Missing Time

Chapter 3: Connections

Nelvin bitterly cleaned up the mess that she and Lucas had made. First thing was her left shoulder, which he had broken a plate on. It was sore and cut, but it could've been worse. She took her shirt off, cleaned and bandaged the wounds, then put on an not-ripped-at-the-shoulder shirt.

Then she went to work cleaning up the broken glass and displaced furniture. She hadn't expected him to lure her in with a sweet voice then throw her against the wall. His tone... for a moment, it sounded so sincere. But it wasn't sincere. It was his strategy to trick her. 

Was that what he used to sound like all the time? Nathan said he was nice- really nice. Was he really? It was hard to believe, but maybe Lucas really wasn't always this way.

What happened to him? What changed him? She had to figure it out. She would have to ask people, but who? He definitely wasn't going to answer any questions. How would she ever find out who to talk to? Would she have to go from door to door and ask about him? That didn't sound very pleasant. No, it would be annoying, both for her and whoever talked to her. 

After throwing away all the big chunks of glass, she went to sweeping the little bits off of the floor. Nathan went to school with him. He probably knows who all of Lucas' friends were at the time. I have to talk to him.

Nathan was alone in his little apartment. He was racking his brain to try to figure out what happened. What did happen on December 23rd? He couldn't remember much other than the fact that Crazy- Lucas, disappeared that day. He scoured his brain, turning the day over and over. He didn't recall much happening. But someone else must've known, right? Someone else would have to know what happened. The question was who, who was that someone else?

Who else was close to Crazy? Come on. Nathan mentally smacked himself. We're thirty. His name's Lucas. He sighed. He wished that the Crazy he knew was still real, but it turned out that Lucas had become- well, actually crazy. Wait...

Nathan pulled out his phone and scrolled through his Discord friends list. Eventually he reached the last letter, z. He quickly found Zomb- Matt. He used to be one of Lucas' close friends back in high school. "Oi," Nathan typed, "do you have any idea what happened to Crazy?"

After a few moments, Zomb's status indicator turned green. "You mean lucas mccab? He disappeared like ten years ago. I havent seen him since"

"You have any idea why he disappeared?" Nathan asked.

"I dont know for sure why he left," Zomb- well, Matt responded, "but i think something happened between him and becky, so that may be it"

"Becky? The girl thats like 5 years younger than all of us?" Nathan asked.

"Mhm. But again, i dont know for sure. You could ask her, but dont have high expectations. She might not even tell you anything"

"Ok, thanks Matt." Nathan went searching again through his friends list. He found Becky Night, then opened their direct messages. They hadn't talked in eight years. "Oi Becky, do you know what happened to Crazy?"

She responded quickly as always. "Something happened to Lucs? When?"

"About thirteen years ago" Nathan replied reluctantly.

"Thirteen years ago??? Wth????? I thought he just stopped talking to me" 

 "Well," Nathan typed, "thats the thing. Me and Zomb were thinking that maybe you had something to do with it. No offense btw."

 After an unusual (for Becky) pause, she responded, "But you guys were still talking after he stopped talking to me..."

"When did he stop talking to you?"

"He quit talking to me on 10/07/2019."

"Oh.. he cut the rest of us off on Dec 23 2019." Nathan sighed. "Why did he stop talking to you?"

"Because I told him something."

"What did you tell him?" he persisted.

"Look, it's probably not important to what you're trying to figure out. He cut you all off more than two months after he cut me off."

"Oh cmon Becky, what did you tell him?"

"You really want to know? -_-"

"It could be important."

"Fine, but you better not tell anyone." After a few moments of typing, Becky sent, "I told Lucs that I had a crush on him, which I did at the time. I told him that I loved him a lot, but I knew we couldn't be together- too much of an age difference. Anyway, after I told him that, he stopped responding to me on Discord and avoided me irl. Because I rarely saw him anyways and heard from him never, I just assumed that he was still avoiding me. But NO, he's been gone for thirteen years apparently!"

"Actually... My gfs old high school friend Nelvin Esbelle is living with him right now."

It wasn't even two seconds before Becky responded to that one. "HOLD UP"

"And he has a son named Matthew."

"Who's Nelvin in relation to Lucs? And how old is his son?"

"Im not sure where Nelvin and Crazy are with each other exactly, but Nelvin said that shes definitely not his girlfriend." He scoured his mind for Matthew's age. "I think Nelvin told me that his sons 12."

"His son Matthew is twelve years old?"

"Yes."

"Does this Nelvin know who the mother is? Or is Nelvin the mother??"

"She said he refuses to talk about it"

"...I think," Becky replied, "that Lucs left because of his son. He left thirteen years ago, his son is twelve, he won't say who the mother is... I think it all makes sense. Too much sense."

No way! No freaking way... Nathan was still aghast at the idea of Crazy having a child at nineteen, but it kept being proven. "Do you know anyone he was close to around that time? I mean, like a girl?"

"Well... there was Elena, or 'Aiileena'. They were like secretly best friends or something. I think she was even closer than you were with him. Anyway, Jayson's here, so I gtg. We can talk more later if you want." She went offline.

Nathan set his phone down and sat there for a moment. So did Lucas leave because of his kid? Why would he do that? He shook his head. I have to get into contact with Nelvin, but how? 

He closed Discord and dialed Lizzy's number. "Hey Nath," she said, "what's up?" 

"Oi, where can I talk to Nelvin? She have Discord?" he asked.

Lizzy sighed. "Look, Nathan, I don't want you getting involved with that stuff. I get that Lucas used to be your friend, but that was a long time ago. You really need to just let it go and let Nelvin deal with it. It's her fault she's in that situation with him anyway." 

"But I wanna find out," Nathan insisted.

"It's not going to get either of y'all anywhere," Lizzy said. "Do you not understand that? If Lucas finds out that you went crazy stalker mode and found out everything, then he probably isn't going to trust you ever again." 

"He's my friend." 

"He was your friend," Lizzy retorted. "I'm not telling you Nelva's number or anything. If you really want to figure stuff out, fine. But I'm not getting involved." 

"Telling me how to talk to Nelvin isn't being involved." 

"It's indirect involvement. I don't want to be involved in any way whatsoever. I don't know Lucas, and I don't really care. It's Nelva's fault for staying with him instead of moving out on her own." 

"Alright," Blue said. "Talk to you later. Bye." 

"Bye."