(28)-The Missing.

6:00 AM

As the bus drove through Arvada, heading for the state of Utah, Kyle scrolled through pictures of him and Cobey on his phone he had taken last night back at the hotel after they and Megan settled in, some of the two of them and some with just Cobey. Kyle sat on the right side of the vehicle in the second seat, his duffle-bag and backpack in the first one. Looking at the photos of him and Cobey now felt weird. Was it really only last night when they were taken? It didn't feel like it, it felt longer than that. Way longer. A lifetime ago, to be exact. But he knew better. These photos weren't taken years ago, they were taken yesterday. Here he was glancing at pictures that weren't even a day old, yet it seemed like they were taken a long time ago. After everything that had happened since then, it felt more like a glimps into another world. He wondered where Cobey was now, if he was safe, if he was hurt, if he was alive, if he would ever be found. Kyle immediately shut down those negative thoughts and logged out of the pictures before turning his phone off and putting it back in his right pants-pocket. He didn't wanna think about Cobey anymore. Not because he didn't care about him, but because he cared too much and he didn't wanna worry himself crazy over it.

Wanting to distract himself, Kyle un-zipped his backpack, reached inside and pulled out a missing persons poster of Michael and looked at it. He had secretly made multiple copies of this and had kept them stored away in his backpack, hidden from his mother, as he knew she would've changed her mind on letting him go on this journey if she knew the whole point of it was to find his brother. He had planned on putting the posters up everywhere he went, but since Megan had promised to give one of posters to her police chief uncle and put it up on social media, she had saved him the trouble of having to go through all of that. But he would still hand out more of them in Utah to other people to cover more ground. As Kyle gazed at the picture of his long lost brother, he wondered what his life had been like since he graduated college in 2022. Like where was he now, where did he live, did he have a home, was he living on the streets, was he homeless? Questions that there were not so different from the thoughts he'd had regarding Cobey's where-abouts and safety. Thinking about the 9-year old kid again, Kyle now realized he now had two people missing from his life. His brother, Michael, and his new friend, Cobey. He had gotten this poster of his brother out in the hopes of distracting himself from his thoughts about Cobey, but all he'd managed to do was add to them un-answered questions about his brother's currant status. It was all over-whelming. Too over-whelming, even for him.

Deciding he was done looking at the poster, Kyle placed the poster back in his backpack, zipped it closed, leaned his head up against the window, closed his eyes...and then driffted off to sleep.

(Scene in 30s retro footage.)

In an emerald green glowing field of tulips, Cobey looked at the sight before him for a moment before looking back at the emerald green tornado that had brought him here to this land, followed by it ascending back up into the glowing emerald green cloud-covered sky and the clouds vanishing afterwards, revealing the tulips to be a beautiful rainbow-colored field. Cobey gazed at the beautiful scene around him with an open-mouth smile. But it wasn't just the area's beauty he was amazed by, no. It was the fact of knowing where he was. How could he not? He could tell just by looking at the field he was standing in. It looked like the rainbow tulip field in the 'WICKED'-2024 film.

There was no doubt in his mind where he was.

Cobey was in Oz.

As in THE land of Oz. The magical world he had read about in books and seen in movies. A placethat was labled as mere fantasy back home in the real world. And yet...here he was. Standing in an open field of rainbow tulip-flowers he only seen on the big screen in the Arvada movie theater last year when he and Megan went to see the movie, Wicked, as part of a friends' night out. Until now, he had only got to experience Oz through books and movies. Now he had a chance to experience it in real life.

Eager to explore the land, Cobey took off running through the field with his arms out like the wings of an airplane...heading for MunchkinLand...in the middle of the field

6:10 AM

Kyle's eyes shot open as he shot up straight in his seat. "What in the world?" He asked himself, not sure what to think of the dream he'd just had concerning Cobey. What was with all these dreams he was having about Oz? And why was Cobey in this one he just had? Was it somehow connected to his disappearance? Of course not. What was he thinking? Oz was just a storyland invented in the form of books and movies. A fairytale. A mere fantasy world and nothing more. It wasn't that he didn't wanna believe it, it was just that it was too far-fetched to believe, even for him. As someone who firmly believed in the paranormal since the age of 5, Kyle had always been convinced that there was more in the world than what he could see. But the idea of Oz being a real place was jumping the shark. If it did in fact exist, wouldn't he have heard about it on the internet? Yes, he would have. After all, the internet pretty much revealed everything, even well kept secrets. But if Oz wasn't real, then why did he have that dream about Cobey being there? Being no stranger to belief in the existence of other worlds, Kyle started to wonder if maybe Oz existed in another dimension. That would explain why Cobey was there in the dream he'd just had. Or maybe it was because he had been thinking about the boy before dozing off. Yeah. Yeah, that had to be the case. What other explanation could there have been, besides the theory of Oz being real?

*Buzzing*

Kyle's phone buzzed in his right pants-pocket and he got it out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Kyle?" Came the voice of Megan on the phone.

"Megan?" Kyle asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's me. I was just calling to see if you made it to the bus station. Did you?" Megan said.

"Yeah, i did, i...i'm on an 80s bus to Utah right now. Wait. How are you calling me, how did you get my cell-number?" Kyle said.

"I had my uncle trace your phone with his computer at the police station, log into it and...here i am calling you." Megan said.

"The cops can do that?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, they can. But only in important matters and in case of emergencies." Megan said.

"Doesn't sound like this is an emergency." Kyle said.

"No, but it is important." Megan said.

"Let's hear it." Kyle said.

"I just wanted to let you know that i gave the missing persons' poster to my uncle and he's made several copies of it. He's planning to send the officers out to put them up all over Arvada, as well as make and send more copies to all of the other police departments in Colorado. So all that's left for me to do now is put the poster up on social media." Megan said.

"You think that'll work?" Kyle asked.

"Kyle, this guy's picture's gonna be up all over Colorado and social media. Odd's are someone is bound to have seen him." Megan said.

"I guess the chances are 100-purcent likely." Kyle said. "Yes!" He said lowly and excitedly.

"Excited about finding this person?" Megan asked.

"Before, i couldn't wait for him to leave. Now i can't wait to find him." Kyle said.

"Kyle...can i ask you a question?" Megan asked.

"Sure." Kyle said.

"Back at the hotel...you mentioned that someone needed your help and you weren't there for them. May i ask who this someone was?" Megan said.

"...My older brother." Kyle said.

"Were your parents hurting him?" Megan asked.

"No, not both of them, just...just one of them. My Dad." Kyle answered.

"Was he abusive?" Megan asked, concerned.

"Very. But only to my brother, Michael." Kyle said.

"The guy in the missing person's poster you gave to me?" Megan questioned.

"Yeah. I was my Dad's favorite growing up. I think that's why Mike was so mean to me when we were kids. You know, beat me up a lot." Kyle said.

"Why didn't you or your Mom call 9-1-1 or CPS?" Megan asked.

"Our Mom? She didn't know. We never told her. And i couldn't call 9-1-1 or CPS because we don't have those things in Prairie Grove. Although there has been talk about installing a sheriff station this year. Anyway, long story short, my Dad left in 2017 when i was still 9, followed by my brother leaving in 2018 after graduating high school. My Mom and i went to his college graduation in 2022. And we haven't seen or heard from him since. That's why i'm here in Colorado on this journey. I'm hoping to find him so we can patch things up and have the kind of relationship we should've had as brothers when we were kids." Kyle explained.

"Well, i hope it works out well for you, Kyle. I'll send you my phone number so that we can stay in touch. Goodbye." Megan said.

"Bye." Kyle said before hanging up. He then started texting his mother, which read

Hey, Mom, it's me.

On a bus to Utah.

Text you when i arrive.

Love you.

Kyle then sent the text to his mother's phone, then started texting Charlotte, with it reading

Hi, Charlie, it's me.

I'm on an 80s bus to Utah.

I'll text you later when i arrive.

Kyle.

Kyle sent the text to Charlotte's phone, he recieved a text from Megan that was her phone number, which was

903-465-987-1101.

The 18-year old boy texted Megan

Thanks.

He sent the text to Megan and she replied back

You're welcome.

Kyle then installed Megan's number into his phone before turning it off and putting it back in his right pants-pocket. He then retrieved his iPod from his left pants-pocket, put the buds in his ears, then selected the 80s song-'EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE' by The Police.

Every breath you take

And every more you make

Every bond you break, every step you take

I'll be watchin' you

Every single day

And every word you say

Every game you play, every night you stay

I'll be watchin' you.

The song kept playing as the bus drove through Arvada, heading for the state of Utah.

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