Venomous

ch.3-then where is he?

Adalynn really didn't like going to the cemetery. She didn't like the fact that every now and then she would have to visit an empty grave. The fact that her brother's casket was buried meant everyone would forget about him. At least, that's what Adalynn thought. Adalynn's parents claim that they visit Malachai's grave at least once a month, but Adalynn wasn't sure if they actually did... considering her mom is afraid of her dad. They always asked her to go and Adalynn refused. Although they allowed Adalynn to miss going with them every month, they force her to go once a year on Malachai's Birthday, the day he disappeared.

She didn't like going. Not one bit. In her eyes, the casket was empty. Her brother wasn't buried there, which meant he possibly wasn't dead. She thought it would be a sort of betrayal to go cry next to an empty grave when her brother could be out there somewhere.
Malachai's Birthday would be landing on a Friday this year.

Adalynn grabbed her backpack and work bag out of KJ's car as he waved goodbye and drove off. Under Adalynn's t-shirt and black spandex was her damp lifeguard swimsuit. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail with the lifeguard cap on her head.

Walking up her sidewalk, a voice hollered her name from behind. She turned and looked and saw Max waving her over from across the street. Adalynn contemplated what to do as she was really tired and wanted to sleep, but her intellectual curiosity dragged her across the street.

"Max, hey! It's late, what are you doing out here?" Adalynn asked.

It was almost 11:30 pm and Adalynn was confused as to why he was outside this late at night.
"I was just grabbing the garbage can." He laughed, then took note of the obvious shivers coming off of Adalynn's body. It was cold and she was only wearing a loose jacket over her tshirt and spandex.
"Oh, do you want to come inside, so we can catch up?" Max offered.

Adalynn had been wanting to ask him why he was back. It was strange because it was the middle of the school year and his college was in a different state. There must be a good reason to why he was suddenly back.

"Sure, but I can't be too long." She responded.

Walking into his home, it was exactly how she remembered it. Adalynn had been inside his house a couple of times when she was younger. Those were the times when Malachai had to babysit Adalynn, so he just brought her with him. She never minded much, they were cool to hangout with. They didn't leave her out and he always gave her a can of soda, something her parents rarely let her have.

"How's college?" She asked, after sitting on his living room couch beside him.

"It was good, but I was getting kind of homesick, so I'm taking some time off to be here with my family." Max answered confidently as he took a sip from his water bottle. Adalynn just nodded.

"So, I was thinking about going to the cemetery tomorrow, just because I haven't been in a while. Do you want to come with? We can get flowers or a basketball or something and-" Max began to say, but Adalynn cut him off when she noticed where he was going with it.

"Sorry, no thanks." Adalynn quickly cut in.

"Oh, well, that's okay-"

She interrupted him again, "I don't really go, Max. He isn't there."

"Well, yeah, not technically, but his name is on the grave for respect, so people will remember him." Max tried to convince her.

"Sorry, but no. I've went twice and neither of the times felt right." Adalynn tried to explain herself to him.

"Yeah, but-"

"He's not dead, okay?!" Adalynn almost screamed it. She was so frustrated with her brother's old friend telling her what she should and shouldn't do.

Then he actually screamed.

"THEN WHERE IS HE?"

Adalynn was quiet. She was startled at how aggressive and angry he suddenly sounded. If anything, she should be the one screaming. He's prying into her personal life and it wasn't okay.

"Have you ever thought that maybe he doesn't want to be found?" He spoke again. It was more gentle and calm, "If he ran away, it was probably a pretty damn good reason."

"What?"

Max started to repeat himself, but Adalynn's "what" was rhetorical.

"No, I heard what you said. Why would you say that?" She asked him, standing up, she began pacing back and forth slowly.

"What do you mean?" Max questioned, nervously. Had he said too much? What was she getting at?

"You just said 'if he ran away', why did you say that?"

"Oh, um, because isn't that what the police said? That he was most likely a runaway?" Max quickly said. The words flooded out of his mouth as he attempted to fix what he'd just said.

The police had said he was a runaway because there was no other evidence to prove otherwise. One second he was there and the next he was gone. He didn't leave a trace. If you'd ask Adalynn, they didn't do a thorough enough investigation. Surely, if they looked harder they must've found something.

"Do you know something? Did he tell you something? The night he went missing, did he tell you something?" Adalynn wondered aloud and she stared her brother's best friend dead in the eyes without hesitation.

"I-I didn't say that," Max stuttered, "Why are you suddenly putting me on trial?!"

"Why are you acting guilty?" Adalynn fired back at him, stepping closer to him.

She could tell he was keeping something to himself. When he didn't reply to her question, she stormed out of his house and angrily walked across the street back to her own home. As she could tell from the cars in her driveway, he father wasn't home. Shocking.

She was so angry, she could scream.

The boy across the street. A boy who was once acted like a brother to her. He was hiding something. He knew something.