Dead rose garden

The Town

I woke up after a night of dreams about Gabby.
It wasn't good dreams either.
If I was going to look for Gabby, I would need a plan.

The coffee grinder made a noise in the kitchen downstairs, and a heavenly aroma drifted in the air.
My Dad always loved coffee.
I wasn't really a big fan of coffee, except if it was ice coffee.

I dragged myself down the stairs to eat breakfast.
My appetite wasn't really big these few days.
No food have entered my body yesterday, so I was ravenous.

"Morning Dad," I greeted him.

There were big bags underneath his eyes, and he only stared at his reflection in his coffee.

I cleared my throat.
"Hi Dad."

He jumped at my voice.
"Oh good morning Cody, I didn't see you there," he said with a fake smile plastered onto his face.

He was only pretending to be fine, but I knew that he wasn't.

I leaned forward and hugged him.
I think we both needed it.
Dad hugged back surprised.

"It's going to be okay," I lied.

We both new nothing was okay.

I grabbed a piece of bread and popped it into the toaster.
While I waited for it to toast I changed into fresh clothes, and washed my face.
Today I am going to find Gabby.
No matter what.
I felt a wave of confidence wash over me.

When I was done dressing, I grabbed my toast and squeezed some maple syrup on top.
The syrup dripped onto the floor, like it was crying sweet tears of its own.

"Dad I'm going to town!" I yelled as I walked out of the door.

                                 ***

Brown and orange leaves already covered the sidewalks.

A few bystanders watched as I walked by.
Almost everybody knew my sister was gone by now, but no one dared to talk to me.
They only liked to stare at me.

The air was cold, and the wet ground soaked my shoes.
That didn't stop me from walking on.

The light inside the 'Best Diner' building looked warm and cozy.
On Saturday afternoons, Gabby and I used to come here to have dinner, and talk about life.

My heart ached at the thought of sitting alone at our table.
We always sat at the same table, it was just our tradition.
When I pushed the door open, Aunt Betty's face lightened up.
Wrinkles formed around her smile.
She was getting older by the day.
A few strands of gray hair between the brown proved that to be right.

"Oh Cody, I wondered when you would come to eat something again. I'm sorry to hear about Gabs, and how's your family?" She asked.

I smiled.
For the first time since Gabby's disappearance.

Aunt Betty always succeeded in making anyone smile.
She had a pure heart of gold, and always wanted to talk.

"It's strange without her at home, and the detective hasn't even found any clues," I said.

Aunt Betty came out from behind the counter, and embraced me in a hug.

"Oh Codels, everything will turn out fine, you'll see," she whispered.

I broke away from her and walked to the familiar table.
The diner was completely empty except for an elderly man sitting alone at a table.

When I sat down, the seats felt cold, and not only because it was Autumn.

One of the waitresses brought me a menu.
Without even looking at the menu, I ordered a honeycomb burger.
It was a burger made from honeycomb, and stuffed with bacon.
'Best Diner' was known for it's exotic foods.
Like Turkey ice cream, blueberry beef soup, fried strawberries and roasted tarantula.

It sounded awful, but Aunt Betty's chefs would never want to dissapoint a customer.

Whilst waiting for the burger to come, I traced my fingers across the dark wooden tables.

Suddenly my fingers felt tiny bumps and slopes on the side of the table nearest to the wall.

I hastily moved forward to get a look at what I just felt.

Freshly engraved words met my eyes.
I almost fainted, this couldn't be real.
There was a rose carved into the wood, and two words written next to it.

CODY HELP!

I was shaking, and my mouth felt dry. "When was this written?" I thought to myself.

The waitresses returned with the food.
For a moment she planted her gaze on me.

"Sir, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost," she asked.

"I'm fine," I replied.

Looking concerned she walked away.

I felt sick to my stomach, but still managed to stuff the sweet honey down my throught, like it was poison.

Before I walked out of the door again, I took my phone from my pocket and snapped a picture of the engraved words.
This was a whole new piece of evidence.