Chapter 1

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Chapter One

Updates, Confirmation, and Goodbyes

Buzzzzzzz....Travis Becker's HTC vibrated.

He immediately rose from his twin-sized bed and grabbed his device from the night stand. His phone lit up. It was 8:32AM. In the middle of the screen was a notification from his best friend, Richard Grayson. He read his text, 'No sign of Edward yet.'

Travis lied down again and tried to sleep. The softness of his bed usually helped him get a comfortable rest, but it wasn't working. He stared at the bright morning from the window to his left. How could he start a new day when he was busy stressing out about their missing friend? He recalled his experience with his friends the night before. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see flashbacks of their plight. Even though he was loaded that time, the moment when Edward disappeared was vivid. He was still thinking why Edward would suddenly go M.I.A.

Should they have gone to the police instead? Probably Richard was right with his caution in calling the police.

Then, he dialed Edward's number, however, he was not picking up. He tried three more times, but a lady operator responded with "the number you dial is now unattended" instead. He then switched another number and called Richard.

"Hello, Rich?" Travis said on the phone.

"Travis!" Richard sounded delighted on the other end. "Good thing you called! I was about to call you."

"What now?" Travis asked.

"Why don't you come over? The others are on their way."

"Sure," Travis shot up from his bed. "I'll be there in ten. Bye."

"See you," Richard hung up.

Travis quickly headed to his bathroom. As he was brushing his teeth, his attention was caught with expediting vehicles. He glanced on his window and saw a cop car passed by. He immediately thought that it was heading straight to Edward's.

Moments later, Travis rode on his bicycle and sped up straight to Richard's. Luckily, his friend's house was not far from his as it was just right around the block from his house.

As he turned to curb, he immediately noticed his friend Ismail Ambani from afar who was also on his way to Richard's. Travis looked at the direction where Ismail was looking at. He realized that they were on Sparrow Street where Edward's residence is located. There were two police vehicles outside Edward's house. Edward's mother was on the front porch being interviewed by the cops. Travis can see how upset she looked as he paddled closer. He suspected it was about Edward not returning home yet. Her expression was somewhat asking for Edward. As he paddled slowly, he noticed Ismail putting his grey hood on his head and started to jog. Ismail was probably thinking the same way as Travis to avoid from being questioned. As Travis was getting closer to Edward's home, he paddled fast to catch on Ismail.

"Yo," Ismail greeted and gave Travis a knuckle handshake, "You saw the cops?"

"Yeah," Travis matched his paddling to Ismail's speed.

"One looked at me."

"Really?" Travis surprisingly asked. "Di--did his mom see you?"

"No," Ismail shook his head.

Travis sighed in relief. Then, they finally reached Richard's home. The first thing that came in Travis' mind was the SUV they rode the previous night. He couldn't find it in Richard's driveway. He assumed that it could probably be hidden in his garage.

Ismail invited him to peek through the window. They saw their friends inside the living room didn't realizing their presence. Richard was lying on their mahogany velvety sofa punching the buttons of his PSP, while Louis Lockwood was sitting on the other set of velvety couch typing something on his BlackBerry.

Travis parked his bicycle near the window and both boys headed to the back door and knocked. Richard emerged to the door and unlocked it.

"Hey?" Richard greeted.

"There are cops at Edward's," Ismail rushed to the kitchen island and grabbed a diet coke from the fridge.

"Yeah," Richard said.

"What are we going to do?" Travis panicked.

No one responded.

"Probably five minutes later, our phones will ring coming from Mrs. Lawson asking us where the hell her son is!" Travis snapped.

"I already received a call from Mrs. Lawson," Richard said.

His friends looked at him in shocked.

"Y-you did?" Louis sputtered as he went in the kitchen.

"What did you tell her?" Travis' nerves were sky high. "Does she know?"

"I---I almost choked," Richard stammered, "but I thought in sticking with our plan by saying that Edward went home earlier."

Usually, whenever Travis and his friends go to have a night out, they never go past morning the next day. This surely was the reason why Edward's mom was frantic.

"That's it?" Louis asked.

Richard paced. "I panicked, okay? But I did what we've agreed on."

"What else did she say?" Ismail asked.

"She's really worried," Richard sounded broken.

"It kills me to think that we're responsible for her son's disappearance," Louis said.

"We're not responsible for his disappearance!" Richard defended. But his voice cracked.

Travis sat on the kitchen stool as he looked at each of his friends. They were all silent for a few seconds after Richard spoke.

"Rich, where is the van?" Travis changed the topic.

"I had it towed this morning," Richard replied.

"Did your parents see the van?" Travis asked. "For sure they asked questions."

"Kind off," Richard responded. "I told them that we hit a rock and, of course, they were pretty much worried. Plenty of questions had been asked."

"I just don't like lying to my parents," Louis interrupted. "We can't keep lying about this."

"I haven't told my parents yet," Ismail chimed in. "You know them, they just... don't care."

"Don't say that," Travis protested. "They do care, man."

Ismail just pursed his lips and shrugged.

"So what now?" Travis asked as he glanced at his friends waiting for one of them to give a concrete solution for their next step. Sadly, no one responded for a moment. They all looked clueless and hopeless. They were all sucked in the abyss of their guilt.

Louis finally broke the awkward silence as he cleared his throat. "I'll be going back to England tomorrow with my family."

"What?" the three said in unison.

"We'll be spending the rest of the summer there," Louis replied.

Travis' eyes widened. He was mostly upset as he was closest to Louis. He thought it was probably a bad time to go to back England, especially with their dilemma.

"It's all been arranged," Louis added.

"How long will you stay there?" Travis asked. He could see in Louis' eyes that he wasn't quite thrilled.

"Mum told me that we should not count our stay there, instead, we should just enjoy the rest of the summer," Louis replied without looking at them in them eye.

Travis glanced at Richard. He saw him looking very disappointed as he slightly shook his head in disappointed and crossed his arms. Richard seemed to take the role of being the leader.

"Don't worry, lads," Louis reassured. "It'll probably be just for a month. I'll be back."

Suddenly, Travis heard a tinkle. He saw Louis pulling his BlackBerry.

"It's from dad," Louis said. "Well, then, I'd best be off."

No one seemed to get a clue of Louis' signal, not even Travis.

"A 'goodbye', maybe?" Louis said.

"Take care, buddy," Travis gave him a tight hug. "Have a safe trip."

"Cheers, mate!" Louis responded as he hugged back.

Then, Ismail and Richard followed too.

"Update me about Edward, will you?" Louis said before he left.

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