Broken Marilyns

LULL-A-BYE

LULL-A-BYE

The cooling breath of Thursday morning whispered through my hair on the walk home from a friend's house. Turning onto my street, the silence felt heavy.

Before I could trudge up the porch stairs, my mom ran out with her keys in hand. "Jenna, go find your brother and tell him breakfast is ready. I'm gonna run into town really quick," she kissed me and kicked up dust reversing out of the driveway.

All the cars were gone at the Henley house and the backyard shed Chad was always tinkering in was closed which meant he probably wasn't home for Charlie to harass.

"Charlie? Get inside! Breakfast," I shouted. When Charlie didn't barf out "whaat?" from somewhere, I knew this was going to be a drawn-out process. Plan A: threaten. "Okay Charlie, I'm gonna go eat everything by myself," I raced inside the house and hid behind the door, leaving it open so I could peek between the door and its hinges. Nothing.

The heat from outside crept in, coating me with sweat and my stomach crawled with pangs of hunger. Letting out a deep breath, I stepped back out onto the porch. "Charlie?" The only things to be heard were crisp leaves rustling in the breeze and our neighbor's radio in the distance.

A shiver ran its course from the back of my neck down both arms. Something wasn't right.

The lonely street kept drawing my eyes to it. For the billionth time, I looked out at the curbside and for the billionth time I saw nothing and rolled my eyes at wasted efforts. Poking my head out further, a tiny sliver of neon blue jerked my eyes to where it lay in the street - my brother's plastic wrist watch. "Charlie." He never took off his watch.

Running into the street, I picked up the flimsy trinket, thumbing it over again and again as though touching it would make Charlie appear. I clenched my eyes shut to choke back nervous tears that began to swell. When I opened my eyes and my brother wasn't there, I closed them again and kept trying. Open, shut, open, shut - nothing, no one, nowhere.

A sinking feeling set in as I stumbled over to my Uncle's broken down truck and crawled inside. Shoving my face into the dusty bench-seat, tears began to pour. Looking down at the cracked face of Charlie's watch, I saw only blurred streaks of blue and green as I trembled.

The sound of gravel crunching made its way up the driveway as my mom pulled into the spot beside me. "What happened?" my mom looked worriedly at me, fussing to get her seatbelt off. Once she was free, she flew out of her car and crouched beside the truck door. "What happened? Where is Charlie?" All I could do was cry - a rarity for me - and seeing this, a heavy tear tumbled down my mom's face, too quickly for her to hide as she wiped at her cheek.

When I settled down, I unclenched my hand, revealing Charlie's watch. "Did you look for him?" I gave a twitchy nod, "no-o," my mother's voice wavered. Sprinting into the house, I could hear her struggling with her words on the phone. "Yes, ma'am, you have to help me, ple-EASE. My son is missing. I-I don't know, since this morning. No, you have to send someone right now, please. He's only seven...yes...GOD DAMMIT, MY SON IS MISSING!" my mother shrieked into the phone and hung up.

My mother was frantic as she spilled out of the house. Scanning what she could see of the neighborhood, she crouched down and peeked under the deck through the cracks. Stumbling down the stairs a little, my mother walked around the house calling Charlie's name. When she appeared again from her round, she looked completely different - strong, determined.

We drove around the block several times, raking the area before my mom got more desperate and began knocking on doors to ask if anyone had seen Charlie. On the way home, there was only one more house to check - the Henleys'. My mom looked angry now as she trudged up the driveway - her lips twitched and her eyes narrowed. I hopped out and went with her this time; I hadn't seen Chad at all today. The door opened before my mom could knock and Chad's father stood in the doorway.