"Hello?" She asked picking it up.
"Hey...whoa, hey Amara. Put Daniel on." Chris replied.
"He's not here. I thought he'd be with you guys. He isn't there?"
"No." Silence. "When did he leave?"
"I don't know, uh...," she glanced at the clock, "...maybe around noon or 1:00. He has his key, so I thought he'd go home. Where is he?"
"How the hell should I know? He does this so often I'm gonna have to get him a tracking device or some shit like that..." He mumbled.
"You know each other?"
"What? Oh yea. College, we played basketball together. Didn't I tell you that?"
She curled her legs up underneath her body. "No. But, anyway now what?"
"I go find him. He only drank like two beers last night, so he's not wandering around somewhere drunk." She heard a shuffle in the background.
"Chris, can I come?" She asked suddenly.
"You?"
"Yea, I'm worried. Can you swing around and pick me up?"
"Yeah, hold on," she heard a clunk as he put down the phone and muffled whispering in the back ground, "Amara? I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Okay."
"Oh, and Amara?"
"What?" she asked.
"Did, uh...this is going to sound rude but, did anything happen between you two?"
She held her breath. "No, why?"
He sighed. "Nothing, forget it. See you in a while."
"So what exactly is wrong with him? You said he does it often, what is it?"
Chris sighed and moved around in the drivers seat uncomfortable. Natalie turned and looked at him in the passenger side. "I don't know exactly. He just...he gets all wierd sometimes and goes into his own little world. Like he's here, but he's not." His eyes met hers in the rear view mirror.
"What do you mean 'goes into his own little world'?" She asked.
"He just gets really quiet and withdrawn. Like something is eating him up inside. I mean, god...," he paused and gripped the wheel tighter, "I've seen him cry...it's been going on for so long, I don't think he even realizes it anymore."
Her eyebrows raised at this. She leaned foward in her seat. "How long?"
He sighed again. "It happened in college. He finally gound a girl who was really special to him. It was his first girlfriend actually. She made him so happy and he was so alive. It got to the point where it was like they were joined at the hip."
"They went out for like a year, and uh, they were celebrating their first anniversary. So he brought her out to this expensive restaraunt, bought her flowers, jewelry, everything. He had this need to impress her...like he was afraid she'd leave. Anyway he took her out and then they went dancing afterwards or something like that. Soem club he really liked. Then he drove her home, to her apartment, they kissed goodnight and she went in, alone. But a guy was waiting for her, an old friend who was pissed. He hid in the shadows for about five minutes, watching her." He paused.
Amara held her breath waiting for him to go on. When he didn't, she spoke. "Then what?"
"He attacked her. Threw her around the room, hitting her and swearing. He had a knife so she got cut up too. He, uh...he tried to rape her but a neighbor came to the door.Threatened to bust it down so he left. The neighbor tried to get in, but he couldn't so he called the cops." He stopped again and took a deep breath. "He beat her up so badly...she made it through though. But afterwards...she was so different. She never came out, didn't take any calls, wouldn't let Daniel touch her or anyone else for that matter. Daniel was just dazed, he walked around like a zombie for weeks. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Something like that, but it didn't make it any easier. Daniel tried to help her but nothing worked. So she fixed it on her own."
"How?" Amara whispered.
"She killed herself."
A shiver ran down Amara's spine an her stomach flip-flopped.
"Of course, Daniel blamed himself. For not going in with her, for leaving her there. But he couldn't have known, no one could have...that's why whenever he gets close to someone he freaks. He's afraid that if he gets too involved that he won't be there if something goes wrong again, so most of the time he cuts it off. I don't know what to do anymore to help him."
Amara leaned back and stared out the window, wrapping her arms around herself. Shivers raced down her arms despite the warm spring air coming in the car windows. Natalie turned to her with worry on her face. "Hey, you okay?"
She continued to stare, not answering, watching a group of birds float on the air across the sky. They have no worries, she thought. No worries. She turned to Natalie. "Yeah," her eyes met Chris' in the rear view mirror again, "I'm fine."
After three and a half hours of searching, there was still no sign of Daniel. Chris was the first to decide to go home, saying Daniel would come back. That there was nothing to worry about. To Amara it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone.
The drive home was quiet. Amara was glad. She didn't feel like talking. She was thinking about what happened to Daniel's girlfriend and Daniel himself. Where are you? She thought. But the only reply was the pitter patter of ran on the roof of the car.
It was pouring and late by the time Chris pulled up to her apartment building. She quickly said goodbye and dashed through the rain to the door. As she fumbled to get the key in a bolt of lightning flashed and she jumped, swearing as she dropped the key. She bent down to get it and then stood back up and shoved it into the lock, breathing a sigh of relief as she heard the tiny click of it unlocking. It swung open and she slid through into the warm air of the hallway.
She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She realized how silent it was, and how dark. Her stomach did a dance as she pushed away from the door and began walking. She glanced around the dimly lit hallway. The light cast shadows on the walls and flickered as she moved towards the stairs. Fear rose in her chest but she forced it down and continued walking. Halfway there the lights flickered once more than went out entirely, draping the hall in darkness. She stopped short, her heart pounding in her ears, and strained to hear something above the silence as she inched her way to the stairs.
Just a few more steps, only a few more, she repeated silently. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she realized she had been holding her breath. She let it out slolwy, counting to ten as she did. A shadow to her left moved and she felt something brush her leg. Alarm ran through her body and she bolted up the stairs blindly, taking them two at a time. Panting she reached the top and ran into something.
"Amara, Amara! Stop, what's wrong?"
She turned around and saw Daniel staring at her with worry and confusion across his face. His hands gripped her shaking shoulders.
"I uh...in the hallway, it was dark and uh,.....something touched..." She babbled trying to make sense. Her heart raced and she couldn't seem to stop shaking.
With a soft smile Daniel placed an arm around her waist and she calmed down a little as he led her to her apartment. Once inside he sat her down in the kitchen and handed her a cup of coffee. She accepted it gratefully, sipping it slowly as Daniel left the room, only to return a minute later with a blanket. He wrapped it around her then sat down, clasping his hands together. The room fell silent, the only sound being the clock ticking away. Tick, tock...
She stared down into her cup and stirred, thinking. A realization hit her then and she put it down quietly before reaching up to pull the blanket tighter around her trembling shoulders.
"Where have you been?" She asked.
He looked up from the table slowly and swallowed. "I went walking." He said simply.
She scoffed at his answer. "For four and a half hours?! That's a long walk." He closed his eyes and looked away from her. Good going. She reached over the table and slipped her hands into his. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong."
"It's all right." He sighed, taking his hands out of her grasp, and stood up grabbig his coat. "See ya."
She looked up at him as he headed towards the door. "Daniel wait." He stopped. "Do you...can you stay here tonight? I mean, if you want?"
He turned around slowly with a small smile. "Sure."
