It was a Tuesday morning, a slight mist fell from the sky as I walked up to my friend Elio’s house so we could go to school. The walk was usually short but this morning it felt particularly long, maybe it was the change in weather or I was just extra tired. I finally arrived at Elio’s house to see him patiently waiting on his front porch, I waved and smiled as I stopped at the base of the steps. “Hey!” he yelled, “What took you so long?”
“The traffic was bad, I guess,” I replied, he let out a slight chuckle and ran down the steps. As we walked, Elio noticed two patrol cars heading towards my street, he nudged me and pointed towards them. I looked up and instantly felt a pit in my stomach, “weird, maybe they are going to my neighbors house,” I said hesitantly, I looked back at the ground.
The school day was normal, at lunch me and my friends all sat at the tree like we always did, and ate our sandwiches like we always did. In my health class, however, we talked about missing persons, which was a little off, but that class is always a little off. After school was out I went to find Elio, he was usually with his sister, Willow. I found them behind the cafeteria waiting to head home, “you guys ready?” I said
“We have been ready for the last 15 minutes,” Willow replied while tapping her foot.
“Alright, I am sorry, lets go” we all started to walk home. The uneasy feeling I had earlier in the day was coming back, I walked behind Elio and Willow, they were arguing anyway. As soon as I got home, I saw my dad sitting at the kitchen table, he had his head in his palms and looked like he had been crying. I walked up to him and sat down, he looked at me and gave me a hug. He told me my mother was missing. Those words hit me like a bag of bricks, all of the feelings I had felt throughout the day came flooding back. I stared off into the abyss off the kitchen, trying to gather my thoughts, I wasn’t sure how to react. I looked back up at my dad, he was crying again, should I have cried? I stood up and walked out to my front porch looking up and down my street, remembering my mother driving away that day before. Was this a dream? I started walking towards Elio’s house, unsure why, I just wanted to talk to someone. I walked up the steps to his front door and knocked. He opened the door and I fell apart, he tried to comfort me but it was no use. He pulled me inside and I fell into the couch.
“I am sorry,” I sniffled, “My mom is missing and I wanted to come here to talk or cry or...I don’t know,”
“Okay, okay, we can do that,” he replied, he sat with me while I explained what I had just heard. I felt so many emotions, I couldn’t find the words. After an hour, I told him I was going to look for her. He looked at me like I had something in my teeth, he told me it wasn’t a good idea.
“Why!?” I yelled, “I need to find her,” I just wanted him to listen, not give input. I stormed out before he could say anything else, I was so upset about it all. The autumn wind blew against my face, turning my tears into ice cold droplets. I made my way back to my house. I went straight up to my room, where I spent the next few weeks trying to gather the little information that was out there about my mother. She was a very private person. I looked through every police report and file that was public and had something to do with my mother. Yet there was nothing, not one sign of where she was. It felt useless, I was never going to see her again.
A week later I got a phone call, it was from Elio, I hesitated picking up the phone, but I hadn’t heard from him in weeks. I answered and quietly said hello, he sounded excited when he replied. He told me that he found something out about my mother's disappearance, and I need to meet him at his house. I ran there as fast as I could, I knocked on his door and stood impatiently. Finally the door opened, but it wasn’t Elio, it was her.