Provex City

by Michael Pierce

  I could hear the soft music again as I remembered last night. “I’ve so wanted to know who he was.”

  “He was my best friend.”

  “So, would you like to say hello, or goodbye—for old time’s sake?”

  Desiree seemed to finally consider it. And she seemed to have a greater natural awareness than me, which could make for interesting revelations. “Are my eyes blotchy?” she asked as she carefully dabbed around her lower eyelids.

  “Your eyes are beautiful.”

  She didn’t say anything back, but she attempted a smile. Her makeup was running, but I didn’t want to upset her more. I led her to my bedroom, though it seemed she already knew the way. Inside my room, she paced around my furniture. She seemed to be somewhere far away, lost in a memory.

  “TJ’s bed used to be on the other side of the room. And his desk was under that window.” Desiree stopped in front of the mirrored closet doors. “Oh God, I look terrible.”

  I snatched a tissue from my desk and handed it to her. Dabbing at the runs in her smeared eye makeup, she was determined to make herself presentable again.

  “That reminds me, I should text Eli and Anna to tell them where we are. I don’t want them to worry.”

  I called Jeremy while Desiree took a seat on my bed and typed away on her phone’s keyboard. I probably should have been the one to text Anna, but I was more worried about Jeremy. I mouthed “pick up” over and over as the phone continued to ring and eventually went to Jeremy’s voicemail. “Jeremy, I don’t know where you are, but I hope you’re okay. I’m fine and want to talk to you before anything else happens. Umm...I hope you get this soon. I’m at home. Call me back,” I said and closed the phone.

  “No luck?”

  “No. But you don’t like him anyway. You don’t have to pretend to care.”

  “That’s not fair!” Desiree yelled. “After what he did for you today—not to mention taking care of you after the party. He really acted like your big brother.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m just upset. I mean, where is he?”

  “I know. It’s been a long morning. He’s fine—you’ll see,” she said.

  I went and sat down beside her, looking away, shoulders hunched. She put a consoling arm around me. We sat together for a few minutes before she remembered why we had come here in the first place. Her expression sank even further.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “He was your friend. He’ll want to hear whatever you have to say,” I whispered, unintentionally. The volume just wouldn’t escape my lips.

  A car outside passed by the house. No, a car was coming up the driveway, and I heard the sound of the garage door opening—

  “My mom’s home!” I said and jumped up in a flash. “We need to get out of my room!”

  Desiree followed me down the hall and back into the living room. We plopped ourselves down on either end of the couch. I hesitated for a moment and then abruptly moved over to the recliner. Desiree looked at me like I was a lunatic.

  I heard Mom fumble with the lock on the side door and the jingle of Frolics scrambling to his feet before the door swung into him. She barged into the house with the sound of crumpling paper.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said, in an attempt not to startle her too much.

  “Oliver?”

  “And Desiree,” I added.

  “What’re you doing home?”

  “I still wasn’t feeling well,” I said as Mom entered the living room. “The nurse let me go home and suggested Desiree walk with me to make sure I was all right.”

  “Walk home? If you’re sick, why would they let you walk home? Why didn’t they call me?” she asked suspiciously.

  “She offered to, but I said I was all right to walk, and Desiree was already with me. So they agreed to let me as long as we walked together,” I said, trying to keep my story straight.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” Desiree chimed in to take the attention off me.

  “Oh...yes...likewise,” Mom stuttered, her concentration disrupted. “Thank you for walking with him. How are you feeling now?”

  “A little better. I just need to rest and continue drinking water.”

  “Where is your water?” Mom asked sharply.

  “I—”

  “I’ll get you another one,” Desiree said and jumped up.

  “I have to finish bringing in the groceries,” Mom said and turned to leave.

  “Oh, I’ll help you!” Desiree exclaimed and left with Mom.

  “What about my...water,” I said meekly, but they were already gone. I had to keep up the charade, so I went into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of filtered water.

  Mom and Desiree came back with grocery bags in each hand. They made two more trips and, by the time they were done, grocery bags lined the kitchen counters.

  “Thanks for the second pair of hands,” Mom said to Desiree. “Now, Oliver gets to put the food away.”

  “I’m sick,” I protested like a spoiled child. Sometimes it just comes out.

  “If you’re well enough to walk home, you’re well enough to put away groceries,” Mom said and dug through her purse for her cigarettes and sauntered into the backyard with Frolics.

  “Maybe I should get going,” Desiree said as I began emptying the grocery bags.

  “Okay. Thanks for walking me home.”

  “That’s what friends are for. Jeremy will be fine.” Desiree grabbed her backpack from a kitchen chair and stopped at the entrance to the laundry room. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” As she went out the side door I heard her say goodbye to Mom and Frolics.

  Mom came back inside a few minutes later, just as I was finishing with the groceries.

  “She seems like a sweet girl.”

  “Yeah,” I said, tempted to remind her that she’d made that comment before.

  “But if you’re going to start bringing girls home, especially when nobody’s here—” Mom cleared her throat and poured herself a glass of water from the faucet. “—I want you to practice good judgment and to be responsible. I don’t want you bringing them into your room. Please stay out in the common areas.”

  “I know, Mom. We were.”

  “I know. I’m just saying. You’re getting older—and if your brother’s any indication—I don’t want to have to worry about you, too.”

  “Then don’t. I’ll be fine, really.”

  “Well, keep drinking your water. Do you need any medicine?”

  “Already took some.”

  “Then go lie down so you can be okay for school tomorrow. You’ve missed enough,” she said and felt my forehead.

  I retired to my room, where I intended to hide out until dinner.

  The phone rang early in the afternoon, while Mom was out walking Frolics, and I jumped out of bed to answer it. I quickly reached for the phone and was about to pull it off the hook, when I suddenly stopped. It rang two more times before the answering machine message picked up, and it was the school calling about Jeremy. I let the office administrator finish leaving her message and immediately erased it.

  “Where’s your brother?” Mom asked me when I came out of my room for dinner.

  “I don’t know.”

  “If he’s not going to come home for dinner, he should at least call,” she said carrying the two pots from the stove to the table. “Have you spoken to him?”

  “Your mother tells me you left school early today. Are you feeling any better?” Richard asked as he grabbed two beers and sat down.

  “Loads better. I slept through half the afternoon. I’m feeling 100% better. No, I left him a message a few hours ago.” I refilled my glass of water and sat down at the table.

  “He must be out with that girl Leslie again. She seems like a sweet girl, but he’s out with her all the time.”

  “Remember that, Oliver. When you start dating someone, you can’t be out with her constantly. You have to have balance. You want to make i
t look like you have a life—” Richard said and leaned in closer, “—even if you don’t. She can’t be sitting at home thinking about you if you’re always together.”

  “That’s terrible advice,” Mom said, taking a seat at the table.

  Richard sat up straight. “Yeah, but it works.”

  After dinner and the dishes, I was back in my room. I kept my phone close, waiting for Jeremy to call. But as the remainder of the day sifted through to the bottom of the hourglass, I grew more concerned. I knew he was in trouble, but now the question was how much?

  My phone chimed and lit up. It was a text from Desiree.

  Have you heard from Jeremy yet? Desiree asked.

  Not yet, I replied.

  I’m sure he’s fine and will be home soon.

  Hope so. Getting worried.

  Have faith. G’nite.

  My alarm woke me up. I felt around the bed for my phone. No messages. No missed calls. I couldn’t remember what time I finally fell asleep. I jumped out of bed and hurried into the hallway. I peeked into Jeremy’s room and his curtains were open and his bed was made. Maybe he got home late and woke up early; that’s not completely out of character for Jeremy.

  I wandered into the kitchen and immediately knew something was wrong. Richard was seated at the table. He would usually have left for work by now. Mom was on the phone. “I don’t know...I don’t know if he went to school or not, but as far as the last time I’ve seen him, it’s been 24 hours. Okay...Okay...There has to be something more you can do. This is my son we’re talking about...” Mom was almost in tears. She desperately fought to hold them back when she saw me and hung up the phone a few moments later.

  “So what can we do?” Richard asked.

  “They’re going to send someone over, but it may not be for a few hours,” Mom said and couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “We’re not a priority.”

  Richard stood up from the table and took her in his arms, and she buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Where is he?” Mom sobbed.

  I didn’t know when the right time would be for me to tell them about Jeremy’s fight. I couldn’t stand seeing Mom like this. It was making me well up. Maybe this was the time to tell them, but I was holding onto one more ray of hope.

  13

  Still No Word

  “Was Jeremy with you last night?” I asked Leslie, squatting next to her desk. I didn’t notice or even care what she was wearing.

  “I was going to ask you about him, ’cause I haven’t heard from him since Tuesday.”

  That was not the answer I was looking for.

  “He always calls me back. Is he mad at me? Does he not like me anymore?”

  “I have no idea—I mean, I’m sure he still likes you, but I have no idea where he is. He didn’t come home last night.”

  Leslie’s eyes widened immediately. “Is it because of the fight he was in yesterday?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  The bell rang, and Mr. Clayton attempted to get everyone in their seats. I stood up to leave, and Leslie grabbed my sleeve. She ripped off a corner of a page in her notebook. “Here’s my number. If you hear from him, can you please call me?” she pleaded with a pair of the saddest eyes I’d ever seen.

  I took the scrap of paper back to my desk and laid it neatly out in front of me. Desiree leaned over and saw what once might have been the Holy Grail staring up at me. I met her gaze with a halfhearted smile, and she couldn’t have looked more disgusted. I would have loved to bask in the glory of this moment, but I couldn’t.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Jeremy’s missing,” I said softly, and her face changed immediately.

  “I know your lives are more important than chemistry, but in this hour learning the fundamentals of chemistry is our primary objective, so please be quiet,” Mr. Clayton announced when he wasn’t getting the undivided attention he felt he deserved.

  After talking with Leslie, I thought the worst about Jeremy. I went through the rest of the day in a daze, checking my phone religiously. Nothing. Sasha and his guys weren’t at school, which I would have assumed. So that took off some pressure.

  At lunch, Anna and Eli asked what happened with the fight yesterday. I stuck with the story I had worked out with Mr. Gordon and Desiree and it sounded believable. Desiree then chimed in to ask me about Jeremy’s disappearance. There wasn’t much to tell, but they all seemed concerned, which took me by surprise. When the bell rang for the end of lunch, Anna kissed me and offered to give me a ride home and I happily accepted. Then, I left for history with Desiree.

  “You can understand why he thought you were protecting Jeremy, can’t you?” Anna asked as we approached my street. Vice Principal Adams had finally called me into the office during history.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s just so frustrating. He doesn’t understand what my family’s going through right now.”

  “If Jeremy doesn’t show up soon, he’ll have to believe you because there’ll be an official search out for him.”

  “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said. But it didn’t appear like things were looking up. As we turned the corner onto Wheeler, we saw a police car parked in front of my house. “Maybe it already has.”

  Anna pulled to a stop across from my house. The pit of my stomach ached, and I dreaded the thought of going inside. “I would’ve waited to see if you were gonna ask me in, but this probably isn’t the best time,” Anna said. She put her car in park, but kept the engine running.

  “Yeah, probably not.” I didn’t even want to tell her that I hadn’t told Mom and Richard about the fight yet. “I better go.” I leaned over to kiss her and thanked her for the ride.

  “Call me later, okay?”

  I nodded weakly and got out of the car. I waited at the side of the road for her to leave, and she waited for me to go inside. After hesitating a few moments she pulled forward, just far enough to make a U-turn without hitting the police car, and waved to me as she drove away.

  I went into the house through the side door and found Mom, Richard, and a police officer sitting at the kitchen table.

  “This is our youngest son, Oliver,” Mom said as I walked in. “Officer Rubio would like to ask you a few questions, too. And so would we.”

  “Sure. I’ll just go put down my bag,” I said, using any means to prolong the inevitable. I walked slowly to my room and then rinsed my face in cold water. I waited in the bathroom longer than necessary with an all too familiar anxiety setting in. I could hear them talking in the kitchen and knew I had to go back.

  “How can I help?” I asked as I took the last remaining seat at the table.

  “When was the last time you saw or spoke with Jeremy?” Officer Rubio asked point blank. He took notes on a yellow pad of paper, with the daunting Missing Persons Report placed at his side.

  “The last I saw him was after first period yesterday morning.”

  “So you confirm that he was at school yesterday?”

  Mom and Richard looked at me anxiously, hoping I had some pivotal information that could lead us all to Jeremy. But at the same time, there was a look of disappointment on their faces and I knew—that they knew—about Jeremy’s vicious incident.

  “He was at school yesterday morning,” I replied.

  “And then there were reports of a fight. Did you witness it? Can you elaborate on it?”

  I couldn’t help showing my shame and guilt with Mom and Richard’s eyes glued to me. “The fight actually started with me,” I said hesitantly and cleared my throat. “There was a guy named Sasha who threw me into the lockers, and then Jeremy showed up. Sasha went after Jeremy, and Jeremy defended himself. When Sasha’s friend backed him up, Jeremy fought him off, too.”

  “A Greg Kaufman,” the officer added.

  “Yeah, I guess...”

  “That supports what other witnesses said when a colleague of mine was called out to the school.”

  Real
ly?

  “Jeremy beat them up pretty bad and there might be some assault charges filed, but there are a lot of students and a teacher willing to testify that his actions were in self-defense. But that’s a separate investigation at this point, which we will follow up with you. First, we need to find him. What happened after the fight? Did you speak with him?”

  “No. He ran off, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

  “Your parents mentioned something about a girlfriend.”

  “Leslie. I spoke with her this morning. She hasn’t seen or heard from him either.”

  “Well, I think I have everything I need. I know this has been a long day,” Officer Rubio said sympathetically.

  “No, thank you for being so thorough and helpful. We just want to get our son back,” Richard said.

  “What happens now?” Mom asked.

  “This report will be filed, and all of Jeremy’s information will be put into a database that can be accessed by agencies around the state. You should go online and subscribe to the Missing Persons Bulletin. Here’s the number to reach the Missing Persons Unit directly. Someone will check back with you in a few days, and if you receive any new information, please call. Thank you for your time.” Officer Rubio stood up and shook hands with each of us, collected his paperwork, and left.

  “Why didn’t you tell us about Jeremy’s fight earlier?” Richard asked, interrogating me after Officer Rubio was gone.

  “I don’t know—”

  “I don’t know doesn’t cut it!” Richard yelled. “This is serious!”

  “We had to hear it from the school this morning,” Mom said. “And they said they left a message yesterday afternoon. What happened to that message?”

  “I don’t know! I swear! I wanted him to tell you, not me!”

  “But you could have told us this morning,” Richard said, trying to uphold a strong front.

  “I’m sorry. I wanted to talk to Leslie first. I figured he was just with her and would be back today to explain things. I was hoping...He helped me! And now he’s in all this trouble because of me!” I yelled back and immediately saw Richard and Mom crumble under an opening floodgate of emotion.