Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Thank you lots of reviewers-I didn't expect quite that many so soon, I mean I only posted It two days ago. Anyway, here's the next one. I hope you like it. I have another 2 floating around in my head that I will eventually write-I hope, anyway, enjoy this chapter, it's a long one.
Chapter 2
Scott finally shoved his books aside, done studying. He looked at his clock, nearly midnight. He got up, grabbing his towel off the radiator and leaving his room to go to the bathroom before going to bed. He came to John's door and paused. John's Science fair had been this evening. He knocked the door lightly, intent on asking his brother how it had gone. John usually stayed up all night after a science fair.
Scoot pushed the door open, frowning, when he got no answer. There was no one in the room. Scott glanced round, seeing but not really registering the broken pieces of John's model Solar System. He supposed John was downstairs with their father. Scott went to the bathroom and got himself ready for bed before heading downstairs.
It wasn't John with his father like he had thought. It was Virgil.
"Either of you seen John?" Scott asked.
"He was in his room last I knew." Virgil shrugged.
"Well he's not there now." Scott frowned again.
Jeff Tracy, their father, frowned at his eldest son. "What do you mean he's not there? He wouldn't have gone out, not after I grounded him for being late."
"What?" Scott and Virgil asked, surprised and in unison.
"He waltzed in here at half nine-he should have been home by eight." Jeff said, frowning at his boys. They knew his rules.
"Didn't you give him a lift home dad? Or why didn't you walk him home Virgil?" Scott asked, suddenly turning to his brother.
"I had a lesson!" Virgil cried. "I thought you were going, why didn't you walk him home?"
"What are you talking about?" Jeff asked, suddenly exasperated, his sons were making no sense.
"Dad! It was John's science thing-the one he's been obsessing over for months-didn't you go?" Scott asked.
"That was tonight? I thought it was tomorrow…" Jeff said, regretting being so harsh on his middle child.
"Why didn't you walk him home Scott?" Virgil asked again.
"I was at football practice, you know that Virge. I thought the rest of you were going." Scott said worriedly, suddenly remembering the broken model. "So no one went to the fair then?"
Virgil shook his head, looking worried. "You don't think he's run away or anything, do you? I mean… it's happened before, none of us turning up and he's never done something like this before… he's probably just on the roof or something."
Jeff looked pained. "Maybe this was one time too many Virgil. Scott, go check the roof, Virgil get your brothers, I'll start checking the house. If he's not here, then we'll panic."
Scott and Virgil nodded and quickly went about their allotted tasks.
Twenty minutes later the three met back in the living room, Gordon and Alan in tow, having been woken up with questions to John's whereabouts, they had quickly caught on to the urgency and followed Virgil downstairs.
"What's happened?" Gordon asked.
"He's not on the roof, or upstairs at all." Scoot told his father.
Jeff rubbed the bridge of his nose worriedly. "Alright, alright. So we can assume he's not in the house. Scott, Virgil, take Gordon and Alan and start looking in the garden, if he's not there look anywhere in the neighbourhood you think he might go. I'm going to have a look round with the car. You've got your phones, right?"
Scott and Virgil nodded. "Good, now get searching."
After their father had left Alan turned to Scott. "Has Johnny run away or something?"
"We don't know Alan; all we know is that he's not in the house. He might be in the tree house. Go and quickly get changed and come help us look in the garden you two." Scott said, turning to go out back, Virgil followed close behind.
"This reminds me of that time Johnny 'ran away' after we yelled at him. We couldn't find him then either." Virgil said quietly.
"Yeah. I'd give anything to find him in the hot press again right now." Scoot said, all sorts of terrible things that could befall his twelve year old brother creeping into his head. He could remember that day very clearly. He and Virgil; had gotten into a lot of trouble for that.
Xx
Five year old John had been trailing along after his big brothers all day, asking them if he could play with them. Scott and Virgil, four and three years older respectively didn't want him hanging round. They intended to go up to the tree house, because John wasn't allowed up there yet.
"Can I come wif you?" John asked, staring up at the tree house wide eyed.
"No!" Virgil answered immediately.
"Go away!" Scott ordered.
"But Scotty, Virgie, please can I? I want to see the tree house!" John said, those annoying tears he always put on if he didn't get what he wanted threatening to overflow.
"Well you can't, so go away!" Scott said again, pointing back to the house. "Go back and play with the babies."
"But I wanna-"
"Well we don't want you here so go away!" Virgil snapped and started climbing the tree. Scott followed.
John stared after them, hearing them mutter.
"Stupid Cry-baby!" Virgil muttered.
"Always ruins our fun!" Scott took up.
"I bet Gordon and Alan would be better little brothers than him."
"Yeah, Johns always so… so annoying! I wish he would just leave us alone!"
"Yeah, that would be cool! I bet he's going in to tell mommy on us!" Virgil complained as they reached the tree house.
"Yeah-telltale!" Scoot muttered darkly, joining him.
Neither noticed that John was running back into the house.
Two hours later their mother came out. "Scott! Virgil! John! Time for dinner!"
Scott and Virgil quickly scrambled down from the tree house and raced inside to the kitchen.
"What's for dinner?" Virgil asked excitedly.
"Pasta." Their mother smiled. "Where's John?" she asked, putting the food on the plates.
Scott shrugged. "The cry-baby went away somewhere."
"Scott, it's not nice to call your brother that." His mother scolded. "Where did he go?"
Scott shrugged again.
Their mother frowned and went into the hall. "John?" She called, and waited for an answer. None. "John!" she called again. Still no answer. She turned to Scott and Virgil. "Keep an eye on Gordon and Alan, and eat your dinner. I'm going to have a look for John."
The two boys nodded absently, not paying attention.
They did pay attention an hour later when their mother was in tears on the phone to their father, telling him she couldn't find John anywhere.
Their father was home twenty minutes later and he started searching the street for John. Four hours later with no luck he had come home. "We'll need to inform the police Lucy." He sighed.
"Jeff!" Their mother cried. "How could I have lost him?"
"Lucy, shh, you didn't. Come on. It's ok. He'll be ok Lucy. I'm going to go out again, I want you to call the police when you've calmed yourself a little, ok? We'll find him."
Scott had been sitting on the landing listening. He had never heard his parents so worried. He sighed and got up to go to bed, to find Virgil standing at the door to his room.
"Do you think we made Johnny disappear?" he asked, a tremble in his voice.
Scott shrugged. "I don't know." He hugged Virgil lightly. "Go back to bed Virge, we'll find him."
"Ok Scott." Virgil smiled. "I hope we do. I mean, he's annoying and all, but I'd really miss him if he was gone."
"I know Virge." Scott sighed and headed down towards his own room, when he thought he heard a noise from the hot press. He stopped and pulled open the door. "John?" he asked, curious, peering in. he could see nothing. There was a sudden movement and a sniffle. "John?" he asked again.
"Scotty?" came John's tiny voice.
"Virgil! Go get mommy and daddy, I found John!" Scott told Virgil, who had still be standing by his door, urgently.
Virgil took off down the stairs yelling. "Mom! Scott found John! Mom!"
Minutes later their mother was upstairs quickly, gathering John up, thanking god he had been found. "Why Johnny? Why would you worry mommy like this?" she whispered to him.
John looked over her shoulder to Scott and Virgil before he buried his head in his mothers shoulder and whispered. "Sorry mommy."
Xxxx
There you go. Thanks a lot all of you for your nice reviews. I hope this is what you expected. The next update might be a while, I have another long flashback to write.
