Chapter 7

I had a dream about Josh in the little time I slept that night. He was at the bottom of a large cavern, shouting for help, while I was at the top, trying to find some rope that I could drop for him to grab. As I looked, Josh’s brother suddenly ran out of the darkness and attacked me. I fought him off, and then he started laughing at me, like I was the funniest person alive. In anger I lunged at him and knocked him onto the ground, then sat on his chest and kept punching his face until it was a bloody pulp.

When I’d finished, I looked up to see that now I was in the cavern, and Josh was at the top, trying to find a way to help me. I shouted up at him to get out of here, but as he leaned in to hear me he fell, dropping right on top of me.

That’s when I woke up at six-thirty in the morning, having slept a total of four hours. I was wide awake, and with no class for another five hours I changed into my shorts and headed to the school’s gym for an early-morning workout.

As I squatted under 300 pounds of iron, I thought about just what sort of task lay before me. Josh had mysteriously vanished. Any trace of him online was gone. And his family knew more than they were letting on. But why? Was he sick? Had he gotten into some sort of trouble? Had he somehow died, and his parents were trying to cover it up?

I shuddered under the bar at that last thought. As much as I wanted to push it from my mind, it was a possibility. Something seriously shady was going on here. I was going to have to uncover it.

At the very least, that nervous anxiety gave me extra energy to do a few more reps. If I was going to save Josh, I needed to be in the best shape possible.

***

“Did you find out anything about Josh?” Caitlyn came up behind me as I walked through the quad. I tried not to look at the spot where Josh and I had met for our first date, but it was like a magnet, drawing my eyes and then flooding my mind with the memories, followed by the worries of what may have happened to him.

“Something super fucked up is happening here.” I kept my voice low. I didn’t think anyone could be listening in on me, but at this point it seemed like anything was possible. “I think he’s either dead or in some hospital’s ICU.” I quickly filled her in on me meeting Josh’s brother, and then sneaking into the house the previous night.

“You broke into their house?” Caitlyn punched me in the shoulder, somehow hitting the exact sorest spot. “Are you out of your mind? Do you not know how illegal that is?”

“No, I’m not aware, which is why I wore all black and hid when Josh’s dad woke up.”

“Damn it, Trent, I don’t want to say that you’re being obsessive, but this is, I don’t know, ridiculous. And it’s stupid. It’s stupidiculous.”

“And the perfect situation to take so lightly.” I sighed. “Don’t you get it? Something has happened to him, and his parents are covering it up. I think my actions are justified.”

She nodded, the sun lighting up the different parts of her hair to form a shiny rainbow. “I said it was stupid and ridiculous. I didn’t say it was wrong. At least, not yet.”

“What’s not wrong yet?” And now Kyle was walking alongside us. He took one look at my haggard face and laughed. “Trent, what sort of stuff did you get up to last night?”

“He broke into a house,” Caitlyn said, before I could stop her.

“Ooh. Now that is kinky. And let me guess, he was tied up on the bed, blindfold over his eyes, ball gag in his mouth, just waiting—”

“Will you cut that out?” I shouted. They both stopped walking and looked at me. I sighed again. “I’m sorry. I'm very tired right now, and, you know, my boyfriend has disappeared.” I decided that I trusted Kyle enough to give him the basic story of what had happened.

He listened intently, and as soon as I finished he asked me a question: “Did Josh’s parents know he’s gay?”

I shook my head. “No. He was scared of telling them.”

He cocked his head to the side knowingly. “Yep, sounds like a classic case of gaynapping.”

“Of… of what?”

“Gaynapping. When a gay guy or girl comes out to their parents and their parents decide it needs to be fixed. A few calls are made and, bang, the gay is gone.”

“Now THAT'S stupidiculous,” Caitlyn said. “Not to mention massively illegal.”

“Yeah,” I added, “and Josh is an adult. You can’t just kidnap an adult, right?” I looked over at Caitlyn.

“Though I am only in pre-law, I can attest that no, you cannot kidnap an adult.” She paused and frowned. “But you can disown one. And kick him out of the house.”

I felt a sharp pain in my chest. “Shit. What if that’s what’s happened?” I wondered aloud. The rebuttal came immediately. “No. If that was the case, Josh would have found me. He knows where I live.”

“He could be with a friend. Maybe he’s ashamed to contact you—he’d think he’d be asking you for help.”

“But I want to help him!” My shouts caught the attention of a few passersby.

“You’ve made that pretty clear,” Kyle said. “Anyway, I need to get to class. I'll see you girls soon. Try not to break into any other houses, okay?” He pivoted and walked away.

Caitlyn rubbed my arm—the part she’d previously punched. “Please focus on other things. The last thing you want is this derailing your studies. Or your sports.”

“I know, I know.” The pain in my chest had subsided, now replaced with a dull tightness. So many possibilities for where Josh could have gone off to. So many unanswered questions. So many thoughts racing through my head. “It’s just… I’m scared for him. I want him to be okay.” I sighed slowly. “I want to see him again.”

She smiled sympathetically. “I know you do. And I’m not saying that Kyle was right about gaynapping, or whatever he called it, but you’re still pretty new to this whole gay community thing, so take it from someone who’s been working in it for years: sometimes gay people just disappear. It’s not necessarily bad, but it happens.” She motioned to a nearby building. “I gotta go. Take care, Trent.”

She walked away, leaving me standing in the middle of the quad, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into.