***
Knock. Knock. Knock. Three successive raps on his door and still no answer.
"Will, open the door," I whisper to myself. "It'll be ok."
Vaughn gently touches my shoulder and I remember once more that he's standing right next to me. I look at him and he offers me a small smile.
"I have a key," I say with a sigh. "He gave it to me about a year ago. He said that it was incase I ever needed a place to stay. I never used it though."
Why am I even telling him all this? It's just a waste of time. I guess that a part of me wants him to get away. I want him to just escape while I'm telling Vaughn about all these tiny tidbits that he never asked to know. I want Will to get away so I won't have to face him. I won't have to explain the "bank stuff" I've been doing. I won't have to see the fear and confusion in his eyes…
I shake my head, find the key on my key chain, and slowly put it into the whole. I look at Vaughn. He nods at me to go ahead and turn the key, so I do.
"Will," I call out, turning on the lights to his dark house. "You here?"
Vaughn looks around the house and I feel like I should be telling him to "move out and cover all grounds" or some other government order.
"He isn't here," Vaughn says, shaking his head.
"You got that too?"
"Where else could he be?"
"Anywhere."
"Could you be a little more specific?" he asks.
"As much as I hate to say this, maybe we should look through some of his stuff, in case he came here. Maybe he left some clues or something."
I'm a great friend, right?
"I'll take the papers."
I look through his closets, but nothing seems to be missing. At least, Will doesn't plan on going on a long vacation. His stuff is still here---clothing, a couple of major credit cards, pictures…
I sit down on his bed and look at the framed picture on his nightstand. Francie, Will, and myself were standing on the track, all wet with the rain still falling. The smiles on our faces were as bright as the sun, though.
"Will, why can't we take a picture inside? Or during a sunny day?"
"If we did that, Syd, it would be like every other picture every other person has ever taken in the world. I want this to be special," he had answered.
"Oh, this is special, alright. We're the only idiots on the track. Why are we here anyway? I don't even like jogging."
"The track is freeing," he replied to Francie. "Now are we taking this picture or not?"
The track, that's it.
"Vaughn," I shout, "I think I know where he is."
***
"Will," I call out, as soon as Vaughn parks the car.
I run down to the track, still calling out his name, scared out of my mind that someone found him before he did. Vaughn is chasing after me, probably wondering when I got so stupid. If someone did find Will, they could still be here and then I'm killing all of us. I know that, but right now I could care less. All that matters to me is finding Will ok.
"Will!" I shout again, seeing him, soaked and standing at the track, looking at the bleachers.
"I'm sorry," he says.
Any conversation that starts with 'I'm sorry' is bound not to go anywhere good.
"Will, are you ok?" I ask.
"I'm sorry," he repeats.
"Sorry about what, Will?"
"You could've told me, Syd. You'd be ok. I wouldn't tell anyone else, but you didn't."
"Will…"
"So I did it."
Oh no, what did he do?
"I didn't realize until afterwards what I did," he continues. "I didn't think about what could happen if I told them. I didn't care. In fact, I'm not sure if I even care now."
"Who'd you tell?"
"I have secrets, too. Who would've thought that our secrets would coincide with each other…"
"What secret?" I ask, not knowing what he is talking about.
I look at Vaughn and see the same confusion in his eyes.
"They recruited me when McNeil's daughter came to me. At first, they pitched the good guy scheme. I knew it wasn't true, but I didn't care. It didn't matter. I was tired of being the good guy, anyway. It never got me anywhere. Good Guy Will, the reliable doormat. Good Guy Will, go to him when you have problems. Good Guy Will, it's ok to lie to him when you don't need him. Well, Goo Guy Will isn't such a good guy. No, I called them tonight."
Who did he call? Who is 'they'?
"I called SD-6."
I think I've just frozen.
