Missing by Linzi

She had no idea why he’d chosen to make contact with her. Six months he’d been missing, his family had been told to expect the worse. They blamed her of course, the ‘tortured’ mother who’d turned a blind eye to his sufferings, and the bastard who’d caused it all. She’d told the police when they questioned her the previous morning. She felt herself jump as her phone beeped and vibrated in her pocket, snapping her out of her reverie.
Two short words flashed upon the screen. “I’m waiting”.
She exhaled, and just like he had asked, she began to remove all traces of his recent contact, she owed him that much at least, but her trembling thumb paused for a short moment as it hovered over the button which would erase forever all his messages. She drew a long deep breath and held it, to stifle the squirming nest of worms which seemed to have taken refuge in her stomach. Reluctantly, she pressed her thumb down. Why did it feel like she had lost him again?
But that’s how he preferred to remain these days, mysterious and untraceable. A shadow of his former self. Those messages were all there had been, and even they were short and precise, revealing nothing. No phone call, though she longed to hear his voice. It was nearly always switched off.
She hesitated as she reached the beginning of the street that backed on to her destination. The park was bathed in a shroud of shadows, as the shimmer of the street lamps stretched its light just short of the entrance. The sound of her stilettos on the concrete floor cut through the heavy silence, like the ticking of the clock that echoes through an insomniacs room. Her heart matched the pace until she could hear it’s pounding in her ears. The silence was eerie and unnatural - it was much too quiet for a midsummer night. As the palm of her hand touched the cold, metallic gate, she felt a chill run through her that had nothing to do with the weather.
This had been the first time she had been back since that night.
She remembered him sitting solemnly on the swings with one hand on the bar, his head bent low with his bulging rucksack near his dragging feet. She remembered the way his hair fell over his right eye to cover up the heavy bruising of his usually handsome face, the thick lip that didn’t stop him from smiling adoringly as he saw her…the betrayal in his eyes when she told him she had too much to stay for. That was the last time she ever saw him. She felt a sharp spasm in her chest as she sucked in the night air and the gate groaned as she pushed it open, her eyes squinting to adjust to the darkness. The bushes rustled without the wind.
“Come closer.” They demanded.
Hesitantly, she stepped through the veil of darkness; she could almost feel the shadows engulf her. There was a moment of silence as the anticipation simmered in the air around her, then the figure emerged from the bushes.
Her phone crashed to the floor.