Page 51 of Drowning
"What the fuck is this place?" Parking the car at the curb, I look around, taking in the gloom of the desolate area, getting an unsettling chill along the curve of my spine.
"No fucking clue. This isn't where Damon lives." Eli pushes the passenger door open and hops out, making a beeline for the building as we all run to catch up behind him.
The building looms in front of us, dark and foreboding. As we make our way up the steps, I can feel the tension growing among us. We reach the top floor and stop in front of the apartment that the GPS coordinates led us to. Without a word, Eli kicks the door in, and we rush inside, our hearts pounding in our chests.
The apartment is empty, and a feeling of dread washes over me as I realize that we might be too late. We split up, searching every inch of the place, but there's no sign of Emerson.
Suddenly, Stone calls out from the other room. "Guys, you need to see this."
We all gather in the room, my breath catching in my throat as I see what's on the wall. It's a map, covered in red string and pictures, all connected in a web that leads to a single name written in the center: Emerson.
On the single bed, leather bindings dangle from the rusty posts, slowly swaying back and forth—we just missed her. My mind reels at the thought of what might've happened on the bed, and bile starts rising in my throat, burning the lining of my esophagus. As I roam my eyes around the room, I spot a light coming from underneath the bed. Crouching down, I reach my hand under the bedframe and feel around for the source. My hand hits an object, and I pull it out, my heart sinking to the fucking floor when I notice that it's Emerson's phone, still connected to the call with Eli. I stand up and end the call, reaching out to my best friend.
"Eli, look," I whisper, sadness coating my voice in an obvious way.
"Motherfucker!" Eli roars, kicking a wooden chair in front of him, on the verge of a severe breakdown. "Send out a mass text with the missing flyers you made of Em," he tells Ace, his eyes fixated on the wall of horror and mystery.
And then he bolts, running out of the room without as much as another glance behind him to see if we're following.
The rest of us all exchanged worried looks before hurrying after him, not willing to let him face whatever lies ahead alone. As we race down the stairs and out into the street, I can't shake the feeling of impending doom. My heart aches for my friend,and I can't imagine what he must be going through. It aches even more for Emerson, though. But we can't give up.
We reach the street just in time to see Eli jump into my car and speed off, leaving us in a cloud of dust and exhaust fumes. Without a second thought, we all pile into the remaining vehicles and follow him, determined to find Emerson and bring her home.
The drive is a blur of anxiety and desperation; hope is quickly dwindling, and I can feel the weight of the situation pressing down on all of us. As we speed through the city's wet streets, I know that time is running out. But we won't stop until we find her, no matter what.
The sound of sirens fills the air as we race through the city, our hearts pounding in our chests. The minutes feel like hours as we scan the streets, looking for any sign of Emerson, but there is none that we can see.
Arriving back at the bar, we get out of the car to head back inside, our breath coming out in visible puffs in the cold night air. Eli is already out of the car and running towards the entrance. Ace and Stone run inside after him while Kane and I hang back, chain-smoking the fuck out of our Marlboros. He looks miserable, pain flitting across his face, but he doesn't talk about it. None of us talk about it.
Emerson being missing is fucking torture, eating me up on the inside because I feel like I let her down. I should've stopped her. I should've put more effort into stopping her before she left the fucking house, but I wasn't thinking that something like this would happen to her.
Leaning against the building, I hang my head in shame, my chest aching from the smoke infiltrating my lungs. This can't be fucking happening. I waited so fucking long to tell Emerson how I felt about her and things just started progressing, and now she's gone, and I'm terrified she isn't coming back.
My love for her is like the darkness that's followed me all of my life; it consumes every part of me in a delicious way.
It pierced my bones and weaved its way into my body.
It wrapped itself comfortably around my tortured soul and put life back into my dying heart. And although I can live without it—without her—I don't fucking want to.
Emerson is a part of me—the part that makes me a somewhat decent human being.
I'm a fucking addict for her love—her body—and a desperate fiend when I can't have her.
She does something to me that no one ever has, and I want her to keep doing it.
She fucking owns me—controls me—and she doesn't even fucking know it, but because it's Emerson, I'll give her every fucking part of me, and I'll do it without a second thought.
The sound of footsteps approaching pulls me out of my thoughts, and I look up to see Kane standing in front of me, an expression of concern on his face. I forgot that he was even out here.
"You good, Seven?" he asks quietly, his voice a low rumble in the cold air.
I nod, unable to voice the storm of emotions raging inside of me. "Yeah, I'm good," I mutter, flicking the end of my cigaretteonto the ground and stomping it out with my boot. "Let's get back inside."
"I promise, Sev, we're gonna find her," he assures me, trying so fucking hard to believe his own promise.
But I can see the doubt swirling in his dark eyes and a glint of fear lurking in his dilated pupils. Big and bad Kane is even fucking worried, which makes the worry coursing through me spread like a damn wildfire.
As we head back into the bar, I know that our search for Emerson is far from over. This is just the beginning of a long and dangerous journey, but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to her. I owe her that, and so much fucking more.