Free Burnout by Teresa Trent

Rockys_Shadow to see if I could get a response.
    "Hi,
    This is Betsy Fitzpatrick. I was going through Rocky's email files and noted you wanted him to return your call. I was checking to see if there was anything I could do.
    Thanks,
    Betsy "
    That didn't sound to strange, now did it? Just a casual little email asking help from some creepy person who might have been bugging the hell out of Rocky just before he disappeared.
    I hit "send" and sat watching my email box to see if there was an immediate return. It was only a few seconds, and my computer beeped. I had a new email, but it was from Leo.
    "Hey Betsy,
    I'm still over at NUTV. We are working on incorporating some new tracking graphics. Hurricane Hal hasn't updated since the old teletype days. Be home a little later.
    Love Leo"
    For a guy who didn't want that job, he certainl y seemed to be putting in some hours. It was true, I had seen Hurricane Hal reading off of a piece of paper in front of the camera, and then pointing to the same type of map that I kept in my glove compartment. Stan was lucky to get Leo even if it was for such a short time. Being out this many days, Hal must have some sort of super flu bug. I just kind of wished Leo would mess something up.  They were getting way too comfortable having him around.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
     
    "Yo Bets!" Tyler said as he came into the house. He sounded like he was in a good mood today. I came around the corner to see him throwing his backpack into the den. He then kicked off his shoes in the hallway and headed for the kitchen. He seemed like such a sweet kid when I first met him. The Tyler I knew now was messy, overbearing and eternally hungry. "Betsy, you need to ask your son about his project today. He has something to tell you." Tyler pulled some leftover pie out of the refrigerator.
    Zach came trudging in behind him, dumping his backpack next to Tyler's. His chin was on his chest and he avoided my eyes.
    "What do you need to tell me?" I asked.
    "Nothing." He muttered.
    "It isn't nothing." Tyler said through a mouthful of chocolate.
    "Shut up!" Zach pushed past me and ran upstairs. Tyler yelled after him. "You got to tell her sometime, bro."
    "I said shut up, and you're not my bro!" The boys had been home for two minutes so why did I suddenly feel exhausted?
    "What is going on?" Tyler gulped, and then a slow smile spread across his face.
    "It's just that perfect little Zach got an F today."
    "What? You're kidding right?"
    "Nope. Big fat F."
    "What did he get an F on? Was it that report?"
    "No. He was supposed to have turned in his math homework notebook. Seems Zach hasn't been doing any." Tyler resumed his hunt for sustenance while I took a second to catch my breath in a kitchen chair. Zach hadn't been doing math homework? He was always up in his room after school. I just didn't understand it. I took a deep breath and started to go up the stairs. Right as my foot hit the first stair an email beeped on my computer. I ran back to see if Rockys_Shadow had emailed me back. It was short and to the point. My email was returned. The account no longer existed.
    *****
    Whatever was happening with Zach, he certainly wasn't going to be hiding in his room. I knocked on his door and then tried his doorknob he had locked it. In our old house he had never locked the door, but in this one he seemed to lock me out more and more.
    "Zach I need you to open the door please." No response on the other side. "I'm going to stand here until you open this door." I waited for the sound of the lock to click open, but still there was no response. Even though I had pledged to stand out in the hall I quite unexpectedly had to go to the bathroom. I knocked again, more gently this time. "Zach whatever it is we can talk about it." Nothing from the other side.
    I shifted from one foot to the next trying to hold out for a minute more. "Zach, it's always been just you and me. No matter what was going on in our lives we've always stuck together." I