7 - Missing
"I'm going to call him," Lou said softly. "I haven't heard from him since the day before he was leaving the hospital. I haven't heard from Smokey either. He was supposed to pick him up."
"Do you think something happened?" Junior asked, standing next to the telephone with Lou.
"I don't know…"
Lou dialed, but there was no answer. She tried Smokey's number. Again, no answer.
She shook her head. "I don't like this. Let's go to Hud's place. We'll check on him. I mean, he just came home from the hospital. What if he slipped and hurt himself? What if nobody knows?" She ran for her keys and then headed out to her car. Junior and River followed, just as worried as she was.
Lou drove as fast as she could without getting a ticket. She pulled up in front of the expensive apartments and headed over to Hudson's place. Junior couldn't keep up. He heaved when he got to the top of the stairs. Lou knocked repeatedly. No reply. She groaned and knocked again. Again, and again she knocked. No reply. She hit the door in frustration.
"Hud!? You in there?!" She yelled. River put a hand on her shoulder and tried to pull her back, to calm her down. As she took a deep breath, a neighbor came out of his door and looked at the trio.
"Looking for Hudson?" He asked.
They nodded. Lou's eyes were misty with tears. "Where is he?…" She asked hesitantly.
The man shrugged. "He left early this morning. Took his belongings with him and left the rest. They were cleaning out his place earlier today. Sounds like he left on short notice."
The three of them fell silent. "He left…?" Louise asked softly. "W-where did he go then…?"
The neighbor shrugged. "I wish I could tell you ma'am, but I haven't got a clue where he went." He waved and headed out.
Louise stood there, silent for a few moments before tears started to fall down her cheeks. She didn't make a sound. Neither did Junior or River. Hudson was gone. There was no way to tell where he went. Did Smokey go with him? Did Smokey do this? What happened? She headed out, quietly, in shock. The two young men followed suit.
Lou kept walking, only saying a few words as they headed to the car, "we need to talk to Smokey. Right now."
River drove to Smokey's home. Louise was in shock. Junior tried to comfort her, but he himself was hurting. Hudson was their friend. He was like a brother. Nobody could replace him, and now he was gone, as if he disappeared off the face of the earth. As soon as River stopped the car, Louise flew out, dragging Junior with her. Junior knocked first. He banged on the door, begging.
"Smokey, if you're in there, you gotta let us in! Help us out! Please, c'mon!"
There were a few moments of silence before the door unlocked, and Smokey opened it. "Come in," he said somberly. The three did so, closing the door behind them in a panic.
"Hudson is gone," Junior said. "We can't find him. He didn't pick up his telephone so we went over to his place and the neighbor said he left. They already cleaned out part of his apartment. He's gone. Literally gone."
"Hud? He's gone…?" Smokey said shakily. "Oh, Hud…" He said worriedly. "He must have been so upset." He ran his hands across his face, groaning. "Oh my gosh, Hudson…"
"What's going on here?" River questioned. "Smokey, what happened?"
Smokey sat them down. He explained that Glenn was planning to replace Hudson with a new rookie racer, and was planning a meeting the day before. Everyone knew that there was a new racer apparently. They kept it away from Louise, River, and Junior because they had not been by the racing headquarters. Smokey was almost in tears as he spoke in a shaky voice.
"Glenn wanted me to tell him. I was going to pick him up from the hospital, and Glenn wanted me to tell him on the way back!" Smokey said, wiping his eyes. "I told Glenn, Hudson was a brother to me, and I could never tell him anything so devastating. I knew it would break his heart. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't race anymore. I wasn't the one that made the decision. It wasn't my responsibility to tell him. I didn't want him getting upset and walking out on me. Hudson was my friend. Glenn disagreed and fired me because I didn't want to tell Hud that he was done. He picked up Hudson from the hospital and scheduled the meeting." Smokey shook his head, trying to keep himself from crying any more than he already was. "H-he must've told him during the meeting."
"I didn't think that Hudson would leave…" Smokey continued, shakily. "I didn't think he would…" His voice faded. Louise buried her face in her hands. Junior comforted River as he started to cry a little. Hudson was gone. There was nothing anybody could do except wait and see. Waiting seemed like forever.
"I already miss him," River said softly.
"We all do," Smokey said, still at a loss for words. He stared at the newspaper on his wall.
"Hudson Hornet. Champion For All Time," it read.
Smokey wondered if he'd ever see that again. He didn't know what was going to happen to Hudson. It was out of his hands now. Smokey was going to keep looking. He couldn't let go of Hudson that easily. He wasn't done yet…He wouldn't forget Hudson…
…And he knew Hudson would never forget them.