Gone

Chapter 13

Wednesday, September 10th, 7:45 Am

I came to school pretty early without eating my breakfast, hoping to find Damien at school somewhere. But he was nowhere to be found, not at the cafeteria where they would give students breakfast, not in the basketball court in the back of the school, not in the lounge and not in the library. Katy and I have been searching everywhere for him, even in the empty classrooms.

It was almost time to go to class but Katy and I have been waiting in front of the entrance, praying that maybe he was just late. But I felt like he wasn't going to be here anytime soon.

"He's not going to come," I said, staring outside with a worried expression.

"Maybe he's sick?" Katy asked.

"Maybe." I sigh.

"Shouldn't you guys be getting your stuff for class?" a deep voice asked behind us, startling us.

And of course, like a magician, Mr. Berry is there looking at both of us with a slight smile while holding his briefcase. Wearing his clean suit with a tie, he fooled the rest of the school. He's handsome and smart, showing his killer smile to people around him, but he isn't fooling me. I know he had something to do with Damien; he despised him. Every time he would show up, his eyes would shoot darts at Damien as if he could kill him just by glaring at him. Now, he's acting all innocent knowing that we are worried about Damien.

"We were just waiting for our friend," Katy said, blushing while staring at him like he was an angel.

"And who is that?" he said, grinding his teeth in anger yet Katy didn't seem to notice the bitterness in his voice.

"Oh, you know who. Damien. Perhaps you've seen him?"

"I don't know him that well. We aren't pals." he stared at me for a few seconds before regaining his composure. "I better get to class now."

He walked away, clutching his briefcase in anger, disappearing around the corner.

"Wow. He's so darn good looking. I like men in suits." she said, fawning and drooling as she watched him walk away.

"He's creepy."

"And why do you say that?"

"Didn't you see him? He was angry that we were talking about Damien like he did something to him."

"He's a teacher, not a murderer. I don't think they would hire Ted Bundy to teach kids how to use punctuation in a sentence."

"You never know." I looked at her before returning my gaze outside.

///

The school day had ended with nothing but a few incidents with Mr. Berry. Katy and I were driving to Damien's house to help his Dad put up missing posters all over town.

When I first got a call from Mr. Gerald, I was confused. His worried tone as he asked me about Damien made me realize that he wasn't missing school because he was sick. He was just missing. He kept asking me if there was someone at school that wanted him gone or if he ran away but I had no clue who wanted to hurt him. Damien was such a sweet person despite his quiet nature. He's the type of person to help you go through whatever kind of problems you were facing. But, Mr. Berry did pop into my head when I denied his suspension. He despised Damien and shown it through the letters he sent me and through his gaze every time he would look at him.

"You okay?" Katy asked, looking at me with a worried expression. Her eyebrows furrowed and her lips turned into a frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about Damien."

"He probably ran away for a few days."

"No, not like that. He seemed happy Sunday and we've been planning a date for next Saturday. And, leaving without a text? So not like him."

"Yeah, you're right."

She parked the car in front of Damien's house. He lived in a yellow one-story bungalow. We could tell that his dad loved gardening; plants of many variations were hanging on the ceiling in his front porch making the house lively. Yet it felt like it was dying from the tension that Mr. Gerald was carrying. He was standing still on the porch staring at us with bagged eyes, his hands in his brown corduroy pants. His hair was messy like he had a pillow fight with someone and it looked like he got older than the last time I saw him at church. He stayed silent when we walked up the stairs and when we stopped, he heaved a sigh.

"Have you seen him today? Did he go to school? Did he tell you where he went? Did-" he stopped asking when he saw my face turning pale. He muffled a sound before turning his gaze to Katy who was standing behind me, her head down, afraid of looking at him. "Oh gosh, don't tell me he didn't go to school." he swallowed in fear, staring intently at me.

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't." he sighed, rubbing his tired eyes before returning his attention to me. "I don't want you to pity me like the rest of this town. I want you to help me find my son." he turned around and slowly walked towards the stack of flyers laying on the patio chair. He took them with trembling hands and stood there facing the window for a second before walking towards us.

"Here." he gave half to me and half to Katy. "Would you be kind enough to place them all around town? I have to go to the police station for an interrogation," he said, quietly.

"Sure." I nodded to him.

///

After placing the flyers all around town, Katy dropped me off in front of the school. She didn't say much about the whole situation but I knew she was worried. Her eyebrows would always twitch when we'd put up a flyer and I don't blame her. The thought of Damien not being here with us scared me.

I went to school for my "tutoring" session with Mr. Berry. It was approximately 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon and the school was still opened; mostly for clubs to reunite or for students to go study in a quiet place where no one could disturb them. I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to sharing a desk with him. I know Katy would have died in that situation but he's a creep and I'm surprised she still hasn't noticed.

I clutch my backpack, staring at the wide doors of the school, afraid to even step inside. I don't know what he was planning. He knew I wasn't failing English class, but my mom doesn't. I opened the door and made my way to English class, sweating buckets of water.

"It will be fine. There's probably going to be other students there." I said to myself but I knew it wasn't true.

And there it was. The lights were on and I could see him looking at something on his desk. He was focused and didn't even notice when I opened the door. Nobody was there except me. The desks were empty with no traces of someone being there and the window curtains were pulled up making the sunlight creep in. I walked slowly to the back of the class and sat down on a chair next to the second exit door that nobody uses. I put my bag down silently and waited for him to look up and see me.

I waited for a while and I thought that he must have forgotten about this tutor session he planned but I was wrong. He looked up and looked at me with a smile.

"Hello, Amelia."