Kurt Sova

…After all, he disappeared so fast that he must have taken a car. Kurt can take care of himself, Sam decides. Newburgh Heights is a small, quiet town. There's no need to be alarmed. Right? The following morning, Saturday, October 24th, Kurt's mother, Dorothy Sova, waits in the kitchen for her sons to come downstairs for breakfast. She rubs the sleep from her…

…And yet, the streets around the duplex are empty. So too is the nearby parking lot, which belongs to a J.L. Goodman furniture warehouse. Sam is baffled, because there aren't many places a teenager could hide around here, even at night. Eventually, Sam returns to the party. He figures that Kurt went home, probably picked up by one of his older brothers.…

…He expects to find Kurt passed out by the front porch, or maybe wandering aimlessly around the back of the house. But he's not there. He's not anywhere. Sam calls out into the dark, jacket clutched in his shivering hands. He starts walking through the neighborhood, shouting for his friend. He knows Kurt can't have gone far, not in the state he's in.…