Hours

Sandy could remember the night that changed their lives forever clearly. He remembered Ryan leaving with Seth to go to a party and only Seth coming home, wearing a bruise on his cheek.

He and Kirsten had waited up for them and had begun worrying as the hours had passed on, way past their joint curfew. Ryan usually made sure that the two of them were back in time and they became increasingly worried as time moved further and further forward.

They were meant to be back by 11:30 and both parents sat down in front of a film at 10:00 thinking that it would finish about the time the boys would be back.

When the film finished and the boys were still not home, they both hesitated before going to bed. They put in 'Fiddler on the Roof', at Sandy's request, and waited for the sound of a car pulling up into the drive.

At 1:00 am, Kirsten began pacing and Sandy would dart through to the kitchen looking for two guilty and sheepish boys sneaking into the pool house at least every twenty minutes.

The pool house remained dark and still, too still.

At 2:00 am, the two sat on the sofa. Kirsten lay cradled in Sandy's arms.

"I'm sure they both just slept over at one of the girl's houses." He suggested but the cordless phone never left his hand. "Why don't you go and catch some sleep, you have work tomorrow and I'll wait up for then."

"What if something happened to them?" Kirsten piped up craning her neck to see outside. She kept expecting to hear the car entering the drive but there was only a stony silence.

"Kirsten, listen I bet they're absolutely fine. Well maybe not Ryan, he'll probably wake up feeling completely guilty, you know what he's like but I'm sure they're fine."

He soothed and tried to keep his voice level low. The boys had better have a good reason for this.

3:00 am passed and Kirsten finally agreed to go to bed. Sandy convinced her by telling her that if there was something wrong they would have got a call from the police or hospital.

She trailed off to bed trying to keep her exhaustion at bay and stifling a yawn.

Sandy managed to stay awake for another hour but without his wife's company he couldn't keep his eyes from drifting shut.

He was woken two hours by a frantic Kirsten. "Sandy, where are they? They're still not home!" She called shaking him and he put his tiredness to the back of his mind.

Kirsten bustled off up the stairs to check Seth's room. The pool house was empty but she hadn't checked Seth yet.

She pushed open the door and flew in. She heaved a sigh of relief when she saw black curls sticking out from under his comforter.

She went over and shook him. He groaned and tried to pull away from her but turned over when he heard his father begin to order him to wake up as well.

He looked hung over, his skin was pale and his eyes were accentuated by purple sacks. Kirsten gasped when she saw the purpling bruise appearing on his cheek.

"Seth, what happened?" his mom asked and he looked at her confused before his eyes widened and he looked around the room frantically.

"Where's Ryan? Is he here?" He asked quickly and Kirsten looked at Sandy worriedly.

"Seth, what happened?" She repeated and he put a shaking hand to his head.

"Oh God, I don't know. There was this random guy. We were just driving and he made us pull over and he wouldn't stop yelling at us. He made us get out of the car and then he hit me and…. I… I don't remember anything else."

Kirsten stared at him in horror. "What?" She asked and she felt Sandy behind her grip onto her shoulder.

"Seth, this is really important, can you remember anything about the man? What did he look like?" He asked, trying desperately not to panic.

"I don't… he wouldn't stop yelling and I… Ryan wouldn't look at me. It all happened so fast."

He whimpered and Kirsten pulled him into a hug.

"I'm gonna go and check the pool house," Sandy said before darting out of the room, taking the stairs two steps at a time.

He hurried through the kitchen and out to the patio. He pushed open the glass door but knew before he got in to it that it was empty. The stony silence was still present and the gloomy darkness was still engulfing his son's room.

"Ryan! " He called into the room. He refused to believe he wasn't there. He refused to admit defeat and believe his inner self telling him that the man Seth had been talking about had him.

He pulled open the bathroom door and called into it. He checked the shower, the cupboard. Anywhere that Ryan may be. He kept expecting him to step out from around the corner with a puzzled look on his face.

There was no sign and he grabbed the cordless phone that stayed in the pool house.

"Julie, Julie oh God is Ryan there? Are you sure? He's gone missing and we can't find him anywhere." He tried to be patient and listen to Julie but he couldn't stay on the line when his son was missing and could be in pain for all he knew. If the man hit Seth and didn't feel bad about it, then what would he be willing to do to Ryan? He was the kind of person who would try and fight back no matter what the consequences.

He said a quick, hurried reply and hung up the phone.

He returned to the house and ran back to Seth's room. He was quietly crying into his mother and Sandy shook his head slightly when Kirsten turned to him expectantly.

"I'm going to call the police." He said. He put the phone once again back to his ear and watched as Kirsten put her face in Seth's curls and tried to stop herself from shaking.

TBC…