"76 to 75, The Bulls are down one point! It's all up to their star player Jason Oak!," the announcer screamed. Jason ran into the first defender, and crossed him up, running to the three point line.
He looked up at the scoreboard, "Seven seconds to go, We need to score!" Jason thought. He looked around as he drove in, and passed to Robert. Five seconds to go. Robert faked the shot, and then started a drive, but passed to Jason who had cut for the ball.
Three seconds to go. Jason is fifteen feet from the basket, he looked up and started to shoot. Two seconds to go. He jumped up and released a high shot. One second to go. The ball flew high and down straight through the basket. Swish! The buzzer sounded, and the crowd exploded. "Jason Oak and the Bradford Bulls have won the state title of Pennsylvania with that buzzer beater shot!" the announcer yelled.
Jason looked out into the cheering crowd searching for his parents, but he couldn't find them. Someone thrust the trophy into his hands, and he hoisted it up with the other team members, still looking for his parents. Someone handed him his individual trophy, he walked through the lines of parents, and the opposing team, but he still couldn't find his mom and dad.
He went into the locker room with the rest of the team. He changed, still confused about why his parents weren't there to congratulate them. "Good job, dude! We won!" said Xavier, one of Jason's best friends and his teammate. Robert, another one of Jason's best friends, reared his head up and backwards and screamed a loud cheer into the air, "Woooooohoooo!"
Jason accepted all of the congratulations out of habit, but he is distracted. His parents have been at every single game he has ever had. He could always see them on the sidelines, or in the crowd, cheering him on. He remembered his first game, when he was seven. He had been so scared and unsure of himself, but looking into the stands and seeing their faces had made him feel so much better.
They had always been there to support him when he felt unsure, and to congratulate him when he did really well, like tonight. So, where are they now? This was the championship game, and not only that, it was the last game that he would play in high school. So, where are they?
Jason stepped outside, with his duffel bag containing his trophy, and his clothes. He pulled out his phone and called his parents. They didn't answer, so Jason started to really worry. He went back in, and saw Xavier's parents. "Have you guys seen my parents?" he asked.
"No, but we were also wondering where they were. They left during halftime, and they never came back," Xavier's mom replied, as Xavier's dad nodded in agreement. Jason thanked them, and went back outside to call his parents, again. It went straight to voicemail, again. "Hey, it's Jason, call me back soon, I can't find you. I'll go check to see if you're home." Jason moved towards his car. "Maybe, they had to go home for an emergency or something," he thought.
He jumped into his red, shiny Audi s6 that his parents had bought him for his 18th birthday. He'd been driving around in a junker car since Freshman year, and it had been a total surprise when he had gotten the Audi s6 from his parents. He turned out of the parking spot and started driving home. He went past the Chick-fil-A where he and his mom would often go to eat, zoomed past the 24 Hour Fitness where he worked out, and zoomed past the Chase Bank where they banked. He started to speed up, worry clenching at his heart.
Soon, he was at the entrance to his illustrious neighborhood, Westland Homes Estates. He made a right turn into the long tree-lined drive, which led up to their luxurious home at 967 Low Plain Ln. They had lived in their home, which was located in an exclusive area of town and tucked away behind sprawling lawns and a tree lined drive, for all of Jason's life. If anyone had asked Jason what the source of his family's income was, he would not have been able to tell them. All he knew was that his father made a lot of money doing something that took him on frequent business trips throughout the year.
The sleek red Audi pulled up in front of the door. Jason jumped out of his car, and unlocked the big massive front door. With dread in his heart, Jason shouted, "Mom, Dad!" He continued to shout for them as he looked around in every room.
They were not anywhere to be found in the house, and he had not seen either of their cars parked in front of the house, when he had arrived, earlier. He checked the garage and discovered that the Porsche Cayenne they usually drove was missing. "Maybe, they went back to the school," Jason said to himself, trying to hold on to a final strand of hope.
He drove back the same way he came before, past the Westland Homes sign, past the Chase Bank and the 24 Hour Fitness. He drove past the Chick-fil-A, and into his school's student parking lot. Jason parked his car, and got out. He is frightened to the core. He looked around frantically searching for his parents' car. Jason ran through the school's parking lot, huffing as his energy started to run out. Just then, a rogue thought suddenly entered his mind. "NO!" He said to himself, "My parents would never leave me. No, don't even think that! Don't!" These thoughts remained in his head as Jason made an almost complete 360 around the parking lot.
Then Jason saw something that chilled him to the core. His breath caught in this throat, as he stared at the car, a car that he has seen thousands of times before. It was his parents black Porsche Cayenne. His parents have had this car for 4 years. He recalled how they used to drive him to school, in that car, before he got a driver's license. Now, this car that used to hang out in his driveway, after his dad came home from work, now sat before him with broken windows, and bloody car seats.
"No, no, no, no, no, No, NOO!" Jason's screams so loudly that he shattered the otherwise quiet and dark night. Jason ran up and looked inside, fear gripping his heart. "I see blood, broken windows, signs of a struggle, but they can't be dead!" Jason thought. Then he saw something, or rather did not see something. There was no driver or passenger in the car. There were just those bloodstained seats, and shattered windows staring back at him. His parents weren't in the car.
Then it hit him, "They're not dead!" A ray of hope shone through the darkness that wass his grief and worry. "Maybe they escaped, and that's why they're not here!" Before Jason's brain could think of more reasons why his mom and dad weren't in the car, a shiny object caught his eye. He reached into the car and picked up his dad's iPhone. Jason tapped on the phone and saw all of the missed calls that he had made to his dad, as well as all of the text messages that he had sent, on the screen. Then, the truth hit Jason like a freight train. His parents weren't in the car, and they hadn't checked their texts, and calls. They were missing.
Jason backed away from the car, hyperventilating. The same panic that had just disappeared now returned to him with a force that knocked him to the ground. Jason sat there in a panic. Finally, he picked up his phone, and dialed 911. "Hello. 911, what is your emergency?" the operator said.
"My parents…they are…are," Jason managed to croak out.
"What happened to your parents, sir?" the operator asked, interrupting Jason as he struggled to get his words out.
"They're gone, the car is here, there's blood, but they're…not here." stammered Jason. His next words are painful. "They're missing." Jason paused for a second,sweating and hurting all over.
"Hello? Hello sir!" The operator's words brought Jason back from his state of shock.
"What?" he mumbleed.
"What's your name sir?" the operator asked.
"Jason, Jason Oak," Jason replied slowly.
"What are your parents' names?" the operator fired another question back at Jason, recognizing that the boy was in shock and that he needed to keep Jason talking.
"Ted and Amanda Oak," Jason answers.
"How long have they been missing?" the operator asked, continuing to ask question in a rapid fire manner..
"I-I don't know," Jason said, as he counted the time from when his game ended, to now. "Around 3 and a half hours," He finally replied. "Where did they disappear sir?" The operator asked.
"Bradford High School, I am in the far right corner of the parking lot, right now. I just found their car, and they were not in it, and there was blood,... a lot of blood" Jason said frantically, starting to repeat himself.
"Alright, don't hang up, the police are enroute," the operator said calmly, still trying to make sure that Jason did not go into shock. Jason leaned back against a tree, and closed his eyes.