Two-thousand children are reported missing every day in the United States. It’s a problem and there is no easy solution. Only a hundred fifteen of them are taken by strangers. Nearly two hundred thousand of them every year are kidnapped while they are with family members. Thousands more are runaways. Blaine Anderson disappears on a sunny Monday afternoon. The last person to hear from him is Wes Montgomery.

The Warblers are meeting later that day to practice for their fall debut. It’s the middle of August. Everyone gathers in the commons at Dalton. Blaine never shows. Calls are made to his cellphone, to his boyfriend, and even the housekeeper the Anderson’s hire to look out for him while they are away on business. Wes spoke to him two hours ago. Blaine would never miss a meeting unless something serious happened.

Eventually, the police are called. It’s not easy convincing anyone that his friend didn’t runaway. The other Warblers don’t want to believe it, but they do. Wes refuses to listen to the detective’s sympathetic words. Blaine had been alone, he had a vicious argument with is father on the phone, his parents disapproved of his relationship with Kurt Hummel. The Anderson’s fly back from Europe and declare their youngest son to be missing.

Wes keeps the search going long after others have given up looking for Blaine. It changes his life. When he starts college in the fall, he chooses a degree in science. Wes focuses on crime stories and how other missing teenagers are found. He searches high and low for his best friend. Kurt encourages him when everyone else tells him he should move on with his life. He doesn’t listen to them and he tries not to bother Kurt with it once he sees how thin he’s gotten.

Kurt comes to visit him mid-semester, barely noticing New York City’s dazzling skyline. They eat cheap food and talk about Blaine. It’s clear that Kurt can’t handle the stress. So Wes lets him go, always searching. In the process Wes finds eight missing kids under the age of eighteen who have been kidnapped by family members and helps three young runaways return to their families. It isn’t until he moves to California for work that he sees a familiar figure at a baseball game. He works for the FBI and their missing persons unit.

The hair is straighter than it should be, the figure thin and gaunt, but he’s certain it’s Blaine. Wes cries out for his friend. A head turns. Wes blinks, searches madly for any signs that his friend really is watching the Padres lose to the Dodgers. No one else turns their heads, and security doesn’t believe his story.

2.

The bulletin board at Walmart is filled with posters of missing children. Whenever Sam Evans takes his ten minute break, he stops by the pictures hanging there and reads through every one of them. New ones go up each day he works. Sometimes he looks at the dates the kids disappear, figures out how old they’d be, and realizes that Blaine Anderson will probably never turn up again.

Statistics alone would discourage anyone. Sam can’t go to college because he’s too poor. Walmart pays him minimum wage and he can barely afford to support his brother and sister. Their parents have divorced. His dad is in prison and his mother has checked herself into rehab. Things are not going well for them. He has full custody of his siblings, but kids are expensive and he doesn’t have many prospects. Sam Evans is nothing more than a Lima Loser.

Sam keeps an eye out for Blaine even though it’s probably useless. One evening, when he’s working the night shift, a short boy with curly dark hair and purple sunglasses walks in. The guy browses through kid’s clothes. Sam slowly approaches, not wanting to spook him in case it really is Blaine Anderson. When he asks him his name, the kid freezes.

Security notices and bolts after the guy. It’s not Blaine Anderson. Sam helps the U.S. Marshals catch a dangerous, wanted criminal at large. There’s a reward for his efforts. Fifteen thousand dollars will go a long way. In a way, he’s happy Blaine is missing.

3.

Florida is nice in the winter. Sue Sylvester loves her condo on the beach. It’s a shame Jean can’t come down with her anymore. Losing her had been so hard. Everyday she misses her sister. Thanksgiving is typically quiet. Everyone is usually with their families and celebrating good food. She loves running down the boardwalk. It’s sunny, the bikers are easy to knock over, and she can usually find a few skateboarders to throw seashells at.

The boardwalk is quiet this time of day. Sue spots him about three miles into her run. A boy is walking along the boardwalk. She sees dark curls and a short, thin frame. There’s something familiar about the boy. Sue jogs in place, approaching the kid slowly. He looks up and is frantic. Sees her coming. She runs after him. The kid vanishes around the corner.

Sue spends the rest of her morning searching the streets of Miami for him, certain she had just seen Blaine Anderson. Porcelain has grown up. She doesn’t see him much. From what she hears, he’s started college (four years after high school) and is currently dating someone from McKinley. She can’t remember his name.

The search turns out to be a bust. Sue still goes down to the police station and files a report. It’s the least she can do. The skateboarders see her coming back towards them, scattering like rats. She smiles and feels like doing a good deed. For the first time since she came down to Florida, Sue doesn’t throw seashells at the skaters.

4.

Gay kids are twice as likely to runaway than straight ones. Puck had seen it once in a crime show, long before he’d gone to prison. It sucked in the slammer. There were no women and in order to be on top you had to belong to a gang. Fortunately, Puck had some powerful friends. Maybe working for a mobster wasn’t the best idea. The pay was great, the work easy (if you didn’t mind blood), and chicks practically threw themselves at you.

Spending life in jail for murder was a consequence he had to face. Puck wasn’t sorry. Vic D’Angelo deserved to die. Mobsters shot up other mobsters. During his stint he hears a lot of stories. His cellmate also works for the DeWitt Family. Sometimes things come up, and he’s in for an earful. A package arrives for John one day. The heavy seat Italian grins at him.

Puck looks at pictures. Lots of them. Secrets stay in the family, and the DeWitt’s are no exception. So when he starts seeing kids he feels sick but stays quiet. Johnny goes on about sex, how there’s a huge market for it. People willing to pay for innocence. Puck obligingly looks at the photographs. One stands out.

A terrified boy stares into a camera. Bruises stand out on his arms. The face is one he knows. Lima seems far and distant from Riker’s Island. Puck asks John if he can hang onto the picture. John just grins, agreeing without a second thought. In the morning Puck asks to see a counselor.

The nun listens, horrified as he reveals the photograph of a boy he used to know in Ohio. Soon Puck is approached by cops seeking to persecute John for harsher crimes. He’s done a lot of bad things, but he’s never hurt a kid. Puck spills everything he knows. The U.S. Marshals offer him a deal. He’s released into their custody and placed into witness protection. Puck is scheduled to testify at John’s trial. Blaine Anderson is still missing.

5.

Santana Lopez is the only kid from New Directions that makes it. Rachel Berry is stupid enough to get pregnant her third year in college, which results in a baby. She gags when she learns that Jesse St. James is the father. Kurt Hummel stops singing the day Blaine goes missing. Tina becomes a very successful fashion designer. Artie teaches music at Juilliard. Finn operates Hummel Tire and Lube. Mike gets mugged and is stabbed to death when he’s twenty-one. Brittany is a trophy wife in London. Mercedes marries Finn. Quinn is a very successful cheerleading coach.

They drifted apart. It happens, and she could care less. Santana is signed to Atlantic Records and has three platinum albums. The public loves her sultry voice. Mr. Schuester is her manager. He’s the only one she’ll trust with her money and career.
She’s out and proud. Making a difference for Lesbians everywhere.

Los Angeles is fabulous. She’s at an exclusive party when she sees him. Blaine Anderson walks through the crowd, disappearing into a hotel elevator before she can say anything. Santana is certain it’s him. She drops her glass and it shatters all over Paris Hilton’s new shoes. Karma’s a bitch.

1.

It’s amazing that Dave Karofsky still talks to his high school girlfriend. Santana is his best friend. He’s made a great career for himself playing football for the Giants. The NFL is amazing. It’s still not very progressive. Gay marriage is legal now, but it’s just getting off the ground. Prejudice is still everywhere. He came out years ago. It doesn’t matter.

Hate mail and vicious comments follow him. For the most part, he handles it. Kurt doesn’t even bat an eye anymore. They moved out west and built a life for themselves. Well, Dave did most of the building. Kurt is working at Starbucks. It’s all he can really handle at the moment. Years of pining after Blaine had taken its toll on him.

The voice is long gone, and so is his spirit, but Dave loves him anyways. Kurt has everything he needs. Dave doesn’t even care that he is living with a mere shell of the boy he once knew.

Santana calls him and tells him that he needs to get a hotel room. Then he needs to call an escort service. She guilts him into it, insisting it’s for a friend of hers. He agrees because she’s his best friend.

Of course, he doesn’t tell Kurt. Dave answers the light knock on his door without hesitation. Blaine Anderson is standing there, alive and thinner than he should be. The dark eyes shoot up at him in wide surprise. Dave pulls him into the room. Blaine starts to freak, but stops struggling when Santana walks in.

Dave waits with them until the cops arrive. It takes everything he has to call Kurt. A quiet, disbelieving gasp erupts from his husband’s throat. Kurt thanks him. When he gets home, there’s a note on the fridge. Dave doesn’t bother to read it, knowing that the man he loves is long gone.