Necessary Evil

4

I dialed Ryan's number, hoping maybe he would answer. The phone rang a couple of times and then went to voicemail.

"Hey, this is Ryan. You know what to do." Beep.

"Ryan, it's Josh. Please call me as soon as you get this. I need to talk to you. Later bro." I said as I ended the call.

"What the fuck is going on?!" I yelled, growing more and more anxious by the second. Something is wrong. Really wrong. Why else wouldn't they answer me?

A few minutes later a car pulled in the parking lot and Craig got out of the car and headed to the door. I motioned for him to come inside. He nodded and opened the door, stepping inside.

I got up and walked toward the frontman, slipping an arm around him to pull him into a hug. "Thanks for coming." I said, offering a small smile to the singer.

"No problem, maybe between the two of us we can solve this mystery." He said, sighing as he took a seat in one of the empty chairs next to my desk.

"I hope so. I just tried calling Ryan and of course he didn't answer." I said, biting at my lower lip gently.

"This doesn't make any sense." I started, looking at Craig. "I just talked to Chris about a week ago. We were planning on getting together once Warped was over." I began. "I went out to a show and watched them play. Then I ended up staying the night on the bus and came back home the next afternoon. They said we would get together in a few days, and that's the last I heard from them."

Craig nodded. "People told me I was nuts for letting TJ go back and do these shows with the guys. They said he'd end up back in MIW, and he'd leave us in the dust." He shook his head, smiling as he looked down at the ring on his finger "I knew that wouldn't happen though. I trust TJ completely and knew he was just helping out some friends who needed it. We talked everyday, like I said, then suddenly the calls stopped. Someone told me he'd left me and this was the only way he knew to tell me. Okay, TJ and I are married. If he truly wanted to leave me, I would hope he'd give me a little more than this. Hell, at least a phone call. You know." He shook his head. "He didn't leave me. Something's wrong. Very wrong."

I nodded. "I know. We have to get to the bottom of this. I can't stand not knowing what's wrong. I would feel so much better if at least one of them called one of us." I said softly.

Craig nodded in agreement.

"So, where exactly do we start?" Craig asked. 

I wasn't sure how to answer that question. All I knew was we needed answers. We needed answers and we needed them now. 

"I honestly don't know. We could go check at their houses and see if we can find anything that might lead us to where they are." I said. 

"Okay, but how are we going to get in?" He asked.

"I have a key to all their houses. We traded keys along time ago. We always ended up needing to crash at someone else's house, so we decided that would be the easiest way." I said. 

"Alright" Craig started "Let's go." 

The closest house was Chris, so I decided to stop there first. I pulled in the driveway and turned the car off, hopping out of the car and made our way to the door. I found the key and stuck it in, turning it and twisting the door knob. 

"Chris!" I yelled, looking around the house for any sign of the singer. "Chris, are you here bro?" I yelled, looking in each room. 

My heart dropped. Chris wasn't here. And there was no sign of him being here either. It honestly looked like he hadn't been here in weeks. 

I sighed and took a seat on the couch. "I'm really worried now, Craig. Look at this place. It looks like no one has been here in weeks. Chris should have been back here at least a couple of nights. Where the hell is he?"

Craig shook his head, taking a seat on the couch next to me. "I know. I don't know where TJ is and it's got me worried shitless. The last time I talked to him he was with the guys and they were doing Warped tour. He said they would be home in a couple of days. He was so excited to be home with me again. All he could talk about was how much he missed me. I miss him, Josh. What if something bad has happened to him? What if he's....." Craig's voice trailed off and I could see the tears streaming down his face. 

"Don't do that." I started "TJ is fine. They're all fine. We're going to find them. I promise you we will get to the bottom of this." I assured him.

At this point I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince TJ or myself...

I just hoped that was a promise I would be able to keep.