If You See This Boy

Oliver's Twist

"Mum, I want to go outside..." I whined a few days later. "I want to go put his Power Ranger back... He'll be mad if it isn't there when he gets back... It's his favorite....!"

My mum looked at me sadly but nodded in agreement, "Okay Harry..." She helped me into my coat before  she pulled on her own. Her hand slipped into mine as we walked out of the house. She lead me to the Tomlinsons doorstep, but I shook my head. Flowers and things littered their doorstep, their bright colors wilted in the chilly air. It was Louis' birthday today but no one was celebrating.

"Harry... This is his house," my mum stated firmly.

I shook my head firmly in response and pulled my hand from her grasp. I kept walking in the direction of the place Louis had shown me. She seemed to reluctantly follow. I held Louis' favorite toy close to my chest as I trekked through the deep piles of snow. It was so much easier the first time when I had Louis' footprints to step into. He always lead me to the right spots. 

The little shack was boarded up and the door was nailed shut. Yellow tape encircled it. I tried to pull on the door but failed. Tears began to well in my big green eyes. I pouted and pulled harder on the door.

"Baby..." my mum began as I continued to tug on the door. She pulled my hands away from it and motioned to the sill of one of the windows. Her voice was weak when she finally did continue, "Leave it there for him... He's a smart boy. When he comes back he'll find it there."

I wiped my eyes on my coat sleeves and sat my best friend's toy on the window sill. "You promise he will find it mum...?" I looked up at her as she slipped her hand back into mine.

"Yes, I promise Harry..." she smiled at me as she lead me back the way we came. 

Something caught my eye as we walked through the trees. It was a bit away from where we stood and in a direction I hadn't been before but I knew it was something I had seen before. I pulled away from my mum's grasp and ran toward what I saw. 

"Harry!" she yelled after me.

A small bit of red knit fabric poked out of the snow. I grabbed at it with my gloved fingers and barely managed to pull it from the deep freeze. The familiar fabric made me smile. "Mum...! Look...! Louis' hat...!" I traced the frozen lettering on the back of the knit hat with the tip of my glove. I held it up to her with a grin on my cheeks.

We returned the knit hat to the Tomlinson's on our way home. After that, my life stayed pretty normal other than a certain milk carton accident a few weeks later.

My mother had taken me to the store the day of my birthday. Other than Louis, all I wanted was milk and cookies. We approached the refrigerator section and while my mother went to pick out cookie dough I went to grab a carton of milk. I picked up a carton from the very bottom of the shelves and turned it over in my hands looking for the normal cartoons that covered the back side. What I found there instead made tears well in my eyes. I held the carton close to my chest as I ran to my mother's side.

"Mum!" I cried before holding the carton up to her. She looked down at me with concern before she caught sight of the image on the carton. Louis' photo covered the back with 'Missing' written in big letters over the top of the photo. I understood little more than his name. The other words were too complicated for me to read. She lifted the carton from my grasp before pulling me into her arms. She walked back to the fridges lined with milk and put the carton back. After that my mum never bought milk and I never drank another glass of it. 

-------------Eleven Years Later------------

My mother and I moved to London four years after Louis disappeared and now I was beginning my second year of high school. One year after he disappeared the news stopped reporting updates on his case. Three years after he disappeared the police department declared his kidnapping case a cold case. When we moved, the Tomlinson family stopped talking to us.