vanished

CHAPTER THREE

I knew even before he said it, knew that things had just gone from bad to worse. Jeremy led us to a store room at the back that was quiet. My heart felt like it was gonna explode, fear made my fingers turn to claws of ice.

Jeremy was leaning on the door, his face was grim and whatever he had to say, I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear it.

“what happened?”

He looked at me. “I took Casey out last night, we had dinner and went to the arcade after that. Things were going great.” He sighed. “Then she started getting texts, kept on texting back. Whatever it was must have been serious cause she was barely paying attention to me anymore. I got upset, told her if she was so Interested in her phone then it’s better we call it a night. She got upset too and we might have had a little argument.”

Great!

 Another thing to note about Casey was that she had a volatile temper and turned out doing reckless stuffs without thinking. One time she’d had a fight with her dad and ran away in the middle of a storm. No umbrella or coat or even shoes. She spent a week in the hospital.

“She got so angry she asked me to pullover and got out of the car. I told her to get back in but she said go to hell and I just flipped and drove away.” His eyes were closed.

I was furious. “You just left her in the middle of the night?!”

He stared me dead in the eyes as he said.” I went back for her, believe me I did. When I got there-“ he took a sharp breath. “ She wasn’t there, no trace of her. I drove around the whole goddamned town but I didn’t see her. I tried to call and her phone wasn’t going through.”

I forced myself to sit, I couldn’t seem to draw any breath. Casey was missing. Harry came over and held my hand, he’d been standing at a corner listening to every word. His hands was warm where mine was cold and I couldn’t hear anything except the pounding in my head.

“What time did she leave the car?” Harry asked.

Jeremy frowned, brow’s scrunching. “ I can’t remember, it was really late. Maybe midnight.”

Harry squeezed my hand, “Where exactly where you when she left?”

“A few miles south of raven bridge.” His hands were on his face and I knew that he wasn’t faking anything. His regret was written plain on his face.

He’d left her on a lonely road in the middle of the night. Anything could have happened to her.

I remembered something, Casey’s mom said she’d called her to tell say she was spending the night at my place.

“Where you with her when she called her mom?”

“No, she didn’t make any calls all night.” She must have done so after she left his car, probably when she realized she wasn’t going to get home early.

We all went silent, the enormity of the situation sinking in.

Jeremy was saying in a low voice, “I know this whole shit is fucked up and I wish I could just go back in time so this wouldn’t have happened but I’m going to do whatever it takes it to find her. I haven’t been able to do anything else since last night. And Casey means a lot to me, I’m scared of what’s happened to her. It’s all my freaking fault.” He slammed his hand on the door.

I could understand his pain and guilt, if I hadn’t been wrapped up in myself all-night I might have been there for her. I should have been there for her.

“We’ve got to tell her parents and the police “ Harry said. Jeremy hung his head and I knew just what he was thinking too. Reporting to the police meant that this was official now.