When I was in the 6th grade my best friend, David and his whole family disappeared one weekend.

We had been best friends since kindergarten and in first grade my mom and I moved in across the street from his family. We were practically brothers and spent every minute together. My parents divorced when I was 1 and I never met my dad and this was the 70s so my mom was kind of alienated (I didn't know this at the time) by the rest of the traditional 2 parent families in the neighbors. I only knew his parents as Mr. & Mrs. so & so and my mom and them rarely talked. I'm not sure what David's dad did for work but he was gone a lot. Then on spring break in the 6th grade my grandparents invited me to stay with them at their lake cottage. I wanted David to come but his parents said no. I have a fun week on the lake and when I get back David's house is empty. My mom didn't notice anything and the other kids in the neighborhood just say a moving truck showed up and they left. I was sad but I had no way of finding anything out. The house stayed empty for years. David had the biggest yard in the neighborhood and we kept playing there, looking in the windows and stuff but David never came back.

8 years later I'm in Boston going to college and I'm heading to Fenway when I see David. Well I think it's David. I'm not really good with faces and so much time has passed but it really looks like him. I kinda sneak up behind him in line so I can hear his voice before I say anything and the second he starts talking (to the ticket guy) I know its him. I tap him on the shoulder. He turns around and recognizes me instantly. We end skipping the game and just go walking. He tells me his father was involved in some government contracts and a bribery scandal and had reported some pretty high up people for fraud. The day after I left on vacation David answered the phone and a man started screaming at him. He handed the phone to his mom and he said she was terrified and quickly hung up the phone. When his dad got home that night they packed suitcases and left. He said they moved to Canada but he couldn't go to college there (not sure why, maybe he didn't want to) so he applied at BU. He said his father never talked about it again and was now working with the Canadian government. I told him about the empty house and he had no idea. They left only with suitcases and he never saw any of his other stuff again.

I can't say his disappearance messed me up. I missed him at first but it's not like the movies where kids are always inseparable. In real life friendships come and go sometimes. We talked all day and we saw each a few times after that but then lost touch. I haven't seen him in 20 years.