Finding Yourself
Part 9

The phone rang, echoing through the Evans’ household. Diane Evans rolled over in bed and answered it sleepily on the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Diane? I’m sorry to bother you this early in the morning, but I’m afraid I have a problem."

Diane bolted upright in bed. "Sheriff Valenti? Jim? What is it?"

"Well, I need to ask you to check and tell me if both of your kids are in bed."

"Diane, what’s going on?" Phillip awoke quickly. The Sheriff calling at five in the morning was only trouble.

Diane covered the phone mouthpiece. "Jim wants to know if the kids are in bed."

"Of course they are. I’ll go check though." Phillip made his way out of bed and into the hallway.

"Jim, what’s this about? Phillip’s checking. Is everything okay?"

Jim sighed over the connection. "No, I’m afraid it looks like Liz Parker has run away. She left her parents a note and I was hoping Max and Isabel could help."

"God, how horrible! How’s Nancy?"

"Not well. She’s beside herself with worry."

Phillip returned to the doorframe, Isabel right behind him. "Max isn’t in his room." His eyes were panicked. Where the hell was his son and why was the Sheriff asking?

"What’s going on?" Isabel knew Max was going to get caught out with Liz one day. She couldn’t cover for him forever.

"Jim, Max isn’t here either. Oh, god, is he gone too?"

"Now calm down, Diane. I’m on my way out there."

Diane hung up the phone and turned to her family. Had Max run away with Liz? "Liz Parker ran away from home. Isabel, where’s Max? Was he with her?"

Isabel was speechless. Liz had run away? That didn’t sound right. Surely, Max and Liz were just off somewhere talking.

"They had a fight earlier and he went to find her last I heard. They probably just got caught up somewhere working things out. This is just a big misunderstanding. You’ll see."

But four hours later, Isabel wasn’t so sure. Sheriff Valenti had come by and given them the whole story. The Parkers had gone to check up on Liz and had found her room empty except for a note to her parents. Some clothes and personal affects were missing. Maria, Michael, and Amy were with the Parkers now, waiting for any kind of news. Their story had been the same. Max and Liz had fought and that was the last anyone had seen of them, except for Kyle finding her at Alex’s grave.

Kyle had come over to the Evans’ house and had helped Isabel pick through Max’s things, looking for any sign of a struggle or if anything was missing. Isabel insisted that Max and Liz had been taken, saying her brother wouldn’t just leave them like that. Kyle wasn’t so sure. But to be safe, they had told the Sheriff anyway. He agreed to let them help search and Kyle and Isabel hopped into Kyle’s Mustang to pick up Michael and Maria.

At the Crashdown, they found hysterical Parkers and a distraught Maria. Amy was doing her best to calm them all, but her heart wasn’t in it. When they saw Isabel and Kyle, their eyes lit up.

"Did you find them?" Maria rushed forward, expectantly.

"No, no word yet. The Sheriff thought the four of us might be able to look around a few places they might be."

"Good idea. Maria, you take the car. I’ll be here if you need me." Amy patted her daughter’s hand, pushing them out the door. There was no need to have a half dozen people sitting around fretting, when they could be out looking.

Outside, the four agreed to split up. Michael and Maria would check the pod chamber, cemetary and the school. Isabel and Kyle would circle around town and try the airport, train and bus stations.

Kyle drove in silence, thinking about Liz. She had looked absolutely broken in the cemetery. How long had that been building up? Liz was tough, it would have to have taken more than a single incident to set her off like that. This had to be Alex’s death and the future Max incident that put things in perspective now. So, it was no wonder she would have left town. But for Max to go with her? It didn’t make sense.

They had already been by the park and every place they could ever remember Max and Liz going. They had tried the airport and the train stations with no luck. They were headed for the bus station now, the last place they knew to look.

Kyle heard a car horn behind him and he checked his rear view mirrors. "Hey, Isabel, Michael and Maria are behind us."

Isabel swiveled around in time to see the Jetta pull alongside the Mustang. Maria rolled down the passenger window and Kyle rolled down his as well.

"Any luck?" he yelled out the window.

"No, you guys headed for the bus station?"

"Yeah. Meet us there and we’ll regroup."

Maria nodded and the Jetta sped off in front of them, leading the way to the station.

Both cars pulled into the parking lot at the same time and Isabel let out a gasp as she recognized Max’s Jeep sitting empty. She was clawing at the door handle as Kyle slowed the car for her to jump out. Isabel ran to the Jeep, frantically searching for any sign of her brother and Liz. Maria was on the other side of the Jeep, doing the same thing.

A white envelope caught Isabel’s eye and she picked it up to see Liz’s loopy scrawl on it. "Maria, I think this is for you."

Maria looked at the envelope, identical to the one the Parkers had found that morning. Without having to open it, she burst into a fresh bout of tears.

Isabel looked frantically around the parking lot. Max wasn’t there and Liz had left a note for Maria. Maybe it would shed some light on what was going on, but Isabel had to find Max. He couldn’t be gone. She took off into the ticket office, pushing her way into the front of the line to pull out a picture of Max and Liz and thrusting at the ticket booth operator.

"Have you seen these two here tonight?"

The man scratched his head a minute. "I don’t recall seeing the young fella, but the girl looks familiar."

Isabel’s heart lurched. "When? Where did they go?"

"Isabel!"

Isabel turned to where Maria’s voice had called from. Without an apology, she pushed her way back through the line to make a break for the buses. But the sight she found made her stop short even as her heart broke. Max was sitting on a bench, head in his hands, looking frozen. She ran to his side and knelt before him, trying to make him look up at her. Maria and the others had followed just as quickly, but were more than willing to let Isabel handle things now.

"Max, look at me. Are you okay?" He didn’t answer, so she shook him a bit. "Max, I need you to snap out of it. Where’s Liz?"

At the mention of Liz’s name, the tears started rolling down Max’s cheeks again. "She’s gone, Is. She’s gone."

Shocked, Isabel took her brother into her arms and rocked him gently as he wept. What had they done?