The Little Tragedy by Jeff Haws

Author:Jeff Haws [Haws, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781945768071
Published: 2018-12-04T22:00:00+00:00

Laura had seen Stephen go up the stairs, and she continued toward the kitchen, Amanda following close behind. She’d walked through here only a few minutes before and there was no sign of Ryan, but she was hoping she’d missed something.

“Ryan!” she said, trying to mask the panic in her voice. “Ryan, honey. Are you in here?”

Behind her, Amanda opened the pantry, but saw only boxes of cereal and cans of vegetables staring back at her. It was a narrow entry, and she thought it would be a tight squeeze even for a child of ten.

Laura turned the corner and opened the coat closet. Perhaps he was playing some sort of game with them. He wasn’t really the type for those games, though. Kevin when he was younger, would have done this sort of thing. But it would have been out of character for Ryan. She heard Amanda saying his name as the pantry door slammed shut, and Laura thought Ryan almost couldn’t possibly be in the house unless he was badly hurt, unconscious, or dead. He couldn’t just ignore them like this.

Events of the morning flashed through her head—drying her eyes on a bathroom towel, then walking to Ryan’s room to give him a censored version of what happened, and why the cops had been there. When she didn’t see him, she figured he’d wandered downstairs to eat breakfast. She went to the kitchen, but it was quiet, no empty glass by the sink that Ryan might have used to drink his orange juice. No empty granola bar wrapper. No wet glass ring on the island. She peeked into the living room, but the couch was empty, as was the recliner in the corner. Everything was still. She looked out the window into the front yard, white media vans still lining the block, a few reporters standing outside smoking or chomping on granola bars. No Ryan.

Laura went back upstairs and re-checked his bedroom, looking around his bed, in the closet. It was as if he’d vanished, been beamed up from Earth to another planet. Then something caught her eye. His phone was on his bedside table. That was the moment worry turned to something more, buzzers sounding in her head, red lights flashing to spur her into some sort of action. He never went anywhere without his phone. That was his game room. His lifeline. His companion. If he had any friends, his phone was his best. She nearly tumbled twice on her way downstairs, then flung the back door open.

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