Outnumbered

He's been missing for weeks. No one knows what might've happened to him. He wasn't in any trouble of any kind. No one would ever bother him.

So what happened? Why'd he just all of a sudden disappear?

"We'll find him, Marcie. Don't worry." Alice, one of my childhood best friends, told me one morning. The day before they had declared Bobby Wilkins, my boyfriend of 3 years, to be missing.

"That's what everyone's been saying, Alice." I replied.

"It's only been one day." Andy, one of Alice's twins, had added in a bored tone.

"We'll find him." Alice repeated, ignoring her brother's poor attitude.

I've known Alice, Andy, and their twin sister Athena since grade school. Triplets as friends is harder to maintain than you think. And no one can even tell they're related. Especially Alice. She's different than the other two completely.

"What do you think could've happened to him?" I asked Alice.

"I don't know, but I don't think anybody hurt him." she answered sullenly.

"Wanna find out?" Athena, the wicked sister, asked with a devious look on her face.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked angrily, as if she knew some piece of information.

Athena didn't need to speak. All she did was smile...and point to the front entrance of the school where two officers stood, talking to the principal. I stood to my feet numbly and let my mind lead me to them.

"Did you find him?" I said hoarsely. They might've recognized me as the victim's girlfriend. They nodded slowly, but they're faces showed no triumph. Instead of smiling with joy and happiness, I frowned in confusion. "What's wrong?"

One officer took off his hat, it had been raining, and looked me in the eyes. "He's real sick, hun." he said to me. "He's undergoing biological tests. I can't give you any details about anything, but I can tell you this: He might not be what he was before."

"What do you mean?" My eyes beginning to well with humongous tears.

"I'm not sure, but I also cannot give away any of that information. Just know that he was a good boy and he'll always love you."

"Oh...okay." I nodded and hung my head low so my principal couldn't see me crying. The officer ruffled my hair and said goodbye to Mr. Tenpenny before leaving with his partner.

I walked back to the triplets, my head still hung low. Alice immediately ran up to me and hugged me. The other two stood awkwardly behind her, both frowning in sadness.

"Oh, Marcie, I'm so sorry!" Alice said erupting in tears.

They probably thought he was dead. He probably was for all I know. But the officer had said he was going through some tests. So, he most likely will die if the sickness, what ever it was, was fatal.

The rest of the day I slept through class and lunch, having nightmares of Bobby being cut, burned, strangled, torchered, drowned, poisoned, and all kinds of other scary things. At home, I went straight to my room and went to sleep.