astrophile // analogical au

five

tw: more sadness

previously:

The boy's stammered on the other end of the line for a good minute before Roman finally broken.

"It's about Virgil."

/ - \

Logan was stunned.

"What do you mean it's about Virgil?" The boy swallowed hard.

There was shuffling on the other end of the line before Patton spoke.

"Well, um, he wasn't answering any of our texts so we went over to his house and his mom was there and she said she hadn't seen him since he came home crying about you." Patton's usually cheerful voice was gone, replaced with worry and distress.

"Logan, he's missing." Roman choked out a cry.

I'll see you soon.

The realization hit Logan like a ton of bricks.

"Oh my god." The boy frantically opened his laptop which had been laying uselessly on his desk up until now.

How far is Gainesville, Florida from Macon, Georgia? He searched.

"Logan?" Patton asked.

"Hang on, Pat. I've got to find him." Logan answered.

"What do you mean, Logan? He's missing." Roman asked.

Logan took a deep breath, "actually, I think he ran away."

"He what?" Patton asked frantically.

"He ran away." Logan repeated. "I'm going to try to call him, I'll call you back in a few minutes. Is that alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's fine." Roman responded.

Logan hung up on the two, scrolling through his contacts until he found Virgil's name. He clicked the call button. After a few rings the phone stopped ringing. Logan prepared to hear Virgil's voicemail, but was surprised when he didn't.

"Lo?" The boy's voice.

"Virgil!" Logan shouted at the boy through the phone.

"I-" The boy cut out. The line was crackly.

"Say that again, please?"

"Hurt-" The line cut off again.

     "Virgil, where are you?" Logan asked.

     The line went dead meaning someone on the other end hung up, or Virgil's phone died. Logan hoped the latter.

     Logan fumbled with his phone, pressing the button that would call Roman.

     Once the boy had answered, Patton had told him how they had been waiting for him to call back.

     "He answered. He must have been somewhere with pretty bad reception because the line kept cutting out. He said something about hurt and then the line went dead." Logan sounded panicked. "I've gotta go find him."

     "Logan, you out of all people know it's best not to interfere when officials are involved. They're looking for him. People are looking for him." Roman objected to Logan's idea.

     "You aren't here, you can't stop me." Logan said quickly, hanging up.

     He had to find Virgil.