Untitled (the Roommates)

5. Agents Without An Agenda

None of the four of them saw Elton's car anywhere on their way to Heath's house, or from the mall to their house. Everything happening was starting to get Colby a little bit mad. If they pulled into the driveway and Elton's car was there, Colby would be pissed. Relieved, but pissed.

It wasn't.

Colby sighed. That's what he got for being optimistic. What was there, though, was Corey's car that the girls had taken, along with Devyn, Amanda, Sydney, and Katrina standing around the driveway.

"Where have you guys been?" Devyn asked as the boys piled out of the car. "I left my keys in the house."

"Sorry, babe," Corey gave Devyn a hug. "Have you been waiting for a long time?"

"No, only about fifteen minutes."

"What were you guys doing?" Katrina asked Sam as he gave her a hug, too.

Sam sighed. "None of you have heard from Elton? Like, at all?"

They all shook their heads. Amanda started to look worried.

"We were in Compton. Filing a missing person's report." Sam finished.

The girls just stared back at them. "So wait -" Sydney started.

"We're not playing around." Colby cut in.

"Elton's not answering his phone." Aaron said. "He told Heath he was going to be at his house, but never showed. He didn't get caught or arrested by the police."

Corey stood behind Devyn and wrapped his arms around her. "He finished setting up the escalator, but nobody knows where he went after that."

"We left my number and Elton's license plate number with the police department, and they gave up this number to call when we hear from him." Sam pulled the folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Amanda.

Amanda stared at the numbers. "So this is like, serious?"

Colby nodded. Everyone seemed to be staring down at the ground.

"This isn't like, a prank or whatever?" Amanda's voice was shaking, along with her hands.

"We thought it was a prank, too. But he's been gone for too long, and we've been too many places for there to be cameras everywhere. None of us have even filmed any of this. I hope it's a prank." Colby pulled out his phone, expecting any sort of notification from Elton. "Nothing." He put it away.

Amanda took Colby's arm and pulled him to the gate, away from everyone else. She lowered her voice and whispered, "But this is a prank, right? Please tell me, this isn't funny." She was shaking more now. "Where is he?"

"I don't know." Colby answered. He lowered his head and closed his eyes. Then he brought his head up as the others walked over, but kept his eyes closed, "I have absolutely no idea where Elton is. I don't know. I don't know where he is."

It took a lot to get Colby worked up, so when he was, there was a problem.

"Nobody does, Colby." Sam said. "He didn't say anything to anybody?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"I offered to go with him." Colby said, still looking down.

"What did he say?" Sam asked.

"No. He said he was going to Heath's and he didn't want to drive all the way back here to drop me off. And I wasn't dressed when he was ready to leave."

"He's definitely pranking us." Katrina said.

"That's what I want to believe." Corey sighed.

"Wait, Colby," Sam looked a little skeptical. "Why did he think you would want to be dropped off again?"