The memory of a voice

Chapter 4: A crazy night!

The overwhelming feeling soon got replaced by worry in the following days. I had not received a single message from Julian since he had dropped me off. I had sent a few messages but a cold silence was all I got in return. I was worried, frustrated, and angry but I didn't want to come over as pushy and waited until the fifth day of radio silence before snapping and losing all patience. I didn't believe Julian would do this on purpose and maybe he had had an accident or something... or maybe he had a good reason to not contact me? It didn't make any sense since he knew what I went through with Lukas's disappearance... I decided to check up on the store, to see if I could find him there, or at least his whereabouts.

It was around 11 in the morning when I reached the shop and entered it with the determination of getting answers. I could feel my heartbeat pulsing through my veins as I pushed open the door. The ringing sound of a bell announced my entrance and a young man behind the counter lifted his gaze and mumbled a 'good morning' before getting back to whatever task he was doing. Except for the unsympathetic dude, there was no one else present. I had hoped to find Julian here, and not seeing him, made my heart sink. Despair crept in on me like a shadow engulfing one's soul. I took a deep breath and walked over to the counter. The man behind it was still occupied sorting CDs and didn't even spare me a glance. "Ya looking for something?" He asked.

His attitude flared up my anger. "Actually yes. I need to see Julian!" I stated firmly through gritted teeth. "Not here... Anything else?" he replied with the utmost disinterest. I could feel my patience dissolve like a stone landing in a pool of fuming lava. I breathed in and out trying to calm my anger. "Any idea when he would be back? It's quite important."

The punk turned towards his laptop with a CD in his hands to type in what I assumed was the barcode number before returning to his nonchalant sorting activity.

"No idea, haven't heard of him the last few days. If you got nothing else to ask, as you can see, I got work to do."

"Fine! I'll leave you at your important work!"

I clenched my jaw while storming outside fuming with rage. Anger wasn't a feeling I was good at dealing with and it was a miracle I had been able to contain it so far.

The part-timer was a real ass! How can a shop even survive with such a dude? who in their right mind would hire such a jerk? I recalled Julian praising the guy... It didn't make sense. Maybe he hired a second employee? I'll try to come back another day, who knows, I might be lucky for once.

I walked back home while kicking the occasional stones laying in front of me.

Five days... How much longer will I be left in the dark?

The rest of the day went by, and instead of spending my Saturday evening going crazy alone, I had asked Thomas to meet up at the bar. I needed to stop overthinking things and maybe Thomas would have some advice for me?

I was five minutes early and the first to arrive at the bar. It was crowded like usual but I found a spot in one of the outer corners to sit. I ordered a cup of coffee while waiting for my friend. The idea alone of drinking alcohol made me wince, I wasn't ready yet to get drunk and experience another blackout. I was halfway through my cup when Thomas showed up. He was a bit late, which was slightly unusual for him. I waved at him to help him locate me in the mass of people.

"Hi! Sorry, I'm a bit late... Couldn't find my keys and I had to search through the whole place before finding them in the pocket of a jacket in the laundry..."

He said as he pulled the chair and sat down in front of me. I scoffed and continued sipping on my coffee. That's what you get when you forget to empty your pockets, I thought.