The Right One

Twenty eight

Fear was such an abstract concept that it was sometimes underrated, sometimes overrated, but one thing that was certain about it was that it was better understood when experienced. Raymond'd had a lot happen to him, to the extent that he'd come to believe there was only so much that could rattle him. He had been very wrong.

They'd reached out to Hope's friends and as they'd feared, none of them had heard from her. It left him feeling extremely stupid and shortsighted. He'd made her all sorts of promises and even gone as far as asking someone to spy on her. All for what?

"We probably should contact the station again. Why have they not gotten back to us yet?" Sophie demanded, shooting up from her seat and pacing, becoming increasingly restless the longer time passed.

"We could, but they left here less than an hour ago, Sophia," Alex reasoned.

"So? Are we supposed to just sit here and do nothing then?" She demanded, a bit harsher than she'd intended.

"No. We've talked to the police and everyone else we can," Alex stated, careful not to match her tone. Sophie and Raymond were extremely riled up, although both showed it differently, with Sophie being very vocal about it while Raymond remained silent, battling his thoughts. Alex was left with no choice but to be the only voice of reason. One person at the very least needed to keep a clear head. "I'm just saying, there's really not much else we could do right now."

"Easy for you to say since she isn't your sister," Sophie snapped, glaring at her husband.

"I can't believe you would think that of me, Sophia." He tried for nonchalance but even he couldn't disguise the fact that her words had hurt him.

Raymond was taken aback as well. He also was a bit resentful with how Alex managed to be reasonable and rational about the situation when he felt like he was losing his mind, but he couldn't deny everything Alex said made perfect sense.

It'd been almost twenty four hours, but it felt much longer. They'd done everything they could think of, but everything led them right back to the beginning. Nowhere.

None of them had been able to close their eyes even the slightest bit. Raymond was especially worried for Hope's mum. They'd managed to finally coerce her to at least rest a little less than fifteen minutes prior, but even he knew that was only going to keep her calm for so long.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. I didn't mean any of that. I didn't mean that at all." Sophie sounded and looked defeated as she plopped back on the seat she'd previously been on. "I feel extremely terrible and confused right now but it's not fair for me to take it out on you."

Alex was instantly crouching in front of her as he took both her hands in his, his concern finally shining through his seemingly unaffected demeanor. "I know, and I'm sorry as well. I'll go make that call, find out if there's anything new."

She nodded, finding it hard to say anything over the lump in her throat.

He smiled, the back of his hand rubbing against her face gently. "We'll find her, okay?"

She nodded again, forcing herself to return the smile as he stood and walked away to make the call.

Raymond followed the whole exchange, all the while feeling even the more guilty about what part he'd had to play in all of it.

"Are you okay?"

It took Raymond few seconds to realize Sophie had addressed him, even more so to process what she'd said. "Are you seriously concerned for me right now?"

She shook her head, as if she couldn't quite believe it herself. "I know I'm not in the right mind to care about anyone else right now, but it's just that you look the worse of the both of us. You've been standing unmoving for almost an hour now."