Two Weeks Of Silence
For the first week, nobody worried.
Bo had been busy with his uncle's farm. He had told the group, in late June, that he was going to spend most of July helping. The farm had bad reception. Bo's last message, on the 4th of July, had been: *signal is bad up here, will check in when I can. Have a good summer everyone, see you in August.*
The group — Marek, Esme, Lina, and Pim — had said good luck back. They had not, after that, worried about Bo's silence. It was a known thing. Bo went off-grid sometimes. He always came back.
By the end of the first week of August, Bo had still not been in touch.
On the 12th of August, Bo's mother called Marek's mother. Marek had been listening from the kitchen, the way he had listened, when smaller, to other phone calls he was not officially in.
He heard his mother say: "Yes. Yes, I understand. No, none of the children have heard from him in over a month. — He told them he was at the farm. — Yes. Of course. Of course, Mrs Vogel. I am so — yes. Yes."
His mother put the phone down. She came into the kitchen. Her face had a particular shape Marek had not seen before.
"Marek. Bo was not at the farm."
"What?"
"He told his parents he was at the farm. He told you he was at the farm. He was not at the farm. His uncle has been on holiday in Italy since the end of June. The farm has been empty. Bo has been — somewhere else. For five and a half