Missing

Into the Midst of It

 It had been a week. A whole week since Nem and Shwabadi went missing. My teammates were still sending out search parties for them, but no one had found anything that would lead us to who did this or why. It wasn't the same without them in the base and I itched to go on a solo mission searching for them.

There aren't any clues at the Trinity base, not at the Silver Shield base, the main base, not anywhere! There has to be something! I know it!

I shook my head with annoyance. It wasn't going to help anyone if I let my thoughts get away from me. I sharpened my eyes and studied the board, desperately scouring it for anything that might lead us to our missing teammates.

They had both been taken from their homes in the middle of the day. No one could find anything that might hint at what happened to them, but I refused to give up hope. They had to be somewhere! Nem and Shwab were both declared missing on the same day just hours apart from each other.

A map was pinned to the bulletin board with a few cities circled and short notes scrawled on it. Also pinned to the board were a few small baggies with the few items we could find. One had Nem's sunglasses that he always seemed to have with him, the lenses shattered and the frame broken beyond repair. Another had Shwab's watch, equally as damaged as Nem's sunglasses.

The most concerning object that we found was folded on the table underneath the bulletin board: one of Shwabadi's pillowcases, speckled with his blood. Thankfully it wasn't a lot, but it was still more than enough to make me and my team concerned.

"Kaia, you're still here?" asked a voice from the doorway.

Startled out of my thoughts, I turned to see my friend, Star, leaning against the doorpost, her arms loosely crossed. She was wearing a black hoodie and jeans. As she leaned against the doorframe, the sleeves of her large hoodie bunched up, hiding her hands well.

I fluffed my short strawberry-blonde hair as I allowed my sudden fear to ebb from my body. "Yeah. I know I missed something before, so I came back."

Star shook her head, her long brown hair draping down around her face. "Girl, you gotta take a break from that. We'll find them, but we need more evidence first." She walked over to me, a small grin on her face. "Pushing yourself like this won't do Nem or Shwab any good. Come on, let's meet the others for game night; they're waiting for us."

With that, Star grabbed my arm and led me out of the room and through the base. When we arrived at the community room, I saw a small group of my teammates sitting around a low table. Cam was closest to the doorway Star and I walked through. Turning around to greet us, I saw grief hiding behind his eyes. Ben Schuller was laying down with a dark brown pillow under his chest on the other side of the table. Just around the corner of the table, Dan Bull was getting comfortable on his own small pile of pillows. Despite the warm welcomes that were lightheartedly thrown around the room, a thick fog of anxiety rested on the air, threatening to suffocate us.

That was actually why Cam had decided to set up a game night for us. It got us to get our minds out of the evidence room if only for a little while.

A few board games lay on the table for us to choose from. Ben scooted over to make room for me while Star sat cross-legged next to Dan. Trying to focus on the games, I noticed a heart-breaking pattern.

All of the games chosen were distinct favourites of either Nem or Shwab. Shwabadi loved games like Clue and Bagh-Chal while Nem liked longer games like Settlers of Cattan and Risk. The main reason that Nem liked Risk was because his overly aggressive strategy ensured that he won every time we played.