CHAPTER 1

“Jeff!” Gilbert bellowed as he hurried through the halls of his house. “Jeff! Where are you?”

Jeff must have come in pretty late. Matt thought as he was awaken from his sleep by his dad’s bellowing. He hadn’t fully heard his father as he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, looking at the clock. 4:37 am? Wait a minute. Jeff was in his room when I went to bed. The thought jolted Matt out of his sleep completely. That’s when he finally heard his father coming back down the hall.

“Matt have you seen Jeff?” Gilbert said, after practically ripping Matt’s door off the hinges. “He’s not in the house anywhere, and most of his cloths are gone.”

Matt couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move. His entire body went numb. He knew Jeff had been upset about something, but wouldn’t tell him what. He just stared at his father, for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only seconds. “I’ll go find him.” He said, calmer than, even he thought possible. He got out of bed, put on the shirt that still smelled like Greg’s cologne, and rushed out of the house.

Jeff had spent his entire childhood in the backwoods of his hometown, Cameron. He knew every nook and cranny of those woods and of the town, and that fact was painfully obvious to the search teams that had been formed to look for the young man. It was more than painfully obvious to Matt, though. He knew this area just as well, if not better, than his brother and still couldn’t find him. He searched from sun up to sun down and still no trace of his baby brother. He had searched neighboring towns, the woods, even drove to Raleigh and Fayetteville. Nothing.

When Matt, finally, returned home, late that night, he collapsed. His mind had nothing but race all day about everything he’d never get to do with his little brother. He’d never see him go to his prom, he’d never see him graduate, fall in love, get married, have kids, grow old, or any of the other things that he was suppose to be there to help Jeff through.

The searches were called off for the night, friends went home to hold vigil, family gathered, police reports were filed. There were at least ten people in the Hardy house that night and Matt couldn’t have felt more alone. He walked into Jeff’s room and began looking for clues as to his where a bouts. He must have studied that room for hours, and found nothing. Matt sank down onto Jeff’s bed and, for the first time since the nightmare had started, allowed himself to breakdown and sob.

Sleep overtook Matt hours later. A sleep that was tormented by visions of Jeff riding his dirt bike, climbing trees, and building forts. Things, that until now, Matt had taken for granted. Then he had a dream that he was standing over and open grave. The wind was cold and cut through his flesh to his bones. He was the only one standing there, and there was such a feeling of emptiness. He looked down into the grave and saw Jeff, hands laying on his chest, and pale. Just then Jeff opened his eyes and looked up at Matt. “Come on Matty, it’s wonderful here. Join me.” Jeff said, and Matt began to fall.

Matt jolted awake, cold sweat covering his body. He knew at that moment that life would never be the same. He would never be the same. His baby brother was gone.