The disappearance of James Harris

3 | Lexi

James is a pretty stupid person, and by stupid I mean stupidly stubborn and manic. He never has the best ideas. Scratch that, he always has the worst ideas, ever.

Hell, he might actually be stranded on an island, or held captive by aliens in Mexico. James might be stupid, but he's not stupid enough to get himself killed by some delinquents.

That's right, according to the police and investigators, James "got beat and stabbed to death by a group of men".

Few reasons I think that's a lie:

1. The police claimed they never found the men, but then claimed they found one of the men's identity cards at the crime scene.

2. We never got to see James' body for "legal reasons"

And 3. The police didn't want to specify more about his cause of death because of "authorities" even though we're literally his family.

Suspicious if you ask me. Why would an entire police department lie about a fifteen-year-old boy's death?

That's the thing, I don't think the whole department was in on it. Because honestly ninety-nine percent of the officers and investigators were really nice and honest to me and my family, and then there was that one percent. That one percent.

This guy was just the devil himself in my eyes when I was a kid. First of all he was straight up mean to me and would ignore me until I'd start screaming, but secondly he was the most suspicious of all.

No officer or investigator was allowed to talk to us or give us information without that devil in the presence. Him being the one that found James' body, the retired officer that now lives in a small village in Canada.

Sheriff Nathaniel Sienko, Owen's older brother.

We're sitting in his room, the walls aren't decorated with The Beatles posters, or just anything a normal guy would hang up. Instead, on the walls are ripped out pieces of newspapers, articles that are 'suspicious' or 'odd'.

Owen says they're for his 'research', and James is not so surprisingly a part of it. I notice some headlines like "Fifteen year old boy body found along highway" or "Denver boy found beat to death by gangsters, police are investigating further".

"But," Owen says "they did have proof though. Of the— the man."

I stare at him in disbelief and slight anger.

"No, wait. I just heard that when the officer that found his body—"

"That is your brother."

"Right, yeah. Nate told me that when they found James' body, there was an ID that one of those people dropped."

"Who would do that?"

"Do what?"

"Leave their ID next to the person who they just murdered?"

"If— He could've dropped it on accident."

"Owen, if you're planning on beating someone to death, your ID would be the last thing you'd bring with you. Also, if they knew his identity, why didn't they tell us?"

Owen looks down at his shoes and a guilty feeling washes over me.

"Look," I sigh "I'm not calling Nate a liar" I absolutely am. "but it just doesn't add up, none of this does."

"Yeah, that's true," he says. "So, what's your plan Lexi?" Owen leans against his bedroom wall.

I stare at him, and not a word comes out of my mouth. My plan? I don't know what my plan is. Was I supposed to have a plan?

"Lexi?"

"I have no idea," I say after a long pause

"Wait what?" he laughs

"I've never thought about actually going for it,"

"So you just gathered all of this evidence and information, without a plan?"

I nod "Nope, guess child me never thought of it."

A dorky smile appears on Owen's face, and I can tell he's trying to hold in a burst of laughter.

Okay, I get it, I'm blindly going into this all, and I'll be happy if I don't literally die or get hurt or go missing too. But I know that if I was in James' place, I'd want him to look for me too. And I know that he'd go to the edge of the world for me.

We hear a car pull up in Owen's driveway.

"And that's my mom— shit, you should probably go." he says and hurries to his bedroom door.

"What, why?" I ask as I get up too.

Owen stares obliviously at him, and then I remember.

Owen's mom... dislikes my family, I think that's another lighter word for hate. And by dislike I mean she's tried to steal our dog because he "was being annoying", tried to run over our dog with her car out of spite because we called the police on her, and then tried to run over me twice for God knows what reason.

Karina Sienko is, to say the least, a handful. She's also not only a piece of crap towards us, also towards Owen and his dad. She takes pity on his little sister, not because she's the youngest or anything, but because the little girl has seen her mom cheating multiple times, and Karina never knows when she's about to spill it all.

--

After I escaped through Owen's window and somehow didn't break my ankles in the process, I decided to walk home.

On my journey back, I suddenly realize that Owen and I skipped school. We skipped school. And I somehow forgot to remember that the school informs our parents when we're absent, and I have a paranoid mom that's just recovering from her depression.

I quietly open the door, praying that my mom's still at her work. Just when I thought the coast was clear, I see her sitting on the couch, arms folded and staring me into my eyes.

Bury me.