Vanished || l.h. au

five

Holden placed a comforting hand on my shoulder but said nothing. Sometimes words aren't needed.

"So how come I haven't seen you around before?" I asked, clearing my throat as I changed the topic. "It's a pretty small town."

He scratched the back of his neck as he moved something on the ground apparently invisible to my eye with his foot.

"Oh, yeah I just moved back here after I finished my degree up at Oklahoma University." He answered. I nodded my head taking in his information. So I was right about him probably being 21.

"So what was your major?" I asked, as the elevator dinged signaling we were at the floor level containing the morgue.

"Criminology." Holden responded, unlocking the door that led to the boy that had mysteriously vanished from my life.

**

"Is he under there?" I asked, as Holden led us over to one of the many tables of bodies with white sheets placed over them.

"That's for you to tell me, but I believe it is." Holden said, giving me a sympathetic look. With the tips of his fingers he grabbed the top edge of the sheet and started slowly peeling it back. All I needed to see was the tips of his blonde quiffed hair and I already knew who it was. But I let him continue to pull it back, to reveal his pale face, closed eyelids, and faded rose lips. I stifled back a sob as I turned my head away, clasping a hand over my mouth.

"It's him." I choked out, as I felt my world around me crashing. It was different having him missing; there was hope that he would return. It was different being told that he was dead, because they could have had the wrong body. There was always hope. But this... Seeing his body right before my eyes... Puts a death to all hope.

"He's really gone." I whispered, turning back to look at Luke.

"I'll give you a few minutes alone to say your personal goodbyes." Holden said, laying down the sheet at Luke's chest, before leaving me alone in the morgue.

I walked over to Luke's side, staring down at him for a moment, not knowing what to do first. My mouth couldn't form words at the current moment, so instead I reached my hand down to run my fingers through his hair.

"Soft as always." I whispered, then trailed the back of my hand down the side of his face, caressing it one last time.

"Why?" I sobbed, turning away for a moment. "We were perfect. Everything was going perfectly for us. I was happy. You seemed happy. I-I don't know if it was love yet, but I really liked you, Luke. I cared for you so much my world practically revolved around you. I'm lost, Luke. I'm lost without you and I don't know what to do. My world is gone; you're gone. How could t-this man come in to the picture and just murder you." I rambled, the tears freely streaming down my face.

And then it clicked. I turned back to face Luke. "Murdered." I mouthed, realizing the importance of my words. I analyzed his face and noticed the wound from the rock was gone. I took a chance and pulled back the sheet all the way, noticing that there was not one single mark on him. No evidence of a struggle.
"If you were murdered... Where's your wound? How? This doesn't make sense." I said aloud, my thoughts everywhere. I had a feeling he wasn't poisoned either, the man seemed too angry to do something as subtle as poisoning him. "Something's not right here."

"Are you ready?" Holden asked, entering the morgue again. My head flicked over to the door and I saw him take in the white sheet that now laid on the floor.

I bent down grabbing the white sheet from the floor and replacing it over Luke.

"Yeah." I said, walking over to him, but not before turning back to look at Luke one last time. The cops may have closed the case, but I knew my business with it was long from over.

Luke.

I watched as Beth left the morgue. Typically I would follow after her, but she was on to something.

It's weird, seeing yourself out of the context of your body. It's even weirder seeing your own dead body.

I looked at the spot where the wound for the rock should have been; but the spot was blemish free.

"Someone healed me after I fell. Or they're covering up their tracks." I concluded. There was still the ever present thought at the back of my mind. I didn't feel dead. There was no tunnel that leads to a bright light here for me. So that meant that either my business here on Earth isn't done... or I'm not dead.

I leaned my head down on my chest, hovering over the location of where my heart is.

"C'mon... C'mon..." I muttered, hoping for the one thing I wanted to hear at the moment.

And there it was... It was slow, it was low, but nevertheless it was there: a heartbeat.

I was alive.

"So perhaps it's both."

Beth.

"Ms. Hemmings, there's something I need to tell you." I said as soon as Luke's mom opened the door.

"I already know, dear." She said, wiping away some fresh tears.

"No, no not that. I think there's something else going on here." I told her as I walked through the front door. She closed it and turned around to face me.

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused. I ran my hands through my hair as I tried to figure out how to explain this.

"The Officer took me down to morgue to identify Luke since I was also present the night everything happened--"

"You saw Luke?" She gasped, coming closer to me, grabbing me by my shoulders gently.

"Yes, and--"

"How hurt was he? Is he still in one piece? Did the murderer-"

"That's the thing, Ms. Hemmings." I said, interrupting her this time. "He didn't have a single scratch on him. Not even the wound from the rock that had his blood on it when I went back to look for him. A wound like that doesn't heal that fast naturally." I explained to her. I could see the wheels turning in her head as she processed all this overwhelming information. "Something else is going on here. The cops are going to call you, asking permission about the autopsy. Tell them no. Tell them that you just want to give him a proper funeral and let him rest in peace."

"Why wouldn't I want him to go through an autopsy? I want to know what happened to my son and how this- this monster murdered him and almost you, too." She argued, her voice faltering as her tears started to regenerate.

I sighed, not wanting to tell her what I was thinking in case it was only false hope, but this was his mother. She had to know.

"Ms. Hemmings, I don't think Luke's really dead."

A/N:
Okay well that felt a lot longer when I was writing it lol
Seems like Beth is starting to finally put the pieces together
Comment and vote for the next chapter please!!! Barely takes a second to vote, thank you :)
-M