‹ Prequel: Dear God
Status: ACTIVE
Almost Easy
I’m California numb, I’m damaged by the sun
Matt’s POV
Things had been going smoothly lately between all of us guys, since having the conversation with Liz I felt as if there was a hope of things looking up, if only for the sake of our child. Brian was coming over today to help me put together some parts for a song we were working on together and I was kind of curious to see if he’d talked to Liz since the party. New Years had come and gone without another word from her on my end and I just assumed she was keeping the distance until I was needed. But I was beginning to wonder when that would be.
“You home loser?” Brian called out, sounding somewhat rushed.
“Living room.” I called out from the couch as Brian half sprinted in, a second pair of footsteps behind him, I rolled my eyes, “You know you could have told me you were dragging Zack with you-“
“Not Zack.”
I looked up from the couch as Marie stood beside Brian, arms crossed over her chest, “To what do we owe this.. um… What’s she doing here?” I asked.
Brian looked at Marie and made a gesture for her to begin speaking, “Uhm so… You should see this.” She handed me her phone. I looked up with a confused look and took the device, adjusting myself so I was sitting up straight and blinking a few times to focus. I scanned the images on the screen, a house, a very lovely looking house.
“Ok? And…” I paused as I scrolled through the album on the realtors site, “Wait, that’s… That’s Liz’s house.” I looked up at Marie as she nodded, I double checked the address and shook my head, “So where’d she move to?”
“You wanna try calling her?” Marie asked and pointed at my phone, “Don’t use mine, it’s either blocked… or..” She trailed off as we both looked at Brian, he just nodded, signifying his phone calls weren’t going through either.
I grabbed my phone and pressed Liz’s name from the contacts page, I held it to my ear and instantly was met with an out of service tone, “No…” I shook my head, “No no no… this cant happen.” I hung up and tried again, the same tone, “Has Zack tried-“
“He’s at the realtors right now asking if there’s any contact for her, Michelle’s on her way to the hospital to see if she’s there visiting her mom..” Marie shook her head, “She called me a few nights ago and I thought it was weird because she didn’t mention the house at all, and I saw it a while ago-“
“How long is a while ago?” I asked.
“Well it says it got listed two days after the Christmas party…” Brian piped up, “So it’s almost the end of January… a month.”
“No one knew? Mich?” I asked, Brian shook his head, “Fuck.. WE had just talked about the baby-“
“You hadn’t tried reaching out to her?” Brian asked, “She told us how the party went..”
“I didn’t, I figured she’d call me when she needed me.” I shrugged, “It’s Liz, you know she likes doing things on her own.”
“Well… Now we’re tracking down a partially invisible woman.” Marie sighed, “Work hasn’t even heard from her-“
“Sam.” I stood up and grabbed my phone, “Where’s Sam?”
“Fuck.” Brian grabbed his phone and clicked a few buttons, “Zack, hey, you need to get out of there and head to the police station-… No we haven’t, yet, but you need to go see what the fuck happened to Sam. Go to the courthouse, something, she’s missing and he hurt her-“
“Sam hurt her?!” Marie looked at me as Brian continued talking, “No one mentioned that little fucking tidbit!”
“Is she with him?!” I asked, Marie shook her head, “Do you know where he is?”
“He’s back in Boulder, I knew something happened between them but he never told me… He just kind of ghosted too.” She mumbled and took a deep breath, “I’ll try having Dennis email her and see if he can get it out of her. She’s always been straight up with him.”
I nodded and began pacing, the image of our house with a giant red sold beneath it online was burned in to my eyes, something wasn’t right about this. Liz wasn’t the type to ghost us. When she moved to be away from us the first time she told us, we got to talk to her at least some of the time. We had always been able to talk to her.
“Brian.” I interrupted his sentence to Zack, he paused talking and looked at me, “What if this time she isn’t giving us the chance, any of us the chance, to get her back?”
“Yeah, you think Matt?” Brian said a quick goodbye to Zack, “But don’t tell Zack that. Colorado she told us and we got her back, every time she’s tried leaving us out of the picture she’s kept some type of communication open and we’ve dragged her right back to this. To all of us.” He shook his head, “To you. And I think she’s just taken this one to run with, and it sucks because of the kid, and I wish she trusted us enough to step down if she just came back but..” Brian shook his head and put his hand on my arm, “She’ll be back, we just have to let her breathe this one out. You haven’t been the most helpful over the years with that.”
“She’s pregnant with my kid!” I screamed and threw my phone across the room, puncturing a hole in the drywall as Marie clasped her hand over her mouth, “She ran away with my fucking child, Brian! What if she’s not ok? Huh!? We may be divorced, we may not work as a married couple, but I love her and I give a fuck about her and my child! We’ll fucking find her.”
“Alright… well we can try at least.” Marie shrugged and gestured for me to stand up, “If you guys want to put on hold your plans for the day that is.”
“I think this might be important enough.” Brian stared at me and I ignored his stare, I couldn’t look at him right now because I felt sick enough to throw up right where I now stood. Before I knew it, my feet were carrying me out of the house to my car, “Where are we starting?”
“I don’t fucking know but we’ll find her.” I huffed and looked at my phone one last time before closing my drivers door, willing to whatever power was up there it would light up with Liz’s name. Soon.
Things had been going smoothly lately between all of us guys, since having the conversation with Liz I felt as if there was a hope of things looking up, if only for the sake of our child. Brian was coming over today to help me put together some parts for a song we were working on together and I was kind of curious to see if he’d talked to Liz since the party. New Years had come and gone without another word from her on my end and I just assumed she was keeping the distance until I was needed. But I was beginning to wonder when that would be.
“You home loser?” Brian called out, sounding somewhat rushed.
“Living room.” I called out from the couch as Brian half sprinted in, a second pair of footsteps behind him, I rolled my eyes, “You know you could have told me you were dragging Zack with you-“
“Not Zack.”
I looked up from the couch as Marie stood beside Brian, arms crossed over her chest, “To what do we owe this.. um… What’s she doing here?” I asked.
Brian looked at Marie and made a gesture for her to begin speaking, “Uhm so… You should see this.” She handed me her phone. I looked up with a confused look and took the device, adjusting myself so I was sitting up straight and blinking a few times to focus. I scanned the images on the screen, a house, a very lovely looking house.
“Ok? And…” I paused as I scrolled through the album on the realtors site, “Wait, that’s… That’s Liz’s house.” I looked up at Marie as she nodded, I double checked the address and shook my head, “So where’d she move to?”
“You wanna try calling her?” Marie asked and pointed at my phone, “Don’t use mine, it’s either blocked… or..” She trailed off as we both looked at Brian, he just nodded, signifying his phone calls weren’t going through either.
I grabbed my phone and pressed Liz’s name from the contacts page, I held it to my ear and instantly was met with an out of service tone, “No…” I shook my head, “No no no… this cant happen.” I hung up and tried again, the same tone, “Has Zack tried-“
“He’s at the realtors right now asking if there’s any contact for her, Michelle’s on her way to the hospital to see if she’s there visiting her mom..” Marie shook her head, “She called me a few nights ago and I thought it was weird because she didn’t mention the house at all, and I saw it a while ago-“
“How long is a while ago?” I asked.
“Well it says it got listed two days after the Christmas party…” Brian piped up, “So it’s almost the end of January… a month.”
“No one knew? Mich?” I asked, Brian shook his head, “Fuck.. WE had just talked about the baby-“
“You hadn’t tried reaching out to her?” Brian asked, “She told us how the party went..”
“I didn’t, I figured she’d call me when she needed me.” I shrugged, “It’s Liz, you know she likes doing things on her own.”
“Well… Now we’re tracking down a partially invisible woman.” Marie sighed, “Work hasn’t even heard from her-“
“Sam.” I stood up and grabbed my phone, “Where’s Sam?”
“Fuck.” Brian grabbed his phone and clicked a few buttons, “Zack, hey, you need to get out of there and head to the police station-… No we haven’t, yet, but you need to go see what the fuck happened to Sam. Go to the courthouse, something, she’s missing and he hurt her-“
“Sam hurt her?!” Marie looked at me as Brian continued talking, “No one mentioned that little fucking tidbit!”
“Is she with him?!” I asked, Marie shook her head, “Do you know where he is?”
“He’s back in Boulder, I knew something happened between them but he never told me… He just kind of ghosted too.” She mumbled and took a deep breath, “I’ll try having Dennis email her and see if he can get it out of her. She’s always been straight up with him.”
I nodded and began pacing, the image of our house with a giant red sold beneath it online was burned in to my eyes, something wasn’t right about this. Liz wasn’t the type to ghost us. When she moved to be away from us the first time she told us, we got to talk to her at least some of the time. We had always been able to talk to her.
“Brian.” I interrupted his sentence to Zack, he paused talking and looked at me, “What if this time she isn’t giving us the chance, any of us the chance, to get her back?”
“Yeah, you think Matt?” Brian said a quick goodbye to Zack, “But don’t tell Zack that. Colorado she told us and we got her back, every time she’s tried leaving us out of the picture she’s kept some type of communication open and we’ve dragged her right back to this. To all of us.” He shook his head, “To you. And I think she’s just taken this one to run with, and it sucks because of the kid, and I wish she trusted us enough to step down if she just came back but..” Brian shook his head and put his hand on my arm, “She’ll be back, we just have to let her breathe this one out. You haven’t been the most helpful over the years with that.”
“She’s pregnant with my kid!” I screamed and threw my phone across the room, puncturing a hole in the drywall as Marie clasped her hand over her mouth, “She ran away with my fucking child, Brian! What if she’s not ok? Huh!? We may be divorced, we may not work as a married couple, but I love her and I give a fuck about her and my child! We’ll fucking find her.”
“Alright… well we can try at least.” Marie shrugged and gestured for me to stand up, “If you guys want to put on hold your plans for the day that is.”
“I think this might be important enough.” Brian stared at me and I ignored his stare, I couldn’t look at him right now because I felt sick enough to throw up right where I now stood. Before I knew it, my feet were carrying me out of the house to my car, “Where are we starting?”
“I don’t fucking know but we’ll find her.” I huffed and looked at my phone one last time before closing my drivers door, willing to whatever power was up there it would light up with Liz’s name. Soon.