Chapter 6 - left behind

Laura was at home with her family when she heard what had happened. One of the girls had sent a message explaining that Marie was beside herself. Mike had left her, with only a one word note: 'Sorry.' There was no forwarding address, no obvious sign of where he had gone. He’d simply packed up and skipped town as if his girlfriend had meant nothing to him at all.

“I just want to know where he is. I want to be sure that he’s okay,” Marie said sadly when Laura arrived back. It was the summer and most of the other girls had moved out, leaving Marie with no one she could really chat with. Laura didn’t have the heart to leave her stewing on her own all summer, and so she had returned promptly; deciding to take up the summer job she’d initially rejected and stick around for the summer herself. “I just don’t understand why he would leave like that!” Marie went on sadly; seeming to be grateful for having someone who would listen to her.

Laura’s teeth ground together. She’d tried her best to like Mike, despite his many, obvious faults. But this seemed callous, even for him. He didn’t deserve love. He wasn’t capable of it. And Marie deserved better.

This was what the beautiful girl had now been reduced to; sat in the living area, comforting himself with a huge tub of ice cream and drowning her sorrows with a few bottles of Mike’s leftover beer.

“You need to forget about him,” Laura tried. “He’s not worth it. Anyone who could just up and leave like that is not worth getting upset about.”

“But what if he’s in trouble?” Marie fretted. “What if something has happened to him? It’s not like him to just run away.”

Laura considered. She hadn’t often had the opportunity to speak to Mike, but of the few things she had gleaned about his past, she knew that he had lived in quite a few places across the country. Maybe this was exactly like him to run away as soon as he got bored. Maybe this was his M.O.

Looking across at the bereft girl Mike had left behind, Laura knew one thing for certain. If there was ever a time to call in a few family favours, this was it…