Stare.

Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street

I flinched at the sudden alarm clock sound that filled my ears next to my head. I barely slept last night, only getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep. The thought of Will being kidnapped had made me so scared. I just wanted to find him and help him, but I couldn't. The only things I could really do were make missing posters, cry or barely sleep. 

I got up and went straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror at the bags that had formed under my eyes. 

"Jesus." This is what I get for not sleeping enough hours. Trying to ignore it, I began brushing my teeth. 

After a few minutes, I went back to my room, got dressed and made my way to the table in the kitchen. Mom was sitting at the table smoking a cigarette. Her nose was red from blowing it, and she looked just as exhausted as I did. I rubbed my eyes and sat down beside her.

"Oh, Honey. Did you sleep at all last night?" Mom said as she gave me a sympathetic look. 

"I couldn't sleep," I said, sighing and looking down at my orange juice as Jonathan was cooking breakfast. 

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "We'll find him. We-We have to." She said with determination in her voice, but I knew that she felt the same way as I do.

"All right. Breakfast is ready." Jonathan said, turning around with two plates of food in his hands, about to place them down.

"What? No, be careful of the posters." She spoke quickly, pushing the posters that were in front of her to the middle of the round table on top of the other clutter. 

"Yeah, okay. All right." 

"Give them to me, I can put them over here," I say. She hands me the missing posters of Will, and I place them on the other side of me.

"I can't eat," Mom says, seeing the food Jonathan was about to place down in front of her. I took my plate from Jonathan and placed it down on the table.

"I just need you to eat, Mom." 

"Listen. Listen, the Xerox place opens in, like, 30 minutes. And I don't want you to go alone..." she says, looking down at her watch and back up to Jonathan. Jonathan was going into town to make copies of the poster and put them around town.

"--No, I know. I told you, I got it".

"...So I'm gonna have Karen take you, cause I should be here." 

"Okay--" 

I watched Mom as she spoke, not stopping as Jonathan tried to cut in. I scooped up some eggs onto my fork, taking a bite. She was getting all frantic about it, worrying about Jonathan having to do this alone with Mrs Wheelers.

"We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies? How much is a copy?" 

"Okay, Mom. Mom--" He tried to cut her off.

"Ten cents? If we...ten cents--"

I grabbed her arm, having to stop her from going on. "Mom. Mom. Mom! You can't get like this, okay? As you said it yourself, we'll find him." I said to her, grabbing her hand the way she had grabbed mine a few seconds before. Her hand went to her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Mom looked over at me, her eyes watering. 

"No, it's okay," I said, reassuring her. Just then, someone had knocked on the door. Mom quickly put her cigarette out and got up. She then walked towards the door, opening it. While I stayed at the table, Jonathan went after her. 

Mom swung open the door, saying, "We've been waiting six hours," Chief Hopper stood there looking tired, to say the least, after searching for hours last night.