Ezoic
The kids from the robotics club. The kids from the youth group at St. Peter’s that they stopped going to in September. Nothing.
Nobody knew anything.
Denise drove past all their usual hangouts.
The skate park off Tates Creek Road. The basketball courts at Woodland Park. The Waffle House on Nicholasville Road where they used to go at midnight after football games. The McDonald’s. The movie theater at Hamburg. The batting cages.
No sign of them.
I stayed home. In case Nathan came back.
I sat at the kitchen table with my phone in front of me and stared at it. I checked Nathan’s location on the family plan. He’d turned it off. When? I scrolled back. September first.
Ezoic
The first Friday.
He’d planned this.
At noon, I went into his room.
I hadn’t been in Nathan’s room in months. Not really. Not past the doorway. He’s sixteen. He wanted privacy. I respected it. I thought that’s what good mothers did.
