Cactus Hunting

Recovery

That awful night was the end of Christie's relationship with Aaron. I was talking to Nick over video about the horror of it all. I still felt traumatized by the whole thing. It was nearing December now. Summer seemed so far away.

"Do you remember me mentioning to you about that guy who gave me the X press at Christie's show? The one who gave me a lightshow and all that?" I watched Nick as he scratched his face through the screen.

"Uh, yeah, I do think so. Bryon or something, right?"

"Yep, that's the one. I'm pretty sure that Christie and him are dating now. Honestly, I worry about him being like another Aaron again. Hopefully not. I just don't want that tension between me and Christie again."

"Yeah, hopefully it won't be like that. Does he seem that way?"

"Honestly... no. I've only met him a few times so I don't really know much about him. What I can say is he doesn't remind me of Aaron." I laughed, "That's good enough for right now."

I paused for a moment. It was just really great not to hate my best friend's boyfriend. It had created a weird dynamic.

-

Four PM, on a Wednesday, I received a call. It was Christie's account calling me so I picked up, but it was not Christie on the other end.

"Hello..?" I asked to a view of someone holding the camera towards the front of a hotel, swinging up and down rapidly as the person holding it ran forward.

"Christie wanted to call you. I told her it was a bad idea. Anyway, she's fine. You need to pick her up. She'll let you know where." It was fucking Aaron. He panted as he hurried along.

"Aaron, what are you talking about? What's going on? Why wouldn't she be fine?" I asked to deaf ears. He rushed through sliding doors into the lobby of the hotel and hung up. I looked down at my phone. What the fuck? I felt a rush of anger and tried to call back.

When he eventually called back, still using front facing camera, I saw he was now in the hotel room.The camera was pointed in the direction of a bed and pile of pillows. He pulled away at the pillows and blankets.

"Christie, tell Elaine you're fine. Christie! You need to let your friend know you're alright." She thrashed and angrily complained about the light as she continued to attempt to cover her face. He stopped pulling and returned his focus to me, speaking at a rapid pace I hadn't noticed earlier.

"See? She's fine. She just won't get up." He faced the camera, but turned his head to direct that last bit at Christie.

"What is going on?" I asked firmly.

"She'll explain it to you later."

Beep. And that was it. I held on to my phone, my head spinning. I swear to god if he hurt her somehow I will rip out his windpipe with a rusty railroad spike. I needed to relax to deal with whatever was going on safely and maturely. I popped a Valium and took a deep breath, going over bits of the call in my head. I hadn't seen what hotel they were in, much less the room number. I tried to call Christie's phone a few times to have it just go straight to messaging. Nothing to do right now but wait. I felt like I was going to loose my mind. Christie, what did you get yourself into? I sighed and shook my head.

-

About an hour later I got a phone call. I rushed over to my desk, stubbing my toe on the way.

It was Christie this time, thank god.

"Elaine." I hear traffic and footsteps. "Something terrible happened. I really need you."

I was already putting on my shoes and looking for my purse.