Their Last Summer

Coordinates (2023)

I can't believe Maggie did this. She knows Victoria is possibly dangerous. I get up and run out of my room.

"Henry what's wrong?" My mom asks, looking at me worried.

"Maggie", is all I can manage to say before I'm out the door.

I need to get to her. I'm in such a rush I don't even check my brakes.Oh well if they're cut. When did Maggie send that text anyway? I whip out my phone and look. Maggie sent that message around 4:00 p.m. It was now 6:00 p.m. That leaves two whole hours. Anything could happen in that span of time. I hit the call button while riding down the road. It goes straight to voicemail. I try three more times. Each one has the same result. I slam my hand on the steering wheel. Why would she do this?

I speed the whole way to Victoria's. I pray a cop doesn't see me. That would only give Victoria more time to carry out her crazy plan on Maggie. I spend the whole ride going over what could've happened in my mind. Is she even at Victoria's still?

I finally pull up to Victoria's trailer. I jump out my truck and run up the few steps leading to the front door. It's wide open. What? This can't be right.

"MAGGIE!" I yell. I listen for any sounds. "MAGGIE! IT'S HENRY! I'M HERE!"

I still don't hear any answer. I walk in further. The living room and kitchen are a mess. There's a few objects that have been knocked to the floor. I run to the back rooms. I open the first door, it's a bathroom. I pull back the shower curtain. No Maggie. I don't waste time before going to the next. It's a bedroom. There's beer cans thrown across the floor and the mattress looks dirty and stained. I walk in further, despite the horrible smell. I check in the closet and around the room.

When I find nothing I go to the last bedroom. This must be Victoria's. I open the door and no one's in here. Victoria's room has posters everywhere and weird pieces of junk scattered around. What am I supposed to do now? I try calling Maggie again, but it declines. My adrenaline rush is wearing out, and I'll be left with the harsh reality of Maggie being missing before long. I need to find her before she ends up with June's fate.

Maybe there's a clue? I mean if Victoria texted Maggie she had this thing planned out. I go to her nightstand and open a drawer. I pull out a few vapes and random things, but it's nothing that would lead me anywhere. I check all the typical hiding spots, under the bed, in the air vent, behind dressers, but it all comes up empty. Would she hide anything in her dad's room? I doubt it, but I'll check there last just in case.

I go to the kitchen and start rummaging through cabinets. Besides expired food there's nothing. I slump to the floor. I can't lose Maggie to the same person who took June. I look around, trying to think of how the interaction would've played out.

Maggie would've gotten here and banged on the door. Victoria would open in and Maggie would barge her way in. What happens after that? Does Victoria try to attack her and Maggie fight back? Is that why there's so many things knocked to the ground? Or was Maggie attacking Victoria? No, she wanted answers. Maggie wouldn't have jeopardized getting them by attacking Victoria. This is all making my head hurt. I get up and walk toward the first fallen object, a picture frame.

I lift it up to see Victoria and her dad, it was from when Victoria was little. This was right by the door, so did Victoria drag Maggie out? I walk to the next one, it's a glass angel. The was a few feet away from the picture frame. I pick it up and examine it. The left wing is broke, so it had to have been pushed from the left side. That would mean Maggie came all the way into the living room. Did she sit down? I walk over to the couch and see a few beads.

I instantly think about Maggie's blue bracelet she always wears. These are the same beads! So Maggie was here! This puts Maggie inside Victoria's home, and shows there was violence. There's no way Victoria gets away with this when the police are contacted. I take my phone out and snap a picture. I look over some more and see a cup on the floor, some kind of liquid has been spilt from it.

I turn around and see a coffee table. On it is a notebook. I grab it and open to the first page. Maybe this is where Victoria plotted all her crimes.

The only thing I see are numbers, "34038281729912". What? This makes no sense. Maybe this was something entirely different than what I'm looking for. I drop the notebook and head back to Victoria's room. There has to be something in here. I look all around. If I was plotting to kidnap someone where would I hide everything? I've already checked the obvious hide outs. Just for good measure I go back through all the drawers. I check my phone, 7:00 p.m. I've wasted an hour looking for clues.

Maybe I should call the cops. It's starting to get late and I'm nowhere close to figuring out where they went. I look at a random poster on the wall. It's a picture of the earth on a grid. I walk closer. It's like something is on the tip of my mind. A globe and lines. What is it? I look over the whole poster and then behind it. I take a step back and see there's little numbers at the sides. Numbers. Numbers. Coordinates?

I try to think back to where I saw numbers at. The notebook! Is that what was in it? Coordinates? I race to the coffee table and pick up the notebook I had previously pushed to the side as irrelevant. How could I even figure out which order the numbers went in? This was a long shot anyway. I couldn't wait all day to see where each number took me on the earth. Then another part of me felt like what I was doing was right, there was something more to these numbers.

Why else would someone leave them out like this? I pull up the map on my phone and try the numbers. First I try 34.03828 latitude and 172.9912 longitude. It pulls up the ocean. I highly doubt that's where Victoria took Maggie.

I try again. It has to be 34.03823 latitude because latitude only goes up to 90 degrees. At least I remember something from geography. I must have the longitude wrong. Maybe it's 17.29912? I punch it in and my jaw drops.

It gives me a location right outside of town. I can't believe this. I actually found something. I jump up and run out the front door, not bothering to shut it. I crank my truck up and speed to wherever these coordinates lead.