Whatever's Out There

The View From the Stairs

It was the day before Jackson's birthday, when I finally noticed. 

Most of the time since school was out, I had been running around with my friends. I hadn't spent to much time at home. And when I was home, nobody else was. Or it at least seemed that way. 

But I happened to be home all day today. I woke up around 6 and immediately assumed that Mom and Jake were still asleep and Dad was at work. When I crawled down to the kitchen I seemed to have proved my theory correct. Where else would they be at 6? 

But as the day passed on I only ever saw Mom. It wasn't that I thought anything of Jake's absence. He was probably at a friend's house all night and still fast asleep over there.  

By 9 pm I was starting to get worried. I would constantly leave my room ever 10 minutes to go down and check if Jake was there. Of course, he wasn't. 

Now that it was 11, I was getting seriously worried. I thought it all threw and realized how little I'd seen Jake all week. In fact, I don't really remember seeing him at all. I had to find out what was up. 

Step by step, I edged down the stairs, distracted by the view I got of the mountain threw the windows. The sun had long since set and it was now dark. The sky still barely blue, however, illuminated by the light off of the moon. The Sandia mountains seemed to glow slightly. 

I shook my head quickly, remembering what I was originally going to do, and continued down the stairs. I always got distracted by the view those windows had. They were on the wall across from the railing to the second level, and were right below the ceiling. From certain steps you had the perfect view of the mountains. 

The living room was dark but I could see my way threw. The light coming from the kitchen illuminated my way. As I approached the light, I could hear the clang of plates hitting each other and the clings of silverware. Peeking into the kitchen, I saw Mom well at work loading the dish washer. Dad was probably already asleep. 

"What's up?" She asked, turning to face me.  

I paused for a second, trying to find a good way of putting what I was about to ask. I didn't want to sound too concerned incase I got some silly answer, making me feel stupid.  

"Hey, what's Jake been up to lately?" 

She looked at me for awhile with a puzzled look on her face. It seemed like she knew where he was (which was good), but I could tell she was wondering why I asked. 

Finally she decided to answer me.  

"Do you need him?," she asked, suddenly concerned, " He texted me the day after he was let out of school saying he was out of town with the guys and wouldn't be back too soon. Is there something you needed his help with? I'm sure your father or I could help..." 

"Oh no, it's fine. I was just wondering what he was up too," I said quickly. Immediately, I turned back around and sprinted back up o my room. I didn't want o confuse Mom anymore than I had to. 

Even though I knew Jake wasn't missing or anything, I still didn't feel much better. It was probably because what Mom said was so vague. Out of town? That could literally be anywhere (except Albuquerque of course).  

I told my self to ignore it and that Jake was fine. He was just partying with his friends for one last time before college. They were probably in Vegas, knowing Jake, gambling to their hearts' content. I'm sure Sam, Jake's most criminal friend, had enough fake IDs to go around. Shoot, knowing Sam, the half the school could have gone and never get caught. That kid has long since need to go to jail. 

Jake was perfectly fine, I concluded. I'm just being a crazy and over thinking things.  

By now it was well past midnight. I'd been laying in my bed worrying (and then not worrying) about Jake for the past hour or so. Tomorrow was Jackson's birthday, though, so I was desperately going to need some sleep if I didn't get it now. I turned of my lights and rolled back over in bed, yawning.

I didn't sleep to well, though. All night I tossed and turned, still worried about my big brother.

*** 

sorry it's short. I typed it on my iPod so the spacing is funky and not the same as if it was typed on wattpad. Whatever. If was spaced normally it would probably be about 2 pages but since it's stupid it's only 1. Anyways... 

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