Her

Chapter 5

Surmise

As Joseph was heading towards Peter's house, he was taking small steps and thinking about whether everything that the lady said was real and even if it was, what would such an anomaly have to do with Peter?

He was not able to get his mind off these thoughts. Seth too, having his mind clouded with the same thoughts, walked alongside him, sad and worried about his friend. When they reached his home, Joseph seemed a bit hesitant to enter.

"Can uh... you ring the bell?"

Seth sighed and rang the bell.

Mrs Richards answered the door, she seemed really worried but her face lit up with hope when she saw the two boys.

"So, any news about Peter? Where is he? Is he okay?" She asked the questions rapidly.

Both of them were unable to say anything for a few seconds. Finally, Joseph mustered up the courage to speak.

"Well, Mrs Richards... Uh... We searched for Peter but..." Joseph had a lump in his throat when he saw her expectant face.

He moved backwards and nudged Seth.

"I can't tell her." He whispered into his ear.

"W-we couldn't find him... I'm sorry Mrs Richards." Seth spoke, trying not to look at her face.

"Oh," Mrs Richards' face wore down, "it's okay. I've informed the police... They've started searching for him."

"Don't worry, Mrs Richards. He will come back." Seth ensured her even though he was doubting his own words.

Joseph and he somehow managed to avoid further conversations with her and headed back to their home.

"Why weren't you able to utter a single word?" Seth asked Joseph after a long period of silence between them.

"I don't know... I just couldn't." Joseph was looking down the whole time while they were walking on an empty road with dried leaves fallen on either side with some snow covering the edges.

"You're overreacting, he's been missing for only a day now." Seth walked slower, matching his speed with Joseph, "He will come back. I'm su-"

"Are you really sure?" Joseph looked up at Seth with a visible seriousness in his eyes.

Seth opened his mouth to say something but immediately looked away and sighed. He didn't have the answer to that question.

"Something has happened, Seth. Something is wrong. It isn't normal." Joseph spoke in a tone more grave than he had ever been, "I don't know but I feel that Peter is in danger and we have no way of helping him. I don't know anything right now but I can assure you one thing, what's about to come will be worse... Really worse."

Seth was unable to say anything against that. Even though he felt that Joseph was overreacting, Seth had a feeling similar to Joseph. He felt as if a faded and forgotten memory was gnawing at the back of his mind, trying to make its way into his conscience but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

After a few moments of silence between the two, Joseph walked away towards his house, his heavy footsteps crunching the dried leaves beneath him, breaking the silence in the atmosphere.