Chapter 7: The Search For Jeremiah

Back at the Tipton Cody sat by the phone staring at it. He sighed heavily as he stared at it, a look of worry deepening almost every second. Zack sat at the window looking up and down the streets of Boston. He and Cody switched places so Zack was staring at the phone while Cody looked up and down the streets of Boston. The rain still fell as the lightning still flashed and the thunder rumbled in the distance. They were waiting for Jeremiah to come home but they haven't had word of him. Carey, Mr. Moseby, Maddie, Esteban, even London went out to look for him.

"Zack, what if something bad happened to him?" Cody asked after a long stretch of silence.

"Nothing happened to him, Cody," Zack responded as he continued to stare at the phone.

"But what if something did happen and it was your fault?"

"Don't you mean our fault?"

"No. I mean your fault. You're the one who went through his stuff in the first place!"

Zack didn't want to start a fight with his brother incase he got so upset he started to cry. And Cody was close to crying; Zack could tell. He finally gave up on staring at the phone and went to watch TV. Cody sat at the table with a huge piece of paper in front of him. He go a big black pen and started to write on it. He got different colors and started to draw on that too. Once he was finished he hung it outside on the suite's balcony. The sign read:

JEREMIAH COME HOME!

He then got a tack of paper and started to draw flyers. As he started to draw the tenth one the phone rang. He and Zack sprang out of the seats and slapped their hands on the phone at the same time. Zack held it out so they could both press their ears against it to hear.

"Hello?" Cody asked.

"Hey. It's Chris."

"Oh. Hi," Zack didn't bother to mask his disappointment.

"Glad to hear from you too. Have you found Jeremiah yet?"

"No. Mom, Moseby, Maddie, Esteban, and London went to look for her. If they don't find him we're all going looking tomorrow." Cody responded.

"Tape and I are going to help too."

"Thanks dude. What about Max and Crystal?" Zack asked.

"They said they're busy but they'll keep a look out for him. That's the best they can do."

"Ok." Cody sighed.

"Cody, stay strong. Zack, don't make matters worse for Cody. I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Bye," they said in unison as they hung up. Cody plopped down on the couch sadly as he put his head in his hands. Zack sat next to him and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "We'll find him."

Just then Carey came through the door shaking a soaking wet umbrella. Zack and Cody looked at her with hope on their faces but she shook her head sadly. Cody sniffed and wiped his eyes as tears threatened to form. Zack just stared up at the ceiling in dismay. Their own 'little brother' was missing ad he didn't call to tell them where he was or that he was found. But maybe he didn't want to be found…

That thought scared Carey the most. He doesn't know that he's biologically related to them and it is too early to tell. She just had to take his anger, violent attitude, and sarcasm until the time was right. He would probably throw a fit and never want to speak to them if she told him so she kept her mouth shut. She was surprised Zack and Cody never said anything about it. Maybe they forgot? No, something like this is too important to forget. So how come they never mentioned it? That was a mystery on its own and Carey didn't want to know the real reason why. The phone rang, making her jump and come crashing back to reality. She picked it up absentmindedly and greeted the person.

"Carey. It's me."

"Kurt?" She asked.

"Yes." His voice sounded angry. Carey hated that voice. She slowly sat down and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" She asked hesitantly.

"I got an interesting call today."

"From who?"

"That Mr. Moseby dude."

"What about?"

"He says that my son is missing. So I thought 'Gee, that's strange. Why would Zack or Cody run away?' So I ask him and guess what he says."

"What?" Carey asked, although she all ready knew.

"He said my other son is missing. Jeremiah. So I ask myself 'Since when do I have a son named Jeremiah? I know Carey would've told me if she adopted another boy into our family!' But no! You didn't! You went right ahead and got some other kid without telling me and now I have to look after a kid I don't even know! What's gotten into you Carey?"

"Listen Kurt, I'd love to sit here and explain it to you but my son needs me right now."

"Zack or Cody?"

"Neither. Jeremiah."

Carey hung up the phone before Kurt could even say anything against it. She turned her attention to Zack and Cody once she realized that they were to quiet for their own good. She turned her head and couldn't help but smile when she saw them asleep on the couch. Cody was laying down and had his head in Zack's lap as he clutched blankie; Zack had his head rested his arm that was on the arm rest, his other arm was draped over Cody's shoulder as if he was in a protective embrace. Carey got up and kissed them both of the forehead and stroked their hair lovingly. She sighed and decided t clean the bathroom. As she picked up the scraps of paper she noticed a picture sticking out from underneath his pillow. She picked it up and stared at it, her mouth hanging open in awe. On the left half of the paper was Sarah. She had the same look on her face as the last picture but she had scars, bruises, and cuts. Her background was all black except for the flames around herself. Then there was Carey. She had a bright smile on her face; but this time she wasn't alone. She was sitting on a fountain. Zack on her left, standing with some bread in his hand; getting ready to feed the ducks that were in the fountain. Cody was on her right sitting with his knees brought up to his chest with a smile on his face. But that wasn't what made her surprised. What made her surprised was the fact that below herself, sitting on the ground, was Jeremiah. Dressed in exactly what he was wearing a couple of days before. But he had a genuine smile on his face.

'Maybe it's a sign about our family…hopefully. Jeremiah come back. Please.'

-

Jeremiah groaned as he woke up the next morning. The room was darker than usual because it was still rainy from the day before. He sat up and a blanket fell off of him and onto the floor. He looked around the room and saw that he was in the living room the couch. He got up and looked around the room. He went into the kitchen and got a bowl of cereal. He sat in front of the tv and started to watch cartoons as Matt came down the stairs rubbing his tired eyes.

"Hey. You sleep well?" He asked as he sat on the couch. Jeremiah just nodded as he chewed on a spoonful of cereal. "That's good. Max and Crystal are still asleep. I'm going to take a shower and get to work. Don't case any trouble, ok little man?" Matt ruffled his hair and went back upstairs.

As Jeremiah watched TV he pondered if he should tell his 'family' where he was. But he decided against it. 'They're not my family! They don't care!' He watched TV the rest of the morning until Max and Crystal came down, ready for school.

"Aren't you going to school today?" Max asked.

"No. And don't tell Zack and Cody that I'm here!" He responded with an angry look in his eyes.

"Fine. See you later," Crystal said as they left the house. She opened up her umbrella and Max stepped underneath it. "You think he's going to go home?"

"Yeah. He may be hostile but he's pretty smart," Max responded.

-

Throughout the school day Cody surprisingly couldn't pay attention because of Jeremiah/ He even got a warning from his math teacher and he never gets into trouble in that class! At lunch he called his mom, Maddie, London, Mr. Moseby, and Esteban if they had any glimpses of him but they didn't. Cody was positively depressed throughout the day. Tapeworm and Chris tried to cheer him up but they didn't succeed. Once school was let out it was raining harder than before. Zack, Cody, Chris and Tapeworm met in front of the school before they went their separate ways.

"Jer? Jeremiah where are you?" Zack called as he skateboarded down the street. "Jeremiah? Come home!"

"Jere-mi-aaaah!" Cody called as he ran down the street. He made his way towards Liberty Park. He looked under the swinging bridge and under the slides but he was nowhere to be found.. He slowly walked in the rain back towards the Tipton after being out in the rain for more than an hour. He was cold and soaked to the bone from all of the rain. His hair was plastered to his forehead and his clothes felt heavy.

He was stopped by Chris, Tapeworm, and Zack giving him bad news about Jeremiah. They haven't found him either. Chris and Tapeworm apologized saying that they had to get home. Zack bade them good by but Cody stayed silent as he watched his friends leave.

"You ok?" Zack asked his brother.

"Not until we find him!" Cody responded. He opened his mouth to start calling again but let out a cough. He was getting ready to call again when he coughed harder.

"Cody, we have to get you inside. You're going to get sick!"

"No! We have to find Jeremiah first…at least once the ground stops spinning…"

Zack, acting fast, quickly caught his brother before he fell to the ground. Zack placed a wet and cold hand on his brother's forehead and noticed it was warm. Lifting his brother into his arms easily, Zack abandoned his skateboard and started to run back to the Tipton. He accidentally crashed into Mr. Moseby as he pushed through the revolving doors.

"You got my suit wet!" He exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Moseby. But my brother is sick!"

Without waiting for the manager to say anything, Zack pushed past him and dove into the elevator before the closed. He frantically pushed the 23rd floor button until it seemed to pop out. He brushed his brother's wet hair form his face as he looked down at Cody's somewhat pale face. Once the doors opened he sprinted down the hall to his room, unlocked the door, and ran inside.

"What happened to Cody?" Carey asked once she heard the commotion.

"Cody's sick. We were out looking for Jeremiah and Cody stayed out too long," Zack responded as he set Cody down on the couch and a loud boom of thunder was heard and bright lightning flashed. "You'll be ok Codes. So will Jeremiah. We'll find him."

-

Jeremiah huddled under a blanket as he tried to drown out the thunder and block out the lightning. He literally shivered in fright as if he was getting punished for something he did in the past. Pain seemed to fill him as he remembered all of the times he got punished. He glanced around the now dark house as scary shadows filled the corners of the room and seemed to take shapes.

'I'm scared. I need someone. Anyone!'

"HELP MEEEE!" Jeremiah yelled out loud as he jumped up and tried to make his way through the dark house and to the front door. He tried to push open the door but the wind blew it back. He pushed harder and finally made his way outside. He started to run away from the house as fast as he could in any direction. He didn't know where. All he knew was that he had to get out of there. He ran with his head down so the rain wouldn't get into his eyes. Problem was was that he almost crashed into mailboxes and telephone poles and he had a close call with a fence.

He ran across the street and almost got hit by cars as he ran around the city of Boston. Woman tried to get him to stop but he wouldn't listen and kept on running. Through blurry eyes he stopped in an alley and tried to get water out of his soak clothes. He glanced up and saw a familiar tall building with bright lights.

The Tipton.

Smiling he ran towards it and pushed through the double doors. He shook himself and got some of the guest wet. But he didn't care. He was finally warm. He stood there looking around until he saw Maddie. He ran over to her and gave her a bone crushing hug. She was surprised as she saw the frail boy hugging her.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" he cried.

"It'll be ok," She whispered as she patted her head. He quickly let go of her and ran towards the staircase. He ran up the stairs until floor 23 but he didn't slow down. He made his way towards suite 2330 and searched his pockets for a card key. He didn't find one so he started to knock on the door as he dripped water onto the floor. Once the door opened her turned his sad eyes to Carey and whispered, "I'm sorry," before passing out on he floor…

A/N: Sorry it took me awhile to update! I was really busy! Hope you liked this chapter! Don't forget to review!

Next Chapter:

Chapter 8-Jeremiah Martin