The Vanishing of Hall Abrams

Chapter 4 - The Fourth Piece

"Well?" My mom prods, pursing her lips. "What are you waiting for?"

I put my hands in my pockets. "I want to go somewhere."

Immediately, my mother is on red alert. "Where?"

Truthfully, I didn't know. Away from her, hopefully. I love my mother, truly, but nowadays she's suffocating me. "I'm going to visit a friend, Lena Summers."

"Who is that?" my mother asked, eyebrows furrowing.

I look around, and there's maybe three people outside. Two are outside the local grocery store, and a guy my age is at a sidewalk bench, smoking. He's maybe ten feet away. "Lena is Marlo's girlfriend. Do you remember Marlo?"

My mother looks relieved. "Yes, yes I do. How is he by the way?"

"He's away at his summer home, in Florida. I think James—I mean Art and Theo went with him."

The teen turns his head to look at me, and gives a knowing smirk. It's then that I notice that he looks very familiar, with his brown eyes and messy blonde hair. When our eyes connect, I can't look away. It's as if he's telling me something, I just can't figure out. His eyebrows are very fluid, expressing more emotion than I could.

"Jude."

I'm caught off-guard. "Wha—?"

"Jude, honestly," my mother says, "I said yes, you can go visit her. You need more company these days anyway. I'll be staying at your Aunt Marjorie's. What street is Lena's house on?"

I realize I didn't know. I whip out my phone, pretending to look it up, but my eyes travel sidewards, to plead the guy for help. He still hasn't looked away, and then he does the most unbelievable thing. He mouths something. I take a second before I mange to decipher it. I look at my mother, and say, "She's at the corner of Birch and Gumwood."

"Fantastic. That's two blocks away from your Aunt's house," mom says, turning the key to ignition. "I'm going to go now, Jude. Please text or call me when you want to go home. But please don't let go past ten o'clock. I don't want to spend the night in this town."

I give my mom a nod, just before she drives away. She turns at the first right, and then she is gone. I breathe a sigh of relief, and give myself another second to myself. Then, I walk over to the boy. When he sees me coming, he stands up, throwing his cigarette into a bin.

"Hey," I say, when I'm a few feet away from him, "thanks for saving my ass back there."

The boy laughs. "No problem, man."

I don't waste time. "So... who are you? Not to be rude or anything, but I don't know you."

He licks his lips. "Good question," he remarks, before holding out his hand. "I'm Orpheus Summers."

"Summers..." I say, taking his hand. "So you're Lena's brother?"

Orpheus nods. "Yep. Just half, though. We have the same dad, but after my mom divorced him, he married Lena's mom."

"Sorry to hear about that."

He shakes his head. "Don't be. That's history. In fact, I should be the one saying sorry."

"Why's that?" I ask, taking a seat.

Orpheus pulls out his phone. He takes a minute to find what he's looking for, before showing it to me. To my surprise, it's a photo of Jude, Hall, and me. Below it, in big bold letters, reads: "THE VANISHING OF HALL ABRAMS: IS HE ALIVE OR DEAD?"

"What the actual fuck?" I ask, taking his phone from him. "Who the hell made this?"

He shrugs, before taking a seat. Then, he pulls out a cigarette, and lights it. He offers me one, but I feel my anxiety kicking in. I remember what Dr. Fig said, just ten minutes ago. "Jude's PTSD can be triggered in many ways, Mrs. Rose. It's up to him to overcome it."

I shut my eyes before taking it. I breathe in and out, slowly and steadily. It's just a cigarette. It's not going to explode or anything. In fact, it'll make me feel better. When I open my eyes, Orpheus is looking at me curiously, before handing me a light. My heartbeat hitches, but I force myself to calm down. This is getting out of hand. I have to get better.

When the cigarette is lit, I feel some of the anxiety leaving. Still, there's an invisible weight on my shoulders. "I have... problems," I say, offering a weak explanation. To Orpheus' credit, he doesn't pry. I'm thankful. I take a deep puff of the cigarette, and let the smoke sit in my lungs for a few seconds before expelling it. "So, how did you find this... thing?"

"It's all over the internet, Jude."

My mouth drops open. "How is it all over the internet? It wasn't even on the news!"

Orpheus shrugs.

//

[a/n]

this story charted on the mystery/thriller genre!! omg guys thank you so much i hope you still like this story! i promise there's more to come! c: