Chapter 2

"Matt? Jesus...where the hell have you been? Dad and I were about to send out a search party..." Jeff said as he watched Matt shake off the snow off his jacket.

"They didn't have anymore cars left."

"You could have called us. We were just sitting here freaking out."

"Yeah right. Like I would trust you to drive in the snow and get me...believe me. It was safer to wait."

"Well...Dad fell asleep already. We ate dinner already too."

"Good...listen Jeff we have to talk." Matt said as Jeff sat down in front of the tv and switched on MTV2.

"What about? Oh and Amy called asking for you. You should go call her she's pretty worried. And then my house still doesn't have hot water so I'm staying here for two weeks until they fix all the plumbing problems. Shane called and..."

"I think I saw Caroline at the airport today." Matt interrupted.

"What?!" Jeff said in shock.

"I could have sworn it was her. Well I mean it has been a few years maybe I was mistaken..." Matt said worriedly as he looked at Jeff's pale face.

"Dark curly hair? Light brown golden eyes?" Jeff asked.

"Ummm...yeah but ah..."

"Tall? And beautiful and..."

"Jeff she had a kid with her. He looked a lot like..."

"Caro has a kid?" Jeff said worriedly. All he could think about was finding her.

"Like you..." Matt finished.

"What?"

"I don't know. Jeff I asked her if she was Caroline and she said no. She had a little boy with her...he looked a lot like you."

"Do you think..." Jeff began.

"Did you guys...?"

"Where is she?" Jeff said hurriedly...his head spinning with thoughts.

"She ran away. Look it probably wasn't her."

"I have to find her." Jeff said standing up and grabbing his coat.

"Jeff no... even if it was her you have no idea where she is. You don't even know where to start. Just get some sleep."

"I...I need to find her."

"Jeff...look I'm sorry...I should never have said anything. But either way you know she doesn't want to be found...you've been looking for her for four years."

"If that is my son then..."

"Jeff...look forget I said anything. It wasn't Caroline...and if it was...Cameron's not that big of a town."

"Matt...I need to know..."

"I have to go call Amy. Don't worry about it okay Jeff...I'm sure it wasn't her. Yeah...uh...I'm sure of it. Didn't look a thing like her." Matt said, not quite meeting his brother's gaze.

"Good night." He said and wasn't surprise when Jeff didn't respond.

"Caroline..." Jeff murmured. He got up from the couch and went downstairs to the basement.

He turned on the light and walked to a wall full of shoeboxes. It was his brother's way of filing everything. Everything had a date and small label of what it contained. He found the box that was labeled summer of 2000 and pulled it down carefully. Inside was a pile of pictures.

"Caro...Caroline..." He murmured again as he looked through them. Countless pictures of Matt, Amy, Jeff, Shannon, Shane, and Beth were all he found. He looked up again and shook his head. He knew there had to be at least one picture of her in there somewhere. He began pulling down random boxes and he was close to giving up when he found an unlabeled box at the bottom. He chewed his bottom lip and opened it. Inside was a small folded brown bag. He opened it with hands shaking. Her smiling face greeted him. He ran his finger down her cheek and closed his eyes. He could still see her so clearly. The way her eyes lit up when she smiled...and the way her eyes darkened when she cried. God...the image of her crying had been emblazoned in his mind for four years. He sat down on the floor of the basement and thought about everything that happened in the past.