DIRTY LAUNDRY

32

I'll hate the goodbye,
but I won't forget the good times •

It's been almost a week and Josh was still missing. His mother filed a report to the police after 48 hours and even I was questioned. I told them everything I knew about the spots we used to hang out at and people that were usually around us. Jack drove me to Josh's house where I helped his mom look for him in their neighborhood. We were pretty hopeless, especially me. I kept replaying that visit in my head, did I say anything that might've been triggering? I don't know. It seems that wherever I go, whoever I try to help, I only make things worse. 

"Shit." I cursed quietly, more to myself.

"What's wrong Alex?" Mrs. Franceschi asked me. She was tired, hasn't slept properly in days. I tried to convince her to crash for a few hours, but she refused.

"Nothing. It's just... it doesn't make any sense. We've looked everywhere and he's nowhere to be seen." I was frustrated. I've spent days banging my head, trying to think of anything that could help us. That has recently been everything I was doing; trying to solve a case of something terrible that happened.

"Did something odd happen when you came to see him, anything?" She asked again.

"No, there were just some tears, because we finally got together again, we talked and then he asked me if I want to have coffee with him sometime and I said yes. I told him to call me, then I had to go." I explained. "I thought he was the one calling me."

"Oh, god. Do you think he would start using again?" She was scared and so was I.

"Honestly, I can't say. I can just hope he hasn't done that. He's doing so well." I said.

"Yeah. You know he'll be moving to LA when he gets his degree?" She asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "He told me. I'm so happy for him."

I saw tears forming in her already red and tired eyes, when she lifted herself up. "Would you like some more coffee?"

"That would be great, thank you." I replied. She took our mugs and went to the kitchen. I pulled my phone out and browsed through a folder of my old pictures. There weren't many, just a few I kept; they're my memories.
There's one of me and Josh, lying on the lawn behind his house; he's looking at the camera and I'm looking at him. That smile, it brought back so many feelings; it's why I rarely even opened this folder. It's pretty amazing how human mind works; you look at a picture of a memory and it's like it happened yesterday, you can see it all around you, feel it like you're living it again.

"Smile!" I said and pressed the button.
"Let me see." He took my phone and looked closer at the picture, grinning and then looking at me.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"I like how you're looking at me." He said and took my hand. Our fingers intertwined and it felt magical.
"I can't help it." I admitted. "It's like magnets, I just have to look at you when you're around."
He chuckled and gave me two pecks, one on the tip of my nose, the other one on my lips.
"Alex Gaskarth... you're pretty amazing, you know that?"
I just smiled and kept on staring into his pretty eyes.

Tears were starting to surface and there was this pressure I felt in my chest. I can't believe how good I was at repressing all these emotions that are now bubbling up.
Looking at the picture I wanted nothing more but for Josh to return home. I kept thinking about the places we went to. He mentioned a name once or twice. It was his mom's sister that lives an hour away. His mother wasn't speaking to her, as he told me, so he visited a few times, without telling her. She probably hasn't contacted her yet.

"I thought of something." I shot. She just walked back into the living room with coffee.

"Shoot." She said, handing me my mug.