Anthony's Point of View
I barely slept the past few nights. It was hard to when I kept dreaming about Hannah. I opened my crusted and tired eyes to look at the clock. It read 10:30. Ian and I had to be at the the police precinct in thirty minutes. Shit, I thought, I could've sworn I set my alarm last night for 9:00.After checking my phone for the mistake, I saw the alarm didn't save. Damn iPhone.
As I threw on my jeans and stripped sweatshirt, I heard a small cough ring from the kitchen. Looks like Ian was already up. I felt a little hurt and angry that he didn't wake me up, but I quickly throw the feelings out. I had to cut him some slack. His sister was declared a missing person yesterday. And after seeing him asleep in her bed, I figured he was just trying to find a way to cope. Me? I was just not letting myself stop working to worry. Although Hannah and I were not related by blood, I had known her since I was eleven, when Ian and I met. We grew up with each other, and as I began to be brother-like with Ian, which came with being sister-like with Hannah. So although Ian didn't the so, I felt the similar loss he was.
"Hey, man." I said as I walked into the kitchen. Ian looked up and smiled softly. "Hey."
"Ready to go?" I asked him, grabbing a pop-tart to go.
Ian sighed heavily and nodded. I gave him a warm pat on the back for comfort and lead him out to the car.
"I'm Detective benison and this is my partner, Detective Connors." as we walked in to the police precinct, two people greeted us at the entrance. One was a woman, the other a tall man. The woman had brown short hair and was relatively short and the man was very tall and slightly chubby. They both had suits on and wore a gold badge on front of their jackets.
"Nice to meet you, Anthony Padilla." I responded, introducing myself to Detective Benson, the women, and shook both her hand and Detective Connors. Ian did so afterwards. "Good morning and thank you, I'm Ian Hecox."
"Yes, please sit." said Connors impatiently, motioning to the chairs sitting against the wall. All four of us sat down and Detective Benson took out a notepad. "Alright, it was declared yesterday that-" Detective Connor looked over Benson's shoulder to the notepad. "-Hannah Marie Blaise was a missing person, correct?"
I glanced at Ian. He deeply breathed and nodded.
"Ok," continued Detective Benson, who tapped her pen on the notepad, "We're going to need some information, ok? So I'm just going to ask you a few questions."
To be honest I thought Ian was going to tell the detectives that he wasn't five years old and didn't need t be treated like one. But surprisingly enough, he seemed to calm down after she spoke. He answered the questions the detective asked easily and (calmly), even though I saw it pained him to. After what seemed like an eternity, the last question was asked. "Does Hannah own a phone?"
Random question to ask. "Um..Yeah.". She asked for the number, and I gave it to her. "What's this all about?" I asked
"We are able to track phones. If we find the phone, it gives more hope in finding her." Of course, why didn't I think of that? "Is there any way we can contact you if we find it or discover something?"
Ian spoke up, "yeah, you can have Anthony's phone number. I would give you mine, but it's not working. I don't know why."
A spark went off in Benson's eyes. "Can I see it?"
Ian looked at me, and I shrugged. He took the disaster phone from his pocket and handed it over. Connor and Benson grabbed it simultaneously and tapped on it. Like before, it spazed out, colors flying around and static showing through the screen.
Something confused and bewildered both of the detectives. They looked at each other, eyes wide. Fast as lightning, Detective Benson ran to the circular desk that sat in the middle of the precinct. She asked the secretary for something, then was handed a folder. As Benson walked back, she was flipping furiously through the file. Once she sat back down' she found what she was searching for. Connor grabbed the file rudely from the other detective and looked over it as well. He gasped and whispered, "Oh dear god."
I couldn't take it anymore. "What. What is it?"
"Have you heard of Sarah Malone?"Connor asked.
"You mean the girl that disappeared about three months ago?"
He nodded. "Well, we had her parents out here at the precinct too, when she went missing. We asked for the father's phone number, just like we did to you, and the phone showed the exact same problems. Phones being a big bother, usually they go wonky. But the way the phone just acts like it's been tampered with. It is just too weird for both girls to go missing in a similar way and for both phones to acts so strange in the same ways."
I stared at Ian and he stared back. "So," I breathed, breaking the silence. "Could there be a connection between the two disappearances?"
"I don't know. But we're going to use the information from the Malone case and your information to find out. Connor and I will start with locating her phone, and go from there."
Ian and I thanked the detectives. They stood up, told us they would keep in touch, and then abruptly left, leaving us awkwardly standing there. Ian looked at me, shrugged, and then led me back to the car.
We drove home in silence, both of us not really knowing what to say. Once we got back to our small white Californian home, I parked the car and got out. Ian rushed inside, either having to pee really badly or was really emotional. My money was on the second option. That was really hard in the both of us, but I was proud of Ian for holding his feelings in until.
I went to go get the mail from the compartment box at the front of our yard. I looked over the packages. Bills, bills, and more bills. Once I locked back our slot, I began to walk inside when I heard my name called by an unfamiliar voice. "Anthony? Or well, Mr. Padilla?"
I turned around to see a boy about Hannah's age with short brown hair and big blue eyes staring back at me at the end of our driveway. "You can call me Anthony, it's cool." he seemed to become less tense and walked up to me. We shook hands and he introduced himself. "My name is Jason McKeves, I'm a-". He paused for a second, apparently choosing his words carefully. "-friend of Hannah's."
I responded, "Oh. Well, nice to meet you Jason. I haven't seen you around before; do you live in the neighborhood?"
"No," Jason said. "I live in river crest."I nodded in understanding. So he lived in the neighborhood next to us. Weird, I thought. If he's a friend of Hannah's, why hasn't she ever hung out with him, and why have I not met him. "I see," I finally acknowledged. "So what can I do for you, Jason?" I said.
Jason seemed nervous to talk to me. It seemed he was choosing his words very carefully. Either he was always like this, or he was trying to make a good impression. "I just wanted to say...I'm heard about Hannah, and I'm very, very sorry. I know I just met you, and I haven't even talked to Ian yet, but I'm...very close to Hannah. I pray her safe return and for you and Ian to be under god's grace until she comes home. I just wanted to let you guys know that."
I was shocked. No one, besides my family and the (Allison's family) had really given their condolences. If they did, it was brief, quick and you could see the awkward feeling in their faces. But Jason was so considerate, and I could see in his eyes that he really did feel so sorry. And he was worried; not for Ian, not for me, but truly worried for Hannah. "Thank you, Jason. Thank you."
Jason shyly smiled and looked to the ground. "Listen," he said as he looked back up. "If there's anything I can do to help, please, let me know."
I nodded and he said good-bye, and left. I went back to the house. Jason, I thought, He's pretty cool. Not ugly, either. I wonder...
