vanished

CHAPTER SIX

Harry told me everything. How he’d had a crush on me when we were kids. How he never got to tell me how he felt cause I never noticed him. And the time he’d come over to my house three years ago to ask me out. It was my birthday and he’d bought a cake and a card. Rich had answered the door and went up to deliver the message but the cake had been thrown out of the window and the card torn in pieces. Of course that had all been Rich.

Harry never knew that and he got so hurt, he hated me for a while. No wonder I always felt he behaved like an asshole. It hadn’t been his fault. He only found out the truth when he brought it up with Casey and she told him that I never knew about it cause she had been with me the whole time. Rich never came up to tell me about it.

“Why didn’t you ever say something?” I asked. Too shocked to even be angry.

“That wouldn’t have been cool, you’d have probably called me a liar or done worse.” He said wryly.

I smiled a bit. “Yeah, I would’ve.”

We slipped into a comfortable silence, I wished Casey was here. I had a feeling she might have suspected Harry’s feelings and decided to keep quiet about it.

Oh we have a lot of things to talk about Casey!!

Harry cleared his throat a little awkwardly. “I uh know this isn’t the right time but uhm I think you should know. “

I looked at him. He blushed slightly and he couldn’t have looked anymore ridiculous.

“Know what?” I prodded. I knew what he wanted to say but I just needed to hear it from him.

Harry was studying my face so intently but I refused to look away. We were looking into each other’s eye’s.

“Know what Harry?” I said softly.

He leaned ever so slightly, biting his lips, his eyes so clear and blue. “That I’ve always been in love with you.”

After spending a few hours talking, we drove over to Maggie’s to get a bite to eat. Then, we went over Ito o bowls and oles to catch up with Jeremy. There was nothing new, no one had heard or seen her and the police were still investigating. There weren’t any leads to follow and it just fed my desperation.

Jeremy wasn’t doing any better. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all and I felt bad for him. I tapped him on the shoulder and said “she’s not gonna be mad at you anymore. Trust me.” He  gave a nod.

In the end, we wound up back at Casey’s house. Mrs M was trying her best to look strong but she was breaking and was trying hard not to. The police had informed her that there were no leads yet to the case. I hugged her good-bye and left. She didn’t need a reminder.

By the time Harry pulled up in my driveway I was exhausted. The lights in the house were off, something wasn’t right. I prayed Rich had nothing to do with that.

“you want me to go in with you?” Harry offered.

I shook my head. “its fine. Thanks for today.” I smiled at him.

“Its cool. See you tomorrow.” I patted his arm gingerly and got out of the car. He drove away when I got into the house. I switched on the lights and checked everywhere. The hallway closet door was open and I peered inside. Nothing out of the ordinary but something caught my attention. It was Casey’s scarf. The scarf she wore all the time. What the hell was it doing here? Last time she came over she left with it. I took it upstairs to my room.

No sign of Rich in the house. That was weird too. Maybe he decided he was done with me, I hoped.

I took a shower, changed into PJs and hopped into bed. Tomorrow I had to go to school, not looking forward to that. My phone rang and I picked it up. Unknown number.

“hello?” I answered.

“Hey Kat.” The voice, a male voice. It wasn’t Harry or Jeremy.

“its Mike, from school. Mike Sullivan.” He continued. Mike was a friend of Casey’s, though we talked once in a while we weren’t that close. He was probably calling to ask about Casey. Not like anyone else did.

“Right. How you doing Mike?”

“I uh, there’s something I need to tell you and i wasn’t sure to go to the police about it. Then I heard the story about it and it occurred to me that I was the one who knew about this and maybe it could help with the investigation.” He was talking really fast.

“Slow down Mike. What are you talking about?” I asked again.

He released a huge breath and then said slowly. “I was driving by raven bridge that night when I saw Casey on the road. I gave her a ride back into town.”

The whole world came to a standstill, I felt off balance. “What?” I whispered.

“Yeah, said something about a fight with her date and that she needed a ride back.” Oh God’s.

“Are you sure about this mike? Why didn’t you tell someone?”

“Well I thought you needed to hear this first.”

“Why?”

“That’s because the weirdest part of this whole thing Kat is that I dropped her off at your house.”

That can’t be right. “That’s not possible.”

“Well I did and she got into the house. She might have said you were off to a party but you would be back home and she was going to wait for you.”

No No No. “I Never saw her here.” Casey came here?

Then I remembered, her scarf was in the closet. Icy chill fear washed over me.

“Was she wearing a red scarf that night?” I closed my eyes, afraid to hear the answer.

“Yeah she was.”

I quickly sent a message to Harry about Mike’s information and then hurried down to find Rich. He knew something about this, he had to. Casey must have seen him and he must have known she was there. I checked his room, no sign of him. Where the hell would he go?

The basement. It seemed like he was doing something down there. I’d had a bad feeling about that basement and now I needed to find out.

I rushed out into the garage and found a sledgehammer. Three strikes had the locks coming off, Chains rattling as I slid them off the door handle. The door was basically a trapdoor that led down Into the basement. It was dark and I turned on the flashlight on my phone.

Cobwebs were thick and the air was stale. I couldn’t even remember the last time I was down here. I kept on going till I reached the basement, it was just a big empty room last time I knew. Mom never used the space for anything, and we’d never had an earthquake in this town.

I got a text from  Harry with a lot of questions and I was just about to answer them when I felt someone behind me. I whirled immediately when I felt the blow to my head. Hot pain sent me down the ground. A pair of Black boots were the last thing I glimpsed before I blacked out.

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