Medium Rare (COMPLETE)

Chapter Seven

A/N: This chapter has direct mentions and depictions of homophobic slurs and violence/hate crime, so I'm issuing a trigger warning here for readers.

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The house was quiet when Edna returned. She had expected Ethan to be home but there was nothing but darkness to welcome her. She sighed and shrugged off her coat, wandering off down the hall to find the bathroom.

Daniel was sitting on the couch when she returned from the shower. He was hunched up and looked similar to when they'd first met.

“I went to see my mom, but she wasn't home.”

Edna sat on the couch next to him. “She's probably out looking for you.”

His head collapsed onto his knees, and she heard him groaning. “Where even am I? I don't feel any different, I didn't pass on or whatever. What gives?”

“It's nothing you're doing. The faith of your mother keeps you here. Her belief you're still alive keeps your spirit bound to this plane.”

“Is that how it works?” came his voice from his knees.

She nodded, despite him not looking. “All the cases I work on involve missing people. The most frustrating thing is of course, if we can't get hard evidence of their death, then there's nothing we can do; as long as there's hope that the person is still alive, out there in the world somewhere, the spirit remains.”

“So, what about people that actually are missing, and aren't dead?” Daniel had raised his head and was listening intently.

“No reading for me. I can't pick up residuals from things that aren't dead. Maybe somewhere out there, there's a person that can find missing people. My business is strictly with the dead.”

Her phone rang from the coffee table. She recognized the number of the school office and knit her brow before glancing at the clock. It was ten past six at night, what did the school want now?

“Hello, is that Mrs. Joe?” The sound of the gravelly voice of the school's secretary came through the line, a throat charred from decades of cigarettes.

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Your son, Ethan didn't show up for school this morning.”

Her heart dropped into her knees. “What do you mean?” she demanded.

“Did you see him off on the school bus this morning?”

“He said he was going to walk...did he not arrive?”

“No. No one's seen him all day.”

Edna slammed the receiver down, causing Daniel beside her to jump. She didn't wait to explain, and was already scrolling through her recent contacts to find any and all of Ethan's friends’ numbers. Not a soul had seen Ethan all day. Edna felt a dread boiling in her guts as she dialled work.

“What's wrong, Ms. Joe?” said Daniel, but she was too wrapped up in fear to answer.

“Thomas. Is Frank Earle in? Ethan hasn't been seen all day. I've called all his friends but he didn't even turned up at school! Where the fuck is he?”

“Calm down Edna, I'll call the local police force. I'm coming over.”

“I’m going out to look for him.” She hung up without waiting for an answer and grabbed her coat before slipping on her chucks.

“Ms. Joe! Wait!” Daniel ran behind her but she barely heard him as she walked out into the dark and cold. “Please, don't just go off alone. Wait for the police.”