𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐔𝐁 | sam thomas

𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯

NINETEEN
"MISSING"

-

"Julia, we need to go to the Barretts right now"

Sam paused the movie they were watching while Julia looked up at Kristy.

"What's so important?"

"Buddy Barrett is missing" she said hurriedly, pulling on a shoe as she spoke.

"What?"

"I'll explain on the way, just hurry up and come help!"

Julia looked at Sam and sighed, "can Sam come?"

"whatever" she called, already running down the stairs.

"Looks like we're going to the Barretts house then" Sam said, and they both got up, their shoes still on, and went downstairs.

-

"Hi, uh, this is Kristy. Dawn and I were sitting for Buddy Barrett. Buddy is gone and Natalie's phone is off."

Natalie's phone was off and she hadn't left any numbers to call, so Kristy had found the school directory and was calling any possible place that Buddy could be.

Nobody had seen him.

Everyone was afraid that he had run away, or that he had been taken, so Sam suggested they called 911, which led to Dawn being questioned by a police officer, her mom sitting next to her.

Sam and Julia had done a sweep of the house, looking for any hiding spots, but had no luck finding him.

"They're gonna find him" Dawn's mom reassured her, and Dawn looked at her mother, "What if they don't"

"they will."

The front door opened and a man's voice called out, "Hello?" as he walked into the house.

Dawn and her mom stood up as the man walked into the room.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking from Julia and Sam, to Dawn and her mother, to Kristy sitting with the police.

"Sir, I need you to identify yourself."

"Okay..." he started, only to be cut off by one of the other two children running towards him and hugging him, "Daddy! I love you!"

He hugged the girl, "Aw, I love you too munchkin"

Buddy ran in behind him.

"Dawn! You should have seen me today in swim class!" Dawn instantly smiled when she saw Buddy, relieved that he was okay, and pulled him in for a hug, "I hold my breath for one whole lap!"

"Officers, I'm Hamilton Barrett. I'm Buddy's father" he said.

Julia and Sam looked at each other, and Julia mouthed, they're divorced parents at him, and he nodded with understanding.

The man passed his wallet over to the police to show them identification, "I picked Buddy up a couple hours ago for swimming lessons, like I always do."

He turned to Dawn, "didn't Natalie tell you that?" he asked, and Dawn shook her head, "what? No. She must have..."

"Forgotten. yeah, of course. It's not surprising." He cut Dawn off, "Buddy was outside, I thought he was waiting for me. She does that sometimes, so we don't have to see each other"

He sighed, "I didn't know she had a sitter today. I'm so sorry, you must have had quite a scare."

The baby started to cry.

"That's Marnie, I'll..."

Hamilton cut her off again, "No, I'll grab her." he said, before being stopped by the police.

"Sir, we just have a few more questions, and we should probably talk to your ex-wife"

"Of course, whatever you need, I'll be right back" he said, going towards the stairs to get the baby.

"Um... Kristy, were gonna go now" Julia said quietly, smiling a little at Sam.

"Okay" Kristy said, walking into the kitchen, and Julia and Sam walked out of the front door.

"Well that was eventful" Julia sighed.

//