Disappearing Boy
Uploaded by Ethan on Nov 09, 2002
In the morning, she went in to check on her son as usual. She knocked gently and pushed the door open. The morning light was obscured by the half-drawn blind. She stood for a moment, looking around the boy’s room in the dimness. She pulled on the blind and sunlight engulfed the room. She looked over to the bed, but he was not there. He couldn’t be up already or she would have heard him. She called his name as she opened the wardrobe and looked under the bed, but she could not find him. She searched the house, and he was not there either. He must have gone out early, she told herself, but when she cast her eyes over to the front door, she saw the security chain was fastened, which was only possible from the inside.
She sat on the couch and gathered her dressing gown around her as a coldness descended over her. She pulled it tighter, but continued shivering. This was not like him. It just wasn’t right. She looked at the clock and realised she was late. She dressed herself and drank a glass of milk and left for work. He would be home tonight. She knew it.
But he wasn’t. She opened the front door and called his name. She listened to the silence of the house and quickly checked his room again. Nothing had changed. She rang his school, but he had not been there, either. She felt like she was going to be sick. Her hands were shaking when she picked up the phone to call the police. She told the operator what had happened and sat on the couch biting her nails as she waited for them to come.
She cast her mind back to the holiday the two of them had last year. She remembered how he had played in the beach sand with the little kids and how he seemed so concerned about the homeless people. She was interrupted by a solid knock on the door. The two policemen seemed sincere enough, but she knew they didn’t care. How could they? They had never met him, could not understand her loss. It wasn’t like he had been abducted; perhaps that would have been better, at least she would know what had happened. But she didn’t. He was gone. She couldn’t tell them when, where or how. The policemen said he had...