Finding Her

Nine

Shara and Zev finished most of the cleaning before supper time. Working mostly in silence. Shara avoided eye contact and cleaned things on the other end of the house.

"Do you think she'll ever come back?" Zev asked from the entrance of the living room.

Shara wiped off a figurine, and the book case it was on top of and put it back. "If she is happy where she is, I don't think she will."

He sighed. "I guess you're right. I never thought about it like that." He sat in an arm chair that was cleared. "I keep imagining the worst possible outcome. What if she's been kidnapped or she's dead?"

"What if she not?" She cleared a spot and sat down on the couch. "You're doing yourself more harm than good imagining the worst case scenarios." She started sorting the newspapers next to her.

"This is why you're my best friend, Shara. What would I do without you?" He stood and returned to the other room to finish cleaning.

The phone rang around six and they locked up before going home to eat supper.

"I'll meet you here at seven thirty, we can head back over and get more done tonight, if you'd like." She turned to leave.

Zev ran to her and grabbed her sleeve. "We're done for tonight. Thank you. I couldn't survive if you weren't here for me." He kissed her forehead and ran back to his house.

_____________________

The next week was filled with work and school. Each day was so jam packed that the group sometimes didn't get to see each other. Friday night they planned to meet up at Gregory's house to do a deep clean of the garage.

"You kids are wonderful." Greg announced from the backdoor. He watched them clean, while drinking a can of beer on the porch for most of the night. He crushed the can in his hand. "I can see why Charlotte was always talking about you guys."

The group laughed uncomfortably and looked at each other like he was crazy.

Zev took off a glove and wiped his forehead on the back of his hand. "Was she really?"

Shara and Lynn rolled their eyes and gave each other a look. They knew Zev would be rejoicing in that news for the rest of the month.

"Especially you Zev, she always wanted to be the smart kid but she never gave herself enough credit. She was a smart girl with a bright future..." He wiped his face. "She always thought she wasn't enough, blamed herself for her mother's passing." He shook his head and threw his chair back. He stomped into the house and the kids were left with only his words to think about.

"She talked about us." Zev was dreamy eyed and not speaking to anyone. He looked up at the clouded evening sky and felt a drop of rain land on his cheek.

"I'm not staying if it starts raining," Kathryn said as she ran her hand over her hair that was pulled back in a ponytail.

Lynn put her hand on Zev's shoulder. "What do you want to do?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "I want to find her."

"That we know, dude. But what are we doing right now?" Dillon tied off a garbage bag and threw it on top of the others.

Shara smiled and placed the rake she had been using on the lawn, against the garage. "I'll stay if you are, Zev."

"Thanks guys but I think we're done for tonight." Zev started picking up odds and ends to finish up and the rest joined him.

When the yard wasn't a mess like it had been when they arrived, they started walking home. Dillon and Phil hopped on their bicycles and waved good bye as they peddled off.

"Are you going to be okay?" Lynn asked, she placed her hand on Zev's arm and made eye contact.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

Shara skipped closer and linked arms with Lynn. "There's no sense worrying, Zev. You'll give you're self a heart attack. Get some sleep and we'll be on our way to find her in no time."

They reached his yard and hugged goodbye. Zev watched his best friends walk away. He couldn't help wondering what he would do if they weren't there for him.