the boy who was afraid of the dark

wednesday 12:54, lucas

eliott didn't come to school today. or tuesday. i haven't heard from him. i looked over to his friends. they looked worried, unsettled.

chris looked my way, and caught me looking. i quickly whipped my head back to yann.

unfortunately, i saw him approaching with william out of the corner of my eye.
shit
shit
shit

"lallement!" chris called as he walked up.

yann, arthur, and basile looked up at him confused at first. then they all scowled with an unwelcome look.
i slowly turned around, "schistad?"

chris stood there with william, nervously fiddling his fingers.
"have you heard anything from eliott?" he asked, his voice trembling nervously.

i knew something was going on.

i opened my mouth to speak, but yann snorted from behind me before i could get anything out.
"why would he have heard from eliott demaury?"

"oh, uh," i turned to yann. "we're partners for a project, you know." i turned back to chris, "i haven't heard from him, why?"

"he's dropped off the face of the earth. he won't pick up calls or texts, hasn't shown up to school or anything. not even rugby practice. he's completely gone. we're really worried." william stepped in too explain.
he, too, was nervously fiddling with his fingers.

"oh." i looked down, sort of shamefully.
is this my fault? did i do something to him?

"check? at least? please?" chris suggested, sort of a desperate ting to his voice.

i looked up at him, and cocked my head.

"ya. sure." i pulled out my phone and clicked onto messages. there were no new messages from eliott. i went into the chat box anyway...

...and my heart skipped a beat.

he was typing.

i coughed out, sort of shocked. then the texting bubbles disappeared again.

"no, no, no." i tapped the screen frantically as if it would make a message appear. my heart was beating and i felt panic rise up to my chest.

i don't know why i was so riled up, but something felt wrong. something felt off.

i texted:

lucas lallement:
eliott, don't disappear. tell me what you were going to say.

i momentarily forgot about the five boys around me.

"what??" chris demanded.

"he was typing," i responded. "but it's gone."

he's gone now. he saw my text, but left me on read. i sighed, and slipped my phone back into my pocket.

"i'm sorry." i shrugged