Chapter 7

Luke woke up and rubbed his face. He sat up on the sofa and looked around the room. Noah still was not there. He had a chill from sleeping without a blanket so he began to rub his arms. "It wasn't just a bad dream. Noah is really missing."

He got up and went to check the phone again. Still no messages. His heart sank even further. He closed his eyes tightly and breathed in deeply. "I'm not going to give up. He'll show up today."

He turned and went into the bathroom. He threw some water on his face. He looked into the mirror. He then opened the medicine cabinet to get his razor. He saw Noah's things in the cabinet. "Noah wouldn't want me to give up and I'm not going to until there is no hope left."

Luke quickly showered and shaved. He grabbed a yogurt out of the fridge and headed for the police station.
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Luke came into the station and saw his Uncle Jack. "Hi Jack. I need to talk to you."

Jack looked up at Luke. "Good morning Luke. Why are you here so early?"

Luke was determined to not take no for an answer. "My dad told me that you have to wait 24 hours before you can look for Noah, but we're family can't you do something?"

Jack leaned back onto the desk. "Your father called me after he dropped you off last night. I'm getting a team together right now."

Luke let out a sigh of relief. "I thought that you would fight me on this."

Jack shook his head. "With the bad weather that allows us to be lax about the 24 hour rule. As a matter of fact, I have a call into Springfield for a search helicopter."

Luke perked up for the first time. "That's great they should be able to spot Noah's truck pretty quickly."

Jack became serious. "Yes, but don't get your hopes up too high. There's no telling what we will find."

Luke shook his head. "No. I don't want to hear it. Noah is okay. I know it. I can feel it."
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Noah woke up and rubbed his face. He stretched and looked around the room. His head was clearer and didn't hurt as much. He sat up, just as Jill was coming into the room. 'Good morning. I was thinking we should come up with a name for you. I don't know how long we will be here and I should call you something."

Noah smiled. "Good morning. My name is Noah."

Jill put down the tray and looked at Noah in shock. "Your memory came back?"

Noah nodded. "Yeah I think so. My name is Noah Mayer. I remember that my father is a Colonel in the army. He is stationed at Ft Leonard Wood. In Missouri. It's just outside of Branson."

Jill nodded. "Okay, but how did you end up in the woods in Illinois?"

Noah thought for a moment. "Well, that is still fuzzy. I'm planning on going to Northwestern. Are we near Chicago?"

Jill shook her head. "No. We are near Oakdale. That is southern Illinois."

Noah thought again. "Is it 2007?"

Jill shook her head again. "No. Close. It is 2008. January."

Noah bit his lip. "Oh. I thought that I was still a senior and maybe I was visiting schools. I guess I'm still missing some pieces."

Jill put her hand on Noah's shoulder. "Well, overnight you got back most of your life. It's probably just a matter of time before you get the rest."

Noah nodded. "I guess so."

Jill put the tray in front of him "How did you sleep?"

Noah shrugged. "Pretty well. The sleeping pill really helped."

Jill smiled. "That's good. Any pain this morning?"

Noah looked down towards his leg. "My leg is throbbing a little."

Jill nodded. "I'll get you something for it while you eat your breakfast."

Noah began to eat. Jill came back with the medicine. "Don't worry about it. It will come back in time."

Noah nodded. "At least I know my name. When we get dug out of here I can call my dad."

Jill nodded. "Yeah." She got up and walked into the other room. She closed the door behind her and leaned on it. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
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Luke was busying himself making fliers to be put up around town when Jack came into the squad room. "Luke they have found Noah's truck."

Luke got up from the desk. "Great, let's go."

Jack put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Luke you have to stay here. Let us do our job."

Luke shrugged off Jack's hand. "

Jack you know if it was Katie, Carly or one of the kids, you would not sit back here in the station, you would be doing everything you could to bring them home safely. I love Noah just as much as you love them. Don't ask me to stay here. I will just follow you."

Jack nodded. "I understand, but you have to promise to stay out of the way."

Luke smiled. "I promised."
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Jack and Luke arrived at the site of Noah's truck. Luke jumped out of the car and started towards the car. "Luke stop."

Luke looked at Jack. "I have to see."

Jack got a hold of Luke's arm. "You promised and we don't know what we are going to find."

Luke looked back at the truck. "You don't think..."

Jack shrugged. "I don't know."

One of the officers came up to Jack. "Hey Jack. We found the truck, but there is no one in it. We were just about to open it now."

Jack headed towards the truck. "Let's see what we have." Luke followed.

The officer opened the door. "It's not locked."

Luke stepped closer. "Is there anything in there?"

Jack pulled out Noah's backpack. "There's this."

Luke looked at the backpack. "It's Noah's."

Jack opened the backpack and looked through it. "Well here is his cell phone and his wallet."

Luke took the cell phone. "That explains why he didn't answer when I called."

Jack went through the wallet. "There is money here, so it doesn't look like there was foul play. Maybe he had problems with the car?"

The officer climbed into the car. "The keys are still here." He turned the ignition. "Well, it starts. So that counts out car trouble."

Luke continued to look through the bag. "His camera is missing."

Jack looked at Luke. "What?"

Luke looked at Jack. "Noah's camera is missing. He came up here to take pictures."

Jack looked out into the woods. "Oh."

Luke sucked on his bottom lip and tried not to cry, as he followed Jack's gaze.

Coming Soon: More questions
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Chapter 8