Quarter Mile

Disappear

"Hey guys," Dakota shouted as he approached Eli, Parker and Harvey on the field.

"Hey Koda," Parker replied with a wave. "How was English?"

"Boring. We're watching Macbeth for the third time and I'm so over it." The boys laughed. "Hey, where's Beck?"

Eli looked down at his hands and Harvey took out his phone, both boys avoiding Dakota's eyes. Parker looked sadly at him. "He hasn't been at school all day."

"Okay, why do you look like that?" Dakota asked.

Parker sighed. "He does this thing, Koda. We don't really know why but every now and then he'll just disappear."

Dakota was confused. "I don't understand. He disappears?"

"Yeah, he disappears. He doesn't come to school, he doesn't answer his phone and he doesn't make contact with anyone. No one knows where he goes and no one knows how long he'll be gone for. Sometimes he's gone for a couple days and sometimes he's gone for weeks."

Dakota fiddled with his hands. "Is there anything we can do? What if I message him?"

"Like I said," Parker continued with a shake of his head. "He won't reply. I know you think he will but I'm telling you he won't. And don't take it personally, Koda. It's just something he does from time to time and there's no stopping it. It's just a waiting game now, until he decides he's ready to come back."

"How do you know he's not just sick? I'm going to message him," Dakota argued, pulling out his phone.

"He's not sick, Koda!" Parker raised his voice. "I'm his best friend, don't you think I'd know him a bit better than you do?" He asked harshly.

Dakota shot him an angered look and proceeded to send Beck a message.

Dakota
hey where r u?

He stared at his phone, willing a notification to pop up at the top of his screen. Beck usually messaged back straight away. After ten tense minutes of watching his phone intently and silently, he frustratingly threw his phone to the ground and fell onto his back with a huff. He covered his face with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt a soft hand on his leg.

"I'm sorry, Koda. I shouldn't have said that. I just know he's not sick because he usually messages, and I think you know that too."

"Yeah," Dakota said quietly. "I know."

"Hey," Eli spoke up. "Seriously, this has nothing to do with you. Please don't take it personally."

"I'm not, I just—" his voice trailed off. "I thought we were in a good space, you know? I thought we were at that point where we could tell each other anything."

"Beck's a complicated person, Koda," Parker stated, moving so that he was lying down next to Dakota. He instinctively lifted his arm up, and Dakota lifted his head so that Parker could slide his arm around his shoulders and pull him in for a hug. "He's a good person, but sometimes his mind gets in the way of his rational thinking and he does stupid shit. Like pushes people away that he cares about."

Dakota rested his arm across Parker's chest. "I don't want him to push me away," he said simply.

"He won't. I've seen the way he acts around you," Parker reassured. "He looks at you like you're the only person in the world."

Dakota looked around to see if Eli and Harvey were still listening. When he saw them both on their phones, not paying attention, he turned his head to look up at Parker and whispered, "I think I love him."