My Girl

Day 18 of Tatum Missing (Part 1)

Reedan

I drove quickly down all the roads around our house, especially after they found her phone about eighty yards from her house. It was cracked and broken. They said maybe there was a struggle if she was taken. If. That was the keyword to all of this. If she was taken. If she ran away. If this. If that. If if if. I hated that word. They said there's a slim to none chance she would be alive if we found her. The cops have pretty much lost all hope in the situation. But I hadn't. We had to find her. I looked over at Shane who sighed. "We've been by here six times in the last two weeks she is obviously not here." I glared at him. "She's gotta be somewhere Shane I can't give up." "I know." He said as we climbed out of the truck at a diner in the town over. I walked in and flashed the same picture to the customers and workers. I got the same pitiful and sad looks followed by an almost inaudible no or a shake of the head. I climbed back into the truck before going further into the town. We pinned missing persons posters to poles, buildings, and even under stop signs. We put them under windshield washers and on the hoods of cars and trucks. We put them in just about every business. We searched and searched. And everyone except my family and hers seem to think she isn't coming back, even Shane. I don't understand how they could just give up like that, she's only sixteen. She has her whole life ahead of her. Her dad, if he were still alive, wouldn't give up ever. And I won't either. "Look Reed I know you care about her i do too but maybe she doesn't want to be found." I slammed on my brakes looking at him as if he were crazy as surprise filled his eyes. I scared myself when I balled my fists ready to punch him in the face. This was all his fault after all. He argued with her. He didn't run after her. But I didn't call her or come with them. I was just as wrong as he was if not more. I promised her dad I would take care of her but I fell short yet again. God. I cried out in my head. I can't say how many times I had fallen on my knees in prayer in the last few days let alone the last 18 that she had been missing. "For the last darn time, she didn't run away. She was taken i just know she was. She is still alive I feel it Shane. You can give up but I won't even if I never find her i will look for her till the day I die." I said through clenched teeth as I unballed my fist. As I looked out the window after almost hitting Shane, who now sat stunned and speechless, I saw the ballfield. Our ballfield. Instinctively and dazed I climbed out of my jacked up truck and went for the bat and bucket of balls in the dugout. "Reed what are you doing? Reedan." I threw one up and hit it as hard as I could. I nailed it somewhere between first and second base way in the outfield. Another between second and third. Another right over second. I kept hitting until my bucket was empty, I looked down at the empty bucket. It was just like people, they thought Tate was gone, they lost all hope becoming empty inside but I wouldn't. I would be the bucket full of baseballs because I had to find her. I couldn't live without her. I found a baseball near my feet, one that i had probably fouled. I guess I twisted a bit to much because it hit a truck on a trailer of another truck passing on the road where my truck was parked. He stopped immediately and I ran out to him. "Gosh im sorry man." I said as he shook his head. Instantly my gut turned and I got a bad feeling about him. "Its fine son, it just landed in the bed of this truck im selling it anyway." He shrugged and grabbed it before tossing it to me. The truck looked familiar especially the big dent in the side on the front door. "Be more careful next time." He said as I held a hand out to stop him once we reached the driver door of his truck. "Thanks and um have you seen this girl anywhere?" I asked showing him my screensaver. It was of Tatum and I, she was on my back as she hugged my face close to hers. It was taken a week before she went missing and had been my screensaver ever since it was taken. She was laughing as her gray eyes danced and her blonde hair flew in the wind. "Uh no why?" He asked suddenly getting antsy as Shane walked up. "She's a friend of ours. Her name is Tatum Grace and she went missing eighteen days ago around this area. If you see her please call the police. She has knee length blonde hair with a reddish tint. Gray eyes with a hint of blue. She has tan skin and she is four foot and eleven inches tall, she's sixteen. And please just call if you hear anything or see her." I handed him a flyer from my back pocket. "Or tell her to come home." Shane added as I rolled my eyes. "Well I will keep a look out then,-." "Reedan." I didn't even bother introducing Shane, who wanted nothing to do with this conversation, which seemed more and more these days. Truth is he gave up long ago and I absolutely hated him for  but he acted as if he still cared about her. The truth, she was popular and he wasn't until they started dating. He loved the popularity and she so badly didn't want to lose his friendship. That is why they were always on again and off again, they never really liked or loved each other. Maybe at the beginning but it didn't last very long. He was poison and she was the rainbow after a rainy day. "You seem determined young man." "She's my best friend." I said matter of factly. "Well don't destroy yourself trying to find her especially if she doesn't want to be found, Reedan." He tipped his hat as I shook his hand and watched him climb in his truck, dumbfounded. What would make someone say something like that? I got a bad vibe from him and my stomach twisted and turned as I spotted a piece of familiar clothing. A mint green jacket that was hidden under a black jacket. It was just like the one Tate was wearing when she went missing. He shut the door as I turned to Shane who was already walking back to the truck. I acted as if I were tying my shoe and memorized his licence plate before I quickly typed the licence plate number of the truck on the trailer into my phone before typing his then looking back at the ball field and then at him. Who was that guy? I looked down at my phone and immediately called her uncle. "Hello?" "Hey uncle Jack look it could be a long shot but I think I just saw Tate's jacket in some guys truck. I got his license plate and the one on his trailer." "Reedan listen I know you want to find her. I do too and so do her brothers and her mother but that jacket probably sold millions in the last few weeks it could be the guy's daughter's jacket." "I just got a bad vibe from him. I had never seen him before and in a small town like ours that's shady. Come on uncle J you gotta look into it." I heard him sigh loudly. "Send me the license plate numbers and I will see what I can do." "Thanks." I said sending it to him and then hanging up. I ran and picked up every single baseball that lay in the field and filled the bucket back up. I dropped Shane off before heading to the police station. There, a good friend Steven Montgomery, stood shaking his head. "Hey man what's up?" "An idiot stole my truck." "What?" I asked as he shrugged. "It was in the back barn because I got grounded well my brother moved it to the other barn about two and a half weeks ago and when he went to check on it the next day it was gone. He decided not to tell us until I got ungrounded today." "Gosh man tough break. Sorry to hear that." He shrugged as uncle J came back to his desk. "Okay so what was the date your truck went missing?" "The day Tate went missing, it had to be the same night, Oliver moved it around six that night and went to inflate the tires around seven the next morning and it was gone." "Well Steven let me be honest, its a long shot that we will find your truck." That's when it hit me. "Wait the guy, the one I saw earlier. You drive a ram right? And its black and it has that huge dent from when Oliver hit it with the four-wheeler on the driver's  door right?" I would find Tatum Grace Marie Dixon if it was the last thing I ever did. And with that I jumped in my truck and began searching for Tate, the girl who would never give up on me.