it was around eleven o’clock at night when i got a call from jasper’s mother. i assumed it was nothing. i thought it was going to be jasper calling me off of their home phone since his phone would sometimes die randomly. he needed a new phone.
i didn’t hear from him today. he must’ve been busy, i thought. he works at a café down the street. it’s just a little coffee shop that we worked together before at. i quit because i couldn’t hold down a job and take care of my mother on my own. when i was fifteen, my mother had a stroke; which caused her to be paralyzed from the waist down. she’s in a wheelchair and it’s hard to get around, so i take care of her. jasper understood and he even helps with my mother sometimes, too. i appreciated it.
my father is out of the question. my mother and him got a divorce when i turned two, and he left when i was three. i don’t remember him, thankfully. we never bring him up either. it’s just me and my mother in this two story house. unless jasper spends the night, then it’s just the three of us.
so back to the present:
ring. ring. ring.
“val, can you get that?” my mother shouted from where ever she was in the house.
“yeah, i got it!” i shout back, getting up from the couch and walking over to the phone. i grab the phone and press the green button that says “talk”.
“hello?” i ask.
“is this valerie?” a woman from the other line asks.
“yes?” i wrap my fingers around the cord, and wonder whose voice that was, it sounded familiar.
“oh, valerie. it’s jasper’s mom, theresa.”
“oh! hi mrs. evans. do you need to speak to my mom or—“
“have you seen or heard from jasper, darling?” she says, and i heard the worry in her voice.
“no… why, is he okay?” i ask as i grab my cell phone from the table, scrolling through my chat history with jasper. i pulled up the ones from yesterday since we didn’t text at all today, surprisingly.
1:09 a.m.
jasper: i decided i wanna do something with fire rescue
1:10 a.m.
jasper: because you were right the other day. i like helping people
1:15 a.m.
me: you’d be perfect as one. :)
1:20 a.m.
jasper: i get to save cats and put out fires. fear the almighty water hose :p
1:23 a.m.
me: lol it’s too late for your weirdness.
1:26 a.m.
jasper: you love my weirdness and don’t even think about denying it
1:29 a.m.
me: you totally caught me.
1:34 a.m.
jasper: of course i did. because you fell for me
1:37 a.m.
me: sure.
1:39 a.m.
jasper: i smell denial
1:41 a.m.
me: whatever helps you sleep at night.
1:43 a.m.
jasper: only if you were here. you help with the bad dreams
1:46 a.m.
me: think of good things. and don’t watch so many horror movies.
1:50 a.m.
jasper: alright alright
1:51 a.m.
jasper: i’ll think of your smile and eyes then :)
1:53 a.m.
me: goodnight jasper.
1:55 a.m.
jasper: goodnight valerie. xx
“… and… might… missing…”
i snap out of it, closing the chat history. “missing?” i voice out loud. she must’ve heard because she sighed.
“he hasn’t come home at all today. i thought he was with you. this isn’t like jasper, he would’ve came home by now. we stopped by his work and he wasn’t there. i’m worried because he isn’t answering and—“
“he’ll be fine, mrs. evans.” i cut her babbling off.
“i hope so,” she says sniffling. “if you hear from him or anything, please call me or my husband.”
“y-yeah. sure, no problem.”
and after that we said our goodbye’s and hung up.
i stumbled back and fell on my couch.
i decided to ring jasper’s phone, to see if he would answer.
ring. ring. ring. rin—
“hey!—“
“jasper, where are y—“
“—this is jasper, i’m probably currently busy right now, so drop a voice mail if you need to and i’ll get back to you later. bye!”
sighing, i hang up the phone and decided to send a text instead.
11:21 p.m.
me: jasper where are you? please answer… we’re all worried. i’m worried.
11:24 p.m.
me: i hope you’re okay.
11:25 p.m.
me: we all hope you’re okay.
i assumed his phone died, and he was at a friend’s house. but the only thing that questioned me besides if he was okay was:
then why isn’t he calling us from his friend’s phone?
YOU ARE READING
lost
Teen Fictiona girl who starts to write in a journal about her best friend who went missing, in hope it’ll keep her reminded of him through the hard times.
