“Don’t forget your lunch, it’s sitting by the door.”

“Got it!” he hollers as he stuffs it too within his backpack.

Once out the back door and in the garage he grabs his bike, hops on and quickly makes his way down the road toward school. Haveston High isn’t much more than a mile away and it only takes him a few minutes to arrive.

Police cars, both marked and unmarked, are in and around the parking lot. Two officers stand amidst a group of students while three officious looking men in business attire enter the office.

Pulling into the bike rack, he grabs his chain and starts securing his bike. His best and only friend Dave rides up as he pushes the lock closed and parks his bike in the adjacent slot.

“Hey, did you hear that Seth is missing?”

James glances to his friend and nods. “Yeah, I saw it in the paper this morning. Wonder what happened to him?” He spies a nearby policeman and he and Dave head that way

Approaching the officer Dave asks, “What’s going on?”

“We’re questioning students about Seth Randle. His mother says he’s been missing since Wednesday evening. Would you boys know anything about it?”

“No,” replies James, shaking his head. “We barely know him.”

“That’s right,” Dave adds.

The officer hands each of them a card bearing pertinent contact information. “If you see or hear anything that might help us locate him, please call.”

“Sure.”

“If we hear anything we’ll be sure to let you know,” James adds.

Heading to class, they both can’t help but wonder what’s happened to Seth.

The rest of the day, all anyone could talk of was Seth. They had an assembly before lunch where they were told the facts surrounding his disappearance. Evidently, he had been heading downtown after school and that was the last time anyone had any contact with him. They were given the standard lesson on strangers and what to do in emergencies, the basic “Don’t talk to strangers” lecture they’ve had for years.