Chapter 9: Gone Missing

On a Sunday afternoon, Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon sat on the bench near the junk playground. They watched children either play by themselves or with each other and the play workers supervised the children there. People walked or ran by Emuna and her friends, either by themselves, with other people, or with their pets. There were alot of empty barbecues in the woods area the brown benches on one side. A big, green field where children play tag on the other side. Children's laughter echoed into Emuna and her friends' ears. Emuna drank her orange soda and her friends just sat there. The wind blew their hair.

"It's nice to be out here in this nice, cool weather, especially in Midbar," Emuna said with her eyes closed and a grin. "We desperately need it, y'know. Midbar's really hot out here, y'know."

"Oh, yea. That's true, bro," Lazarus agreed.

"Mmm-hmm," Zaboulon also agreed, doing the same action as Emuna did. "We thank Elohim for that. He does a great job taking care of us."

"Yep, He sure does," Emuna said, shaking her head with her eyes closed. "So do you guys have part time jobs tomorrow? Because I sure as hell do."

"Yeah, I do," Lazarus responded.

"Me too," Zaboulon replied, "I'll be working at the amusement park which is Beach Castle."

"And I'll work as a waiter at a restaurant called Star Palace," Lazarus answered.

"Oh, okay. Cool," Emuna said. "I'll be working as a cashier at a fast food joint called Speedy Food."

"Ah, pretty cool, Emuna," Lazarus said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," Zaboulon agreed. "I hope you do well tomorrow."

"Uh-huh, me too," Lazarus said.

"Aw, thank you, guys," Emuna said, closing her eyes.

"You're welcome, Emuna," The young men said.

"And I hope you guys do well too tomorrow," Emuna said, sipping her drink.

"Oh, thanks, Emuna. We will," the young men replied.

"So have you heard any news of your aunt back in Kesaf?" Zaboulon asked.

"Yeah," Emuna replied. "My grandma told me that my aunt's slowly getting better as time goes on, through my mother on the phone call. We jus' need to be patient with the Lord's work through the doctors to help restore her, and she should be fine."

"Yeah, that I agree." Lazarus shook his head with his eyes closed.

Emuna sadly sighed, looking at her friends sideways. "I wish Yudia was here with us to experience this with us. Too bad she had to do some more extra work at home as usual…"

"Yeah, that's quite true," Lazarus agreed. "I hope her family hasn't overwork her."

"Oh, yea," Zaboulon also agreed. "That would be devastating if she is."

"So what do you guys wanna do for the rest of the day before we head home and get ready for work tomorrow?" Emuna asked, sipping her drink.

"Uuuummm…" Lazarus answered, looking around the park. "I don't know…"

"Yeah, me neither…" Zaboulon said, performing the same action as Lazarus did.

"Hmmm…" Emuna said, scratching her head, doing the same thing as her friends' similar actions.

After they failed to find something of what they wanted to do for a while, Emuna drank her soda and looked at her friends sideways. "How about we walk around the park until…" Then she looked at her phone for the time. "Let's say 'round the sixteenth hour (4pm)?"

"Sure, let's do it." The young men agreed as they got up from the bench and walked with Emuna.

While Emuna and her friends walked around the park, their skins felt the cool wind and the sun's heat at the same time. The young men placed her hands inside their pockets and they and Emuna looked around them.

"So what did y'all do for the rest of the day?" Emuna asked.

"I did some workout with my dad in a gym, and look how ripped my muscles are," Zaboulon said as he and his friends stopped moving and Emuna and Lazarus looked at his squeezed arm muscles.

"Wow, that looks amazing, Zaboulon," Emuna exclaimed when she and Lazarus walked closer to Zaboulon and examined Zaboulon's muscles.

"Yeah, man," Lazarus agreed. "Keep up the good work, man."

"Ah, thanks you guys," Zaboulon said, closing his eyes with a smile, scratching his head.

"No, prob, my man," Lazarus said, grinning at Lazarus.

"Yeah, bro," Emuna said, turning to Lazarus. "And you?"

"Me?" Lazarus asked. "I helped my grandma cleaned out her garage;we put some stuff in the trash and gave others away to charity."

"Oh, that's good, Lazarus," Zaboulon said when he and his friends continued to walk around the park.

"Yea…" Emuna agreed, looking at Lazarus like he was a strange thing. "Keep up the good work, bro."

"Mhn," Zaboulon agreed, shaking his head with a grin on his face.

"Oh, thanks, you guys. I will," Lazarus exclaimed.

"No, problem, my friend," Emuna and Zaboulon said.

"Okay, so what about you, Emuna? What did you do for the rest of the day?" Lazarus asked, looking Emuna in the eye.

"Well…" Emuna responded, looking up at the sky. "I picked up some trash with my grandparents in the neighborhood, and…"

"And what, Emuna?" Lazarus asked, raising his eyebrow at Emuna.

"We went to the movie theaters together," Emuna responded.

Zaboulon gasped. "Oh, that's pretty sweet, Emuna. What did you watch?"

"Yeah!" Lazarus agreed, widening his eyes, smiling at Emuna, raising his fists up underneath his chin.

"Oh…uh…we watched…Married under the Sunlight…" Emuna put her head down below her as a shadow disguised her forehead and eyes.

"Ah, okay cool. Was it a good movie?" Lazarus asked.

"Unfortunately, no…that was a terrible movie, and I highly don't recommend y'all watch it...ever…" Emuna answered.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that, Emuna…" Zaboulon said, expressing his sad face.

"Yeah…" Lazarus agreed.

"Oh, it's okay, guys," Emuna said. "It's no biggie, really. I'm really glad Elohim exposed this movie to me and my grandparents, so that we won't get this movie as soon as it comes out with Indi-ray."

"Oh, yeah. I feel ya," Zaboulon said.

"Mhn," Lazarus agreed, shaking his head.

Then a tan-skinned woman ran up towards Emuna and her friends. She wore her orange dress and sandals with some white designs on them. The wind blew her short, black hair. Her big, black sunglasses covered her eyes.

"Hey! Hey!" That woman yelled from the top of her lungs. "Oh, thank Elohim. I found you guys."

Emuna and her friends turned to the woman, recognizing that it was Yudia's mother.

-I don't expect Mrs. Valmont to be here. Looks like she wants to tell us something serious. I wonder what it is.

"Yes, Mrs. Valmont, how can we help you?" Emuna curiously asked.

"It's Yudia," Yudia's mother responded, "She ran away from home this afternoon."

Emuna and her friends widened their eyes and gasped out of shock.

-Whoa! This can't be real. Did Yudia really run away? She would never do something like that.

"No way!" Lazarus cried.

"You can't be serious!" Zaboulon also cried.

"Uh-huh, my husband and I looked everywhere in our home and we couldn't find her there. We contacted the authorities about this and they're going to find her and bring her back home."

"Mrs. Valmont…I'm so sorry to hear that…" Emuna said.

-Okay, this is really bad! We gotta go help Yudia's parents find her! Who knows what kind of danger she's in!

Emuna displayed her serious, determined face. "Alright, Mrs. Valmont. My friends and I will help you and your husband find your daughter."

Emuna's friends looked at Emuna like she was crazy.

"Whoa, Emuna. We can't just go out to find her jus' like that," Lazarus cried.

"Yea, Lazarus is right. Leave it up to the authorities instead," Zaboulon agreed, shaking his head.

"Well, are you guys busy with your family this afternoon then?" Emuna questioned.

"No, of course not," her friends roared.

"Okay, so we're goin' to find her then," Emuna said.

"Emuna, that wouldn't be necessary," Yudia's mother said, shaking her head sideways with her palm hands positioned like she was pushing something.

"Please, Mrs. Valmont. Let us find her," Emuna pleaded.

"No, Emuna, don't," Yudia's mother said. "Let the authorities handle this now."

"But-" Emuna pleaded more.

Yudia's mother angrily yelled Emuna's name and added, "It's quite alright now. The authorities will handle it, so leave it up to them. Besides, you don't wanna get hurt while searching for your friend now, do you?"

"No…" Emuna guiltily sighed. "I apologize to all of you. I jus' wanna help find Yudia. That's all."

"We'll we forgive you, Emuna," Emuna's friends and Yudia's mother said.

"Let's get a group hug and pray for Yudia to return home, before we can get you guys home. Shall we?" Yudia's mother said.

"Sure," Emuna and her friends agreed, forming a group circle to hug and pray with Yudia's mother.

"Dear Lord," Yudia's mother prayed, "Please deliver and guide my daughter home safe and sound through the authorities. We're worried sick about her. In Yeshua's name, Amen."

"Amen," Emuna and her friends said as they walked towards Yudia's mother's red car with a silver-colored striped in the middle of its sides.

Emuna looked forward with her determined, serious face.

-Hey, you know what? Screw these guys right here! I'm gonna search for Yudia whether they like it or not, dammit. I don't care what they got to say. I will find Yudia, period. No excuses about it.