This had been personal.The thought hit me like a gut punch.
It was Grey.
“Someone call the police! And an ambulance!” Cal bellowed.
“They’re a few minutes out.” Someone shouted back. But it didn’t matter. We all knew it was too late. Mr. Whitethorn was dead.
The crowd quickly grew around us. Panic and hysteria fueled the chaos as people began to recognize the body.
It didn’t take long until sirens were heard in the distance, drowning out the crowd.
“Where is Kenna?” Cal whispered, his eyes scanning the crowd. We all began to look, but there was no sign of her.
Mr. Abbot burst through the crowd, pulling his son in for a hug. “Are you all right?”
Cal only nodded, unable to look his father in the eyes.
Sheriff Muncy wasn’t far behind, running toward us. He took a few deep breaths, struggling as he spoke. “Hey, kids. I’ve got a few questions to ask y’all.”
“Not now, Will.” Mr. Abbot protested, standing between us and the sheriff.
“I’m sorry, Matt, but I have to ask. I’m just trying to do my job.”
“Sheriff Muncy.” Cal stepped forward, nodding for him to continue.
“Can you run me through what happened?” He took out a notepad and pen to write down our answers.
“We had almost made our way through the maze, and that’s when we heard yelling. We ran to see what the commotion was all about, and that’s when we saw Mr. Whitethorn—” Cal pointed to where he hung.
“And it was just you four?” The sheriff had clearly noticed one very important person was missing from our group.
We all nodded.
“And you didn’t see anything else?” he pressed, writing something down.
“No, sir,” Cal confirmed.
“All right, that’s all I have for now, but we might have some more questions later,” the sheriff said to Mr. Abbot, clasping him on the shoulder.
“I’ve called Kenna multiple times and only got her voicemail,” Emory whispered, her grip on my hand so tight it cut off circulation. “Where do you think she could be?”
I looked back to the maze, but the police officers had already begun roping off the area. “I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders, shaking my head in disbelief that any of this was happening.
“When was the last time anyone saw her?” Eli asked.
“We were all going into the maze.” Emory looked to us for confirmation.
“Yeah.” I agreed. “Let’s spread out and see if we can find her.”
We searched and searched, but there was no sign of Kenna anywhere. It was like she had just vanished.
“She’s still not answering. I’ve tried her like a hundred times.” Emory brought the phone to her ear and tried again. “It’s going straight to voicemail now.”
“Maybe she’s down at the police station,” Cal said with an exasperated sigh, running out of ideas.
“It’s worth a shot.” Emory nodded in agreement. “And if she’s not there, we’re reporting her as missing.”
“Yeah sure, Dad.” Eli rolled his eyes, ending the phone call he was on. “I’ve gotta stop by my house. Can one of you give me a ride? My truck is in the shop still.”
