Playing His Little Game

15 - Searching

Finally, a chapter is up! Enjoy!

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I stayed on the curb, my head sunken down. I probably looked as defeated as I felt. My brother was missing because of me, and now my best friend, whom I was fighting with, was coming to save the day.

When he pulled up, he immediately jumped up, grabbing my arm so he could give me a huge hug. It felt nice. I liked his hugs, especially now. I didn’t realize just how much I missed them too in the short time that we had been fighting. I breathed a shaky breath and clutched him tightly. After, he grabbed my shoulders, making sure that he could look me in the eye.

“Okay, so when did Caleb run away?”

I shrugged. “I-I don’t know. The last time I saw him was around four and then at six he was gone. He must’ve left after he was done yelling at me, though.”

He raised an eyebrow. “He yelled at you, really?”

I nodded solemnly. “He wanted to see you and I said no.”

He sighed, stepping away from me as he ran his fingers through his hair. He finally looked at me again, “Okay. I might have a few ideas as to where he went.”

I perked up and he nodded towards his car. I climbed in as he went into the passenger seat and peeled out of the neighborhood. The inside was an awkward silence, none of us talking, and the only sound came from the heated air pushing out of the vents. I messed with my fingers as my heart beat quickly in my chest from nervousness. What if we couldn’t find Caleb? What if someone had taken him?

“Stop panicking, Mel.”

It was like he could read my mind.

“It’s all my fault…” I breathed out. “Why he ran away. He just wanted to see you and my dumb pride got in the way and now he’s gone,” I blabbered on. “Oh God, if anything happens to him then I don’t know what I’ll do myself—“

Noah grabbed my knee, squeezing three times, a comfort gesture that we used to do when we used when we were in middle school. It worked, I calmed down and we elapsed into another silence.

“I’m sorry if I called you during a bad time…” I muttered. “It sounded like you were with someone.”

He shrugged. “I was just with Emma getting ice cream. “

I don’t know why, but it bothered me. It also made me kind of smug that he ditched her to be with me, fighting or not. But I kept it cool. “So you dropped her off before you came here?”

“No, I kind of told her to get her own ride because I was in a hurry,” he admitted and I smiled.

“You made her walk home, basically?” I chuckled.

He gave me a sheepish grin. “This was more important.”

“Thank you, Noah.”

“No problem.”

Then came a comfortable silence as we drove through the streets. He finally stopped in front of a park that was around an hour by walking. We got out, calling Caleb’s name, but nothing responded except for some dog barking. This made me nervous. I was about to start going off on another tangent when Noah dragged me back to the car.

We spent the next hour searching different places. My sister and parents were all doing the same but none of us found him. With each passing minute I grew even more anxious than before.

By that time, it was now raining. Not pouring, but definitely enough to get you drenched if you were in it long enough. That means that Caleb, if he was outside, would now be cold and hungry since he probably hadn’t been thinking enough to grab any supplies.