Him. || Colby Brock

twenty three.

Rebecca's POV

--

The next day, after everyone has returned home, Sam and I are greeted by a knock at the door.  I follow behind him, already knowing who it is and dreading it. The door opens to reveal a man and woman- she looks as though she's been crying non stop for an eternity, her eyes red and swollen. She looks broken.  Her husband stands beside her with his arm wrapped around her waist. No present emotion comes from him, but anyone could see it trapped behind his eyes, ones that perfectly resemble Colby's.  As they enter they take their time embracing Sam before hugging me as well.  We all go into the kitchen. Colby's father, Rick (A/N: idk what his parents' names actually are, don't kill me) sits in front of us with his wife Eliza, fumbling with his fingers before speaking up. 

"Can you tell us exactly what happened, in full detail?" He asks, clearing his throat. Sam and I look at each other.

"Um, so Sam and I decided to go out the other evening and Colby was sick so he stayed home.  I wanted to stay with him but he insisted that Sam and I should spend some time together so we went anyways. We went to go see a movie and after we got there, I tried to call and text him but he didn't answer. We came straight here after and the door was open, his phone was on the floor and he was just- gone." The room falls silent before his mother begins to cry again.

"Tell them about the guy," Sam urges and I nod. 

"What are you talking about?" Rick says, confusion written on his face as well as Eliza's.

"Well, I'm not sure if it means anything , but there was this man at the grocery store a few weeks ago. I'd never seen him around before that, but I could tell that he was watching me. I've felt like we've been being watched since then, but that could've just been my nerves. But I saw him leaving the building the day he went missing..." I tell them, spiking their interest. 

"What did he look like?" 

"Well, he was a bit taller than Colby would be, dark hair, looked about our age, maybe a bit older," I say and Eliza's head rises quickly from her gaze on the floor. 

"Brian." She says, hardly above a whisper. 

"Who?" Sam and I say in unison. Rick and Eliza look at each other knowingly and he nods.

"Brian," Rick says, "he was on of Colby's childhood friends back in our hometown, before we moved to Kansas. I heard that he got out of jail about a month ago, I was afraid something like this might happen." 

"What are you talking about? What could he want with Colby?" I question.

"Revenge." His mother states simply. Rick tilts his head at our confusion. 

"He never told you, did he?" He concludes and we shake our heads.

"Colby had two best friends growing up in Michigan, Lee and Brian. One Halloween when Colby was about 10 I think, they went out trick or treating together.  Brian had to take his little sister, because his father was nothing but a drunk and their mother had been killed in a car accident when they were little. Colby had pushed Brian and accidentally knocked Brian's sister in the middle of the road while a car was coming," his mother informs us softly and my jaw is practically on the ground.  How could he have never told us that?

"My heart ached for that little boy," she says, "that little girl was the only thing he had."

"After she, Bailey, passed, Brian started getting into drugs, getting more violent. He kept showing up at our house, clearly with no good intentions. The environment wasn't safe for the kids anymore so that's why we eventually moved to Kansas," Rick adds and all I can do is nod. I'm completely speechless, and from the looks of it, so is Sam. I don't understand why he never told us. Especially Sam, they have been best friends for years and that is just something that you don't tell anyone about. I begin to get frustrated, but I let it go.  Being mad at Colby won't change anything. The only thing I need to be focused on right now is finding him. Plus, I guess it is pretty reasonable; he probably feels extremely guilty about it, talking aboy it would make it real.

"That's awful," I say quietly, lightly shaking my head.

"But," Sam adds, "now we can put a name to the face.  It we figure out where this guy is, we can find Colby."