"Did they give you a reason at least?"
Micah shook his head, the box filled with his old employment resting heavily in his lap. "Not really, just the normal corporate speak, I guess. 'You are very valuable to the team, but we have to cut costs, so your position is no longer required', yadda, yadda." He tried his best to sound nonchalant, which should've been easy. He was already going to quit; he had even found another job, a way out starting in just a couple of weeks. Yet, it still stung that they let him go before he even handed in his resignation. And now, after all the time he spent there, he didn't get to leave on his own terms. He couldn't even let him leave with the little dignity they left him.
Violet clicked her tongue in disapproval, a sneer sat heavy across her face. "Saying you're valuable in the same sentence they're firing you with is disgusting. Which HR asshole was it?" Her eyes narrowed. "Was it John? Is this his revenge for Easter?"
Micah managed a chuckle, the memories of that horror story of a company event waltzing merrily to the front of his mind. "No, it wasn't John."
Violet sniffed, leaning forward on the bench they sat on. "Could bet he wanted to, though."
"I have a feeling you're right." They both looked out at the park in which they sat. Micah watched his nephew Rowan chase a flock of pigeons that were resting in the midday sun. At least before a tiny human decided they were funnier in flight. "That's one upside to this, I guess."
Violet smiled at that, also watching her son get so close to the birds before they flittered up into the air to escape his glee. Another kid had joined him in his feather-fuelled fun. "Well, what's the plan in the meantime?"
Micah hadn't even considered it. His mind had been swirling around the events of the day, and he hadn't even considered the time to come. The sheer weight of the free time he'll have to himself started to feel immense and suffocating. "I have a couple of weeks to kill at least. Maybe I could help you out with some stuff."
"Thanks! I don't have much on my plate at the moment either. But I'll hit you up if I need any extra hands on deck."
There was a pang of disappointment as he felt the box, filled with his books, mugs, and pens, grow heavier in his lap. So much time to myself, then. Nonetheless, he gave his sister a small smile. "Just let me know."
Rowan squealed with delight as he had succeeded in his mission to displace every last pigeon in sight. "Are you done with your adventure, honey?" Violet called out to him.
"We haven't gone on an adventure yet, Mom!" argued Rowan. "Adventures have dragons in them! Those are birds!"
"Let's go on an adventure!" squeaked the other little boy who had joined him, running up to his new friend. The kid must've fallen over at some point, because his red shirt was streaked with green grass stains.
Violet sighed a little, her foot tapping the way she did when she wanted to leave. But her smile never wavered. "Okay, have a five-minute adventure. Five minutes. Okay?"
"For real!" Rowan whooped, and the other boy echoed the words with glee. With their best friend for the next five minutes in tow, they ran down towards a big elm tree just short of the forest's tree line.
Micah raised an eyebrow. "Does he actually stick to the five minutes?"
Air left Violet's nose in a light chuckle. "He takes what he can-"
"Liam? Liam?" a voice called from off to their right. The two of them turn to see a woman looking around a nearby section of the park, her skin gone pale and her movements frantic. She turned and made eye contact with them, and without a moment's hesitation, she quickly approached. There was a deep panic behind her eyes, but she tried to keep her face mostly calm and friendly, even smiling. "Hi, have either of you seen a young boy in a red shirt around here?"
Micah could see Violet immediately release the tension that had taken over every muscle in her body. "Oh, my son just made a friend in a red shirt, that might be him. Does he have white sneakers?"
The weight that had been placed upon the mother's shoulder immediately lightened, and the panic she tried to hide started to evaporate. "Thank god. Yes, he does. Thank you." The colour trepidatiously began to return to her face, but not all the way yet. "I take my eyes off him for five seconds"
"I know exactly what you mean. They just ran off down there." Violet stood up, and Micah followed her lead quickly. The box he had been cradling until then found itself alone on the park bench, and he didn't recall even placing it down. He felt that emptiness he had felt deep within his chest all day begin to withdraw, like his worries had a low tide.
"We'll take you down to them," he said to her, and before he knew it, Micah began to stride down to the tree with the other two trailing behind.
At their approach, Rowan leapt down from a low branch he had perched upon. "Uncle Micah, you can't just walk into the castle. You need to say the secret password!" he whined, holding a snapped twig like a sword at him.
Micah smiled at him and did his best B-movie acting at being held back by the twig-sword. "Sir Rowan, where's your friend? His mom's looking for him."
"I'm here defending the castle while he gets rocks for the walls from there." He pointed his wooden blade to the forest line and then whispered very loudly to Micah, "The secret password is ladybug. But don't tell Mom." However, Micah's focus had already left his nephew, his eyes trained on the forest. The brush was thick and hilly, without a path or a route. The trees loomed low and obscured much of the sight, with shrubs and bushes blocking any views that remained. By the looks on their faces, Violet and Liam's mother were both having the same sinking feeling in their gut as him.
"He can't be far. They only just got down here," he said to Liam's mother.
Violet knelt before Rowan, bringing her face to his eye level, and placed her right hand on his. "Honey, keep defending the castle, okay?"
The little boy's smile wavered and vanished. "Is everything okay? Is Liam in trouble?" Rowan asked, his loud and excited voice now dampened to barely above a whisper.
"Of course not, honey. We just have to find him. And we need you to keep an eye out here, okay? You're the lookout."
"Okay! I'll spot him!" Rowan gave a little salute and started to scramble up the trunk back to his branch to begin his essential duty.
"I'll go this way, yell if you spot him and come back here," Violet instructed as she started her way to the right of the tree line, keeping shallow to the edge. "Liam! Liam!"
His mother immediately took off straight ahead into the woods, calling out his name loudly and with more panic than her original search. Micah followed their lead, veering left and taking that route downwards into the brush.
"Liam! Liam!" he called out, hearing the others doing the same in their respective directions. The sounds of their voices grew quieter, the distance and the brush muffling them. They just got here. He can't be that far. Couldhe? he thought as he cautiously stepped through shrubbery and ducked under low branches. All he could make out was more and more plant life, and an occasional spider that made its home between some branches.
"Liam!" he called out over and over, pacing further down the hill. Eventually, as he reached towards the bottom, he paused, looking around. There was no way that kid had gotten much further than there, surely. The dense vegetation would've made it hard to see him in any case. He could've been within 20 feet, and Micah might have missed him. He turned around to see if he missed anything. Liam stood behind him, his back to a shrub, a small smile on his face. Micah nearly jumped out of his skin.
"You scared me, kid," he wheezed, feeling his heart rate going haywire, and a cold sweat hit his temples. He put his hands on his knees, trying to get his heart to stop sprinting.
"Let's go on an adventure!" Liam squeaked, still smiling up at him.
Micah shook his head firmly. "No, no more adventures for today. Your mom is looking for you." He looked around the woods and called out, "Hey! I found Liam!" He wasn't confident they'd hear him, but it was better than nothing.
"Let's go on an adventure!" Liam squeaked again.
Micah sighed deeply. This kid is really not understanding the situation. "Again, no adventures. Come on, your mother is looking for you back up top."
"Let's go on an adventure!" the kid squeaked again, nonetheless.
Micah felt a stress headache forming behind his eyes at this kid's insistence on adventures. The others probably didn't hear his calls from there, so he thought he'd try texting Violet. At least that'll get one person's attention. He fished in his pocket for his phone and said to Liam, "Just wait there for a second, I'm going to let your mom know I found you." He pulled his phone out, turned on the screen, and saw two notifications that he had received a couple of minutes prior.
Violet (Received 12:37 pm) - hey come back up
Violet (Received 12:37 pm) - we found him
Micah stared at his phone screen. At first, he thought he hadn't read it right. Then he read it again. They... found him? He felt a heavy chunk of ice crawl down his spine and into his gut, and his cold sweat returned. Is this another kid? But he looks identical. What are the odds of...
"Let's go on an adventure!" the kid squeaked again, in the exact same voice as Liam. In the exact same cadence. In the exact same tone.
Without moving his mouth.
Micah had been too frazzled to notice before. This non-Liam wasn't speaking. The voice came from behind him, somewhere in the shrubs.
And whatever it was started to move forward.