Final Departure

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Nick and Jamie stood in the middle of Chardon street.

        "You said it was a blue house?" Jamie asked, covering her smile with her hand. There were three blue houses on the street, each identical two-families with small front porches. 

        "I guess that wasn't entirely helpful." Nick said with a shrug. 

Jamie sighed and jogged briskly up the steps of the nearest house.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Nick hissed after her. Jamie squinted at a etched gold nameplate attached just above the doorbell.

        "Brooks and Carver," she answered. "Next house."

Nick sprinted ahead to the second blue house.

        "Given and McGuffey!"  He called back to Jamie. "McGuffey--that was it!"

Jamie met Nick on the porch and knocked. A slight, blonde-haired boy answered the door.

"Hi, I'm friends with Johnny Roberts," Jamie began. The boy began to look nervous, and Jamie quickly realized she hadn't exactly thought this through. Her words tumbled awkwardly from her mouth. "He's missing, and we're wondering if maybe you might know where he is."

The boy now looked terrified. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Nick cleared his throat and took a step forward.  While not exactly an imposing figure normally, Nick was quite a bit taller than Jamie.  The sight of Nick approaching was enough to scare the little boy into speaking.

        “Joe! He said something about Joe!" The boy screamed suddenly, closing the door halfway.

        "Joe? Nick, do you know a Joe?" Jamie asked.  Nick shrugged and shook his head.

        "I know a couple guys named Joe...no one Johnny would have known, I don't think."

        The McGuffey boy closed the door even further, this time speaking to them through just a tiny crack.

        "Johnny said he met him online!" the boy screamed, bursting into tears. "He has a place in New York, he was going to let Johnny move in." the boy wept, sobs shaking through him. "I promised I wouldn't say anything!"

Jamie and Nick exchanged a worried glance. Nick had known Jamie long enough to figure out her most intricate facial expressions--this particular one was a mixture of apology and dread.

The boy continued to weep. "He said he'd never come back! He said he was sick of his life and no one listened to him!" he cried, slamming the door. "That's all I know! Go away!" He called from inside.  Jamie rolled her eyes.

        "Well," she said with a chuckle, turning back to Nick.  "Be sure not to tell that kid your secrets. Can you imagine if we had really interrogated him?"

        "C'mon," Nick said. "I'm going to the train station."  He jumped off the porch and broke into a jog.  "If we hurry we can catch him."

Jamie looked helpessly down at her see-through jelly sandals, which were already pinching her feet.

        “Wait, I need to change my shoes," she called, gesturing to the platformed offenders. Nick stopped running and looked back at her, defeated.

        "Seriously?"

       "I'll be a lot more helpful if I have sneakers on, Nick. C'mon, it will only take a second." 

                                                                 *  *  *

"Why don't we go to your house and get Eric? We might need another set of brains. Besides, he did say he was going to help us." Jamie suggested, pulling on a pair of running shoes. Nick was busy looking into Jenny's bedroom, which no longer contained Jenny.  Everything was pink and decorated with princesses.