Staying up all night did nothing in the way of finding her brother. She told her parents what happened leaving out a detail or two. The were definitely concerned but it wasn't unusual for him to come home in the early morning. Exhausted, both mentally and physically, she fell asleep on the couch.
Emily woke with a start, her eyes darting around the room. What was that sound. Muffler? It sounded a lot like her brother's, whose death rattle was at the very least unique. Ten strides and she was across to the foyer pulling on her shoes and grabbing her purse. Four and she was down the stairs. Six and she was at the car. Peering carefully into the distance she looked for a sign of which direction he went. She made her decision, he must be going to his fiancée's apartment. They were getting ready to move in together, hopefully soon, as they recently put an offer on a condo.
As she neared the complex she didn't see his car. She drove in anyway, one lap confirmed what she already knew. She made the wrong decision. She continued to drive around the area, but she suspected that he was long gone. Defeated, she returned home determined to figure out what was going on. Although she felt that it was probably an invasion of privacy, she went to his bedroom. Its less of a bedroom and more of a studio apartment, it even has a separate entrance. Until he was eighteen, the room was an unused addition from a previous owner. He and I fought for it, but ultimately, he won out because he was the oldest and wanted his privacy. To his credit, he had made it look alright and used the space well.
He had been in here. There was dirt by the outside entrance… quite a lot, in fact. He came home to grab what he needed and now he's gone? She noticed right away that his computer was gone, as was his jacket and phone charger. Everything he needed. She didn't need to look anymore, she knew that he had definitely left.
Out of habit, she tried to call his phone again. She immediately regretted it – it had been disconnected. He was quickly cutting all ties to his life.
In the early evening, her mother returned home. "Have you heard from Josh?"
"No, some of his stuff is gone though," Emily replied, feeling hopeless. "I don't know what is going on, something is wrong. He's never just left like that, he's complete off the radar."
"I'm worried. I don't know what we should do though, he's an adult, we can't very well say he's been kidnapped. He seems to have done this on his own free will. We'll talk to your father tonight." With that, she started cooking dinner.
Emily couldn't help but replay the events of last night in her head, looking for something that could explain why he left. Something she was overlooking. She couldn't just believe that coming out to her brother was so earth shaking that it caused this. There had to be something else. The waitress said he looked ill, that he stumbled. Or maybe mom is right, maybe he's regretting getting engaged.
After a brief conversation with his fiance, who hadn't heard from him, she realized the severity of the situation. Josh was gone - completely off the map. She didn't want to think of what would happen if the part of the story that she'd not been sharing with people got out. Everyone would know she was gay and honestly, she didn't have the strength to deal with that on top of everything else.