Gone (Gone #1)

by Claflin, Stacy

  He'd thought of everything. Even so, there was no way everyone would sit around, was there? She was a kid. The police would be forced to look for her, wouldn't they? Or did they not bother with runaways? Not that they would know to look for her below a barn in the middle of nowhere, probably states away.

  "So, Heather, are you ready for lunch? I made you some vegetable soup—vegan approved."

  Macy's stomach growled again, and her mouth filled with water. She couldn't let him know how much she wanted the soup.

  "I'm not calling you dad. You're not my dad."

  "Eventually, you'll be hungry enough to be agreeable. I thought you'd be now, but it looks like you'll need some more time. I'll leave the bowl up here and you can think about it while I go to the store. I might make some other stops too. Come to think of it, I might be gone for quite a while. Are you sure you don't want to eat now?"

  She wanted to eat it more than anything, but there was no way she was letting him know that. "I'm fine. If you know me so well, you know how I lost my weight. I can go a long time without eating."

  "Suit yourself. You're only human. Oh, that reminds me." He held a bottle of water. "You'll at least need something to drink if you're going to survive. You may be able to go a long time without food, but you can't go long without this. Drink it." Chester dropped it, and as it bounced on the dirt floor, he slammed the trap door shut and locked it.

  Her mouth watered at the thought of the soup, reminding her how parched she was. He was right, and she knew it. She needed water. Macy climbed out of her little nest and ran to the bottle of water, picked it up, and stared at it. It was still factory sealed. There weren't any punctures in it anywhere.

  Why had he given that to her? She told him she would never call him dad. Was he not planning on killing her? Did he want her to live? If that was the case, what was his plan? Did he actually want her to become his daughter? Like that would ever happen.

  She twisted the cap off and guzzled the entire bottle. She put the lid back on and threw it into a corner.

  In the distance, she heard an engine start, followed by tires driving on gravel.

  Sneaking

  Alex sprawled out across his messy bed, playing games on his cell phone and trying to distract himself from how stressed and worried he was. It didn't fix anything, but at least he could get his mind off Macy for a little while.

  As if it wasn't bad enough that Macy had taken off—or been killed, by the sounds of what the police thought—he and his parents had been questioned. Zoey, too. She had to be as worried as he was. She'd been besties with Macy for as long has he could remember.

  He moved up a level in Factoryville, and then chucked his phone across the room. He didn't care about any of the games. Not now. The police had said they were going to go through Macy's room if she didn't turn up soon, and told them not to leave town. Where would they go? Jerks.

  Rolling over onto his back, he stared at a poster of his favorite band on the ceiling. When would Zoey call? It felt like forever since he saw her at the station. He hoped she was okay. She seemed about as well as could be expected, but that was before talking with the cops.

  Alex's parents had been in the room when he was questioned, since he was a minor. The same should hold true for Zoey. He would feel a lot better being able to talk with her.

  If they could talk, maybe they could figure out what really happened. What two people were closer to Macy, really? Sure, Macy and Alex didn't spill their secrets to each other, but they were pretty close. That was why she put up with his teasing. It was their thing. Always had been.

  The doorbell rang, and Alex groaned. Let it be Zoey, and not the cops. He could tell by the way they looked at him that they didn't like him. His hair was past his ears, and he liked it scraggly. The older cop seemed to have him pegged as a thug. Did he seriously suspect that Alex had anything to do with it? That was ridiculous.

  Opening his door, Alex could hear muffled conversation downstairs. At least it was a break from his parents arguing. They didn't get along anymore since Dad had started that blog. People online started thinking his dad was all that, so his head got big and he walked around upset that he didn't get the same respect at home.

  Alex thought about closing his door to continue hiding, but he wanted to find out what was going on. Maybe the police had found something. Macy's picture was all over the TV. Every discussion on social media was about her, too. That's why Alex had been playing games—he didn't want to read any more crazy theories. His friends had come up with everything from alien abduction to witness protection.

  If Alex didn't stay away, he would end up beating the crap out of half the student body on Monday. Let them talk, but he wasn't going to have anything to do with it. He made his way downstairs and saw his parents talking with three cops. One officer he hadn't seen at the station tipped his hat. Alex nodded back and stood a distance away, not wanting to be dragged into the conversation.

  It didn't sound as though they had anything new to share.

  "We need to search the house and we need you to step outside while we do," said the one who had given Alex the evil eye back at the station.

  "What?" Alex exclaimed. He looked at his parents, begging them to say no. "Why do we have to leave? We didn't do anything wrong."

  Hat-tipper looked at him. "Then you have nothing to worry about, son. We should be in and out of here in no time. If there are any clues to your sister's disappearance, then we need to find them sooner rather than later. The first twenty-four hours are critical."

  Alex frowned. "Can I go back and get my cell phone?"

  Jerkwad shook his head. "No can do. You can have it back when we're done. Now, please step out of the house."

  "Fine." Alex walked past his parents and the cops, out the door.

  Alyssa looked at him. "You can put your shoes on."

  He glared at the jerk cop. "Wouldn't want to interfere with the investigation."

  Chad narrowed his eyes. "Alex, it's the middle of November. Put some shoes on. Why are you being like this?"

  "Why? Because my sister is missing and we're being treated like criminals."

  "That's how he expresses sorrow." Chad picked up a pair of flip-flops and flung them at Alex.

  He caught them. "Awesome." After putting them on, Alex walked down their walkway. "Am I allowed to walk down the street?" He didn't wait for a response before making his way to the sidewalk. He looked down the street and saw Zoey's mom's car parked in front of their house, two doors down.

  Before he even made it to their driveway, Zoey ran outside. "Sorry I didn't call you. My mom wouldn't stop talking to me. I swear, she needs to get married and leave me alone."

  "That won't solve anything. Trust me."

  "True. Your parents haven't been getting along lately."

  "Want to go to the park? The cops are going through my house."

  "That bites. We're probably next, though. Yeah, let's go there."

  Alex grabbed her hand, and they walked the three blocks to the park in silence. They went to their typical hiding spot underneath a tree with many swooping branches and sat down against the trunk, hidden from the world. Zoey leaned her head against his chest.

  "Where do you think she is?" asked Alex.

  "I hope she's having a good time with Jared, but the fact that he's gotten rid of everything identifying worries me. Why would he do that? I went through the messages he sent me, and there's nothing in there about him. All he did was ask me about Macy and say how much he wanted to make her happy. The police even said that sounds really suspicious."

  "They should try to get into his account."

  Zoey looked at him. "They did. They called customer support and everything. He covered his tracks by hiding his IP address or whatever. I don't know all that lingo."

  "So, basically, they have no idea where or who Jared is."

  "Nope." She pulled out a cigarette. "Want one?"

  "I'll share with you. Sorry I got you hooked."
>
  "I'm not hooked. I can stop anytime. I think it'll take the edge off." She lit it, took a drag, and then handed it to him.

  Alex took the longest, slowest drag he could manage. He wanted to make it last since they were sharing. He didn't want to admit how good it felt. He knew if his sister was there, she would be mad at both of them, especially for encouraging each other.

  They sat in silence until the cigarette was gone. Alex shoved it into the ground, twisting it back and forth.

  Zoey leaned back against him. "What do you think is going to happen?"

  He shrugged. "At home, I keep expecting her to walk around the corner. I know she's not there, but I keep thinking she's going to. It's stupid."

  "No, it's not. I keep waiting for her to text me or something. I keep wanting to call her, but then I remember I can't."

  "Do you think Jared was real? Or some old creeper?"

  "I don't think it was the kid in the picture. He looked too sweet and innocent to do anything wrong. You know, the kind of guy who would insist on opening her door, not talk her into running away."

  "What if we never see her again?"

  "It's too soon to think like that."

  "But you said—"

  "Remember all those positive thinking CDs your parents used to make us all listen to when we were kids? If there's any truth to them, what Macy needs is for us to thinking she's going to come back. She needs our positive thoughts. They'll reach her and help her."

  "You really believe that crap?"

  "I don't know. It seemed to work."

  "Did you actually try?"

  "Yeah. Maybe."

  "It didn't help my family. My parents fight all the time and they pushed Macy away."

  "But they don't listen to those anymore, do they?"

  Alex shook his head.

  Zoey took his hand and slid her fingers through his. "See? They got along when they did. Remember?"

  "I guess."

  "They did. I was jealous. Trust me."

  He wrapped his arm around her and sighed. "This whole thing sucks balls."

  "It's an effing nightmare. When she comes back, I'm going to give her a hug, then I'm gonna slap her across the face."

  "You and me both."

  "When she comes back, we really should tell her about us."

  Alex looked at her in surprise. "You think so?"

  "Well, yeah. I always feel bad about keeping it from her. I was afraid she'd hate me. But if she cares about us, she'll be happy for us. Then we could all hang out together. We won't have to hide from her."

  "Your parents would never let you spend the night again. We wouldn't get easy make out sessions anymore."

  "Who said anything about telling them?"

  They sat for a while, watching the feet of people go by and listening to kids squeal and shout at each other. Alex thought back to when they were all kids. Zoey had practically grown up with him and Macy.

  She had been like a sister to him his whole life until last summer. Somehow she'd started to seem different to him. Then one night, Macy fell asleep while they'd all been watching a scary movie. A frightening scene came on, and both Alex and Zoey screamed. They looked at each other and laughed, but when they made eye contact, something changed.

  When the movie ended, they sat there on the couch, talking for hours. They stayed up until about four, discussing everything from what the scariest movie was to which Pokémon was the strongest. They laughed over old memories and talked about jerks at school. Then, heart pounding, Alex made the riskiest move of all. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, not knowing if she would push him away or kiss back.

  Zoey had kissed him back, surprising him with her passion. He had expected her to shove him on the floor and tell on him. They decided not to tell Macy—or anyone.

  For some stupid reason, it was okay for guys to go out with girls two years younger, but girls couldn't. They had always planned on eventually coming clean to Macy. She deserved to know, and if anyone was going to figure them out it would have been her, but as far as they could tell, she was clueless. She definitely didn't know that when Alex snuck out, he was meeting with Zoey.

  Zoey had been afraid to tell Macy and lose her best friend. Even though Alex and Macy bickered, she was quite protective of her little brother. She always had been. One time, a girl from school had been teasing Macy and she said some remark about Alex becoming sexy. That was the one time they had seen Macy get really pissed. She went off on that girl like nothing Alex had ever seen. He had thought for sure that Macy was going to deck the girl, but she had stormed off instead.

  Macy wouldn't stand up for herself when it came to kids at school, but when someone said something about Alex, the inner monster had been released. Alex didn't want to have that turned on Zoey, and Zoey didn't want her lifelong best friend hating her.

  Zoey sat up straight. "I can feel my phone vibrating. I'm sure Mom wants me back home."

  "I should probably get back too. My parents are going to freak out and not let me go anywhere now that Macy's gone. My days of sneaking out are about to end. What are you going to say about smelling like smoke?"

  She flipped her hair back. "The usual. I ran into kids smoking at the park."

  He nodded and then kissed her, hoping she wouldn't get mad at him for kissing her while Macy was gone. Instead, she kissed him back, holding him tighter than usual. Her phone vibrated again, and he could feel it.

  Zoey stood. "I should go before my mom has a nervous breakdown."

  "Yeah. Me too."

  She gave him a quick kiss and then walked away. He watched her until she disappeared from sight.

  Anxiety

  Macy leaned against the bale of hay she had been pushing and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was determined to pile them up so she could reach the wood near the ceiling. She had been staring it at it long enough. She knew that if she could reach it, she could pull the boards loose and squeeze through.

  Sure, she didn't really have a plan beyond that. She didn't know how to get off the farm, or where to go once she reached a main road. She had to take everything one step at a time and the first thing was to get the bales piled on top of each other.

  She looked around, searching for a way up to the boards before the madman came back. She didn't know how long he had been gone, but it felt like forever. He was bound to be back soon.

  What did he have planned for her? Would he let her starve if she never caved and called him Dad? She didn't have the best relationship with her own dad, but she wasn't going to give in and disown him.

  Too exhausted to even attempt pushing one of the heavy bales on top of another, she paced the room. As she thought about how she was going to get out, her mind wandered back home. Was anyone worried about her?

  If that jerk was smart enough to remove her cell phone battery, there was no way anyone would ever find her. She remembered when her dad had gotten those phones. How could she forget? He had gone on for nearly an hour explaining how they would always know where she and Alex were with those. Macy and her brother had rolled their eyes at each other, both knowing they could leave their phones somewhere if they were going to sneak anywhere.

  Not that Macy was one to sneak around. Her brother was the master of sneaking in and out. She knew he was seeing friends who smoked with him, but she wasn't about to tattle. He assured her that he wasn't doing any other drugs. She had told him that as long as he wasn't doing anything dangerous, she would keep their parents out of it.

  Macy was sure if she ever got back home, she wouldn't sneak out again. At least not to meet someone she had never met before.

  "Focus!" She shook her head. Thinking about all that wasn't going to help her get back home. Or even out of the barn.

  She continued to pace in circles, staring at the bales of hay and the wood she was determined to peel away. As she walked, the room felt like it got smaller. She felt it might close in on her if she didn't do something soon.

  With a sudd
en burst of determination, she ran at the nearest bale of hay and pushed on it as hard as she could from the bottom. It moved up into the air a couple of inches before dropping. Macy moved her fingers out of the way in time.

  She balled up her fists and went to the other side of the room, startling the rodents. She narrowed her eyes at the bale and crouched down as though in a race.

  "Ready. Set. Go." She ran at the hay and used her momentum to push it up. It went up farther but soon dropped down again. Not to be deterred, she returned to the other end of the room and repeated the imaginary race. She got the bale a little higher, but again, it dropped.

  She repeated the process about five more times until she was too tired to try again. She lay down on the bale she had made a bed of and kicked her feet in frustration. She pounded on the wall next to her, not caring that it hurt her hands. She felt blood dripping down. All she had to do was pile up the hay and she could get out, but she couldn't even do that.

  Light shone through the boards, mocking her. She pounded on the wall harder, so much so that little specks of dirt fell onto her, getting on her face. She wiped them away, and leaned against the wall. Hot, angry tears fell to her face, and she did nothing to stop them.

  She let herself sob. Feeling the pain deep down in her gut, she let out a scream. She heard the animals move around above. She didn't care. She screamed again, that time louder.

  "Why did I get into that truck? Why was I so stupid?" She got up, tears still pouring down her face, and kicked the hay. "And why won't you help me, you stupid bales?"

  Macy reached down and pulled out pieces of hay, throwing them around herself. She grabbed more and threw them too. They came out easier where she had been kicking. She pulled out as many as would come and chucked them around the suffocating, little room. She let out another scream for good measure.

  "Why? Why? Why?" She leaned against a wall and slid down until she was sitting on the ground. How had she been stupid enough to get herself into this situation? No one else she knew had been kidnapped. Only her. She had to be a special kind of stupid. It was no wonder no one at school ever wanted anything to do with her. In fact, the only guy who ever had any kind of an interest in her was a fake. He was a stalker. Some old dude, determined to turn her into his probably-dead daughter.