There was a tornado outside the city. It was far away from our school, but we were still gathered together in the inner classrooms on the ground floor. There were no windows, so even if the tornado would come in our direction, we should be fine.

I wasn’t worried about us. I was worried about Sky. I hoped he wasn’t out in the thundering weather that was getting worse by the second. If he was out there…

Troy was sitting next to me on the floor. It was quiet in our room, except for the distant rumbling of the furious sky. We were waiting for the tornado to die so we could go home. School had ended already, but we weren’t allowed to leave the building until the tornado and the storm would quiet down.

I just wanted to go look for Sky. I was getting really anxious and worried about him. No one seemed to have seen him after biology. Troy was sure Sky said he needed to use the restroom, but he hadn’t actually seen him stepping in.

Why had he disappeared like that? Where was he? Why didn’t he say anything? How could anyone just disappear like that? Did something happen to him? Did someone kidnap him or something? Maybe someone pulled a prank on him. Maybe he was injured. Sick? Hurt and scared, alone in somewhere and panicking and screaming for help…

“I can’t take this,” I muttered to Troy. “I have to go look for him.”

“Look from where?” Troy whispered angrily. “Out there? In that freaking storm? You’ll end up dead if you go out now! As if the teacher would even let you leave.”

“What if he’s hurt?” I asked frantically.

“He’s not hurt! You are overreacting!” he hissed at me. “We’ll get out of here soon enough. I’ll help you look for him, but right now you need – to – stay – put!”

Troy wasn’t a big fan of thunderstorms. Or tornados. They scared the crap out of him.

I sighed and gritted my teeth together. I wished again that Sky was somewhere safe, but that bad feeling kept bothering me.

When it was finally safe enough for us to leave the school, I grabbed my bag and headed out with the rest of the students. Troy followed me to the boys’ restroom.

“I’m sure he came here,” Troy said and looked around.

“We need to go check the nurse’s office,” I said.

“I’ll go ask the front desk if they know anything about him. Meet me there,” Troy said, and we parted our ways.

I rushed to the nurse’s office, but Sky hadn’t been there. I quickly returned to Troy, but he had no luck either.

“She promised to–” Troy spoke, but he was interrupted by the loud voice in the speakers.

“Attention please! Could Mr. Skyler Jenkins report at the front desk? I repeat, Skyler Jenkins to the front desk, please!”

“Good idea,” I said when the announcement was over.

I turned to look around at the crowded hall and crossed my arms. Sky wasn’t the only one who was missing after the chaos, but it seemed like everyone else made it to the front desk. We waited and waited, and soon there were only the two of us left.

“He’s not here,” I said and turned to look at Troy, who was looking nervous too.

“Excuse me?” I heard a girl’s voice and turned around. “You’re looking for Skyler?”

“Yes!” I breathed out, taking a step towards the girl. “Have you seen him?”

“I saw him leave the school hours ago. He passed me by. He was running into the forest,” she said. “He dropped his bag. I was going to bring it here, but then there was tornado and everything…”

She gave me the bag. It was definitely Sky’s.

“Can you show us where he went?” Troy asked when I stared at Sky’s bag.

“He came out at the back and went straight into the forest. There’s a small path just across the street, you won’t miss it,” the girl spoke.

“Are you sure it was Sky?” I asked.

“The nerd who suddenly turned into a hottie? Yeah, it was him all right,” the girl said and blushed lightly. “I have to go. My parents are waiting.”

“Sure, and thanks a lot!” Troy told her, before he turned to look at me. “Come. He can’t be far.”

“He left hours ago!” I said angrily. “He can be at the other side of the mountain by now!”

“No, he can’t. Come on, let’s go,” Troy snapped at me, pulling me with him when he started walking towards the back entrance.

It was still raining when we got out, but the sky wasn’t so dark anymore. It was a complete mess out there, with fallen trees and trash everywhere. There was a piece of white wooden fence at the schoolyard, and a trampoline. When we got to the street, there was a lot more trash, and the streets were flooding. Further down the road, there was an abandoned car in the middle of the street, and I could hear a distant echo of car alarms, and the sirens of police cars.

“There it is,” Troy spoke and pointed across the street.

There was a fallen tree right in front of us, so we had to climb over it to get into the forest.

“We will never find him here,” I said. “This forest goes on for miles!”

“Let’s just check if he’s somewhere near,” Troy said, and I was grateful for his calm nature. I wasn’t able to make any decisions at that moment.

“If we can’t find him soon, we need to tell his parents that he’s missing. At least we know where he is, so they know where to start looking,” Troy spoke while we hurried deeper into the forest.

“What if he’s hurt?” I asked, and that question gave me shivers. “What if someone or something attacked him? What if–”

“You have to stop thinking about it and concentrate,” Troy said sternly. “See if there’s anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he has dropped something or–”

“What? Left a note?” I asked angrily.

Troy gave me an angry stare. “I am trying to help, idiot!”

I glared back at him for a moment, but then looked down at the ground, muttering my apologies.

“Now – see if there are any clues or anything showing where he might’ve gone,” he said as we continued walking forward.

But there was nothing. Nothing showed Sky had even been there. I almost wished the girl was wrong, and she hadn’t seen Sky coming into the forest. It was just so huge, and it could take days to find him even with a big group.

“Maybe he’s at the river,” Troy suggested.

“Or maybe he’s at the moon,” I snapped.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, just because I know how worried sick you are,” he said calmly and followed the sound of the furious river. “My girlfriend and I used to hang out here.”

“Ex-girlfriend,” I muttered, but Troy didn’t hear me. Maybe it was for the best. Troy was a little sensitive about her girlfriend leaving him, so if I now managed to piss him off, he would probably leave me to search for Sky alone.

“This way,” Troy said, and led me to a narrow path between tattered bushes.

The whole forest looked somehow exhausted after the storm. The trees were leaning in different directions, there were branches scattered all around, and the tall grass was lying lifelessly on the ground. We got wet in no time, but I didn’t care. I kept looking in every direction at the same time, frantically trying to find even a small hint of Sky’s whereabouts.

Soon we came to the muddy river, but there was no one around. The water was rumbling past us so loudly that Troy had to raise his voice so I would hear him.

“I don’t know where else to look!” he said.

“We can’t find him on our own! We need to go get help!” I replied to him.

“Maybe he’s gone home already!” Troy yelled.

“I have no idea where he lives!” I said angrily.

“Check if there’s something in his bag!” Troy suggested, and I grabbed Sky’s backpack and opened it without hesitation.

“His phone is here!” I shouted in anger.

“Shit! I was about to ask if you have his phone number!” Troy said and turned to look away. “I hope he’s all right!”

“So do I!” I sighed and dropped the bag when I couldn’t find anything useful.

I looked at Troy, and I was about to ask him what we should do next, when I saw something gray moving towards us next to the riverbank.

“Sky!” I yelled as loudly as I could and started running towards him, Troy following only half a step behind.

I knew it was Sky. I’d been staring at him for long enough to know it was him, even though he was still far away from us.

And it really was him. When we were close enough, I saw him collapsing onto the ground, pressing his hands against the rocks. Troy and I stopped to a halt right next to him, and I wrapped my arms around his muddy body.

“Max…” Sky muttered against my ear when I pulled him on my lap.

“Thank God…” I sighed in relief. “Why did you leave like that?!”

“Max…” he muttered again, and his body turned limp in my arms as he passed out.

“We need to get him out of here,” Troy said and helped me up. “Can you carry him?”

“Yes,” I nodded, and followed Troy back to the school.