Last night I had a dream. I dreamt that Cory and I were on a vacation to Alaska. It was weird because I knew I was dreaming. I knew this because I really don't ever see myself going to Alaska on vacation and being excited to be there. I don't like cold weather. And in the dream, we had went there to go ice fishing. In the dream Cory and I were walking around this log cabin style bait and tackle shop. Kind of like bass pro meets old, dingy, secludedness (is that even a word?). We were purchasing all of our supplies and went to the register to check out and meet up with our ice fishing guide. Since we weren't locals, the manager told us it was required that we have a guide so nothing happened to us. We waited, and waited, AND WAITED.... for our guide. We were getting really impatient but the manager told us that we had to wait and that our guide was one of the best. When the guide finally showed up, it was a friend I haven't seen since December 12, 2004. It was my friend, Stephen Adams.
I instantly woke up because the turn of events startled me so. I was awakened so thoroughly that I couldn't go back to sleep for two hours. Why, you ask did this startle me so? Why, you ask, do I know the last time I saw him was the exact date of December 12, 2004? That's because on December 13, 2004 he became a mystery. He is missing.
Stephen and I had the same set of friends. We all worked at El Chico in Muskogee, OK. We weren't super close, but we were friends and did hang out from time to time. And we joked around at work. He was a nice guy. Kind of quiet to those that didn't know him, but he would do anything for anyone.
I remember the Easter before he went missing we were all working. My roommate and I were both scheduled to work until 5 that day, but I ended up getting to leave early. There was one problem. My roommate and I had car pooled from our apartment in Tahlequah to work in Muskogee. I wasn't thrilled about having to stay there for 3 hours waiting for her to get off work. Stephen let me drive his truck back to Tahlequah that day so that I didn't have to wait. Before I left he warned me the brakes had a mind of their own. He was right! I rear ended someone in his truck. No one was hurt. I was only going about 3 miles an hour when I lightly tapped the back of the truck in front of me. The driver of that truck wasn't even mad. He was laughing at my terrified look and my I'm so so so sorry-ness. When I told Stephen about it later, he just laughed.
Stephen was a laid back guy. The only thing that really got under his skin was his ex wife. After things had ended, his ex wife had done everything she could to keep him from seeing their daughter. She even alleged molestation twice on him. Both of those charges were found false. It was a nasty custody battle. Stephen just wanted to see his daughter. The ex wife ignored court ordered visitations. Shortly before he disappeared he had bought his little girl Christmas presents. He was so excited to give them to her that he couldn't wait until Christmas.
Then December 13 happened. He had taken a final at NSU that morning. He called his girlfriend and told her that he was taking someone home who needed a ride and that he was going to Keys, OK. That was the last phone conversation anyone had with him. He didn't show up for the lunch date with his girlfriend that was two hours later. He didn't show up for work at El Chico that evening. Friends and family began to get worried.
In the days and weeks that followed, we all called his cell phone. We all drove countless miles to post missing fliers at every gas station and truck stop in the state of Oklahoma. Every time we passed a white truck that looked like his, we would slow down to see if it was him. Yes, his truck went missing too. It was like living in one of those shows you see about missing persons. None of us could believe it. How does a 26 year old man just disappear?
The police suspect foul play. Friends and family think that his ex wife probably had a hand in the disappearance. Before he became a missing person, Stephen always said that she ever thought he was going to get custody of their daughter, that she would try to kill him. No one put much thought into that. Until he came up missing. And in the few days that followed his disappearance, there was a custody hearing.
It's just mind boggling that even after all these years, he still hasn't been found. I haven't even thought about him in a long while. I feel kind of guilty about that. Leave it to your strange, sub conscious to remember and now all day he's been on my mind.
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