The Girl Who Disappeared

To find Val.

    Time for lunch finally rolled around... Still no sign of Val anywhere. He called her again. And again it rang. But this time it only rang three times before it went to voicemail... Val never ignored him... Why would she have sent him to voicemail? She's busy, he thought. But with what? She's not here. He impatiently waited for the beep that came after " Hi there! It's Val! Sorry, I couldn't make it to my phone at the moment. If you leave your name, number and a short message I'll get back to you as soon as possible, thanks!"

     He sighed deeply " Hey Val... " He began  "it's Jace. It's very unlike you to miss school... I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Uh... See ya later I guess... Call me back, please."

     He walked to third period by himself and took a seat in the third row. The desk to his left where Val usually sat was vacant. He felt sick. He had a bad feeling that something absolutely awful had happened to Val. He didn't know why he felt that way but he did.
     A few minuets later Mr. Chapman, a short, heavy set, bald man, came waking in to class.  His cheeks glistened. He appeared to have been crying. "I have some bad news," he stammered, "one of your class mates, Valentina Martin, has gone missing ."
     Jace felt his heart sink as Mr.Chapman continued, "Sometime after 3am she disappeared." Mr.Chapman's voice trailed off... Disappeared Jace thought. There's that word again... But how? Where to? Why? Jace forced himself back into reality to catch the end of what Mr.Chapman said, "Cops are searching frantically for her. If any of you have anything that may be remotely useful information, please report it."
     Jace excused himself from the class. And from school for the rest of the day. He left early saying he didn't feel good, which wasn't entirely a lie because he was worried sick about Val. He got into his gray 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, and drove home. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to find Val but he didn't know where to start, and so he went home.
      He walked through the door and sat down at the kitchen counter. He cradled his head in his hands. He just didn't understand. How could she do this? He didn't know whether to be mad at her for leaving and not telling him where she was going, or concerned for her safety. Suddenly his phone buzzed, hopeful, he took it from his pocket. It was a text from his mom. "Hey sweetie. Principal Bradbury called... She said you weren't feeling well and that you went home... Heard about Val.. You ok?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Jace typed. After pressing the send button it really set in though and he realized, he was anything but fine. He threw his phone across the room and stomped angrily out the front door. He punched the brick wall in the carport repetitively  until his knuckles were no more than a bloody mess of torn skin. Then he went back inside and grabbed his key, and picked up his now severely cracked iPhone 6. He then wrote a short note and left it on the counter for his mother.

Mom,
I'm going to find Val.
                      - Jace.