Chapter Text
“There’s no way you fought that many people,” Rob stated, rolling his eye.
“I totally fought 50 ninjas! You just weren’t there to see it.” Tobias defended, waving his hands in the air. Banana Joe scoffed.
“ Sure you did.” Banana Joe retorted with a chuckle. The two continued their bickering as they walked down the street. The conversation his friends were having soon faded into background noise as he began to space out.
All of this story-telling was reminding Rob of someone.
“Have you guys seen Molly? I haven’t seen her in a while.” Rob commented. Tobias glanced at Rob with a perplexed expression.
“Who’s Molly?” Tobias asked.
“Stop messing around; you know who Molly is.” Rob chuckled.
“Dude, I have no idea who Molly is.” Banana Joe said with a shrug. Rob raised his eyebrow.
“Molly Collins? Not ringing a bell at all?” He asked. Tobias shrugged. “We’ve been going to the same school since kindergarten.” He added.
Tobias and Banana Joe glanced at each other.
“Are you feeling okay?” Tobias asked. Rob furrowed his brow. How could they not know who Molly is? They’ve known her for years!
“You guys cut down her treehouse, like, four months ago. Her dad made you guys replant a tree. Then you had to help him rebuild the treehouse.” He explained. Tobias and Banana Joe exchanged confused glances.
“Why would we do something like that?” Banana Joe asked. Rob shrugged.
“I don’t know; you’re the one who did it.” He answered. Rob was beginning to get frustrated with this conversation. Rob let out a grumble, furrowing his brow. If this was a prank, it wasn’t funny.
“Her house is right around the corner; I’ll show you,” Rob said, pointing down the street. He walked ahead of his friends, leading them down the sidewalk.
Rob turned the corner, approaching Molly’s house. To his shock, the house looked long abandoned. No lawn ornaments and no stray toys scattered about. From here, the inside of the house looked dark. Weirdly dark for the middle of the day.
The thing that caught Rob’s eye was Molly’s treehouse. Well, lack of treehouse. The entire thing was gone.
“Well, turns out you were wrong,” Tobias said with a shrug. “Anyway, let’s go to the park. I wanna show you guys some awesome kickflips.” He boasted. Rob stared at the spot where Molly’s treehouse was meant to be. He couldn’t tear his eye away.
“I’ll catch up with you guys later; I need to get home,” Rob said. Banana Joe raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure? You’ll miss out.” He said. Rob made a shooing motion, his eye planted on the ground. Tobias and Banana Joe glanced at each other.
“Okay, see you tomorrow.” Tobias waved goodbye.
Rob was now alone, staring at the empty spot. It felt…wrong.
He closed his eye, hoping his brain was playing tricks on him. He opened his eye, seeing that the treehouse was still gone.
He closed his eye again, rubbing it. He rubbed his eye so hard that he began to tear up. Anything to prove he was just seeing things. He opened it once again. Through his blurred vision, he could see that the treehouse still hadn’t reappeared.
Rob managed to tear his eye away from the vacant spot. He put his hands up to his face, taking a slow inhale. He turned on his heel, beginning to make his way home. He felt that he shouldn’t be here for much longer.
Rob walked down the street, his eye planted on the sidewalk and his head buzzing with questions.
“She probably just moved away and took the treehouse with her,” He reasoned to himself. Deep down, Rob knew that was a dumb excuse. Why wouldn’t she have told anyone she was leaving? Sure she was boring and people sometimes zone her out, but they would notice if she left.
Even if she did move, it wouldn’t explain how she managed to take an entire tree with her. And it definitely didn’t explain why Tobias and Banana Joe didn’t remember her.
Knowing them, this was probably an elaborate joke. They did like pulling pranks together.
Despite all of these reasons, he could still feel the uneasiness arising in the pit of his stomach.
Rob shook his head. Molly is fine. Maybe he would feel better if he called her.
He took his phone out of his pocket. Rob scrolled through his phone, his eye scanning through each contact.
To his surprise, Molly’s number wasn’t there.
“Did I delete her number?” He asked himself. That was…odd. Rob was usually careful with his phone. “It’s a good thing I remember it.” He muttered.
Rob quickly dialed her number before putting the phone up to his ear. Loud crackling came from the other end. It almost sounded like…static. Rob froze. The sound was piercing, almost as if it was in his brain.
The phone cut off abruptly, snapping Rob out of his daze. He blinked in surprise, quickly taking the phone from his ear. He fumbled with it for a bit, bashing the power button.
“Aw man, did it die?” Rob asked. He could’ve sworn it was charged enough. Rob shoved his phone into his pocket. He looked up, noticing that he had absentmindedly walked home. He could’ve sworn he was a few blocks away. That’s what he gets for spacing out while walking.
Rob opened his front door, looking around to see if anyone was home. As he expected, he was alone. His parents were usually at work at this hour.
He walked down the hallway, catching a glimpse of himself in the hallway mirror. He looked good, as usual.
He entered his room and tossed his backpack onto his bed. Rob flopped down onto his bed, comfortably splaying out. He closed his eye, finally happy to relax after a long day.
Rob squeezed his eye shut, trying to let the worries of today blow past him. Despite him being home, he couldn’t bring himself to relax. His eye snapped.
“...Where is Molly?” He asked.
Rob pulled his phone from his pocket. He could at least prove Tobias and Banana Joe wrong. Once his phone charges, he’ll send them a picture of Molly.
Rob sighed, relieved to ease his mind for now. He sat up and reached over to his bag. He could at least do his homework while he waited. He opened his textbook, reading his assigned work for the day.
And as he read, he could almost hear the faintest buzz of static.