Sorrow hung in the cool, autumn night air. Kayla turned and looked once more at the scoreboard. Salina 25. Genoa 27. She made her way through the crowd and toward the parking lot. Circling the truck, a jacked up, dusty, blue-grey Chevy, she put down the tailgate and sat on it. Kayla kicked her feet, closed her hazel eyes, and twisted a lock of her dishwater-blonde hair with a finger.
Shivering as the night grew colder, Kayla looked up and saw Garrett. He walked toward the truck, his eyes glued on his laces. Angrily, he pulled the duffle bag from his shoulder and flung it into the bed of the truck.
Kayla jumped down from the tailgate and pushed it shut with a crash. Not having noticed she was there, Garrett wheeled around, raised his head, and walked toward her. His chocolate brown eyes were red, his sandy hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat, and there was smeared eye-black smudged across his cheeks.
Rushing forward, Kayla wrapped her arms around him. He did the same in return. She could feel his rapid, erratic breathing. As he buried his face into her shoulder, she felt a tear drip onto her shirt. She held Garrett tight until she saw his father, a tall, thick man with salt and pepper hair and steely grey eyes. Releasing Garrett from her embrace, Kayla turned him to face his father.
His father put on a fake smile, “Hello, Kayla.”
“Hey, Uncle Craig,” Kayla responded.
Garrett’s father turned to look at his son, then shook his head looking disappointed. “We’ll talk about this later,” he growled and walked away without another word.
Garrett turned back to Kayla, sniffed, and said, “Can I spend the night at your house? I can’t face him. Not now.”
“Of course you can. What are friends for?” Kayla said rubbing a comforting hand over his tense shoulders.
“Thanks, let’s go,” Garrett said, motioning for her to climb into the truck.
They rode to her house in silence, aside from the low hum of the engine. When they pulled into the driveway, Garrett shut off the truck, grabbed his duffle bag from the back, and hiked up the stairs to the back door behind Kayla.                                                                             They walked through the kitchen where Kayla’s mother, a skinny, auburn haired woman, was pulling a lemon cake out of the oven. The second she saw them, she dropped the pan on the stove and rushed over to hug them.
“Is it cool if Garrett stays over tonight?” Kayla asked, as she pulled away from her mother.
“That’s fine with me, you know you’re always welcome,” her mother replied, “Do you want something to eat?”
“No, thanks, Aunt Lorraine,” Garrett mumbled before he left the room and began climbing the stairs toward Kayla’s room.
“25-27,” Kayla said with a sigh before she followed Garrett out of the room.
When she got to her room the shower was running and loud rap music erupted from the bathroom. Kayla grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and changed into them. She was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling when the bathroom door opened. Garrett walked out in a cloud of steam. He wore grey basketball shorts and a black t-shirt with a big red Nike swoosh on the chest.
Garrett tossed his bag in the corner and shuffled across the carpet to Kayla’s closet. Pulling a quilt and pillow off the shelf, he turned and threw them on the floor beside Kayla’s bed.
He flopped face down on the pillow and let out a low moan. “Crappy way to end my senior football season, huh?”
“You couldn’t have done anything more. Nobody thought they would kick a fifty-three yard field goal,” Kayla said, rolling over to face him.
“Tell that to my dad. He thinks the whole thing is my fault,” Garrett’s voice was muffled as he pressed his face deeper into the pillow.
“Go to sleep. It will make you feel better,” Kayla said.
“Alright, goodnight,” Garrett mumbled into the pillow.
Kayla reached over and shut off the lamp, then snuggled down in her covers and went to sleep.
A cold breeze blew across Kayla’s face, waking her. “Garrett, did you open the window?” She rolled over and saw the pillow and blanket folded neatly and set in the corner where his bag had been. The window was open and the white drapes flapped in the wind.
Kayla scrambled out of bed and over to the open window. She caught a glimpse of Garrett’s head right before he jumped off the roof and onto the lawn.
Kayla darted through the house and out the front door. Garrett threw his bag in the back of his truck and climbed in. Kayla grabbed the passenger door handle and jerked on it. Locked. She banged a fist on the window. Garrett rolled it down halfway.
“What are you doing?” Kayla cried.
“I can’t handle it! I’ve gotta get out of here!” Garrett said running a hand through his already frazzled hair.
“No, come on! We can figure this out. I will help you. Please, I’ll do anything,” Kayla pleaded tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Kayla. I just can’t.” He rolled up the window and sped away, leaving Kayla alone, sobbing on the sidewalk.
Kayla stood and stared at the empty street. After about half an hour of standing, Kayla had become cold and dragged herself back into the house and up the stairs to her room.
She grabbed the pillow off of the pile Garrett had left. She hugged it tight to her chest and curled up into a ball on her bed.
Kayla was shocked back awake when her alarm went off. Rolling over and smacking the snooze button, she remembered it was Saturday. The events of last night suddenly came back to her as she looked down at the tear stained pillow and rolled out of bed. Walking into the bathroom, Kayla looked at her puffy red eyes and knotted hair. She tied her hair back into a tangled messy bun, pulled on a pair of socks, and stepped into her slides.
Kayla shuffled downstairs into the kitchen. Her mother was standing at the stove frying eggs. “Is Garrett still sleeping?”
“No, he snuck out late last night. He said he couldn’t face his dad.” Kayla mumbled. “Why does Uncle Craig have to be such a jerk to Garrett?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure Garrett’s fine. He probably just need some time to clear his head and think things over. You can go over to his house to check on him if you want,” her mother reassured her.
“Okay, I’ll be back in a bit,” Kayla said before heading out the front door to her car.
When she pulled up to Garrett’s house, she noticed that Garrett’s truck wasn’t there. She walked up the sidewalk to the door and knocked. No answer. She knocked again. Still, no answer. She tentatively pushed the door open and crept inside. “Hello?” No response. The house was quiet and empty. Garrett’s room was messy and covered in dirty gym shorts and t-shirts. There was a note on his pillow.
Kayla,
I figured you would come to check on me. I’m fine, just have to sort things out. I’m leaving you a trail of clues to find me, you’ll understand. Don’t bring your mom, and whatever you do, please don’t tell my dad. Here’s the first clue: The summer of eighth grade we had a family reunion here. Aunt Marina wouldn’t drink this; find it to find your next clue.
-Garrett
Kayla stuffed the note in her pocket and ran out to her car. She drove home and showed her mom the note.
“I’m sure he’s fine. Don’t worry.” Kayla’s mother said.
Kayla went up to her room and stared at the ceiling. She went through hundreds of situations in her head. If he isn’t at school Monday, I’ll go after him.
Kayla moped about the entire weekend. She refused to eat. Refused to leave the house. Refused to talk to anyone.
“Kayla, you have to eat something. You’ll make yourself sick,” her mother said, her voice full of concern.
“I can’t. I’m too worried about Garrett,” Kayla replied, then climbed the stairs and went to bed.
Once more, Kayla’s alarm shook her from a deep slumber. She dragged her tired, hungry body around the room. Feeling lazy again, Kayla pulled on a pair of basketball shorts and a hoodie, stomped into her sneakers, and headed out the door to school.
While she was in her first hour class, English 12, her mind wondered off and she started thinking about Garrett again. He can take care of himself, he’s a big boy. He asked me to come after him. I have projects due. He’s my best friend. That one finally got her to give in. Kayla grabbed her bag from the floor and ran out of class. Driving home way faster than she should have, Kayla ran inside and to her room. As she stuffed some extra clothes and her debit card in a bag, she ran downstairs. “Mom, I’m going after him!”
“Be careful,” her mom responded, before she hugged her and sent her out the door.
Kayla ran out to her car and started driving. She turned on the radio to her favorite station. She set the GPS to Crystal Springs. It was going to be a long two hours.
When she pulled up to the campsite adjacent to the springs, she drove to the place where they had played minute to win it at their family reunion. Aunt Marina had to drink warm soda and cringed with every sip. Kayla parked the car and climbed out. She walked around the campsite until she found a cardboard box with warm sodas in it sitting under a tree. In the bottom of the box, under a can of Orange Crush, Kayla found a small white envelope. Inside the envelope was a folded up page of notebook paper.
Kayla,
We always had so much fun at family reunions. Remember the last year we went camping in the woods. Grandpa took us out into the trees to pick out the perfect limb. He always had the funny little rhyme about knives. We sat with him for hours. I left what I made there, with your next clue.
       -Garrett
Kayla folded up the paper, stuffed the box of warm pop in the trunk, and climbed back into the car. She stuffed it in the console and drove away. Going down the road, she thought back on that day. Grandpa had taken them out into the trees away from camp to look at sticks. When they found the perfect one, Grandpa took his hand saw and cut it off for them. When they got back to camp with their sticks, they sat in camp chairs under the awning of the motor home. Grandpa dug a handful of pocket knives out of the motorhome and handed one to each of them. They started slicing the bark off of the sticks. One of them, Garrett, if she remembered right, made the mistake of pulling the knife toward himself. Grandpa quickly taught them a little poem to make sure they never made that mistake again. “Never cut toward yourself, always cut toward your friends!” Kayla and Garrett laughed and immediately started carving again, but slicing toward the other instead of themselves.
The car rattled, bumped, and rumbled up the narrow, canyon road, shaking Kayla from her daydream. The road to the place they camped was blocked by a fallen tree, but Kayla was close enough to walk. She got out of the car and started to hike through the trees toward the cabin. The cedar shake roof was rotted and collapsed, the springs still ran out from under a tree, and the apple tree was loaded with ripe fruit. Kayla jogged back to the car, grabbed a water bottle and a plastic bag, then made her way back to the cabin.
Unscrewing the lid on the bottle, Kayla bent down and filled it with the icy spring water. As she walked toward the apple tree, a glint of light reflected off of something leaning on the trunk. She reached around the tree and grabbed the varnished walking stick. Turning the stick over in her hands, Kayla traced the delicately carved letters in the wood. GARRETT.
She leaned the stick back against the tree and began to climb. Tying the bag to a belt loop, Kayla started picking apples and loaded them into the bag. At the very top of the tree, there was a white envelope stuck to a shiny, red apple with a huge wad of duct tape. Kayla climbed as high as she dared and stretched for the apple, but with no success. Garrett always was better at climbing trees than she was.
Feeling defeated, Kayla climbed down, sat in the grass, and leaned against the tree. Exhausted from all the driving, she decided to take a nap.
A drop of water splashed onto Kayla’s eyelid. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up into the sky. The weather had gone from beautiful and sunny, to gloomy and rainy. She pushed herself up from the grass and picked up Garrett’s walking stick again. Remembering the note, Kayla looked up into the branches where the apple and note still hung. Now how am I supposed to get that down? If only Riley were here, he’d have a good idea. She gripped the stick in her hand when an idea came to her mind. Laughing under her breath, she mumbled to herself, “Don’t ya’ just wanna’ go up there and poke it?” Garrett’s older brother, Riley, had told her that when they were little, talking about a huge hornets’ nest. Well, he poked it, and Kayla got stung three times.
Walking under the branch with the letter and apple, Kayla extended the stick above her head and whacked the apple. Juice squirted everywhere and pieces of mashed apple splattered on her face as the apple fell to the ground. Kayla walked over and pulled off the duct tape and apple juice covered envelope. She pulled the flap up and pulled out a folded up napkin.
Kayla,
Sorry I ran out of paper. So now that you have been chasing me around all day, I figured you would need a break. In this envelope is a smaller envelope with some cash in it. It should be enough for the hotel in the nearest town, a couple meals, and some gas. Tomorrow I will see you at the spot where Riley crashed his sled so hard he dented the frozen ground.
   See you tomorrow,
Garrett
Laughing at the memory, Kayla got back in the car and rumbled, bumped, and jolted back down the rocky road. She finally pulled into the nearest town, Homerville. It was a really small town. There was a little gas station, a grocery store, and a tiny, western themed hotel. Kayla pulled her car up in front of the hotel. She walked up to the old saloon style front door, and walked inside. There was a friendly looking old lady wearing a cowboy hat behind the counter. “Welcome to the Homerville Inn,” the woman said with a smile. “What can I help you with?”
“Uhh, I need a room for one night,” Kayla said shyly.
“Alright, that will be fifty dollars,” the old woman said, as she dug around under the counter.
“Thank you,” Kayla replied, passing a crumpled fifty dollar bill to the woman.
“Up the stairs, third door on the left. Breakfast is at seven,” the old lady instructed, as she handed Kayla a gold key on a leather keychain and pointed to a staircase across the room.
Kayla went and grabbed her bag from the car, climbed the stairs to her room, and flung her bag onto the floor. She changed into some sweats and a t-shirt, brushed her teeth, and crawled into bed.
The phone rang very loudly, and woke Kayla. “What the heck?” She picked up the phone, “Hello,” she mumbled groggily.
“It’s seven, time for breakfast,” it was the receptionist woman.
“Okay, thanks,” Kayla replied before hanging up. She brushed her hair, changed into normal clothes, put her things into her bag, then marched downstairs to breakfast. After examining all the food, Kayla made herself a waffle and a cup of apple juice. Once she finished her breakfast, she went to the front desk, returned her key, and took her car to gas up.
As she walked into the gas station, handed the cashier a twenty, then gassed up her car. She drove down the road, Kayla couldn’t wait to finally see Garrett. Maybe he would finally be able to sort things out with Uncle Craig.
Kayla pulled up to the sled hill a few miles from their grandma’s house. Since it was fall, the hillside was covered in leaves of every color. She walked to the top of the hill. There, sitting on top of a huge boulder, with his back to her. There he was. Kayla ran toward him. From behind she threw her arms around him. “I’m so happy to see you!” She cried.
“Well, I’m happy to see you too, random stranger,” the voice was unfamiliar, and definitely not Garrett. Kayla jumped back away from the stranger and he turned around to face her. “I’m guessing you’re Kayla.”
“Yes. How do you know?” Kayla asked.
“I’m Zane. Some guy named Garrett said someone named Kayla would show up soon. He left this for you,” Zane said pulling a letter from his pocket and passing it to Kayla.
“Garrett was here?” Kayla said shocked.
“Yeah. He said he wasn’t ready yet,” Zane said as he backed away down the path, “I gotta’ go. See ya’.”
“Thanks, bye,” Kayla said waving. Zane waved back, turned around, and disappeared into the trees.
Kayla tore the envelope open. Inside there was an old, tattered receipt. She unfolded the crumpled paper and read the note scribbled on the back.
Kayla,
I know I said I would meet you today, and I’m sorry, but I need you do one more thing to help me sort this out. Go home and go to school tomorrow. I can’t come back before I talk to both of my best friends, you and Mark. So at school, find him and bring him with you. After you find Mark, go see my dad and tell him we will fix this. Then come to the place where we went fishing when we were little, but don’t bring my dad.
    -Garrett
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Kayla mumbled to herself. She folded up the receipt letter and stuffed it in her pocket before she hiked back down the hill to her car.
When she walked into the school, Kayla went straight to Mark’s locker and waited for the bell to ring. While she waited, her homeroom teacher, Mr. Crandle and his high water slacks, came up to her, “Will you be in homeroom, today?”
“Nope, sorry. Something important came up,” Kayla replied.
“Well you’re getting behind,” Mr. Crandle said with a sigh, then walked away.
Finally, Mark showed up, right before the bell. “Call your mom. You’re coming with me. You’ve got to.” Kayla said.
Looking confused, Mark replied, “What do you mean I’m going with you? I can’t just leave school.”
“Yes you can. You have to. It’s the only way to get Garrett back,” Kayla said.
“Okay, but only because it’s for Garrett,” Mark said, fishing his phone from his pocket and calling his mom.
They piled into Kayla’s car and headed to Garrett’s house. When they pulled up, Garrett’s dad was sitting in a lawn chair on the porch. He was unshaven, unwashed, and uncooperative. “Hey, Uncle Craig,” Kayla said. He only grunted.
“I really need to talk to you,” Kayla raised her voice slightly. He still just grunted.
“It’s about Garrett!” Kayla finally yelled. Uncle Craig seemed to instantly sit up straighter and paid attention.
“You know where Garrett is? Last I know of him is a text he sent me telling me how much I messed up and not to come look for him,” Garrett’s dad asked, an underlying hint of hope in his voice. “Please tell me he’s okay.”
“Garrett is fine, he told me that we can fix this,” Kayla replied with a sympathetic look.
“I’ve felt awful since he left. When is he coming back?” Craig questioned.
“Soon, I’m going after him right now. I can’t bring you with me, but I will bring him back,” Kayla assured him. She then walked away, got in the car, and drove away with Mark.
“So where are we going?” Mark asked.
“To the reservoir where Garrett and I caught crawdads as big as lobsters when we were fourteen. I’ve been following these notes all over the place,” Kayla explained, pointing to the stack of envelopes in the console of the car. Mark picked them up and started reading them. He made it through two letters before he fell asleep.
“Mark, wake up!” Kayla said shaking him. “We’re here.”
“Huh... What? Where’s Garrett?” Mark said frantically in his half sleeping state.
“We have to walk to find him. It’s a short hike to where we fished,” Kayla said before she climbed out of the car and jaywalked across the street with Mark chasing behind. They climbed over a cement retaining wall, down a rock covered slope, and along the water’s edge.
There he was. Garrett sat cross-legged on a rock, and looked out across the water. “Garrett!” Kayla cried, running toward him. Garrett stood up and faced her. She jumped on him knocking them both back into the water with a splash.
Mark walked up to the shoreline. He held out both hands and pulled Garrett and Kayla, who were both laughing like crazy, out of the water. “Hey, man. What’s the deal with running away?” He said with a chuckle.
Kayla wrung out her hair and Garrett pulled off his shoes and poured the water out of them. “Yeah, about that. Uhh, will you guys come with me to talk to my dad?”
“Yeah, of course,” Kayla and Mark said in unison. They made their way back to the car and drove home.
Kayla pulled up to Garrett’s house. “You ready?” Kayla asked Garrett.
Garrett took a deep breath, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Together the three of them walked up to the front door and inside. Garrett’s father was sitting at the table reading the newspaper.
“Hey, dad,” Garrett said.
His dad jumped up so fast he knocked the chair over. He rushed across the room and hugged Garrett. Neither Garrett nor Kayla had ever seen him act like this. “I’m so sorry for the way I acted. I was just angry that you lost your last high school game. It wasn’t your fault. I really am so proud of you!”
“Okay, can we talk about this more later?” Garrett asked pulling away from his father.
“Of course, how about dinner at Bilby’s Burgers tonight?”
“Sounds good,” Garrett said looking to Kayla, “Thanks for coming after me. Can Kayla come with us, Dad?”
“Sure, now go change out of those soggy clothes,” Garrett’s father said. He then walked over to Kayla and Mark, “Thanks, to both of you.”
“You’re welcome, but I really gotta get going,” Mark said, “Can you take me home, Kayla?”
“Yeah, I’ll meet you in the car,” Kayla replied, sending Mark out the door.
As she went to follow, Uncle Craig grabbed her by an elbow. He pulled her into a tight hug, then, with the sound of tears in his voice, he said, “Thank you so much for bringing me my son back. I can never thank you enough.”
Kayla replied with a smile, “Happy to do it. I’m glad you two were finally able to work things out.”