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Three hours…three hours we had been sitting outside, rotting our asses off in the sun, waiting for Mom and Dad to return. "I'm bored…" Kenny complained for the 400th time. We had turned some old trash cans upside down that were sitting outside the mill, and sat on them. I personally would've chosen to stand; the bins weren't the most comfortable things to sit on. But I was too tired and too anxious to care.

"Find some way to entertain yourself then." Josh kicked a pebble into the dirt. If rock kicking was my source of entertainment, I'd complain too. I flipped the pages of an old Seventeen magazine, before throwing it into the dirt. "Where are Mom and Dad?" Kenny asked, hopping off his garbage bin and walking towards mine.

I and Josh exchanged a glance. Come to think of it, I had no clue to where Mom or Dad would be. I mean, how long does it take to walk through a town that's like, 2 miles long? For the third time in the last five minutes, I leaned over to get a better view of the spot where Mom and Dad took off…nope. Nothing. But I was big sister. I had to respect my duty.

"I'm sure they'll be back in a second." I reassured him, in the least reassuring voice as possible. I couldn't even convince myself…Kenny rolled his eyes. Apparently he was not satisfied with my answer. "You said that 15 minutes ago, Tess." Ugh…I hated the nickname Tess. Tessa sounded much better, considering it was my name.

I had no excuse this time. I started to speak, but Josh beat me to it. "Hey Kenny, why don't you go get some of your comic books out of the Station Wagon? It could remedy your boredom." I could have kissed Josh…no seriously, I could. He knew how to keep Kenny out of our hair for at least a few minutes.

Kenny scoffed. "Whatever…" He stalked off into the weeds, and disappeared behind the mill to the car. I smiled at Josh. "Thanks, that's probably the only thing that will shut him up, is comic books." Josh slid off his trash bin and walked over to me. "No problem."

My heart pounded in my chest, and I prayed that Josh couldn't hear it. I crossed my legs to add a sexy effect, but ended up falling off of the bin instead. He laughed at me and helped me up. "So, about that thing in the car-"

It was my turn to stop him. "You know what, don't worry about it. I mean, nothing happened, right? And we're just friends, right?" I skeptically looked up at him. It pained me to say friend, when I wanted to be so much more.

Josh shrugged, and quickly added "Of course…I mean, right. We are just friends." I nodded in agreement. Friends… "Right…" I slurred, before turning around. I couldn't look at him anymore. And I didn't want him to see me crumble. I bit my lip to keep from crying.

In a few seconds, I was whirled back around to face him, and his tongue was down my throat. What the fuck was happening? Well, I knew what was happening, but why? Hadn't we just established that we were just friends? Oh well, if he wanted to be more, than I had absolutely no problem with it.

I sucked on his breath harder, to make the kiss unforgettable. Because I knew Josh, and things of no importance usually just slip his mind. Well, I was personally making sure that this didn't slip. He grabbed the hem of my yellow sundress next to my thigh, and I pulled him closer to me. The kiss felt like a lifetime…good thing Kenny wasn't here to witness it or I'd never hear the end of it. Kenny…

I immediately pulled away, and I could tell that Josh wasn't ready to stop. He grabbed my wrist. "Wh-what's wrong?" I didn't want to hurt him…I wanted to continue our 'tongue escapades' just as much as he did. But the air was awfully silent, and there was no Kenny in sight.

Without a word to Josh, I turned and ran around the side of the mill, back to our old Dodge Station Wagon… "Kenny!" I screamed, searching high and low. "Don't fuck with me, kid! Kenny!"

Behind me, I could hear Josh running towards me, but I didn't care. My hands were over my mouth, as I tried to figure out where the heck that kid could be.

"Tessa?" Josh called to me, a few feet behind me. I didn't reply. "Tessa, what's wrong?"

Tears stung my eyes. I hadn't kept my word. I hadn't taken care of Kenny, and I hoped that nothing else had 'taken care' of him either. I turned slowly to Josh, in awe.

"Josh, Kenny's gone." I replied, helplessly.


"Gone, what do you mean he's gone?" Josh questioned. "I mean, he was right here, we would have heard him scream if something had happened to him."

"I-I don't know! He could have gone off without realizing it, he could be hurt-" I was becoming hysteric. This wasn't happening…first Mom and Dad, now Kenny. Where the fuck were we? I began crying. I hated to let boys see me cry, but I crumble in stressful situations. And the stress debris right now was piling on my highway,

Josh grabbed my shoulders. "Tessa, calm down. Now, lets think…he was coming over here to get some comics, and-" He stopped, and jogged over to the Station Wagon, a determined look on his face. I know it wasn't the time, nor place, but he looked so damn sexy when he was thinking. After examining the car, he turned back to me. "T-there aren't any comics missing…"

The wheels started turning in my head…if there weren't any comics missing, then Kenny must've not even gone to the car. I looked around in the broken clutter of leaves underneath, seeing that there weren't any footprints small enough to be Kenny. I couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly I remembered something that had happened 3 years ago…for some strange reason it popped into my head. Kenny was 9, and I had just turned 14. He had just gotten a puppy for Christmas. Well, the dog died and Mom and Dad lied and told him that he ran away. So Kenny went looking for him.

It hit me like a ton of bricks…Kenny went looking for Mom and Dad. I looked around me, and all I saw were woods and fields. Anything could be out there…I spoke up. "I know what happened." I sighed, rubbing my temple. I was getting major stress-migraine. This was the weirdest day ever…and I do mean EVER.

"Kenny?" I yelled, as Josh dragged me through the woods. I could feel another mosquito biting my leg and fought the urge to bend over and slap it. Kenny was SO dead if I got malaria. My breath was coming out in little puffs…it was hard stuff running through acres and acres of woods. Maybe that's why I didn't make the Track team…And I was getting nowhere on the whole finding Kenny thing. It had been at least half an hour since he went missing, and not even a clue to where he was could be found. "Josh, stop." I bent over, grabbing my side. Cramp…ow. As if the day couldn't suck any worse.

He let go of my wrist, watching me bend over. "It's almost going to be dark. We need to hustle if we want to have any chance of finding him or your parents." He said that in a tone of defeat, as if we were never going to find them. That scared me…but I tried to ignore it.

"I can't feel my legs…or my stomach…or my feet. The list could go on and on." I said sarcastically. I didn't really know why I was getting all puffy with Josh, but I had to be mad at someone. And he was literally the only person in sight. "Can we like, sit down?" I didn't wait for an answer. I just plopped down into the leaves underneath a big pine tree. And I didn't even care that I was wearing a mini sundress. Or that I was sitting with my legs spread eagle. It wouldn't be the first time that Josh had seen up my skirt…or the second. Or third. But never mind.

He rolled his eyes and without effort, lifted me back onto my feet. "Hey!" I yelled, crossing my arms. I was hot, PMSing, and pissed. Nothing and I repeat nothing was going to stop me from sitting down. "Look, do you want to find your brother or not?" He stared at me, those deep pools of brown bled right through me.

I didn't even have to think twice. "Yes, of course." "Well than get off your ass and come help me look for him!" He turned and stalked off. Guess I wasn't the only one who was pissed…Suddenly, I heard a ruffle of leaves coming from my right. I swished my head in that direction, seeing nothing but trees, trees, and oh wow, trees. "Um…Josh?" I called out nervously. "Wait up."

I ran to catch up with him, coming at a halt directly beside him. "Gah, don't do that!" I groaned out, trying ineffectively to catch my breath. "Do you know what could have been back there?"

As usual, he wasn't listening to me. He never listened to me, even back when we were a 'thing'. I scoffed. "Fine dumbass, I see you don't care about me at all. Hmph…" I pouted. But he still didn't move a muscle. I finally looked up, coming face-to-face with whatever was distracting him from me.

It was a house, big and white, probably 40 or 50 years old or so. But it was just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Not even the pretty oh-wow-we-have-all-of-this-beautiful-land-to-ourselves middle of nowhere. No, this was the creepy I-hate-all-of-mankind-die-you-mother-fuckers middle of nowhere. I turned to see Josh's expression, and it was as if he was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle.

"This house isn't that far away from the car." He murmured, eyes peeled. I shrugged. "That's great…tell that to my legs." He quickly glanced at me, and then looked back at the house. "This seems to be the only house around. It took us what, 30 minutes to come from the Mill to here? So then why were your parents gone for 3 hours?"

That was strange…but me, being Mrs. Brightside, shrugged again. "I don't know…maybe they invited them to afternoon tea?"

Josh grabbed my wrist again, and slowly began walking towards the house. "Stay behind me…" He instructed. "If anything happens, run."

I didn't know what the big deal was. It was a house. Whoopie. Guess what…there were houses all over Dallas too. I sighed as he tugged me through the overgrown grass, more and more towards the house.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab me from behind. "AAAGGGHHH!" I screamed, tripping over a dead root and falling into the dirt. "RUN JOSH!" I shrieked, waiting for the end. But all I heard was laughter…little boy laughter. Kenny…KENNY! I leaped up, a look of death in my eyes. Yup. There stood ole' Kenny. "You are dead, you little monster!" I jumped towards him to tackle him, but tripped over someone's foot. The ground and I met once again. More little boy laughter…

"Nice work Jedidiah." Kenny smiled. I sat up, seeing a kid that seriously needed to Herbal Essences. He was filthy, dressed in rags and soot. I began to think he was a feral child, and that didn't speak but then he too smiled. "Thanks." I shook my head. "Who's Jedidiah?" I asked. "I met him while I was looking for Mom and Dad…he says they haven't been around here." Kenny shrugged. I was about to hug Kenny, seeing as he looked all sad, but then Jedidiah spit on my sandals. And Kenny laughed…the part inside me that wanted to hug him died.

My mouth bobbed up and down. "Uh!" I scoffed, looking over at Josh, who had hidden his face in his hands, snickering. "Fine…fine!" I huffed away, grumbling to myself. "I don't need you guys. I can do fine on my OWN!" I tripped again, undoubtedly on someone else's foot. But I was a far piece from Josh, Kenny, and that dirty kid. So whose foot was it?

I slowly turned onto my back. Yep. It was a foot. Only problem…there was no body attached to it.


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