Ethan
"Where's Mama?" Katherine asks me while I'm fixing the kids' cereal. As I'm pouring hers, my shoulder begins to hurt.
"She's at work, little girl."
"Shouldn't she stay home with you? You're sick." I chuckle to myself.
"Dad's fine, stupid." Teagan slaps his sister's arm lightly, and I stare at him, making him stop in his tracks.
"We don't hit around here, and we don't call each other names. Got it?" I scold.
"Yes, Dad." Teagan grumbles, and Ryan snickers beside him, shoveling Lucky Charms into his mouth, and dripping milk onto the counter.
"You guys eat your breakfast, I'll be right back." I set the cereal box on the counter and head upstairs, going into mine and Jess's bathroom. I open the medicine cabinet, searching for my pain pills. I pop four pills into my mouth, swallowing them down with a paper cup full of water. I wipe a hand over my face, looking at myself in the mirror. There are still a few cuts and bruises on my face from the accident, but most of them have healed. My arms, hands, and shoulders are still pretty sore, but everything else has healed nicely.
Nearly the entire day passes by, and by the time Jess is supposed to come home, her car hasn't pulled into the garage. The kids are watching tv in the living room, and I'm sitting in the kitchen, looking out the big window. I try texting her, but after a few minutes, I don't get an answer.
Dinnertime rolls around, and I've situated the kids in the dining room, setting dinner in front of them. Jess was supposed to come home at 5:30 and make dinner, and it's now going on 8:00. I'm getting worried. She hasn't answered any of my texts or calls, and it isn't like her to leave any of us unanswered for hours at a time.
"Mommy isn't home yet." Ryan points out, eating his Mac & Cheese. I'm pacing with my hands on my hips.
"I know, buddy."
"She's supposed to be home to make us supper." Teagan chimes in, looking up at me with his big, brown eyes.
"You don't like my supper?" I tease, raising an eyebrow and smirking at the kids.
"Daddy, I love it!" Katherine shouts happily. I smile at her enthusiasm.
It's nearly 2:00 in the morning, and no sign of Jess. What the hell is going on, and why isn't she answering her phone? Finally, I cave and call my brother, praying to God that he'll answer.
"Hello?" A tired Grayson answers the phone. I rise from the bed quickly, my brain and body on full alert.
"Gray, hey, it's me. Have you heard from Jess at all?"
"No, why?"
"She hasn't come home today. I haven't seen her since she left for work this morning." Saying those words out loud really made me realize how afraid I suddenly was. Fear and anxiety swirled in my stomach. What if something bad had happened to my wife? What if she's sick? Hungry? Lost? Cold? And I wasn't there to save her...
"What do you mean you haven't seen her?"
"I mean she hasn't come home yet, Grayson. She hasn't answered her phone, either. I'm really freaking out, man. The kids were asking me all kinds of questions today." I was starting to get angry. Of course, it was very early in the morning, and I've been up since 6:00 the morning before. I hear my brother sigh on the other end of the line.
"Maybe she decided to have a spontaneous night out."
"A 'spontaneous night out'? Gray, are you hearing yourself? Do you know my wife at all?"
"Clearly not, bro. I'm not sure what to tell you."
I start to pace my bedroom, and I end up turning on the light, the rest of world pitch black outside. I rub my thumbs into my eyes, getting tired, but I'm not willing myself to so much as shut my eyes until I hear from Jess.
"Gray....what if....what if someone took her?" I find my voice cracking, and the last few words come out in a whisper. It's all becoming real to me now, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
"E, she's strong enough to defend herself. That woman wouldn't let anyone lay a hand on her." The image of her being shoved into a van and driven somewhere just to be shoved in a room or a box in the woods, it makes me race to the bathroom and shove my face into the toilet bowl.
My shoulders and stomach heave, and my dinner and breakfast come up, along with stomach bile that burned my throat. And Grayson was on the line for the whole thing. Once I was finished, I rinsed my mouth out and sat on the bathroom tile, leaning back against the tub, liking how cool everything felt.
"You good?" He asks me, and he seems much more awake now.
"Y-yeah. At least, I think so. Look, man, I'm sorry to wake you, but I just have no clue what to do. I'm so fucking scared. And what about the kids? What if she really is missing? Like, someone took her? It's a real life possibility."
"I'm coming over. Make sure the door's unlocked so I don't wake the kids, alright?"
"Thanks, man. I love you."
"Love you too, E."
