John B's jerked into his pocket as he felt his phone vibrate. His heart sank as he saw the message was from Kie, her new message illuminated through his cracked home screen.
He read, "Anything from JJ yet?"
John B. stole a glance up at his biology teacher, who was facing away from the class to write on the whiteboard, as he quickly typed out a response that he still hadn't heard anything.
"Hey!" Pope's whisper came from the desk behind him. John B. turned around in his seat, and Pope mouthed, his eyes trained steadily on the teacher's back, "JJ?"
John B. shook his head, his sandy hair bobbing back and forth. He whispered back, "Nothing. I'm going to cut after this class and…."
"Ahem." John B saw Pope's eyes go wide as the teacher cleared his throat loudly. Great. John B sighed, turning to face the front.
Their teacher, Mr. Kelley, was staring at them with his eyebrows raised. "Anything you wish to share with the class, Jonathon?"
"Not really, Mr. Kelley." John B replied.
"You sure?" Mr. Kelley replied. "It looks like you and Mr. Heyward were having quite the conversation there. Must be something worth talking about."
"Yeah, uh, Pope and I were just talking about today's lesson." John B pointed towards the whiteboard. "I was just asking what you had meant when you said that the mitochondria is the "power house of the cell?" What's that mean?"
Pope jumped in. "And I was just telling him that it just means that it produces the energy for the cell."
"Ohhhhhh….." John B. said, exaggeratedly shaking his head. "Yup, now it all makes sense." He smiled.
"Uh-huh. Well if you have any more questions, please make sure and direct them to myself. You're teacher." Mr. Kelley said, slowly turning back towards the board. "Now as I was saying…"
The lesson continued, but John B couldn't focus, his attention constantly shifting towards the empty desk two rows down – JJ's normal spot. He had been supposed to come over last night but had never shown up, and no one had seen or heard from him since. It wasn't entirely unlike JJ to disappear for a while – doing whatever it was that JJ did – but John B couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was almost noon and JJ was still awol, so John B had made up his mind to cut after this class to go looking.
His foot tapped nervously as Mr. Kelley droned on, John B trading glances between the clock mounted on the wall and JJ's empty desk.
…
John B, Pope, and Kie sat in silence as the twinkie took a left turn past a deserted gas station, the windows broken and boarded, onto a dirt road that would lead them to JJ's neighborhood. When Pope and Kie had heard about his plan to cut after biology, they had refused to let him go alone.
"I hate this street." Pope's voice came from the back seat.
"Yeah, well, so does JJ." Kie said moodily next to John B, her knees tucked up onto the chair of the front seat.
John B glanced at Pope through the rearview mirror, meeting his eyes for a second before flicking them back towards the road. He nodded in agreement. "My dad never let me come here when I was a kid. Not that he would've ever let me stay with JJ anyways."
"So…" Kie said. "He didn't say anything else last night? Just that he needed to run home?"
"Yes, Kie, that's exactly what he said. Still hasn't changed." John B snapped back.
"Woah, woah." Pope said from the back seat. Kie shot John B an angry stare and folded her arms, looking out the window.
John B. looked over at her apologetically. "Sorry, I'm just worried."
"So am I, but it doesn't give you a right to be a dick about it." Kie returned.
"I know. It's just…I've known JJ a long time. I mean, like since we were kids. And him going missing and not telling me anything is never a good sign. It wasn't good last time." John B stepped on the gas pedal a little harder, the acceleration kicking up clouds of dirt trailing behind them.
"And what happened last time?" Kie turned towards him.
Pope and John B exchanged glances through the rearview mirror.
"What?" Kie challenged. "I'm sorry, I thought we were pogues, right? As in we don't share secrets from each other? Cut the melodrama and spill."
Pope said slowly, "A couple of years back, JJ went missing and we couldn't find him, like…for good. We searched everywhere for weeks and couldn't find anything. Finally, my dad heard something from one of his business friends that DCS had been called and JJ was off living in some foster home on the mainland. We didn't see him again until halfway through the school year, and when he got back…"
"When he got back, he wasn't JJ." John B finished, glancing over at her. "He was fucked up, Kie. Like, more than I'd ever seen him. He's never really talked to me about it."
"I don't think you'd met him yet, Kie." Pope said. "But he wasn't ever really the same after that."
"And you think that maybe that happened again?" Kie asked, looking between them.
"I hope not." John B. returned.
"Drive faster." Kie said, her gaze hardening.
….
Pulling up the driveway, all the lights were off in JJ's house, the porch a cluttered mess of rusting mechanical junk and empty bottles.
"Shit." Pope said as they saw JJ's bike lay discarded on its side in the front yard, peeking out from a section of tall grass next to Luke's old pick-up truck. As John B. pulled up to the front of the house, Kie flung open her door and ran up to the porch, Pope right behind her.
"JJ!" Kie yelled, pounding on the door with her fist. "JJ!"
"I'll check the back." John B called. He picked his way carefully through the long grass, making a path towards the back door. The inside of the house remained dark and quiet as he heard the echoes of his friend's yelling JJ's name in the background. He stepped carefully over the broken step leading up to the back door and tried the handle to find it was locked. John B stepped to the side to peer into the window, trying to make out anyone inside, when he noticed the window lock flipped to the open position. He pushed up on the window frame, which slide upwards with a groan.
"Hey, guys!" John B called. "I got a window!" Kie and Pope ran up behind him as he popped the window screen out of its frame with a pocket knife and set it down on the ground.
"JJ?" John B. called inside. "Luke?" John B. turned towards Pope and Kie. "I think I should be the one to go in first. I don't know if Luke's here, but if he is, he at least knows me. Kinda."
"But that doesn't mean that he's going to be okay with you being in his house." Kie returned.
"Yeah, but better someone he knows than someone he doesn't," John B said. "And you shouldn't go in there anyway, Kie. Luke can be violent, especially if he's drunk. I think you should wait out here."
"I agree with that." Pope said solemnly. "We can go in and let you know if it's safe."
Kie stared at them, her eyes narrowed and her hands on her hips. "If it's safe." She said in a mocking voice. "You think JJ gets to come here "if it's safe?". And I am not afraid of some back-water, drug-mule, sorry excuse for a human being. Now are you going in first or am I?" She stared expectantly at John B.
"Fine." John B. said. "But if it gets dangerous, you have to leave. Deal?"
"Fine." She retorted.
"Go in back." John B nodded at Pope, then ducked through the window, Kie then Pope following closely behind. "JJ?" John B whispered loudly, relieved to see that Luke wasn't sleeping on the couch. John B. turned back towards his friends, beckoning them silently to follow him up the stairs. John B could hear his heart hammering in his chest as the stairs creaked loudly underneath them. His stomach plummeted as he caught sight of a broken bottle, sticky with blood, lying discarded on the edge of the stairs. "JJ!" He called frantically, running up the stairs and pushing open the door into his room. His eyes were immediately drawn to the large, red, blood stain that had dripped down from the wall and pooled on the floor. "No, no, no, no.." He muttered underneath his breath, taking in the scene.
"What?" Kie called from behind him, "What is it?" She ran into the room, pushing past John B. She gasped. "JJ!?" She called frantically, her voice cracking. "JJ!? Where are you?" She ran out of the room, beginning to search the rest of the house.
John B, sat down on the bed, staring blankly at his hands. Pope sat down next to him and they rested in silence for a moment.
"He has to get out of here," Pope said softly. "It's killing him."
John B. dragged his hands over his face. "I know. Trust me, I know."
Kie ran into the room, her eyes red. "He's not here." She choked out. "I searched everywhere, but he's not…"
Pope stood up pulling her into a hug. "It's okay." He said, "We'll find him."
They froze in silence as John B.'s phone began to vibrate. John B. looked down in shock as JJ's contact number popped up on his phone.
John B. felt numb as he swiped to answer the call. "Hello?" He heard himself say.
"Hey, John B." JJ's voice sounded tired and strained. "Sorry I missed last night, but I had the weirdest thing happen…."