My Foster Brother

Pt. 24

Michigan

I was scared. Zach was with me, probably even more scared that his boyfriend is gone. Like, he just went off into the night. Anders is the type to do this, but just before Zach and I were in his room?

At first we thought he was just in the bathroom, but after 10 minutes, things got a bit worrisome. Zach was quick to see if he was there, but he wasn't. We did find the window of it completely open, meaning he went off into the night.

We followed him instead of going to get Tyler or Matt or even mention it anyone. We thought, he was just outside to try to stay calm after having a little thing with Matt. However, he was nowhere to be found.

Zach was scared, yet worried about Anders being out alone where it's super dark. I'm sure he's fine, but don't want him to get worked up even more about it. Where ever Anders was, we were going to find him. The thing is, Anders came here with basically nothing.

All he had was ripped jeans, a light jacket which wouldn't keep you warm in this weather. It was kinda cold out, so he'd be freezing right now. As far as we could tell, that's all he had. He didn't even have his phone as he left it on the bed.

It was silent for a while in general. Not a single sound except for the rustling of leaves. Anders couldn't have gone far. We could've easily missed him somewhere, but unless he was in the trees, he isn't there.

"Could he have gotten into the trees?" I ask.

"We would've seen him. These trees aren't that tall." Zach says.

He was right. We would've seen Anders if he was in the trees and that they aren't that tall. We weren't that far from the house, as we could still see it, but just barely. We could only see the peak of the roof.

"Anders!" Zach calls.

No response. Where is he? He either gone far or he is off the path and in the woods itself. I didn't want to take this approach, as I'm not sure Zach and I knew the way around the woods if we go off path. I don't think I could ignore that option though.

"He could be off path." I say.

"He could, but-" He starts but then we heard the sound of a lighter clicking.

Anders..? It could be anyone, but Anders was who came up in my mind. Anders, though never does it at his own house or in school, does smoke. I've noticed that cigarette packs sitting around his room indicating that he does.

Zach looked at me, like we were thinking the same thing. He went in front of me as we went in that direction. It seemed like forever, but eventually we found him. It was him. His lighter had to be in his pocket because it wasn't in his hand. He had a cigarette casually hanging by his side as if he just set it down.

"Anders.." Zach says.

"Oh, hi." Anders says, like he didn't just go off on his own just to go smoke.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" Zach asks.

"Ya know, I grew up in shit homes. This is just one of the many causes of it." Anders replies.

"We're going back home." Zach says.

"We're not going anywhere. I like it here." Anders says.

"Matt and Tyler know you're gone. They know and they're worried about you. You're lucky you left when you did, because as soon as we came looking for you, the cops appeared and they're looking for you." I say.

"I want you back home, Anders. Matt and Tyler want you back home." Zach says.

"Are you high?" I ask.