"Why were the cops at my house? It's 4 am. Wait? Did I get caught speeding? I'm going to jail. My life is over." I thought to myself.
The cops knocked one more time and then slid an envelope under the front door. I was very confused. "Why would the cops slide a note under my door if they wanted to arrest me?".
I waited for the cops to pull out of my driveway and slowly made my way to the mysterious envelope. I picked up the envelope and began to open it, I began to get a really bad gut feeling about it but I dismissed it and began to read the note. I felt like my world had just flipped upside down, right side up, and upside down again. The cops had placed a "missing persons" notice under my door for Malachi. I started to panic and rashly called up Brayden.
"Brayden!"
"Gee not even a hello Kaze?"
"This is no time to joke Brayden! Malachi's gone missing!"
"Wait what!? How?! I swear I was talking to him before I linked at your place"
"Wait fo' real?!"
"How do you even know this Kaze!?"
"Brayden come over ASAP and I'll explain aye"
"Aight I'll be there right away"
Brayden got to my place in about seven minutes but those seven minutes felt like an eternity. I was pacing the whole living room thinking about how this happened. Malachi didn't have the best relationship with his parents, but they'd never argue to the point where he just leaves, then what could it be?! I had this internal conflict up until I heard Brayden's AE86 pull up.
Brayden rushed inside and I handed him the missing person's notice. He took a seat on my couch and started to think. We started to think. We discussed for literal hours, thinking, brainstorming on reasons why Malachi went missing. We managed to decide that, we'll go get breakfast with Emma, and then we will make our way to his house and ask his parents about why he might have done this. While driving to get breakfast from the convenience store I work at Emma asked,
"Why would Malachi run away? He was getting better wasn't he?"
"Getting better? What do you mean Emma?" Brayden asked
"Don't tell me you forgot Brayden" I added jokingly slapping the back of his head
"Malachi had really bad anxiety as a kid that caused him to lash out in massive outbursts" Emma explained
"Oh yeah, that's why he was such a crazy good fighter aye" Brayden added
"That's not a good thing" Emma responded
"Emma just because you don't like the idea of Kaze fighting, that doesn't mean you can have an opinion on the rest of us," Brayden said
"Hmph, sorry I care for all you guys," Emma said pouting her face
"Yo Kaze, Emma's doing that thing agai..."
Before Brayden could finish his sentence, I pulled up to the car park of the convenience store,
"Okay, what do you guys want?" I asked
"Umm I'll take an egg and rice onigiri please babe," Emma said
"HUH!? BABE?!" Brayden looked confused
"WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!"
"Why do you think I was sleeping at his place Brayden?"
"No... Kaze you didn't" Brayden looked even more confused
I was about to explain why Emma was asleep in my room but she cut me off and said,
"Brayden… I was sleeping in his room"
"Emma stop messing with him," I said while playfully tapping her head
Brayden looked at me with a confused but proud face,
"Oi Brayden, what did you want for breakfast?"
"Oh yeah, um get me a toasty and a coffee bro"
"Yeah aight"
I walked into the store and picked up Emma's egg and rice onigiri, Brayden's toasty and coffee, and my egg muffin with a bottle of OJ. I paid for all the food and took it back to the car. We stood outside and used the spoiler of my FD2 as a table and enjoyed our breakfast. Emma continued to tease Brayden's simple mind and I just stood there enjoying my food. This felt like one of those picture-perfect moments in those slice of life anime, and then all the characters would all live happily after. This moment though was more like the calm before the storm, I had the feeling in my gut, and my gut couldn't have been more right.
After we had finished our breakfast and put everything in their respective bins, Emma and Brayden decided to argue on who gets to sit shotgun. Emma eventually won a thirty-two-round game of rock paper scissors and sat shotgun with the smirkiest smile I have seen. We drove twenty minutes downtown to arrive at Malachi's household. It was quite an aesthetically please two-story house with a decently sized garage, surrounded by lush green grass. I pulled up on the driveway and we made our way to the front door.
[Knock Knock]
We waited. No one came.
[Knock Knock]
Again. We waited. No one came.
On the third knock, we heard heavy footsteps heading towards us, we all took a step back and watched as Malachi's mountain of a dad stood in front of us. He was the definition of terrifying, he was covered from the neck down in tattoos, hair as long as time itself, and a voice so deep and raspy you'd think the Earth was shaking.
"What you twerps want huh?" he said in his deep, raspy voice
"Morning Sir" I started with
"Early this morning I received a missing persons notice and your son and our close friend, Malachi, and was wondering if you have any clues or ideas that could help us find him?" I continued
"Pft HAHAHAHA, Babe come down and get a load of this"
Once he said that someone who didn't look like Malachi's mother came down from the second story and clung to his father.
"Oi whos that?" Brayden said without giving his words a second thought
"Huh, what you saw twerp?"
"I said, who's the girl"
"She's my wife, got a problem with that twerp?"
"Actually, yeah I do"
"Oi Brayden calm down" I whispered
"Nah Kaze, I'm calm, I was just gonna ask for the name of this slag"
"Oi kid, watch your tone"
"Nah why should I? That ain't Malachi's mother, she's got none of my respect"
Malachi's mountain of a father grabbed Brayden by the shirt and lifted him as if he was weightless.
"I told you to watch your tone, punk"
"Do something bout I then, if your such a bug man then do something bout it"
"Oi Brayden! Back up bro, this isn't our problem" Emma butting in
"Yeah listen to that little bitch and back up punk"
As soon as I heard what he had just said, without thinking, I jumped up into the air and kicked him across the face with the spite of God behind me. He dropped Brayden, began to stumble, and wiped the blood coming out of his lip.
"Now sir, do you know where Malachi and his mother are or not?" I asked, I was losing my patience with his trash bag of a human.
"Why don't you kick me like that to get the answer out of me?" He taunted
Emma tugged the back of my shirt and pleaded that I don't do it again.
"We didn't come here to fight or get involved with the situation between you and this woman, just tell us where Malachi and his mother are"
"Get fucked kid," He said waving us off and slamming the front door
We got back into the car and began to drive off, as soon as we had gotten off his street, Brayden let out a scream of pure frustration.
"AHHHHH" He screamed
"Fuck that scum, he shouldn't be allowed to live," Brayden said out of frustration and spite
"Brayden you gotta calm down, we've got other leads," I said trying to calm him down
"Don't tell me to calm down Kaze, you were the one who decided to three sixty kick the guy across the face cause he dissed your girl"
"And what do you mean other leads!? His father was the only lead we had but he's too busy sleeping with some slag"
"Brayden I told you to calm down"
"Or what Kaze?! Huh? What are you gonna do?"
I kept silent and began to speed up, Brayden was frustrated and wasn't listening to what I had to say, putting me in a foul mood. I didn't realise how fast I was going until Emma tugged my shirt once more.
"Oh shit, sorry I didn't realise I was going that fast" I apologised
"It's okay Kaze, I understand your mood has been ruined but try to drive safer in a residential district"
"Got it, Emma"
After driving in more silence for a good half hour, we arrived on the street where Malachi's grandma lived. Emma helped me find the exact house since she was the one holding onto the GPS, once we had found it we pulled up on the driveway and made our way to the front door. Grandma Winnie, is what all the kids used to call her, was the sweetest old lady you could know, she's only about five foot three but she had a really strong character, she never talked about her past but what all the kids around the neighbourhood knew that Grandma Winnie made the best cookies, Malachi, Brayden, and I all have memories of playing soccer on the street and rushing over to Grandma Winnie's place once it was three o'clock, that meant her cookies had just come fresh out the oven.
As soon as we pulled in Brayden asked who's house this was, I ignored him and continued walking up to the front door, of Grandma Winnie's very traditional-looking home.
[Knock Knock]
"Coming!" we heard from the inside
Brayden, Emma, and I stood there as Malachi's mother began to open the door
"Mrs. Son! We found you!" I said surprised
"And why were you looking for me Kaze?"
I handed her the missing person notice and explained everything that had happened this far, including the events that occurred at her original household.
"Ah so that explains why you're all here, also good one sticking up for your girl like that Kaze" She winked at me and gave me a light tap with her elbow
"She isn't my girlfriend Mrs. Son, but going off your response you already knew Malachi was missing?"
"Well duh Kaze, why do you think I'm at my mother's place?"
"I mean yeah fair enough"
After that little exchange, Mrs. Son invited us inside for a cup of coffee and to talk about this issue. We talked for a while and learned that Malachi and Mr. Son and gotten into a physical altercation because he had bought that girl home with him. Mrs. Son explained that Malachi had lost his self-control and tried to seriously hurt Mr. Son, which caused him to throw him out.
"Nah man seriously, stuff that old man" Brayden said gritting his teeth
"Do you have any idea where he could be Mrs. Son?" I asked hoping we would get an answer
"Nah sorry boys, and Emma, if I knew I would have already found him ya' know"
"Yeah true… Sorry for wasting your time, Mrs. Son"
"C'mon don't be like that Kaze," Emma said trying to cheer me up,
I felt lost, my childhood friend, the one who has had my back since the day I met him, was missing. I felt as if though I had failed him to a point. I walked outside and began to cry in my car, using the steering wheel as a headrest.
I felt truly defeated.
After not coming back inside for a bit, Emma walked outside and came sat next to me in my car.
"It's okay Kaze, we'll find him," She said rubbing my back trying to comfort me
"I know, but I feel like I've failed him, Emma," I said through my tears
"Look up at me Kaze," Emma said grabbing my head and making eye contact with me
"I can guarantee you and Malachi isn't thinking that you have failed him, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since we found out he was missing Kaze, don't beat yourself up so much"
I wiped the tears from my face and gave Emma a quick peck,
"Thank you, Emma," I said with a smile, my forehead against hers.
After getting ahold of myself, Emma and I went back inside and began to discuss with Mrs. Son and Brayden, on places where we could look that Malachi could have gone. We figured out a few places and agreed that we would rest for today, and then split up tomorrow and look at these places in two groups, I was with Brayden and Emma was with Mrs. Son, just to make sure we could cover more ground. After deciding this, we got into my car and drove off.
I dropped Brayden back at my place so he could pick up his car, afterwards, I drove to Emma's place to drop her off. She kept insisting that she stay with me and that she will call up her parents to tell them what was going on. I felt as though that would sit badly with her parents so I asked her if it wasn't too much trouble if I drove her there and we explained everything together. I was terrified, I was going to tell her parents that I was out until three am and that I let their daughter sleep in my room, by herself of course, but still the thought of their faces when I told them this terrified me. Once we got there, I stood behind Emma and she used her spare key to open the front door. As soon as she did, her parents came running up to her, hugging her and asking if she was okay. After that, they both gave me an intense stare that pierced through my soul and asked if I could explain why Emma was with me and what we had been doing the whole day. I told them everything, I explained how I was out at a car meet and that when I got home, Emma was just sitting in front of my door, and that she slept in my room while I slept in the living room, and that we have been chasing around Malachi all day because he had gone missing.
They both stared at me and smiled,
"That's the Kaze we know," they said sounding almost proud,
"Well actually mum, dad, I was wondering if I could stay with Kaze for the next few days while we look for Malachi…" Emma said twiddling her fingers and staring at the floor.
There was a brief silence.
They looked back and forth at each other and came to some sort of agreement without saying anything. "Is that what marriage is like?" I thought to myself,
"Emma, you may stay at Kaze's but under one condition," Said her mother
"Thank you, mum! What's the condition mum?"
Mrs. Stafford signaled Emma to come closer and whispered something into her ear, I didn't hear anything but Emma's face went bright red, and ran upstairs
"Um… Is she okay?" I asked worryingly
"Of course Kaze, she's just packing some spare clothes" Emma's mother explained
"Ah okay," I responded
"Emma I'll be waiting in my car yeah?" I said out loud so she could hear me
"Okay!" she yelled back
I waited in my car for a decent amount of time, when Emma had finally finished and sat in the passenger seat of my car, her face was still bright red. I was scared to ask what her mother's one condition was so we drove back to my place listening to Emma's favorite playlist and jamming out to some old-school Bruno Mars.