Back to Where We Started From (Miracle)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

May 14th, 1974

3:07 A.M.

McClanahan Residence

"Robbie! Robert, wake up now!"

Robbie sat up with a jolt, the sound of his mother's panicked voice waking him out of a deep sleep. His room was dark, it had to be the middle of the night. He could barely make out his mother's figure in front of him before his eyes adjusted and he saw her grief-stricken face.

"What? What's wrong?" He asked, breathless and scared.

"You need to come downstairs," his mother said urgently. Without another word, she quickly exited his bedroom, adjusting the cloth belt of her robe around her. He stared after her for a second, not entirely sure that he wasn't dreaming. Figuring it was better to be safe than sorry, he got out of bed, stepping into his slippers and putting on a robe. As he exited his room and made his way down the steps, he could see the glow of the living room lights. He heard low voices, and it suddenly dawned on him that this wasn't a dream. Something disastrous must've happened to convince his mother that it couldn't wait until morning. Could it be his grandparents? Or his great aunt Ruth? Thoughts of elderly family members rushed through his head until he made it into the living room and saw Herb and Patti Brooks sitting on the edge of their sofa. He knew instantly.

It was Julia.

Robbie stopped at the bottom of the stairs, his dark brow furrowed in confusion. Herb sat perched on the sofa, his head in his hands. Patti sat beside him, her eyes red and puffy. His parents stood in front of the fireplace, their faces wrinkled with concern.

"What's going on?" Robbie asked the adults, who all turned their attention to him.

"Robbie, have you seen Julia?" Patti asked quickly, a fleeting sense of hope in her voice. She and Herb had shown up at the McClanahans hoping to find their niece, but when a confused Robbie entered the room, they knew it was useless. He clearly wasn't harboring a runaway in his room.

"Not since this morning," he told them honestly. Earlier that day, he and Julie had risen with the sun to go fishing. Julie bragged the whole way home about catching more fish than Robbie, something she had never accomplished. He would never tell her that he had felt a fish on his hook on his very last cast of the morning, but hadn't hooked and reeled it in, purely to let his friend win their competition for once.

The adults in the room all visibly deflated, shaking their heads.

"Why? What happened?" Robbie demanded when no one explained to him why they were looking for his best friend.

"We got into an argument after dinner. She went to her room and we didn't hear a peep out of her the rest of the night. I couldn't sleep, so I got up to check on her about an hour ago. She's not at the house," Herb explained quietly. He didn't sound nearly as emotional as his body language exposed.

"Most of her clothes are gone. One of the suitcases is missing," Patti explained, fresh tears falling down her face.

"We were hoping maybe she came here. Or contacted you," Herb suggested, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"She didn't contact me at all," Robbie said quietly, shaking his head. Could she have really just run off like that?

"We went to the bus station and the train station. She wasn't at either one. No one even recognized her picture," Patti cried. Beverly moved to grab a tissue from the box on the coffee table, handing one to Patti. Patti dabbed at her eyes, shaking her head.