C.A.R.P. Ch. 06 - Sex Stories

C.A.R.P. Ch. 06

... reached out to grab my arm to get my attention, I remember tensing, like I was afraid I wasn't going to get it back. "You... you're a CARP student, aren't you?" the woman said to me, her eyes haunted and angry.

"I am, ma'am," I said. "I'm Josh Turner, a second year there." We'd been told not to talk about the university, but we couldn't exactly deny we were students there.

"I'm looking for my son. He was a student there. His name was William. William Bierko. Did you know him?"

Of course, I'd spent a week with Will's failed beta about a year ago, Paige. I wasn't sure what to say, knowing I wasn't supposed to say just about anything about the school. But the woman's desperation made me wonder how hard I was meant to cling to that. "He left last year, ma'am. We were told he went back home to live with you, after the fall semester. He decided the school wasn't a good match for him, so he decided to go back home."

"No!" the woman said, frantically. "That's not true! Will never came home! He sent us a letter saying he'd learned everything he could possibly learn from CARP, but that he had a new mission in life and he was going to set out, to go forth and start changing the world, that he couldn't wait, that he needed to get to work as soon as possible, and that he'd let us know when it was safe to talk again! But that was over a year ago, and we haven't gotten any word from him about where he is or what he's doing! He hasn't accessed his bank accounts, and I'm ...

... terrified something's happened to him! That he's in prison or dead in a ditch somewhere! I need to know!"

Her fingers were clenching harder and harder on my arm, shaking as she grew louder and louder, turning from a timid whisper into an angry yell.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bierko, but I didn't know your son all that well, and I haven't spoken to him since he left the university last year. You really should talk to the police abou—"

"They say he's an adult now and they can't do anything without proof that he's missing!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I really don't know anything that can help you," I said as Chelsea and Julia were moving over to me, each of them starting to look concerned. "You really should go talk to the police or the FBI or someone in a position of authority, because I'm afraid I just don't know anything useful."

"You have to find something!" she shouted as we started to walk away from her, while she collapsed onto her knees in the middle of the store. "You have to! My boy is lost!"

It wouldn't be the last time I heard the name Will Bierko.

When we got back to the campus, I went to talk to Dr. Igarashi, although I wasn't entirely sure that was the right thing to do. I told her about the encounter with Mrs. Bierko up at Amoeba, and she seemed seriously concerned, although I couldn't tell if it was concern about me or Will. She told me not to get too worked up about it, how Will had said he'd learned so much from his first semester at CARP that he'd wanted to ...