iii. One Step Behind

Kimi's jaw dropped, shock overcoming her features as the situation settled. How could it be that Chuckie- of all people- would be missing?

"You're joking... right? Is this just some sick joke because I never came home last night?"

Both Chas and Kira slowly turned their heads to stare at the teenager, curiosity and hurt evident. It took a moment before a disappointed stare came upon Kira's features before closing her eyes. "Honey, we're not joking about this."

Everything felt surreal to her; wasn't it just under twelve hours ago that she was 'talking' to Chuckie? Why did it have to be in that short period of time that something so horrible happened? Was that her punishment for not obliging to Chuckie's demands?

Kimi's lower lip quivered for a moment before she sniffled quietly to herself. Her shoulders shook and she slowly raised her hands to her face. Drowning a sob into her hands, the teen closed her eyes and let the tears fall freely down her cheeks. There was no effort of holding it back anymore; the reality had finally sunk in for her. Because fate decided to be so cruel, one of the people who was closest to her was now gone. And there was no apologies that'd be able to bring him back to her- no going back in time.

As she continued to cry in the middle of the kitchen, Kira and Chas slowly exchanged a look before the former reached her arms out for her child. There was no reluctantness as Kimi eased her way into her mother's arms, seeking comfort and support just as the adults seeked the same.

While the sounds of cries and wheezes (mostly from Chas) filled the Finster household, the roaring noises of sirens slowly grew in the distance. However, not one of the family members noticed said sounds until a loud knock was on the door - causing Kimi to recall the morning with a guilty blush on her face.

"Mr. and Mrs. Finster?" Called a voice which knocked on the door again. "It's the police."

Wiping his eyes, Chas released the two woman and carefully walked towards the door. With a final swallow, he turned the door handle and opened the door. Standing not too far away was a middle-aged man with a shaven head and a black mustache. Coughing into his arm, Chas let the man inside.

"Good morning, Mr. Finster and family," he started as he moved inside and let the elder man close the door behind him. With a short and brief sigh, he glanced over the two women. "I'm Mr. Wetzel- Steve for short. I'm here about the case of your son... Chuckie?"

Each Finster visibly flinched at the name. Steve dully took note to avoid speaking the name unless completely necessary.

"Our reports at the moment state that he was driving as you know, with a friend. That being said, we cannot find where his vehicle is nor where it went off the road." Taking out a pad of paper, he read over his notes. "Our only assumptions at the moment is that he either turned off the road as another driver was coming at him, or his friend- Trevor?- caused something to happen."

"Oh.. our Chuckie.." muttered Chas as he turned away from the officer. Blowing into a tissue, the ginger haired male sniffled slightly and let out a long breath. "So.. you don't have any... idea where he is?"

"At the moment? No idea." Fixing his stance, Steve coughed into his arm. "We're currently working on it right now. I suggest that you try and get the word around; the more help we can get around here, the better."

With a small nod, Kira let out a shaky breath and reached out to her daughter who let herself be pulled into another hug. The woman kept her close, afraid of loosing her as well. "Of course, Mr. Wetzel, we will."

"Very well. I'll leave you three be then. Call me if you find anything, please. We need as much information as we can get." With a nod, he opened the door and exited.

The silence came back, eerie and as deadly as evil. While the guilt slowly started to come back to the sixteen and a half year old, she forced those thoughts to go to the back of her mind as the thought of Chuckie in a car crash came.

Her life was actually turning to hell.

Monday morning rolled around slowly for Tommy.

Perhaps it was because he had to clean his entire house by himself, while Dil watched with an amused face and casually added to the mess. Or maybe it was the fact that no one bothered to talk to him at all the entire day- as if there was something they knew and he didn't.

This fact seemed to be even more true as he approached his friends at the table. Or, what would normally be the gang. Only at the table that morning was Phil, Lil, and Dil- the Finsters were missing in action. Folding his arms, it was extremely odd for Chuckie and Kimi to be the last ones there. Perhaps there was just a car problem and they were running late.

Yeah, he could go for that.

Managing a smile, Tommy took a seat next to Phil who barely even managed a movement of his hand. As his dark eyes scanned his friends, they all had the same solemn expression on their faces. "Uh.. What's up guys?"

He was met by three cold stares which seemed to stare right through him. Swallowing, he laughed nervously and took off his bag.

"Well? Don't leave me hanging..."

Shifting in his seat, Phil let out a breath. "Haven't you heard man..?"

"No...?"

Another silence fell over the four of them. No one dared to speak as Tommy stared curiously at the trio, completely unaware and unknowing of what had happened. Narrowing his eyes, the leader shook his head.

"Someone please tell me!"

Frowning, Lil tugged at her bag. "I really think Kimi should tell you, Tommy." She uttered in a soft voice, trying her best to give a smile. "You'll understand then, okay?"

Following suit, Phil stood up while picking up his own bag. "We'll talk then. I'll bring some food."

And like that, the twins were gone and off to their class. With twenty minutes to spare. Furrowing his brow, Tommy turned his gaze to Dil who slowly shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly dude, I don't know. I just wanted to pretend I did."

Shaking his head, Tommy leaned back in his seat and casually took out his phone. It was the best thing he could do at the moment, considering how he was left out of the drama. However, it seemed within the last ten minutes he had managed to get at least thirty new text messages where they either said: "I'm so sorry man" or "get some dude ;)".

And he wished he could joke about that.

Kicking his feet up, he scrolled through the text messages before hearing his name being called out from a couple feet away. "Congrats on the sex man!"

His face briefly flashed red before he managed a smile and waved the kid away before someone else heard. The last thing he needed was his sexual relationship with Kimi to known by everyone in the school. Of course, ever since the party Saturday night it was going to be hard to convince everyone now that wasn't all they did.

"Uh hey Tommy, your girl's here."

Briefly glancing at Dil, Tommy scanned the plethora of high schoolers before his eyes caught onto the one and only. However, a pain came to his heart as he saw the teen's eyes red from what he could only assume tears and dressed in what she'd call comfort clothes. Standing up quickly, he rushed over to her and put an arm around her, hand resting on her waist.

She moved slowly, eyes heavy and breaths feint. Dark orbs stared into him, partially empty and full of something that Tommy just didn't know. Her lips parted, but he paused her by placing a finger over them. They'd speak later, in private. Surely the crowd would take notice of them.

"Let's go somewhere else."

Kimi nimbly nodded while consciously moving herself closer to Tommy. Her hand reached to her pocket slowly before taking out a ring- his class ring. He raised his brow in confusion before hearing her speak. "You left it last week."

"Did I? I don't remember that." However, he shrugged his shoulders and lowered his head, placing a kiss on the side of her temple. His eyes wandered for a moment, wondering where Chuckie was. By this point, any day, the ginger would've given him a few cold looks before cracking a smile- but, he had to take into mind he did catch them basically having sex.

Like that other kid did, and thus... the two of them were getting a lot of stares.

"Hey, let's go to the back hall."

Pausing at their table, he picked up his bag and smiled briefly at Dil who waved and smirked at his older brother. As soon as the two made it to the back hall, Kimi sighed and took herself away from Tommy's (enjoyable) touch. Her gaze shifted to the ground and her lip quivered for the second time in two days.

"Uh... it's about Chuckie."

Blinking, Tommy reached his hands out to hers, which she gradually accepted. "What about him? Is he still angry about the whole ordeal?"

Silence overcame her for a few moments as her breaths nearly stopped. As Kimi closed her eyes, she finally let out a breath in an attempt to not lose control of her emotions. "I meant to tell you earlier... about this, but.." trailing off, Kimi could feel the feeling of sorrow quickly dwelling in her once again. "I really had to spend time with my parents."

Giving her hands a squeeze, Tommy stepped closer to her. "Did you get grounded or something? I texted you last night-"

"- No.." her voice was light, but he could almost feel the heaviness that lied underneath. "Actually, they don't know about that."

"Didn't Chuckie tell them?" Tommy then asked, a little peeved at her responses. Though, the moment he used the aggressive tone against her, he immediately regretted it.

Silence overcame her as soon as the words left his mouth. He watched as her features fell and her eyes watered, as if he just triggered the catastrophic event of a multitude of emotions. And he knew nothing about it either- he had no idea that saying one thing was going to cause the waterworks of a teenage girl. He had much to learn, and he knew that.

The moment the first tear rolled down her cheek he uttered a quick sorry and pulled her closer to him, ignoring the protests and the single shove. However, it didn't take long for Kimi to let herself to be consoled by him- in fact, it took less than a minute. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her face was buried in his chest, half aware that she was going to soak his shirt. He couldn't even tell how long she had been crying for- but all Tommy knew that she had mentioned Chuckie at least five times.

So, it ought to be about him.

As Kimi's cries began to cease, her slowly rubbed circles on her back in an attempt to calm her down. The teenager slowly pulled herself away, hands gradually trailing his chest. "Chuckie's..."

Patience, Pickles, patience. You have to be patient.

"He's.. missing Tommy. I.. I guess he got in a car accident.."

And the only response from Tommy was him going wide eyed and him dropping his things right in the middle of the hallway.

Ah, I can't seem to write long chapters. 2,000 words just isn't even enough for me.

Maybe once I get further into the plot I can manage to write more.

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