The Dark Roads: The Complete Story

Chapter 12: New Tears

December 4th 2023

~Tracy's Story~

What's the deal with him! One day, Christopher and I couldn't be any closer, and the next day he disappears off the face of the planet.

It's been a month since I've seen him. Christopher Hardy. My first friend. My first areal friend. I've had a lot of friends in my life because of my popularity, but none of them were anywhere close to what I have with Christopher.

I wish I was nicer to him the last time I saw him. I remember us arguing with each other at the party. I remember him acting way too controlling and super judgmental. I remember him storming off. But I also remember blowing him off and basically saying to leave me alone. I also remember feeling like laughing along with the people I was playing cup pong with. That was something I did regret.

I thought we could just work it out later. That's why I didn't immediately go after him. When I told him we should talk about this another time, I didn't mean a whole month.

My mom had talked with Christopher's mom, Mrs. Hardy, about the incident. Mrs. Hardy had no idea where he was either. She said that he took his car and drove off, leaving his money and clothes and everything back at the house. Even his phone. There was no way I could communicate with him.

I couldn't stop thinking about him. His soft brown eyes and dark brown hair. The way his dimples creased when he smiled. The way he itched his nose when he was nervous. The way he reassured how I was feeling. Where could he have gone?

I was so anxious when I thought about all of it. My friends were constantly blowing up my phone trying to get a response from me. I haven't been in the mood to text for a while now.

I looked down at my phone and saw that I got a text from my mother who was at work.

"I need you to go over to Mrs. Hardy's house. It's important." She messaged me

"Mkay" I texted back.

I walked across the street over to the Hardy household. I knocked on the door and was greeted rather strangely by the loud yelling of Mrs. Hardy. She sounded as if she had been crying for a while now when she started sniffing through her words.

"WHO IS IT?!?" She exclaimed.

I tried matching her energy but was too shy to yell that loudly in a lively neighborhood.

"It's me, Tracy!" I simply shouted.

There was a silence/ I heard a shuffling noise followed by faint footsteps.

"Coming!" She said much quieter this time.

She opened the door swiftly not giving me time to analyze her face. She quickly ushered me into her house.

"Follow me." She commanded

I did as she asked, following her to the living room. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except for how much of a mess everything was. The blankets were on the floor and jumbled in piles, the living room table was full of piles of papers, some were bills needing to be paid, others were notes from loved ones. The TV had a crack in it that I have never seen before. A shattered vase was below the coffee stand. I looked back at Mrs. Hardy only to see her walking back a forth.

She told me to have a seat, which I gladly did. Then she walked over to the kitchen counter and opened a drawer.

"Is everything okay Mrs. Hardy?" I asked her gently.

She didn't answer, instead, she started digging into a drawer.

She then stopped her digging and pulled something out of the drawer. It looked like a letter of some sort.

"Do you know anything about this?" She asked.

I shook my head no.

She walked over to me while looking at the letter, then back at me.

"I got this letter in the mail this morning. When I saw who wrote it." She began tearing up. That's how I knew this was very serious.   "Can you read who the letter is addressed to?"

"Yes Ma'am" I answered nervously.

I turned the letter around and read the 4 words aloud.

"It says 'For Tracy's Eyes Only'" My heart skipped a beat.

"Can you tell whose handwriting that is?"

Already reading the letter I could tell who wrote this.

"It's Christopher's"

Word count: 737