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“She has to be around here somewhere.” We all spread out, and as Savannah calls out Morgan’s name, the sound cuts me deeper than it ever has.
Ryder says, “She wouldn’t have just left her car unlocked with the keys and phone in it. There’s no way.”
My pace picks up as I jog toward the math building, pulling on the door. It’s locked. “She has to be inside here or at the stadium. We have to get in.” I start searching for anything to break the glass door with.
“Hang on.” Ryder calls out as he fumbles with keys. “I swiped my dad’s keys before I left the house.”
“Did you ask him if he’d seen her?”
“No. He’s not exactly helpful.” Ryder twists the key in the lock then pulls the door open. “I’ll check upstairs.”
“We’ll go this way.” Neil and Savannah run down the corridor, so I point the other way.
“I got this way and the gym.”
“Call if you find her. And we’ll meet up at the football field. We need to check the stadium too.” Ryder is gone before I can say we probably should’ve checked there first. Instead, I hurry around, looking in each room then heading into the gym, calling out her name. Nothing. The bathrooms, the classrooms, even the janitor’s closet. Everything is empty.
What if she’s not here?
I take off in a sprint to the stadium. She has to be there. I want her to be. I want her to step out, her prissy face pointed at me as she laughs at how pathetic I am running around the school calling her name. It’d be better than not finding her.
The locker room and weight room are empty. Everywhere I check is the same thing. Even the field when I run out and search around, there’s nothing. Darkness. My hands drop to my knees as I bend over and suck in a few deep breaths. “Where the fuck are you?”
“She’s not here,” Savannah calls out as her and Neil run over to me.
“Maybe Ryder found her.” But I know that’s as good of a lie as Morgan herself could tell because I don’t believe the words even as they leave my lips. And the smidgen of hope doesn’t last long. Because Ryder runs over, still searching for her with fear on his face.
“Call Ava again,” I tell Savannah as she clicks on her phone.
We stand in silence, waiting as she shakes her head then hits something else on her phone and holds it up to her ear again before lowering it.
“Where would they take her, Savannah?”
“I don’t know,” she sobs.
I know I shouldn’t, but I yell at her anyways. “There has to be somewhere!”
“Don’t yell at her.” Neil moves between Savannah and me, assuming a protective stance. “We’ll find Morgan. I promise.”
“Let’s go check the cemetery next door, then swing by Lenny’s before checking Ava’s. They can’t be that far away from here,” Ryder suggests with a soft tone, but there’s an alarm behind it. “Morgan wouldn’t let them take her far. There’s no way.”
And he’s right. But my worry is she didn’t have a choice and wasn’t able to fight. They would’ve known the same. And prepared.
We come up empty at the cemetery. It takes about ten minutes to get to Lenny’s. Then several more agonizing minutes to arrive at Ava’s. And both are dead ends. I wasn’t expecting much different. They wouldn’t bring her back to their place. But I’d had hoped we’d find them.
“Where now?” Neil asks.
“Let’s go back to my house. Maybe she’s gone back there,” Ryder suggests, already walking away as we all silently get in our vehicles and follow behind him.
When I steer into the driveway in front of the King mansion, it’s by far the hardest time I’ve walked inside the house. I know she’s not here. And I can’t stomach the reason why.
The four of us head upstairs and find her room vacant. Lights off.
“Mom,” Ryder calls out as he shuffles down the stairs with us on his heels.
“She’s not here,” Coach says, stepping out of the room I recall being his home office.
Ryder remains silent for a few seconds before he asks, “Have you seen Morgan?”
