Passenger

00 // prologue

prologue

I laughed, watching Toby sway wildly to the beat of the song, his voice a slightly less brilliant echo of the artist, but fantastic nonetheless. At one point, I thought that he had jerked the steering wheel a bit, and I let out a small shriek. He looked over at me, and laughed, the noise of it reverberating throughout the interior of the small car. I shook my head, laughing slightly at myself, holding the bridge of my nose with my index and thumb.

“Y-you should have seen your face,” he said, chortling still, his nose scrunched up in amusement. I swatted his shoulder with the papers I was holding, and he stuck his tongue out before starting to sing along with the artist once again.

“You give Christina Aguilera a run for her money,” I commented, my eyes glancing over my study sheets. He yelled one line, completely out of tune, and I rolled my eyes, glancing out the window. Trees flew by, as well as fellow students on bicycles and skateboards. He pulled into a parking spot in the student part of the lot, and we pulled our bags out with us.

“Hey!” A few of our friends waved a hello as we walked towards the front of the school, and he walked over to talk with Chase and Red about the game that was on last night, while I was pulled over by Cass.

“Did you see him?” she asked me, her cheeks bright red, and a huge grin on her face. I furrowed my brows, and laughed slightly as she tried to gesture with her head to someone behind me.

“No, I didn’t see this magical being called him, Cass-“ she jerked me around until I was looking directly at Alek Maddow, Cass’s pick of the week. Except this one had stuck around for the third round. I rolled my eyes, and turned back to face her, putting my hands on her shoulders. “Cass,” I said, faking being serious. “He. Is. Dating. Someone.” Cass sighed, and twirled a lock of her hair, a habit that she had picked up in middle school.

“I’ve always thought that forbidden relationships were-“ I glared at her, and she put her hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine, I’ll drop it.” I gave her a look, one that she begrudgingly replied to. “For now.” She huffed, and upon hearing the bell, walked towards the school, leaving me to follow her.

+++++

“Urgh.” The spot where his car had stood in the morning was now gone, and I was left standing in the spot and trying to call him. The phone rang and rang and rang and then went to voicemail. I didn’t bother leaving one. After a text was sent to Red, who lived closest to me, his car rolled to a stop where I stood seconds later. “Can I have a ride?” I asked, and he gave me a look.

“Did you even need to ask?” I rolled my eyes, and got into the passenger side, cranking up the music after I shut the door. “I love this song.”

“Really?” he asked. “I didn’t have you pegged as the type for this.” Breathing Underwater by Metric was pouring from the speakers.

“And I didn’t have you pegged as the type for football so,” I said, leaning back in the seat. “I win.” Red laughed, and turned onto our street. Toby lived right next door to me, and Red five doors down from Toby.

“Is that a police car? In front of Toby’s house?” I looked up suddenly from my conversation with Amy through text.

“What?” I said, not quite a whisper, but not loud enough to be considered normal. Let’s just call it surprise. Red pulled over, and I launched myself from the seat, the door slamming behind me. Yellow tape was circling the perimeter of the house, and I, not even thinking, ducked under it, trying to get to the heart of the house, where Toby’s mum would be. She always had all the answers.

“Miss! Miss! This is a crime scene! I’m going to have to ask you to leave!” Suddenly, I felt empty, and I ran to the front of the house, hoping that Toby would be inside. He has to be inside. Things like this don’t happen to us. Not to me. Not to him. What happened oh god what happened. Toby wasn’t at the front of the house, and the police officer was still yelling at me, but I was faster, so, for then, it was okay. I spotted Toby’s mom, Tori, sitting at the table, her hands holding her head.

“Tori! Tori, what’s going on?”

“Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to leave, this is a crime-“

“No!” I screeched, rounding on the man. He tried to grab me by the shoulders, but Tori yelled for him to stop.

“She’s part of the family!” Tori had stood up, and it was easy to see that she was distraught. Her hair was a mess from her fingers running through it, her eyes were puffy and red, and tears were still streaming down her cheeks. The officer quickly backed away from me, and started speaking into his radio.

“R-red’s outside,” I muttered, hoping that the officer would let him in. The man nodded to me, and walked through the door, returning with him shortly after.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, and I looked towards Tori. She folded her arms, and collapsed onto the couch, weakly gesturing for us to come over. I glanced at Red, my eyes already glazed with tears, and he put an arm around me. His arm was shaking slightly.

“Toby…Toby’s missing. He came home, the officers say, and then left.”

+++++

I stayed at Toby’s house for another three hours, not wanting to move from my spot on the couch. Red had left almost right after hearing what had happened, saying that he should tell the others and that he needed to think. I just curled up for an hour, my knees pulled up to my chest.

The police officers had almost left when there was a knock on the door. I didn’t bother getting up; the door was being monitored until the police left. Amy ran over to me, trying to be calm, but she stumbled a few times.

“I’m sorry,” she said, giving me a bear hug. We stayed that way for a few minutes, the two of us curled on the couch, trying not to watch Tori cry, but still catching glimpses of her bloodshot eyes. “We should get you home,” Amy said, not even bothering to try and smile. I just nodded, and got up, gathering my things, which Red had been nice enough to bring in for me. I felt like a machine.

Amy and I didn’t speak as she walked me over to my house. It was dark outside, and the street lamps did little to help. Our boots barely made any noise on the pavement. I shivered a few times, as did Amy. My sister met me at the door.

“I thought you would want some time, y’know,” she said, crying too. I just walked past her, too tired to even tell her that it was okay. It’s okay, Sam. I understand. If it was you and Caitlyn, I wouldn’t want to come near until you were somewhat okay. Sam, can you make me some tea? Sam, can you please read my mind? Because I’m honestly too tired, too sad, too everything to speak. I just want to curl up in the middle of the stairs, and cry, but that’s not enough. I’m too sad to do that.

My bedroom door was slightly open. Not enough for me to really care though. It was pitch black inside, but I just dropped my things, and tried to collapse on the bed. But something was in my way. I flicked on one of the lamps. A cardboard box was placed in the middle of my bed, a piece of paper taped to the top.

To Anna

Listen to them in order. The player’s in there too.

x Toby

My breath caught in my throat, and I frantically tore at the tape that kept the flaps of the box shut. Inside the box were ten cassette tapes, a cassette player lying on top of them all.

First tape.