at their church. Taylor, Kelsey, Chloe, and I attended of course, and when I was there, I saw Damian on one of the benches allowing Addison to cry on him. I felt the constant glares from so many people, especially Sophie. While Chloe and Kelsey went to get Taylor and me some water, I glanced around the room to see if I recognized anyone I knew. Someone caught my eye though, there was a long-haired, dirty blonde guy staring at Destin's Junior Year yearbook picture at the front of the room, and speaking with Destin's mother. Then it hit me.

"Lukas is Destin's older brother!" I snapped, coming back to reality.

"What the fuck?!" Kelsey said, full of confusion.

"I saw him at Destin's memorial! That has to be why we're here!" I honestly didn't think either of the girls cared or believed me.

During the next few days, nothing out of the ordinary happened that was interesting. Except for about a week or so later, we got to move around again. That morning, I overheard one of the guys say the date was January 8th.

"It's almost my birthday..." Chloe sighed, eating her bowl of green beans. Suddenly the door flew open.

"Alright, I think we can trust each of you quite enough to help with a certain activity today," Lukas complimented, "Up," he urged for the four of us while holding his handgun. I stood to my feet, with the help of Taylor.

"Let's get rid of these janky ropes too," Kevin stated.

"We'll do that while they help pack up," Lukas explained to him while standing in the doorway. As the girls and I calmly dropped the ropes around us, we gradually took steps out into the hallway, I noticed there was no kitchen table and everything was pretty much bare walls. We finally entered the living room where all there was the couch left.

"Alright, what's first?" Kevin asked as he grabbed his handgun out of his pocket as we sat down on the couch. Is this when we die? Is this what they were talking about killing us in January? I didn't think it would be in this house. I thought to myself. With every word Kevin spoke, I flinched. As Lukas closed every blind in the room, he called out for Bryson, who came out from the basement.

"Who do you want and where?" Lukas asked him calmly.

"Uh, there's not much in the spare bedrooms, or anywhere else in the house. We just have the couch left in here, so Kelsey and Chloe can go into the basement, and you guys can stay with them down there if you want. I'll take Taylor and Kassidy into my room to help me pack up my closet." I was thankful I was with Bryson and not Kevin, but strangely, I wanted to be with Lukas. I felt like whatever he had up his sleeve, I could handle.

Lukas and Kevin then had Kelsey and Chloe follow them down to the basement, while Bryson had Taylor and I follow him into his room. His room was a mess when I stepped foot inside.

"I'm going through a couple of things, sorry," Bryson muttered, sounding embarrassed. His energy changed being around him. I observed how he did everything, while Taylor and I sat on the floor and put books in a box. I knew something was on his mind. As he folded blankets, I tried to talk to Taylor in a whisper.

"Taylor, does he seem different?" I asked her softly. I could tell she was intentionally ignoring me. Suddenly, Bryson stepped out of the room and headed to another room.

"Taylor," I said, trying to get her attention.

"What?" She seemed annoyed, yet on edge.

"Does he seem like something is on his mind?"

"There's probably a lot of things going through his head Kassidy, he's moving," Taylor told me realistically.

"Probably, but it might be something with us," I wondered.

"Stop. Let's just get this box done." I stood up and went to the window I had looked out of prior when Taylor was hidden away in the shed.

"What are you doing?" Taylor whispered nervously.

"I wish we could go out there, Taylor..." I said.

"Don't stop wishing Kassidy," her words caught me off guard, yet she was more so focused on packing Bryson's items into the box. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heading our way from the hall. The door creaked open at a normal speed, and I assumed it was Bryson coming back, but instead, it was Lukas.

"Kassidy, come with me," he insisted calmly, while he's fixated towards me with a lighter in his hand trying to light yet another cigarette. I brushed past Taylor who was still stuffing items in a box. As I exited the room and took each step leisurely behind Lukas, I followed him outside. In some preternatural way, I felt at peace with Lukas' presence. He ended up taking me to the same shed Taylor had been kept in a few weeks prior.

"Why did we come out here?" I asked, trying to keep my hair out of my face due to the moderate breeze picking up. Before answering, Lukas then grabbed all of his shoulder-length hair together and put it up in a ponytail.

"You're going to help me load shit into the back of the car," his voice was becoming reassuring to my soul in the strangest way possible. It was evident he was entirely focused on this move. As I grabbed a weed eater and took measured steps toward the trunk of his car, Lukas coughed up something, and spit it into the ground. During the time we were outside, he didn't say too much. Until the sound of a gunshot off inside the house. Lukas and I froze and sprinted inside the house. I tried to catch my breath as Lukas turned to me and demanded I stay still on the couch. I sat down and listened to Lukas screaming at Kevin.

"Kevin what the hell did you do?!" Lukas screamed just before he headed into the basement. Instead, Kevin had a hold of Chloe by the arm and rushed out of the basement and into the backroom.

"She wasn't going fast enough, man. I only did it to scare the fuck out of her," Kevin responded.

"Dumbass, alright have her sit in the back room. I want you and Bryson to take the shit in the car over to his new place.

"Fine, c'mon Bryson, let's head out, man!" Kevin hollered to Bryson who was still on the other side of the house, as he entered the living room and made eye contact with me, "What's she doing?" he asked Lukas disgustedly.

"I've got it handled, don't worry," Lukas explained. In a matter of time, Kevin and Bryson had left, and Lukas grouped the four of us onto the couch, and honestly, something felt off with Lukas that day. "Okay girls, this is your last night in this house before we move you. I have a bit of trust in you to not try anything irrational tomorrow, so head to your room and get some rest. I'll be in there with some bowls soon."

So, as the four of us got up and made our way to the hallway and into the room, I whispered to Kelsey. "Does something seem off with him today?"

"I don't know, he's always demanding," she spoke back, but that wasn't what I had meant. That night, after we ate, the girls and I talked about many topics. However, somehow we kept ending up rehashing memories involving Destin. It was anyone's guess what time it was when all of us fell asleep.