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“I need Skylar’s help,” Liam says, sounding out of breath. My stomach dips, but I don’t open my door. I don’t want to piss off my foster mom. “The whole community is out looking for my brother.” The pit in my stomach grows. If I open this door, Mary is going to be pissed, but Liam sounds desperate, and I won’t leave him hanging. Even though I have good friends, Liam is my heart.
I open my bedroom door and charge for the front door. “Liam, what happened?” I don’t look at Mary, but in my periphery, I see the displeasure in her features.
“Skylar is busy doing her homework,” Mary cuts in, and usually I’m inclined to do what she wants but not today. Liam’s complexion is green, and he’s breathing fast.
“Yes, ma’am,” Liam says, bowing his head and turning away.
“No, wait,” I call out. I give Mary a pointed glare. I don’t know if I’ll be sent away from here, but I can’t leave Liam looking so lost. “What’s going on?” I rush after him.
Liam turns back. “The school somehow forgot to call my parents this morning when my brother didn’t show up. Nobody’s seen or heard from him since this morning, and he’s been in a bad way.”
“Let me grab my jacket,” I tell Liam. It’s the dead of winter, and his brother has been suffering from mental health issues for years but recently things have been getting worse.
“You listen here, young lady,” Mary calls after me with her high-pitched witchy voice. “I expect your work to be done on time. You come back within the hour.” She waves her finger in the air. I run to my room to grab my winter jacket. Then I return to the front door and slip on my boots. “Do not stay out late,” Mary commands. With my back to her, I roll my eyes. Then I look at her and nod.
She looks a little shocked as if she can’t believe I’m not bowing to her every word since that is my usual behavior.
She slams the door hard behind me.
I flinch. I’m a little worried about the consequences waiting for me when I return because I’ve never defied my foster parents. I’m not hopeful enough to believe a family will want to adopt me when I am almost seventeen.
Liam watches me wide-eyed.
“Don’t worry about her,” I assure him. “What happened to David?”
He reaches up and grips his hair. “He’s missing, and I’m so scared.” He falls forward like he’s trying to catch his breath. “We have to find him.” His voice cracks, and it causes my heart to skip a beat.
“We will,” I assure him while rubbing his back. “It’s going to be okay.” I know I can’t make that promise, but I know from my own life, things have a way of getting better somehow.
“Where is everyone looking?” I ask.
“Parks, malls, community center, you name it. My parents tried to hide their problems, and now the whole community knows. They know David is messed up. My parents are freaking the fuck out, but who cares,” Liam spits. Hearing about his parents doesn’t surprise me. I know his mom is uppity and judgmental. She doesn’t like that he and I are together. His dad seems to check out.
“Maybe David wanted to get away from this place. We could check downtown. I used to hang out there a lot. There were a lot of kids who run away from home and live there,” I say to Liam, and his blue eyes round.
“You think David would head downtown?” he asks.
“I don’t know, but a lot of runaways end up on the streets there,” I say, knowing I’m revealing a part of my past I don’t like to talk about. But why would David want to stay here in town around these people if he was trying to escape his life?
Liam looks at me like I’m a code he’s trying to crack. “Did you spend time there?” His voice breaks like he feels bad for asking.
“I did. When things got intense with Mom, I would take off for days at a time,” I confess.
“You lived on the street?” He swallows hard.
“I did.”
“We should go,” I say to him, not wanting to waste time. I can see he is so sick with worry he isn’t thinking straight.
I take his hand. “Do you have a picture of David with you?”
He shows me his phone. “This one is from last year on his birthday,” Liam replies. “He didn’t exactly want us to take photos of him.”
In the picture, his brother sits by a cake at their kitchen table. He isn’t smiling, and he looks like he just wants the moment to be over.
“It’s fine. Come on, let’s take the bus and the subway. If David wanted to escape, those would be his only routes,” I tell him.
“Thank you,” Liam breathes, watching me.
