Everyone was silent. Puck finished the story recounting their entire year. The cops looked surprised. His mother furious. If he could see himself, he would say he looked like a kicked puppy.
"Let me ask you," the cop talking to him asked, "How old is this house he entered?"
Puck looked up in thought, wondering how this had any significance to finding a missing boy. "Um, I think about six hundred years. Maybe more, maybe less. Why?"
The cop rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Has it occurred to you that if the house hasn't been fixed and red up over the years, the floors could be unstable? The floor could have broken under the kid's weight. He could have fallen through and hurt himself. Right now a kid could be in there with a broken leg or something, screaming for help but no one could hear him. Or, he could be lying unconscious and bleeding, needing assistant."
Puck's eyes widened. He hasn't even thought of that. Kurt could really be in there hurt, and none of them went in there to go help him.
"It….. It didn't."
The cop stood up. "Well, it looks like we need to go there. David come on." At this the cop that was leaning by the doorway stood up straight.
"Alright Wes." Both of them started heading towards the doorway. Then the cop, Wes, turned around.
"Son, you're coming with us. You were there, and I want you there now too." Puck looked up horrified.
"I have to go back there?"
Wes sighed. "I know you don't want to, but you have to. So come on! Get up." Wes grabbed Puck by the arm and led him outside. One look at Puck's mom and he knew that he was dead when he gets home.
The scene outside the house was hectic. This town was small, so news traveled quickly. Puck saw many people he knew there, being pushed away from the house by the cops. Cop cars were scattered all over the street, along with an ambulance.
Puck got out of the cop car with Wes, and he was immediately bombarded by his friends.
"Dude we are in deep shit man," Finn said, his body shaking all over. "If they find him, were dead. If they don't find him, were still dead! No matter what, we lose!"
Puck was silent. He didn't want to answer anyone. Actually, he was angry at all of them. This all could have been avoided if they just let Kurt hang out with them in the first place. And that could have been avoided if their idiot parents didn't tell them to not talk to him. He didn't want to lash out at anyone though, since he was part of them blame.
I could have stopped it too.
Wes nudged Puck towards the house. Puck stopped walking and stared at it. It looked the same as it did last night, except all the candles were blown out.
"Do I have to go in there?"
Wes nodded, and that's all it took for Puck to turn around and run. Or try to run, because behind him a tall blonde officer stood in his way. The officer grasped both of his shoulders.
"Whoa, slow down there." Puck tried to pry himself out of the man's grip, but Wes grabbed his arm.
"You're not getting out of this kid. Jeff, can you go into the house with him and find the boy, Kurt?"
Jeff smiled eagerly. "Sure!" He looked down at Puck. "Come on, the sooner we get in, the sooner we get out." Jeff leaded Puck towards the steps. Puck's hands were sweating. He didn't want to go in there. He really didn't want to go in there. But it seemed as though he didn't have a choice.
Jeff opened the door, and it seemed as though no one had come in there for a long time. There was dust on everything, and everything seemed as though one touch would break it.
"Well this could have been a nice house to live in," Jeff said to himself. Puck stayed by him, feeling safer with the man with the gun.
Looking at the windows, Puck saw all of the candles were still there, unlit. That was the only evidence that someone had been in there.
"Well, I guess we should start looking." Jeff nudged Puck towards the stairs, and Puck followed, not wanting to leave his side.
Ascending the stairs to the second floor, Puck didn't know what he wanted to see. Did he want to see Kurt, hurt but alive? Or did he not want to see him? No matter what, the outcome had to suck. But he'd rather have him alive and hurt than missing. Or dead.
Once they reached the top of the stairs, everything seemed normal for the house. Nothing seemed out of place, except for the faint footprints on the plush red carpet, visible from the layers of dust.
"At least we can see which way he went," Puck said quietly, alerting Jeff's attention. Jeff looked down were Puck was staring and smiled.
"Well, good job buddy." He patted Puck on the back. They followed to footsteps, but nothing was out of place. The floor wasn't broken, and neither was the ceiling.
"Looks like if he didn't fall through the attic, than he's still in here," Jeff said quietly. They backtracked, going to find the stairs to head up to the third floor.
"I hope we find him." Puck was visibly distressed. He wanted to find Kurt.
"So do I kid." They found the steps leading to the third floor and quickly went up them, wanting to get out of the house as fast as possible. When they reached the top, they were quickly relieved and struck with fear. There was nothing wrong with this floor either. The ceiling was perfectly fine, or as fine as it could get. That meant he never fell, which means he's still up in the attic. They quickly passed all the painting covered walls and ran to the steps for the attic.
Jeff skipped every other step, trying to get to the top quickly, Puck following closely behind.
Halfway up the stairs, Jeff suddenly stopped in his tracks, and Puck ran into him. Puck could feel why he stopped. The air around them now was suddenly a lot colder. The air felt the same as it did whenever they were outside the house last night when Kurt suddenly stopped lighting candles. Puck immediately started shaking, his breathing speeding up.
Jeff pushed his arm back, placing his hand on Puck's chest, stopping him from going any forward.
"Stay here." His voice was tense, not funny and joyful like it used to be. His face showed no emotion, but he thought the same things as Puck.
Something was wrong behind the door at the top of the steps.
Jeff slowly pulled his pistol out of the holder of his belt, making his way up the stairs, on at a time now. Puck stayed where he was, not daring to go up any further.
Jeff reached the top of the steps, and slowly opened the door with a loud creek. Before he entered though, he looked back at Puck, making sure he was still there. Then he entered the room, and turned the corner. Puck couldn't see him after that. He, again, stayed where he was. Puck waited for Jeff to come back down with Kurt in tow.
He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But he didn't come down. And that made Puck more worried than before. First Kurt, and now Jeff? Puck couldn't let that happened. He started walking up the steps, but then a thought crossed his mind.
"What if I go up there and something happens to me?" Puck didn't dwell on the thought for long. He kept going up the stair without his body knowing, and he was at the top of the stairs, about to enter the doorway. He peeked in, but he couldn't see anything around the corner. So he pushed the door open more, earning another loud creek from it.
"Don't come in!" Puck heard Jeff's voice yell from inside. It sounded high pitched and shaky. This worried Puck more. Instead of listening to Jeff, he turned the corner and entered the attic all the way. His entire body froze at what he saw. He was never going to be able to close his eyes again.