Finding Her

One

The grass tickled Zev's legs as he chased after his best friend. Shara ducked beneath the grass and sprinted in a zigzag pattern to lose him. He knew her tactics and she would never escape him with the same old tricks.

"Got you!" He shouted, a group of birds erupted from the nearby lilac tree and flapped off into the mid-day sky.

He tapped her shoulder and she gave him a fiendish grin. She threw herself into the field and he could no longer see her. His eyes followed the grass stalks fluttering as she brushed through them.

"Hey, I got you!" He shouted and followed her to the edge of the field.

She laughed at his pouting face. "If you caught me, how am I still free?" She patted his shoulder, "Better luck next time, buddy." She clipped her helmet strap under her chin and climbed onto her bicycle.

"Next time I'll tackle you. We'll see what you think then." He did the same and peddled through town a few feet behind her. The town centre came into view and the church doors swung open.

A stout grey haired female stepped out, still in her robe from her Sunday service. "Shara, it's so nice to see you. You were absent from mass. I hope everything is fine at home."

She smiled and stopped peddling in front of the church steps. "Good morning, I had to help my father with a broken fence. The cattle got loose again. I will be here next Sunday."

The woman stepped closer. Zev leaned his bike against the steps. He undid his helmet and hung it over the handle bars. "Do you need help, Mom?"

She put her finger on her chin and nodded, "Yes. Shara would you care to join us?"

She shook her head, "I have to get home to finish fixing the fence with my father. Maybe next week, pastor Yvonne." She started to peddle. "I'll see you in class."

Zev and his mother went inside the church and she closed the front doors. "Did you two have fun?" They walked to the back of the church and pulled out a box of pamphlets for the following weeks service.

"She's a cheater. I don't like playing tag with her," he scoffed.

His mother smiled and handed him a pile of papers. "You always say that." She grabbed a handful for herself and they split up.

"Because it's true."

The doors of the building swung open and a tall burly man stood in the door way. His face was shaded, with the sun at his back. "Yvonne!" The man called out.

"Mother, what's going on?" Zev looked between the man and his mother.

Yvonne stepped forward and greeted the man with a handshake. "What seems to be the problem, Gregory?"

The man was in tears and his voice cracked when he tried to speak. "I— I—."

She put her hand on his back and rubbed in a circle. "Breathe. It's alright. Tell me what you can, when you are able."

He plunked down on a pew and the wood squealed beneath him. "It's about my daughter. She's— she's gone."

"Since when?" Yvonne sat next to him and grabbed his hands in hers.

"Two nights ago." He hung his head. "She has run away before. I thought if I gave her time she would come back. But it's been two days." His mouth opened and he covered it with his hand. "What if she's dead?" He broke down with his hands covering his face.

Zev back away from them and into his mothers office. He closed the door and pushed himself against the wall. He slid down until his forehead and knees touched. His own tears had started falling when he thought about her. His crush from the first day of school, Charlotte.

Where would she go? Why would she run away from home? Did she have promise of a better life somewhere else?

But most importantly, how would he find her?