Rosie waited until they were a little further from Ben's house before turning to Arbel
"What did you do on Ben's phone?"
Arbel looked back at her, trying to decide how much she wanted to say.
She trusted Rosie, she really did. She was her best friend. But Arbel wasn't stupid, she knew she was acting crazy, but how else was a person supposed to act when they lost their brother?
"I sent a real-time location on my phone," she finally said, deciding she didn't have the strength to try to hide it.
Rosie was silent for a few seconds before grumbling
"I hope you were smart enough to at least delete the message from his phone."
Arbel flashed her a smile. "Of course-" she confirmed
"-that's how I am, a professional stalker."
Rosie simply shook her head.
"Where are we going now?" Rosie asked
"-Or do we just wait for Ben to leave and follow him like a pair of creepys?"
Arbel's smile widened Just from the thought of making Ben miserable somehow, but she shook her head.
"We just visited Leo's friend that I hate the most, now we're going to see the friend that I love the most"
"Do you have a list?" Rosie complained loudly.
Arbel simply ignored her "She's Leo's only friend that I trust, and more importantly, she helps out on the soccer team. So if something happens there, she'll know"
Rosie was surprised "Cory was on the soccer team-" she pointed out
"-so do you really think the reason Leo disappeared has something to do with Cory somehow?"
Arbel wanted to say no, but she also wanted to go home and cry under the covers.
She couldn't do any of those things, not yet at least.
"Not necessarily-" she said instead "-but also. If it's about Corey then she can tell us more and even if it's not she'll probably know more, maybe even more than Ben"
Rosie look at her in disbelief "And why is that?" she asked.
Arbel grabbed Rosie's hand and dragged her to the other side of the road. They should make it to the next bus.
Sophia's house was a half-hour bus ride away according to the app, so Leo should thank her when she found him for agreeing to take public transportatio in the summer for him.
"Because of all the programs, all the classes, all the lessons, and all the friends. Leo's soccer team was the only one that continued with training this summer. Which means those on the team are probably the only people who continued to see Leo on a regular basis. "
Arbel tried to ignore the guilt that she wasn't one of those people.
Arbel tried to ignore a lot of things.
"Just for general information-" Rosie interrupted Arbel's wave of self-pity "-Is your whole plan to go door to door to Leo's friends and ask them?"
Arbel's face may have flushed with embarrassment, it was hard to tell with the summer heat.
"Open to more ideas if you have any" she said without looking at Rosie, too busy signaling the driver to stop at the bus stop.
Rosie waited for them to sit down on the bus before she finally answered the question
"I actually have an idea-" Rosie leaned back "-a good idea even"
Arbel looked at her out of the corner of her eye "Want to share?"
Rosie shook her head "Not yet, need to check things out first"
Arbel's gaze went back forward
"Suspicious" she replied in a mumble and Rosie just laughed.
Arbel opened her WhatsApp conversation with Ben, staring at the dot indicating his location.
Right now the point still hadn't moved and Arbel wondered if this was really as good an idea as she thought.
She thinks deep down that she feels like she's not on the right track.
That there are so many other things she needs to do right now and she just doesn't understand what they are.
To be fair, there's no manual for what to do when your baby brother is gone.
Arbel leaned her head against the window, hoping to see where Leo was,
He's okay.
x x x x x x x x x x x x
Leo was not OK.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd been okay, certainly not in the last few weeks. But now, in addition to the mental mess he was in, he also had a serious physical problem.
He had a hole in his shoulder.
Leo wasn't a doctor, but he didn't think there should be a hole in his shoulder, and he didn't think there should be a stream of blood coming out of it.
Somewhere, Leo could hear footsteps approaching him.
He had to go.