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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TWO YEARS EARLIER
Bonnie was sitting in the large lunchroom at the high school. The room was loud, and it felt like people were everywhere: sitting at every table, the line backed all the way back to the entrance of the lunchroom, but Bonnie was sitting alone. No one to her left. No one to her right. Just her.
From across the lunchroom, she made eye contact with a boy: Charlie. She perked up, brushed her hair behind her ear, and smiled. He waved, nodding his head. She smirked and looked around. Right before she waved back at him, she looked around to make sure it was really her he was waving at... it wasn't. Behind her, Madilyn waved back at him.
That was the story of Bonnie for almost her entire life. She thought someone was waving at her, but it was at someone behind her.
She thought her dad cared to take her to the lake one summer day...
When she was young, 8 years old, her dad wanted to take her out for a fishing trip. They parked and got the boat down to push it out into the lake. Her dad kept looking around. "Come on, dad. What are you looking for?" she asked him in her 8-year-old voice.
"Nothing, baby," he finally landed his eyes on her. "Get in the boat," he pointed to the boat with his eyes. She climbed in, and he pushed her boat back into the water. He grabbed a fishing rod from the ground and tossed it into the boat.
"What are you doing, daddy?" she asked. She grabbed the sides of the boat and braced herself as the boat started rocking in the water.
"I have to take care of something! You'll be fine," he smiled. "Got your life jacket on?" he tugged at his life jacket.
"Dad, duh! Can you not see that I'm wearing it?" she asked him. She looked around behind her as the boat drifted farther away from the shore. "Are you not getting in?" her voice was getting shaky. "Dad, please, come on, get in the boat!" she shouted.
"I'll be there in just a second!" he waved his hand like you would if you were shewing a fly away. He turned and went into the woods, leaving 8-year-old Bonnie in the boat by herself.
"DAD!" she screamed. "I don't like this, Daddy! Please!" She let tears roll down her face. The boat drifted out closer to the center of the lake. She could swim back to the shore, but the green, rocky water didn't look safe. She couldn't decide if she would wait on him, or jump out and swim.
15 minutes went by. She cried... she cried a lot.
30 minutes went by. She stopped crying and grabbed her fishing pole her dad had thrown in the boat. He didn't leave her any bait. She knew how to fish, but not well. It was her second time on the lake. She acted like she knew what she was doing, in the center of the lake, with the fishing line strung out into the water. Her hands were shaking. She wanted her dad back on the boat with her.
45 minutes went by.
60 minutes went by.
She never saw her dad again. He never came back to the water. 8-year-old Bonnie just sat in the boat as it rocked over the waves. She didn't catch fish that day. She didn't catch anything that day. In fact, she lost things.
⌱
"Can I sit with you?" Kevin asked in the lunchroom.
"Huh?" she jolted up and looked at Kevin.
"I said can I sit with you?" he laughed. "Is that all right...?" he was holding back his laughter.
"Oh, yeah, sorry! I was just lost in my own world I guess," she said.
Kevin sat down to her right with his lunch tray. "Yeah, you were just staring off into space. I didn't mean to scare you, sis," he chuckled.
"Sis?" she had a puzzled look.
"It's short for 'sister.' Never heard it?"
"No, haha."
"I saw you looking at Charlie. You know him?" Kevin slung a fry into his mouth.
"No," her face hinted with red. She was pretty shy. "I didn't know who he was waving at."
"Charlie is crazy, girl. Just like his brother..." Kevin looked up at Charlie. "Let's go introduce ourselves!" He grabbed his tray.
"Are you crazy?!" she leaned back.
"It's Bonnie, right? We have America history together," he stood up from the table.
"Yes. I'm Bonnie. Your name's Kevin," she looked up.
"That's right. Now let's go."
Kevin introduced Bonnie to Charlie that day. That was the day that started it all. Then, two years later, three of them would be gone.
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