October, 23 10 pm

It was dark except for the bright globes of street lights that lined the block. My house didn't have a single light on. It was quiet. Too quiet. A chill travelled up my spine.

The door wasn't locked the way I had left it. I walked in. "Tyler?" I flipped on the light which was enough to illuminate the entire kitchen and the tiny living room. But Tyler wasn't on the couch where I had left him. The tv was off which was even more odd as Tyler would never flip off the tv even if he was done watching it.

I checked his room and the bathroom. No Tyler. "Tyler? Are you hiding in my room?" I checked my room. My comforter was rumpled up like someone had laid in my bed, and there was a large wet mark on the sheets. What the fuck? Who was in my bed? Not only that but my dresser drawer was open and the underwear I had folded nice and neat was a tangled mess. There was something else I noticed on the floor, a piece of black plastic that looked like it was the battery cover to a remote control. I went and looked to see if our tv remote was missing it, but it wasn't. I put the piece back on the top of my dresser in case I figured out later what it went to.

I checked Mom's room but Tyler wasn't there. There was nothing out of place.

I walked around the perimeter of the house with my phone flashlight on just to be sure Tyler wasn't lurking around outside. Tyler never left the house alone. Then I went through scenarios in my head. What if Mom had come home and taken Tyler somewhere with her?

I dialed her cell but it went to voicemail so I texted asking if Tyler was with her. I decided this was probably the best explanation for him being gone so i decided to relax. I couldn't go to bed with dirty sheets so I stuck them in the washer and relaxed on the couch with the tv on. I soon dozed off and was startled by the sound of a text coming in at one in the morning. It was Mom explaining she was out with friends and she hadn't been home all evening.

Shit! Who else might have come to pick him up? I thought it was unlikely but I messaged Carl. Hey, what's up? You haven't seen Tyler lately, have you?
He replied with a no.

Since I'd moved to this neighborhood I hadn't made friends at school because I was always spending my lunch hour with Colton. The only way I could describe my relationship with other students was that we were acquaintances. I'd never stayed in one place long enough to develop long term friendships and I was feeling alone with only myself to figure out what to do. If I involved police they might take Tyler away. If I didn't involve police Tyler might be lost wandering neighborhoods in the dark, or hurt somewhere. Or what if they already found him but he doesn't know our address and they're waiting for a family member to report him missing?

Did Tyler know our address? I had never taught him so I was certain he didn't. My mind was made up. I had to call and report him to the police.

I dialed the police station non emergency number and explained that my brother was a missing person. They took down my address and phone number.

"How old is he?"

"Fourteen."

"How long has he been missing?"

"Five hours."

"We usually recommend you wait twenty four hours to report someone his age missing. Did you check with his friends and family to see if they know where he is?"

"No, he has Down's syndrome. He never leaves the house. I've already checked to see if he's with family."

"Who is his guardian?"

"My mom."

"Is she at home to give the report?"

I paused, not knowing she would need to be the one to give the report. "Well, I'm his sister and I was watching him... but he snuck out of the house when I was asleep." I blinked hard, hoping that was a good enough lie. I couldn't tell them the truth, that I'd left him home alone. Social services would take him away.

"Ok. We're dispatching some officers to take the report."

"Thank you."

Out of nervousness I cleaned the house, not wanting them to find our house unfit. At two in the morning Mom stumbled in the front door with a man I'd never met groping her as she giggled. Mom and I met eyes. "Ehlana? What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Tyler's missing. I'm waiting up for the police so I can file a missing person's report."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I sent you a text asking if he was with you. You said no, you hadn't been home all evening."

"Well, I didn't know that meant he was missing."

The guy with Mom looked pissed off that she was paying any attention to me. She whispered something in his ear and then walked over to me where I stood in the kitchen. "Please don't embarrass me in front of Jason. If he thinks I have problem children he won't want to get involved with me."

Her words stung. She worried that Tyler and I would kill her chances to date. "You can't be serious." I glanced at the guy and then back to her serious face.

"We're already twenty three days past due on the rent. I need a roommate with a job to help pay the bills."

"What about the money we get from the state for Tyler's disability?"

"Honey, that's not enough to pay for rent and food. You don't want us to be out on the streets, do you?"

I thought about the last place we were evicted from and how everything was taken from us, and how mom checked off beer as her number one priority on the grocery list before buying Tyler and I basic necessities. We were even resorting to washing ourselves in the shower after using the toilet because we were out of toilet paper. I smiled in the direction of Jason, the new meal ticket. "Right. We're not problem children."

Mom ushered Jason into her bedroom and shut the door. Before long she was making loud sex noises.

Then there was a knock on the door. It was a male and female police officer I invited in. They took down information about Tyler. His height, weight, interests. All our talk over my mom's moans.

"Can we get a picture?" The female officer said.

"I only have them on my phone," I said. Everything else had been left behind in our last apartment.

"You can attach the photos and send them to my email." She handed me her business card. I nodded.

"We would like to speak to your mom," the male officer said.

The sex noises had quieted down. I knocked on her door. It took her a while to answer. She was wearing a robe. "The officers are here," I said. "They want to talk to you."

She nodded and went to the living room where I heard them discuss getting a tracking device for Tyler and ask what places in the neighborhood he frequented. School was the only place. They promised to patrol the school and our neighborhood, then shook Mom's hand, and left.

I sent pictures of Tyler to the officer's email and was ready to to go to bed when I remembered the sheets needed to be put into the dryer. I put them in and decided to go to bed without sheets. I laid wondering where Tyler could be. Who was with him? Who had been in my room, laid in my bed, and master-bated? Could it have been Tyler? Not likely. He didn't do things like that. Someone else had been in my bed and snooped through my underwear. But who?

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