I Have Been Chosen

Oliver 23

Sunday 15th February

Oliver awoke, having spent the night over at Kara's on her blow-up mattress. He looked at his phone, finding no messages from Cody, who had not been online since yesterday at the same time since Oliver had checked last.

Kara gave another sympathetic comment, dismissing it all as Cody had just fallen asleep at his place. Oliver continued to try and believe that, and not that Cody no longer wanted to go.

After breakfast, whilst watching more TV, Oliver left Kara's and headed home. He would have stayed longer, but he only liked taking showers in his own place, as well as having run out of his preferred mints.

When he was about to head inside his apartment building, he noticed a car pull up into the car park outside of Cody's building. It was Darren.

Oliver considered for a moment and then walked across the road, meeting Darren at the front door of the building.

"Oh, Oliver," Darren mumbled, eyes darting around, his face notably clammy with sweat. "Yeah, I forgot you lived nearby."

"Just got back from Kara's," Oliver explained, stating the coincidence so as not to seem like a desperate spurned stalker after being stood up.

Darren pressed the button near the door to call on Cody's place. But no answer. "He hasn't been responding to anyone," Darren said quickly, as if panicked. "We all thought he might have fallen asleep, but even now, there's been no replies back, no calls."

"You don't think anything bad has happened to him, do you?" Oliver whispered.

Darren pressed the button again, and then after a moment of hesitation, he replied, "you've probably heard something about Cody and his drinking, how he used to be before he tried his sobriety this year."

"I've heard a bit, yeah..." Oliver wondered if that was the reason why everyone thought Cody had just fallen asleep and stood him up, though, of course, by sleep, they had meant pass out or too drunk to stand.

"Well, I'm just making sure it isn't that." Darren glanced around. "His car is still here."

"So he got back from work at least."

Darren nodded.

After a few more buzzes with no response, Darren sighed and fumbled around for his keychain, searching for the key that allowed entry into the building. "He gave me his emergency spare," Darren explained to Oliver as they entered and headed up the flights of stairs to Cody's apartment. "This is his place." He lead the way, though Oliver kept to himself that he had already been inside.

"Cody!" Darren called out, knocking on the door. "Cody, I'm coming in!" After a quick worrying glance at Oliver, Darren unlocked the door and stepped inside.

Oliver followed.

They found an empty apartment.

Cody was not here.

But his keys were.

"Does he have another set of keys?" Oliver asked.

"No, just the two," said Darren. "And I've got the other set."

Darren searched every inch of the place, looking for hiding spots whilst Oliver checked the windows, finding them locked and shut, only able to be locked from the inside, so there was no probable way Cody had left through them.

So, Oliver moved on to search for differences from this morning, clues as to what Cody had done before somehow leaving his apartment locked without his keys. There was a half-drunk coffee on the side, notably cold, the surface cracked, a day old perhaps. Cody's work rucksack was by the door; he had come inside after work. And then Oliver stopped in the bedroom.