Jack sat on his large bed, and waited for the phone to be answered. After a few seconds he could hear the phone on the other end get picked up. He had been calling his brother everyday to keep him calm. Simon was like a bomb ready to blow, and Jack was the only one capable of diffusing him. Simon answered,

"I can't talk right now, doing homework, but I'll chat to you tonight." With that he hung up. Jack felt a sick feeling, Simon would never pass a call, and he usually, being incredibly smart, finished schoolwork by 1:00. It was already 4:00. Jack looked through the phone book and called Mr. Rein's cell. Mr. Rein was Simon's foster dad, and a very important man, not to be bothered with un-important calls, but this was important.

"What?" The man on the other end demanded.

"Mr. Rein? This is Jack." Usually if Jack wanted to say anything to Mr. Rein he would pass it through his foster father, Ryan, but this was too important to wait for Ryan to come home from golfing.

"I have a bad feeling, sir; I think Simon is going to try to run tonight,"

"You called me in the middle of an important meeting because of a feeling?"

"I'm worried for Simon,"

"I've got him under watch, he'll be fine."

"I think you underestimate him, sir. Just please make sure he is taken care of please." With that Jack hung up, and with a sigh plunked onto his bed. As much as he would like to run off with Simon, again, he didn't want anything bad to happen. Last year Simon almost died of hypothermia from falling in a glacier fed river.

About three hours later the phone rang. Ryan reached for it, but Jack snatched it up first.

"Yes?" He asked. The caller was from Mr. Rein. After a long sigh the man on the other side finally spoke,

"Simon ran. We couldn't stop him." Jack had put it on speaker phone, so that Ryan could hear it."I'm sorry I didn't listen," Mr. Rein concluded, then hung up. Jack plunked onto the couch.

"Where would he go?" Ryan asked, seemingly forgiving Jack for rudely snatching up the phone.

"I don't know, he couldn't have found that I live here, could he?"

"No, he couldn't, not under Mr. Rein at least."

Jack could only think of one other place Simon would go. Their clubhouse, it was stashed with food and blankets. It was the hideout of the teens. But all the food would surely be stale by now.

That night Jack slipped downstairs. He carried a suitcase and a cooler. The shiny leather suitcase held all Jacks clothes, and a bunch books, mostly school books. He didn't want to get behind in school just because he was going to the middle of nowhere. He packed the cooler with food, and headed towards the door. He was surprised that it was locked on the inside.

"Leaving so soon?" Jack turned to see Ryan smirking, teasingly. Despite Ryan being over twice Jack's age, and his foster dad, him and Jack were great friends, and liked to tease each other.

"I'm finding Simon," Jack said confidentially, "I'll try to be back for lunch." He added with a smile.

"So you do have an idea were Simon went?" Ryan asked

"Yes."

"Tell me, we can get a search party."

"No"

"Jack..."

"Ryan, Simon just ran away, if anyone tries to drag him back, well, someone could get hurt!" And with that Jack kicked the door as hard as he could. The door smashed down, surprising Jack as much as Ryan, and Jack slipped out into the blackness.