Missing Time

Chapter 4: A Hidden Note

It was Monday morning, time to go to work. Nathan was still racking his brain for ideas about what had happened to Lucas, but there was still too much missing time. Even if Becky were right about his leaving because of his kid, why would he leave because of his son? It didn't make any sense. And even if Nathan knew that part, there would still be twelve more mysterious years to figure out. Why did Lucas change so much? 

Nathan got out of his truck and unlocked the door to Everan Pharmacy. After his thirty minutes of preparing for the day, a sick customer walked in to pick up some antibiotics. Various people came in for the next few hours. At one o'clock, Frederik Clemons walked in. "Fred!" Nathan called out. Though they saw each other around town sometimes, it was a rare occurrence. 

"Hey, Nathan," Frederik came up to the counter, "what's up?" He filled out the short digital form to confirm his identity.

"Nothing much." Nathan looked around the shelf, then spotted Frederik's prescription. "Here you go." He handed the paper bag, two epinephrine pens inside. "Hey, do you know anything about Lucas McCab these days?" 

"Lucas?" Frederik chuckled. "I haven't seen him since- dang, I don't even remember. I haven't seen him since the day he graduated high school." 

Nathan sighed.

"What is it?" Frederik asked.

"Well, I've learned some... things about Lucas recently." Nathan shook his head. "I shouldn't talk about it on the job. I can call you later, then we can talk about it. Sound good?" 

"Alrighty. Well, have a good day." Frederik walked out. 

Nathan sighed. He really had to reach out to a lot of people before he would ever find someone who knew something worthwhile. 

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He sanitized his hands, then took out his phone to see a Discord message from Becky. "As I was saying last night," her message read, "Lucs and Elena/Aiileena were really close to each other in 2019. Lucs helped her through a lot of things. But I think something happened between them. One day, when I asked Elena how he had been, since he wouldn't talk to me, but she told me that he blocked her. I asked her why. She told me, 'I'd rather not talk about it, thanks.', so I dropped the topic. But I've always wondered what happened between them." 

After a few moments of thinking, Nathan typed, "When did that happen?" 

"Well, she told me that on 1/17/2020, but I'm unsure when he actually blocked her." 

"Ah well. Thanks Becky" 

"Any time." She went offline, leaving him to ponder what had happened. Who have you become, Lucas?

Lucas had gone off to work and Matthew to school, and now that Nelvin was home alone, she had an idea. She gingerly opened the white door to Lucas' room. She hadn't been in it often, and when she was, she was usually only there for a few moments to speak to him about something. 

The room was surprisingly clean. Everything was organized and put up. The bed was made neatly. Books about science and health were lined up on the single bookshelf, but four lonely fantasy-looking books were sitting at the bottom corner. 

I wonder if there's anything in here worth looking at. Nelvin walked up to the shelf and sat down to look at the odd ones out. They were blue, red, black and green respectively. She took them each out to see the astounding covers. Four different dragons adorned each one. Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr and Inheritance were the stories' names. She blew the thick layer of dust off of them to admire the artwork.

The books were quite large. Nelvin opened to the last few pages of Eragon to see 501 on the side of it. Jeez. And Inheritance looks twice as big as it! She opened to the last pages of Inheritance to find 853. Wow. Lucas really was a reader, huh? She flipped through the pages of Inheritance, reluctant to believe that the book were really that long. But it was. 

She made it to a chapter titled "The Rock of Kuthian", and was surprised to see a piece of paper tucked in between the pages. A bookmark? Nelvin wondered, but that would be absurd. Why would he read all that, then just stop halfway through the final book? She took out the paper and unfolded it. The page felt as if it were going to disintegrate at any moment. The notebook scrap had words written hastily from a pen that was either cheap or running out of ink. She was horrified at the words she read.

"Yeah I know, everyone thinks I shouldnt, but that doesnt really matter. to me. You can miss me all you want but Im still going to be gone. You cant change my decision. because Ill already be dead before you ever read this. But thats okay, thats what I want. I dont want you to think that you couldve stopped me. Because you cant, you never will be able to. You just cant help people Lucas, you need to accept that and stop trying. it hurts both of us more when you try to stop us. -James" 

Nelvin sat there, staring down at the note. What did she just read? Was it... no, it couldn't be. She read it again. It just couldn't be. But it was. It was a suicide note. Lucas had hidden someone's suicide note in his book.

Was that why he left? Because this James person told him that he should stop trying? Who was James? How did they know each other? When did it happen? The questions spun around in her head. 

Should she put the note back? Would Lucas even notice? It seemed as if he wanted to forget it. He just shoved it into the middle of a book that was covered in dust. But did he forget it? 

After a moment, she put the note back between the two pages where she found it, then put that green book, Inheritance, back into its position on the far right. She slowly flipped through the other three books, but she didn't find anything more. She placed those back too. 

"What are you doing?" 

Nelvin whipped around when she heard Matthew's soft voice. She stared at him, still shouldering his backpack. It's three already? She felt a pit in her stomach. She didn't want him to know that she was looking through Lucas' things. 

"You shouldn't be in Dad's room." His voice was firm. He knew that what she was doing could get them both in trouble. 

"I was just-" 

"Don't even try to lie," he said softly. "I know what you're doing. You're looking through Dad's stuff. You're trying to find things out. But trust me, you can't. I tried a few years ago, but I got caught. And trust me, you don't want him to find out that you're looking through his stuff." 

"What happened?" Nelvin asked, though she was afraid for his answer. 

"He gave me a really long lecture," Matthew said, nearing a whisper, "and the entire time, he slapped me hard on the back every few sentences or so. But don't bring it up to him; he'll just get mad again." Matthew promptly turned and walked to his room.

Nelvin stared after him. How could Lucas do that? Did James really cause this drastic change? She couldn't believe it. There must've been more. There must be.

She got up off of the floor and left Lucas' room. She would have to continue her searching tomorrow. And I'll make sure to keep track of the time next time.