Tamper

Missing

The last time Ebony saw Max was on September 25, 2003. They had decided to go on an adventure after school on that fateful Thursday, walking through the woods behind the playground at Seldom Middle School. The woods led to a train track and the two 13-year-olds started down it, laughing and basking in the sun that filtered down through the trees. The early autumn air was crisp and red and orange leaves were already scattered on the ground. The tracks were surrounded on either side by woods, and the branches of the trees overhead stretched over the railroad created a sort of natural tunnel. Max had picked up a stick in the woods and began claiming it was Gandalf's, which earned him an eye roll from Ebony. Max had fluffy, dirty blonde hair and huge blue eyes that gleamed with excitement at everything he came across. Everything was an adventure to the boy; The good, the bad, and the ugly. If Max Blackburn was afraid of anything, no one would ever know. Ebony knew Max in and out, and she knew for a fact that he wore fearlessness and stupidity around his neck like Olympic Medals. 

Max Blackburn, however, didn't have many friends. You would think that a boy as fearless as him would be popular, with friends at every turn ready to go on one of his thrilling adventures. But the truth was that all the boys at Seldom either hated him or feared him. The bigger and louder boys hated him simply because Max was always able to "out-man" them. They could dare him to do anything; to fight, to put gum on their homeroom teacher's seat, to ask any girl out and he would always do it without any hesitation. These boys liked to act like Max's friend. They'd goof around with him at school, but always keep him at an arm's length, never getting too close. They would always whisper about him together, saying how much they despised him behind his back and making faces when he walked by in the halls. Max was very aware of all this, but still, it didn't bother him. He would always greet the boys with a grin, which made them loathe him even more. 

The other boys, the timid ones, feared Max because they couldn't understand how he seemed to walk through life like a king. His bravery and utter brashness scared them half to death, and they always kept far away from him. They didn't know what he thought of them. He was always kind to these boys, but they thought that if they made one wrong move, Max would smash them under his thumb like meager flies. And so, all of the boys at Seldom Middle School worshiped Max as the king who was not to be touched, the boy who would never fit in and would most certainly never try to.

The girls, on the other hand, were all head over heels in love with Max. He was a cute boy, and they all desperately wanted him to be their knight in shining armor. He was always so brave and charming. At least once a week, a girl would confess her feelings for Max. He would kindly reject her, and then the girl would give him a nasty look and march away. But Max didn't seem to care. He would talk with the girls, but none of them seemed to draw his attention. Except for Ebony, of course.

Ebony was quiet. She had dark brown hair and darker brown eyes. Her pale skin was freckled as if an artist had taken a very fine brush and poked little dots all over the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. She was a pretty girl, and everyone she knew enjoyed telling her just that. But Ebony's beauty only got her so far, because frankly, she never uttered a word. The girl would smile when addressed, a small, angelic smile. But she never dared speak, even to adults. It was strange, for Ebony carried herself in the manner of a confident girl. She always walked with her back straight, head up, and with a spring in her step. But she didn't ever speak. The children at school always whispered about her, spreading rumors on why she didn't talk. They would say things like she doesn't actually have a voice, or that she was secretly deaf but was really good at reading lips. Or that she was abducted by aliens as a child and they took away her voice. But the kids never quite got it right, and no one in the school, not even the principal, knew why Ebony Markson didn't talk.

Expect Max, of course. He knew. 

Max and Ebony were the two odd kids out, the ones that weren't quite considered as normal. This wasn't the reason that Max approached Ebony in the sixth grade though. He didn't talk to her because she was weird, and he wanted to start a club for the outcasts or something strange like that. No, Max had a reason for befriending the wordless girl. One of the boys dared Max to get her to talk. Of course, he accepted, excited to take up the challenge. So one day, after school let out, Max grabbed a surprised Ebony by the wrist and dragged her into the woods behind the playground.