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The second I found Tyler with Jackie, I just knew shit was about to go down. And the second I had him alone near the ferris wheel, Tyler pressed me and Kins with a questioning look, "What's up?"
Kins and I exchanged a nervous look.
"Gabe took off," I decided to just lay it on thick, and given Tyler's sudden surprise and confusion, I explained shortly, "I turned my back for a second, and when I looked again, he was gone."
"Maybe he just went for a walk," Tyler proposed as a matter of good faith.
Something in my gut said otherwise though. "He hasn't left my side all day and suddenly he decides to just leave without saying anything? That shit don't make any lick of sense," I scoffed incredulously.
"Besides, Max didn't say anything that would make him think something is wrong," Kinsey added pointedly, "Something else is definitely up."
"I'm gonna call Bode," Tyler proceeds to take out his phone and speed dials his number. I found myself trying to search our surroundings for an asshole with a dick on his face, but I couldn't spot his conceivably outdated flannel jacket and ridiculously dark raven hair. All while doing so, I didn't notice my leg bobbing up and down in place all jittery-like.
Kinsey was the one to point that out when she nudged me in my side, gesturing to my evident discomfort, "You okay?"
I forced a smile, "Have to be."
She didn't seem convinced, wariness bubbling up behind her eyes, and just as she was about to say something, Tyler said with a nervous edge in his voice, phone put back into his pocket, "Bode's not picking up."
That feeling of dread? It tripled to the point I felt sick. Kins paled at the thought, a million pestering worries racing across her face. Her eyes starting roving back and fourth, "I don't see him."
"Check his location," I reminded Tyler, an uneasiness overwhelming me. I felt a heaviness suddenly, like it was suffocating me.
Nodding, he quickly shuffled through his apps, immediately pulling up Bode's location. His little ICON was all the way across the other side of the carnival, right where the maze was located. "It says he's on the south side of the campus near the baseball diamond," he said.
"Yeah, that's where the maze is," I realized, stricken with sudden angst.
Tyler inhaled a deep breath, each of us exchanging what we hoped was just a matter of Bode having a good time playing in the maze with one of his friends. "Jack!" His girlfriend nodded from the hot coco stand as Tyler told her, "We're gonna go look for Bode in the maze."
"Okay, sure," Jackie acknowledged with an understanding smile.
The moment we split off to find Bode, that dread I felt? It only got worst from here.
