her. But right now I can’t. It’s just a blind spot. The last place I saw her was the park but after that it’s gone. I don’t think she was able to do it intentionally. You’re her Passion, open your mind and see her.”
“I don’t know how dammit. I hardly know how to do anything. Tell me what to do.”
“Stop driving, that’s number one. Park right there at that gas station. I’m not kidding Luke, park, now.” I looked to the side and pulled into the gas station without asking how he knew it was there. “All right, now let’s go through this step by step. Just take a deep breath, you need to calm down. You need to calm every nerve in your body.”
So I took deep breaths and waited until I felt my nerves settle. “All right, now what?”
“Now open your mind and try to envision her. Imagine her and nothing but. All right, tell me when you can practically feel her.” I shut my eyes and took another deep breath.
“All right…”
“Now try to tune in to exactly what she’s thinking.” I took a huge breath and tried to imagine what she was thinking. Suddenly I felt like my mind was being blocked by a brick wall. I couldn’t move anything. I opened my eyes and lost the feeling. “Sorry, I don’t think she’s doing that on purpose.”
I nodded and sighed. “Okay, so what do I do? I don’t know where to go…”
“Call her father, don’t go home, go sit at the park or the library or something. Or go to her house. Just don’t go home all right?”
“Okay…”
Jack
Kaitlyn was pacing back and forth. “Why can’t you see her?” she asked for the millionth time and turned to look at me. And suddenly she stared sobbing. “What if she…” Her chin quivered and I stood up to hold her against me. “I can’t lose her like I lost Holiday,” she whispered and the sobs overwhelmed her body. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, holding as hard as I could.
“I know, darling, I know.” I kissed her hair and ran my hand over her back.
“What if you can’t see her because she… because…”
“I would have seen it happening. Luke wouldn’t be hitting a wall, he would be falling into a black hole. She’s going to be okay, darling, I promise.”
She shook her head and continued crying. “You can’t promise that. You can’t see it.”
No, I couldn’t promise that she would be okay. I couldn’t promise that she would remain alive. All I knew was that she was alive…
♪♪♪
A glimmer came two weeks later. There was still no word from Anastasia to anyone. Luke was getting more and more anxious with each passing minute. But there was a tiny glimmer of something… I sat at the table and sketched out exactly what I had seen. Kaitlyn sat, waiting patiently. She was holding a rosary in her hand and she was counting beads but I knew she wasn’t reciting the actual verse. She was just holding it, counting to keep herself calm.
I sketched until the page was completely covered with my picture. Anastasia was sitting in the corner of a dark room, her knees drawn to her chest and tears falling down her cheeks. “My sweet grandchild,” Kaitlyn cried out and sobbed again. “Oh what’s happened to her…?”
“I have no idea. I only saw that and even then I’m not sure about some of the details. I’m sorry, sweet, but now we at least know that she’s alive. She’s alive and we have more time to find her. Doll is going to be fine, she’s strong.”
Luke
Up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down...
I climbed the stairs for hours. Hours and hours. Scarlett didn’t say anything, just smirked every time she passed me. My father tried to get me to sit down but I couldn’t stand still for more than thirty seconds. Mom avoided me as if I had the plague.
When Jack told me about what he had seen I got even more worried. So she was alive. That didn’t give me any other information. Was she healthy? Was she okay? Was she eating? Was she happy? Was she being taken care of?
I heard the doorbell ring and I ran down the stairs. A police officer was standing outside. “Luke Surmise?” he asked and I nodded. “I’m Officer Carson and I’m here to ask you a few questions about Anastasia Faith.”
I nodded again and gestured for him to come inside. He was taller… and maybe a little overweight. We went to the sitting room and he sat on of the chairs. “Do you want something to drink? Coffee, water, tea?”
“A glass of water would be nice,” he answered and opened his notepad. I poured a glass of water and gave it to him. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and waited for me to sit down again. “All right, if you feel uncomfortable about any of these questions just tell me and we can move on.”
“Okay…”
“But the more information we can get the better.” I nodded. “Okay. When was the last time you saw Anastasia?”
“It was… twenty three days ago. It was about ten in the morning.”
“Do you know anyone that would intentionally want to hurt her?” I shook my head. “All right. So, the last time you saw her did she say anything about leaving? Or any place she would go if she ever ran away?”
I took a deep breath. “No… She never talked about leaving… I mean, we talked about it, once. About leaving to see her grandparents but I’ve talked to them and she hasn’t gone to see them. And she never really had any place she really wanted to go…”
“Okay. This is helping…”
Scarlett walked by the room. “What is he doing here?” she asked, leaning against the door frame. “Obviously, she doesn’t want to be found.”
“Go away Scarlett,” I nearly growled at her.
The police officer looked at her ominously. “It’s been nearly a month. I told you she didn’t really love you. Otherwise she would be back, wouldn’t she? Sorry Luke, but I did tell you so.”
She shrugged and walked away. “Who was that?”
“Scarlett, she’s my sister.”
“She doesn’t like Anastasia?”
“No, she doesn’t. She really doesn’t like her. We’ve all kind of had to get over it though.”
“All right, I’m going to get back to the station. If you hear anything from her you make sure to call.” I nodded and he stood up. “I can’t promise that she’ll turn up. We see cases like this all the time. Your sister may be right, she might not want to be found.”
I shook my head and stood up, walking slowly to the front door. “No, she wouldn’t do that. I am very serious, she would never run away. That’s not what she would have done. She would have told someone, anyone. I don’t think she ran away.”
“I’m just trying to get you and her father to look at different endings. You’ll receive a call if we figure anything out.”
Jack
I think it’s time to resort to a Seeker,” I said and Kaitlyn gasped. “What?”
“Why didn’t I think about that? A Seeker would most definitely be able to find her. Now! Now. We need to get one now…”
I nodded and began making calls. Ever Seeker I could think of didn’t want to waste their time looking for a teenage girl so I called the only one I knew who had a daughter. “Madeline? I know that this is really late notice but could you help me look for Anastasia? I… She’s been missing for weeks and we just now thought of calling a Seeker to fin
d her.”
“Oh Jack, of course I’ll help. Okay, let’s meet up in the Music bar near her house.”
“All right, that sounds good. It’ll take me a few minutes, I have to tell Kaitlyn.”
Within a half hour I was five minutes away from Anastasia’s house and sitting with Madeline. She pulled her hair back and took a deep breath. I knew she would be using tons of energy to search for and find Anastasia. “Okay, do you have anything of hers?”
“No, but her boyfriend would…”
We went to Luke’s within the next second. I knocked on the door and Luke opened it. “Did you figure anything out?” he automatically asked.
“No, but I think Madeline can help us. She’s a Seeker and it’s sort of what she does. She’s a Musician and right now she works with her husband as a private investigator. We need something of Anastasia’s.”
He nodded. “Like what?” He led us all inside and then up two flights of stairs to his room. “Something she wore? Something she touched? Like what?”
“Oh geez,” Madeline said. Her heightened senses as a Seeker meant she felt things differently than other Artists did. “I would say this room is enough but anything she wore would be amazing. Or a hairbrush… Lip gloss… Those would be even better.”
She ran her fingers along the bedspread and breathed in. I knew she was getting visions of where Anastasia was. “Not enough, I can’t really see anything. Just a dark room… The more potent the item the better my vision gets.”
Luke riffled through his closet and pulled out a red ACDC shirt. “I don’t think I got this washed.” He handed it to Madeline and she held the hem between her fingers. Then Luke went to his desk and came back with a hair brush, tube of chap stick, lip gloss, eye-shadow compartments….
Madeline just dropped the shirt and reached for the lip gloss. She uncapped it and smiled, I hoped it was at what she saw, not just the happiness of finally seeing something. But her face began to fall… She closed her eyes and I felt Kaitlyn tense next to me. Luke was struggling to remain calm.
“She’s… We need to get to her. She’s in an apartment…” She shut her eyes again… “Downtown. On fifth street… It’s next to another apartment building with white flowers in the windows. The apartment building is brick… I can’t see anything else. Room number six-eighteen.” Suddenly Madeline’s knees buckled and she fell to the floor. All of us rushed to her side. Her eyes opened. “You need to get to her, right now. You’ve got ten minutes.” She looked at me desperately. “Go, now!”
I grabbed Luke’s arm and shoved him down the stairs. He stumbled a little and Kaitlyn knelt beside Madeline, taking the lip gloss from her and comforting her. Luke and I ran down the stairs and out to his car. We ran like the world depended on it. I knew that for Luke, his world did depend on finding Anastasia.
I didn’t know where fifth street was but Luke did so he drove. We probably broke ten laws trying to get to the apartment building. I glanced over at Luke and I saw him on the verge of tears. “She isn’t going to die,” I said and he shook his head. “If she were I would see it.”
“But she’s isn’t okay!” he yelled. “No, she might not die but she’s not okay. I let her go, I let her run, I wasn’t paying attention and now she’s hurt or in pain or dying and it’s because I let her go! Damn it, I missed the turn.” He didn’t look, just turned the car around and turned down another street. “We have three minutes if Madeline was right.”
“Of course she was right.”
We both watched the buildings we were passing. “There!” I said and Luke slammed on the brakes. He yanked the keys from the car and we ran. I looked up at the apartment buildings and only one had white flowers. “Then it’s the other one, come on. Six eighteen.”
Inside the first set of doors was a locked door. I shoved on it but it didn’t move.