Nancy

The audience was picked through. Every fourth or fifth seat in the bleachers was empty. Family members missing. Even students. Rows of foldable metal chairs crowded around the podium and the empty ones left a sour feeling in her stomach. Nancy began counting, but lost track as students and friends filtered through the rows, looking for other classmates, checking the seating order. Parents ducked in and out, snapping photos of their graduates in caps and gowns.

A flash sent starbursts across her vision. "Nancy!" her mom called, waving from their front seat. Holly fidgeted uncomfortably on the wooden bench. "Nancy!" her mom called again, holding the camera up. Nancy tried to smile, bearing her teeth in a forced grimace. The ensuing clicks and flashes turned her attention back to the cold, empty chairs facing the stage.

No Jonathan.

Images from her nightmare resurfaced, unbidden, like stills from a stop motion film. The kiss. His touch. His body wrenched from her embrace. The chilling power of the monster, as it plucked Jonathan away, like a dust mote in the air, and her utter helplessness. His terrified scream. No. It was her scream. The only thing she was capable of was that scream. And gasping.

"Nancy, what's wrong?" Her mom was standing over her, holding her shoulder.

Nancy was doubled over, hyperventilating. Her heart was drumming painfully against her ribs. "Nancy?" She leaned back in her seat, concentrating on slow, even breathing. "Are you nervous?" her mom asked.

Nancy shut her eyes, took one deep breath, looked up at her mom and forced a calm response: "Nerves." She laughed uncomfortably. "I'm going to go to the ladies room. Be right back."

Her mom adopted an it's-for-the-best look and returned to her husband and Holly.

Taped to the side of the pay phone in the school courtyard was a Xeroxed photo of a student holding a saxophone. Nancy punched in the numbers and cradled the phone with both hands, taking deep, steady breaths with each ring.

Thirteen… Fourteen… Fifteen…

"Nancy!" a voice called out.

She looked up, letting the speaker slide an inch below her ear. The principal was holding the door open, one foot on the threshold, giving her an impatient look. "We need to get started, Nancy."

Shooting a cheery smile to the principal, Nancy dropped the handset onto the receiver and slid her fingers across the mouthpiece, wicking away the beads of moisture left from her breath. No one was answering at Jonathan's house anyway.

As she rounded the phone booth, she spotted the Xerox again. Above the student's photo, in blocky letters: Have You Seen Me?


Nancy considered the doorbell, then knocked loudly. A breeze caught the trees in the yard, shifting their leaves so the shadows against the house rotated in ghostly patterns. Nancy tucked her cardigan over her arm. The temperature was supposed to drop tonight, so her mom insisted she bring it. She knocked again and the door swung wide open.

"Congratulations, graduate!" Steve said with a big, hokey grin.

Nancy gave him a hug. "Congratulations," she replied.

"The party's out back," Steve said, gesturing behind him. "Burgers, cake, drinks and, of course, the heated pool. I hope you remembered your bikini this time." Nancy sighed and gave him a sarcastic grin. Harmless though the comment was meant to be, it just reminded her of Barb. And Jonathan. Steve continued, oblivious to Nancy's cool response, "I really liked your speech, Miss Valedictorian. It was very befitting a Yale student."

Nancy laughed at his ridiculousness. "I didn't get into Yale, Steve."

"No?" he asked, feigning utter shock. "Harvard? Duke?" He opened the back door to a patio crowded with friends and family. Spreading his arms in mock unveiling, he said, "Help yourself to food or drinks. I think some people are putting together a volleyball game in the corner. And you can always take a dip in the pool."

Nancy felt overwhelmed by the crowd. "Yeah, thanks. Um, hey, Steve?" She wanted to ask him before he wandered off. "Did you notice how many students were missing from the ceremony?"

But he was being called away by a graying man holding a graduation gift.

A knot of girls she recognized from English class were chatting close to the food table. One broke away and noticed Nancy, waved politely, then remerged with her cohort. Nancy took a couple shuffling steps in their direction, then thought better of it and veered for an open chair at a cute, round table along the edge of the yard. A few women seated nearby were catching up, animatedly recounting stories about their kids or coworkers. Nancy thought they might be Steve's aunts. She scooted her chair a few inches back so she'd be hidden behind their group.

Of course she should be happy and celebrating the occasion. Graduation! Finally! But the relief and joy her peers were reaping was deflating inside of her, making room for a crushing dread that she couldn't quite place. She scanned the tree line along the border of Steve's yard. The last time one of her friends went missing…