Colby ran through the house for the second time that evening. He could hear his roommates yelling at him, asking what he was doing. But Colby won't stop to answer them, not until he has checked every room in the house. He left the doors wide open so he knew which rooms not to look in. He was scrambling around, running into the walls, and hitting doorknobs. When he finally reached the last closed door he paused to catch his breath. It was Sams room.
"I swear to God, Sam, if you're in here..."
His sentence trailed off as he pushed the door wide open, it slammed into the wall behind it and came to a stop. His eyes scanned over the room. It was empty just like every other room in the house.
He walked the few steps to Sams bed, it was freshly made like always. His computer was shut down on his desk, papers sitting in a neat pile next to it. Colby stood there for a few minutes trying to catch his breath. There was no mess, no forced entry, no broken object. It made sense, Sam had left. Tears pricked his eyes but he swore he wouldn't cry. He took a long deep breath and released it slowly.
"Colby?" He could hear the roommates calling his name from downstairs. Maybe they would know what to do. He descended the staircase slowly, trying to think of what to say. When he came to the bottom he saw all his roommates standing there, waiting. Elton has his arm crossed over his chest, Corey and Aaron were leaning against the wall and Jake was pacing the small foyer.
"What's wrong?" Elton was the first to ask, being the oldest of the house he was the one in charge, mostly.
"Why were you running through the house like a maniac?" Corey added.
Colby decided to ask if anyone knew where the blonde boy was before making assumptions.
"Anyone know where Sam is?" His voice cracked and he lowered his head.
"Sam? We thought he was with you?" Corey answered. Colby physically winced. He lowered himself to sit on the bottom step, burying his face into his hands. He felt the tears falling and didn't stop them.
"Colby?" Elton's voice questioned. "Where's Sam?"
Colby lifted his head to see the four boys knelt beside him. Each had a concerned look on their face, worry etched in their eyes. He wiped his eyes, trying to focus his vision on them. He took a deep breath, he was going to say it out loud for the first time. He was going to speak it into existence.
"Sam is missing," Colby breathed out.
"Missing?" "What do you mean?" "Wasn't he just with you?" "For how long?"
They all talked at the same time, asking the same question just wording it differently. It was loud and chaotic and Colby suddenly felt small. He knew he should have been keeping an eye on his best friend. He knew he should have said something earlier but he thought Sam would be back by now.
"Everyone please calm down," Elton shouted, pressing his fingers to his temple. Colby could tell he was trying to process the information. Jake continued his pacing.
"When did you last see him?" Elton asked, standing over Colby.
Colby thought back to that morning. Sam was dressed like he was going out somewhere. It's typical for Sam to leave, he has meetings and he has a shopping addiction- he would come home some days with bags upon bags of clothes. But this time it seemed different, Sam was wearing his favorite shirt and Colby knows Sam only wore it on special occasions. When Colby asked where, the blonde boy replied, "I met a boy." And Colby didn't ask any further questions. Now he realized he should have.
"I saw him this morning before he left," Colby mumbled. Sam was always meeting people on his online dating app, very rarely did he ever go out to meet with them. Unless Sam thought they were special, this boy must've been special.
