Empty Desk

Synopsis

It was the spring semester of senior year. One hundred days left until the SAT. Samuel Levin sat in the last row of the classroom, staring at the seat in front of him. He felt his chest tighten with unease. That was Gemma Scott's seat. She hadn't shown up for three days. "Samuel, you okay?" Leo Walters asked, giving his shoulder a light pat. Samuel forced a smile. "Yeah. I'm fine." "Gemma hasn't been at school for three days," Leo said. "I heard she withdrew." Samuel's heart dropped, but he kept his face neutral. "Did she?" "Yeah." Leo nodded. "People are saying she's been hanging out with some shady guys off campus lately. Do you know anything about that?" Samuel shook his head, but panic was already creeping in. He thought about how Gemma had been coming home late these past few weeks, the guilty look in her eyes whenever she saw him, and the way she kept dodging his questions. He thought, ' Did something really happen to her?' After school, Samuel didn't go home. Instead, he headed straight to Gemma's house. When Gemma's mother, Evelyn, saw him, tears immediately welled up in her eyes. "Samuel, you probably don't know, but Gemma is—" "Mrs. Scott, what happened to Gemma?" Samuel asked, his unease growing stronger by the second. "She withdrew from school," Evelyn said through tears. "She's been seeing someone recently, a guy named Harry Jones. We tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen. Then she stopped coming home altogether. "Samuel, could you talk to her?" Samuel froze. He had heard of Harry, who was said to be a troublemaker from outside school, someone rumored to bully students. "Mrs. Scott, do you know where Harry is?" Samuel asked. "I don't." Evelyn shook her head helplessly. "Gemma never tells us where she goes." Samuel's heart sank. He knew something had happened to Gemma.