Eighteen

Gideon is missing.

On Friday, Gideon was at school. He seemed like he was back to his old self happy. I hoped that my reassurance that I cared about him and that I’d always be a shoulder to cry on was what had made him feel better. His face was still bruised as ever. I could tell he tried to cover the purple splotches with concealer, but it didn’t help much. 

Throughout the next few weeks, Gideon seemed to be feeling a lot better. He came to school every day and he never mentioned his dad. I assumed this was because he wasn’t hitting him as much. Or at least I chose to believe this was the reason. But April is when things started getting bad. One day, Gideon came to school angry.  

“What’s wrong Gideon?” 

“Nothing,” he scoffed. “I’m fine.” 

I frowned. It almost seemed like he was mad at me, but I didn’t know why it could be. “Come on. Remember what we agreed? You’d tell me if something’s bothering you?” 

Gideon rolled his eyes. “It’s my dad.” 

As soon as the three-letter word escaped his lips, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.  

Gideon noticed my alertness. “Okay, calm down.” I did. Kind of. “It’s just that he’s been drinking non-stop. More than he usually does. I’ve been avoiding him at the bookstore, so I don’t get hit, but when I come home at night, it’s like trying to walk through a tornado. Impossible. All he does is yell and throw things.” 

I frowned. “I’m sorry. That’s not cool though. You know that’s something that will make the CPS come visit your house.”  

Gideon shrugged. “Maybe that’d be a good thing. New family. Couldn’t hurt, right?” 

“Yea,” I replied. “Unless you move somewhere far away.” 

Gideon smiled sympathetically. “Don’t worry Riles. Nothing will change between us, no matter where either of us go.” 

“Okay, but we’re not going anywhere.” 

Gideon smiled. “Well, I need to figure something out.”  

I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it. Trying to deal with Gideon’s father was like trying to handle a venomous snake. Unpredictable and highly dangerous.  

Finally, Gideon’s face lit up. “I’ll just throw away all the liquor he has in the house. Like his whole stash.” 

I frowned. “Do you really think that’s the best idea? Remember when you forgot to buy him alcohol? What do you think he’d do if you stole it from him?” 

Gideon scrunched his face up, considering the situation. But then, “I don’t care. That’s the only way. If he’s sober, he feels things. Maybe he’d feel remorse for the s**t he’s done to me.” 

I tried to convince Gideon that this was a bad idea. But he didn’t listen. He decided to follow through with his plan. 

 

 

~ 

 

 

On Monday Gideon wasn’t at school. I didn’t think much of it. I should’ve. But I didn’t. I figured he was busy trying to make his dad a better person. Or if he had already thrown out the stash, maybe his dad was tasking him with buying more. Who knows? But Gideon didn’t show up the next day either. I was worried that his dad had found out about his missing stash and was punishing him. But I still tried to stay calm because of his absence last week. I texted him in the afternoon, though. I asked him if everything was okay, but he didn’t answer. 

But a week went by, and Gideon still didn’t show up. He never texted me back either. Before I knew it, it’d been two weeks since I saw or even talked to Gideon. I was starting to get really worried. 

“Why do you think he’s skipping?” I asked Val at the end of the day. She just shrugged.  

“I don’t know. Could be anything.” 

I frowned. It could be anything. But I was scared that it was for a specific reason. I was scared his father was to blame. “Do you think he’s okay?” I persisted. 

Val looked at me weird. “I mean… yea? Why wouldn’t he be?” I hesitated. She didn’t know everything about Gideon’s relationship with his father. Or what he’d told me the last time he was at school.  

I smiled. “No, I… I was just wondering. You’re right. He’s probably fine.” But Val continued smiling at me. 

“I mean, we could go see what’s up if you want.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“You know, go over to his house and see if he’s okay,” she explained. “I mean, it seems like it’s bothering you, so." 

I hesitated. “I’m not sure that’d be a good idea.” 

“Why?” she questioned. “It’ll be fine. 

But it wouldn’t. If Gideon wasn’t home for whatever reason, it’d just be his dad. And the only time I met him, he was pissed that I was there. Imagine if we were there questioning him. 

Val laughed and grabbed my hand. “Come on.” She started pulling me toward the door. “We’ll stop by his house.”  

While I was curious to see why Gideon had been missing for the past two weeks, I dreaded the possibility that Gideon was in danger.