"Get up, dude! You're gonna be late!"
Pete's eyes shot open, as if he had just woken from a nightmare. He glanced at the clock—8:30 AM.
"Shit! I'm gonna be late!"
"You always are, dude," his roommate, Victor, replied lazily.
"Why can't you wake me up on time, man?" Pete groaned as he scrambled out of bed.
"Yeah... like I wasn't trying for the past hour," Victor retorted with a smirk.
Pete got ready in record time and rushed out to his car, a Nissan X-Trail. He worked at a game development company, which was a 40-minute drive from their apartment. Meanwhile, Victor worked at a company only 20 minutes away.
Every morning and evening, on his way to and from work, Pete would pass by a little boy who always smiled at him. And every time, Pete smiled back. The boy was the son of their neighbor, Marlin, a widow. Her husband had died in a tragic factory fire. Ever since, she had been working shifts at the local supermarket, sometimes at night, but mostly from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
That day, Pete reached his office 30 minutes late. He tried to sneak into his cabin, but his boss had already spotted him.
"Mr. Peter Frankson!" Eugene's voice carried a tone of clear disapproval.
"Hey... Eugene. I'm sorry, man. I got a flat tire on my way—" Pete attempted to make an excuse.
"Pete! I don't want you walking into this company past 9:00 AM, alright?" Eugene cut him off before heading back to his office.
"Flat tire, huh?" Jeena, one of his colleagues, teased him with a smirk.
"You know... sleep," Pete admitted, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"By the way, you look good as usual. I mean—you look good every day, and that's... uhmm... that's a good thing," Pete stammered.
"Well, thank you, Pete!" Jeena replied with a smile.
Pete had had a crush on Jeena ever since she joined the company, but he never had the confidence to confess to her. They both got back to work.
That evening, as he drove home, heavy rain poured down. As usual, the little boy stood outside his house's gate, holding an umbrella, enjoying the rain.
"Kids," Pete sighed with a small smile. The boy waved at him, and Pete waved back, making sure the kid saw him through the rain.
When Pete got home, Victor was already there, as always.
"Hey... boss fired you yet?" Victor joked with a laugh.
"Not yet... not yet," Pete sighed, collapsing onto the couch.
"Hey man... did you hear about that old guy in town?" Victor asked, leaning forward.
"What old guy?" Pete asked, only mildly interested.
"There's this old man who showed up out of nowhere, claiming to be Richard Williams' son—the one who went missing when he was nine. Turns out, there really was a Richard Williams, and his kid did go missing at a young age."
"Well, then he might actually be that kid. What's the big deal?" Pete asked, uninterested.
"But the thing is... people say the police found the kid's dead body two months after he disappeared," Victor continued.
"Oh... then he's probably just some crazy old man. Hey! Why are we even talking about this? I'm exhausted, dude. Let me sleep," Pete groaned.
"Alright, alright... but there's one more thing," Victor insisted. "The police took the old man in for investigation, and guess what? The birthmarks on his body match the missing kid's exactly. Every single one."
Pete frowned. "Same birthmarks? Like, all of them?"
"Yeah, man. Everyone in town is talking about it. He's still in police custody."
"Well... that's pretty messed up. The cops are gonna have a hard time figuring out who he really is," Pete muttered, rubbing his temple. "What's his name, Vick?"
"Uhmm... something like Jonathan... yeah, Jonathan Williams."
Pete nodded, then both of them went to sleep.
The next morning, something unusual happened—Pete woke up on time.
"Hmmm... that's strange," he muttered to himself as he got ready and left for work. On his way, he saw the little boy again, standing in his usual spot. Pete slowed down his car.
"Hey, buddy," he greeted the kid before driving off.
But his day took a turn for the worse. Halfway to work, both rear tires of his car got punctured.
"Oh, I'm so screwed," Pete groaned, inspecting the damage. He managed to get his car to a workshop and took a cab to work—but he still arrived late.
Sneaking into his cabin, he braced himself for another lecture from Eugene. But to his surprise, his boss simply said, "It's okay, man. No worries," before heading to his office.
"That's... random," Pete muttered under his breath.
Later, Jeena waved at him from her cabin. He waved back, still baffled by how strange the day felt.
That evening, as he drove home, it rained heavily again. But when he looked for the little boy at his usual spot—he wasn't there.
"Hmmm... that's strange," Pete mumbled.
When he reached home, Victor was watching TV. As soon as he saw Pete, he sat up excitedly.
"Dude! Did you hear? That old man really is the missing kid!" Victor exclaimed.
"What? But you told me they found the kid's body," Pete said, confused.
"Yeah, man. But get this—the kid's fingerprints, taken before he went missing, match the old man's exactly. A hundred percent."
"Vick... that's messed up," Pete said, rubbing his temples.
"Oh, and by the way, a kid in the neighborhood went missing today," Victor added.
Pete's stomach twisted. "What? Which kid?"
"You know... the guy who died in the factory accident? His kid. The one whose mom works at Daniels Supermarket."
Pete's eyes widened as a sinking feeling settled in his chest.
The little boy... was gone.
-To be continued -