Casualties

Alex rolled over in mid-afternoon and reached for Kennedy’s waist to pull her to him, but when he realized that all her was groping for was the pillow his eyes shot open and he looked around for her. He got up and looked in the bathroom and, after he put on some clothes, he walked downstairs and saw his parents sitting at their dining room table eating, “Have you guys seen Kennedy?” he asked them and tried to smooth out his hair with his hands.
“No, was she here last night?” his mom asked, disapprovingly.
“Yeah, she was,” he whispered then turned on his heels and walked back upstairs to his room.
He looked for any signs that she was even there to begin with but when he found nothing he seriously thought that it had all been a dream until he saw a folded up note on his nightstand. He walked over and read it: I love you. – K. He smiled to himself and figured that she had just left early because that’s when her mom wanted her home.
He decided to hop in the shower before he went over to see her. He did his hair and when he was finally ready, he walked downstairs and turned to his parents again, now sitting in the living room, “I’m going over to Kennedy’s,” he told them and, without waiting for their response, he walked out of his house and started walking to Kennedy’s house.
He wanted to surprise her because even though they’d spent the night together, physically, he wanted to talk to her about what they were going to do about their relationship and he wondered, hoped actually, that she wanted to be in a real relationship now.
He walked up to her house and rang the doorbell several times. No one answered so he decided to call Kennedy’s cell just in case she’d gone to get coffee, which was a probable excuse for Kennedy. It went to voicemail, “Hey, Kenne, it’s me. I’m at your house right now, just looking for you, give me a call. I love you, bye,” he said and then hung up.
He tried ringing the doorbell several more times just in case her mom happened to be home.
He started getting a worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. He walked to the back of the house because that’s where all the windows were that peeked into the house. He looked in the kitchen window and didn’t see anything. Nothing. All the furniture was gone, all the decorations. His heart stopped and he hoped that they were just remodeling the kitchen.
He walked over to the side to climb up the tree that he used to get up to Kennedy’s room and took a peek in there. Nothing, again. All of her furniture was gone and his breath quickened.
He got down from the tree and tried calling her again. Voicemail, “Kennedy? Where are you? I need you to call me, to explain all of this to me. Please, don’t do this to me. I need you,” he told her again then hung up. The next person he decided to call was Jack because if Kennedy told anybody anything then it would be Jack.
“Hello?” Jack answered on the second ring.
“Have you talked to Kennedy?” Alex asked immediately.
“No, why?” Jack asked. Alex could tell that he just woke up.
“Meet me at her house and I’ll explain everything,” Alex said then hung up the phone. He waited on her porch for Jack for fifteen minutes.
“What’s all this about?” Jack asked, as she sat next to Alex.
“Last night, Kennedy came over. We had sex, told each other we loved each other – the whole shebang,” Alex started.
“That’s great!” Jack exclaimed.
“Yeah, I thought so, too, but I woke up this morning and she wasn’t there. She left a note on my nightstand,” Alex pulled it out and handed it to Jack, “that told me she loved me. I decided to surprise her and meet her here. I rang her doorbell several times and called her, but no answer with either.” Jack’s smile fell from his face as he handed Kennedy’s note back to Alex. “So I decided to look in their house,” Alex continued, “and there’s nothing there. No furniture, decorations, nothing. I was wondering if she talked to you, but it looks like that didn’t happen.” Alex finished.
Jack got up and climbed the same tree that Alex had climbed a few minutes prior. Jack jumped down after taking a long look. “Nothing,” Jack agreed. “Do you want me to try calling her?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, maybe she’ll answer to you,” Alex said. He couldn’t feel anything. He missed her and all he wanted to do was hold her and kiss her.
Jack dialed her number and got her voicemail, “Kenne, it’s me. Give me a call – I’m worried,” he said then hung up. “I think Kennedy has flown the coop,” Jack said under his breath. Alex knew that he was making jokes out of it because he was just worried shitless.
Alex dialed her number yet again and got voicemail, “Please, have the decency to call me back. I miss you and I’m worried and I need you and I love you,” Alex said, being repetitive that he even noticed it. He hung up but didn’t stop calling her all day long, just on the off chance that she would get so fed up and pick up.

[.x.][.x.][.x.]

Kennedy was in her mom’s car with her mom while Rob drove the UHAL truck. Kennedy had been on her way, driving to New York for about two hours when all of a sudden her phone started ringing off the hook. She kept pressing ignore because Alex’s name kept flashing across her screen.
She acknowledged that it was the worst possible way to leave, but it was still the only way that he would have let her go… that she would have let herself go.
She listened to the first few of Alex’s voicemail’s and then Jack’s.
She got so fed up with her phone ringing every few seconds that she ended up just turning it off and she decided that she would listen to them all when she got to her new home, Rob’s home, in New York so that she could cry in privacy in her new bedroom.
“Mom,” Kennedy said, turning her body around to look out the back window, “I think I may need to get a new phone.”