After three of their friends disappear without a trace, Cooper, Bonnie, Kevin and Madilyn hit the road, determined to find out what happened to them.
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After graduating, three...
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from Cooper
Hey, Kev. Bonnie told me about how you were feeling. Remember my old neighbor's house on 6th street? Meet me around back like our Freshman days.
from Kevin
Idk man. I'm not really feeling it
from Cooper
Shut up. I'll see you there
⌱
Cooper was sitting on his knees in the shallow end of his old neighbor's pool. He was tall, so it was nothing to him. The moon was bright above, but the old man that lived here would never know they were in his pool. He only had it for his grandkids anyway, and they weren't coming out tonight... or really ever anymore.
Kevin pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the concrete. He slid his shoes off and tightened the strings at the waist of his swimming trunks. He tipped his toes into the water. "It used to be so much colder when we'd sneak back here."
"Yeah, and it was usually a few more people," Cooper laughed.
Kevin squatted and sat at the edge of the warm pool. "And now it's just us."
"Yep," Cooper cupped his hands and splashed some water over his hair. "So you don't want to go look for them anymore..."
"I know nothing about this place like... nothing," he slowly swung his legs back and forth in the water.
"Yeah, that place. But you know too much about those people to not go out there and help them."
Kevin nodded his head.
"Do you think they would go looking for you if you needed it?" Cooper asked.
"I don't know... would they?" he had some snarkiness behind his voice.
"Yes, Kevin! They would. You know they would."
"I don't know, man." Kevin dropped his head and crossed his arms.
"They'd come for you," Cooper insisted. "They would."
Kevin looked up. "No, I don't think so."
"I can't convince you that they would," Cooper leaned back on the wall of the pool. "Would you come to help me?"
"You know I would."
"I couldn't imagine being out there and lost, gone, whatever... and thinking that my friend was coming for me... but in actuality... they weren't. They were letting their insecurities take ahold of them. They were too... scared."
"I am scared," Kevin admitted.
"You know I would love the thought that someone would be there for me. I needed someone there for me my entire life and they never were. They didn't do anything but put me down my entire life... and it was someone that I needed. If I was gone, I don't think he'd come for me. I know what it feels like to be left out there all alone, Kevin. I know how it feels to know that the person you want to love you so bad just doesn't love you."
Kevin could feel his emotions in his throat. He knew exactly what Cooper was talking about.
"I refuse to let me be that way towards someone. I refuse to let you be that way to someone. Love them. We have to go help them."
Kevin loosened his tension on the edge of the water and slipped into the pool. The water rippled around his waist. "It's not that I don't want to do this... it's that I'm terrified. What if it was something scary. What if it was something like the rumors."
"It's not, Kev." Cooper leaned forward off the wall. "Why they're gone is not scary... The fact that we have to do something like this is not scary... what is scary is the thought that some people... even when you need them most... just aren't there for you."
Kevin let a tear fall into the water. "I'll be there. For you. For them..."
Cooper reached his arms out and wrapped them around Kevin.
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