Love in the theater

Chapter 10

Loretta was leaning against the church's wall, crying. She wondered why everyone hated her so much, everyone was mean with her but she didn't know what she had done to deserve that. After calming down, she decided to get back inside until she felt a hand on her face and everything went black.

***

Oliver was late, when he arrived the ceremony had already started. He went to sit with his friends, wondering where Loretta could be.

"hey Richard, have you seen Loretta?" he whispered as he went to sit beside him

"Yeah we did but I don't know where she is now" Richard said as he turned to look at him

"Did she talk to you?" he started to worry

"Yes like 20 min ago she came inside the church to ask us if we had seen you. Then Mary and Amanda talked to her not very kindly and she walked away" Richard explained

"And you haven't seen her since?" Oliver started to worry even more

"No, we stayed here until it started but she never came back inside. I just hope that she didn't take what the girls said too seriously"

"Wh-what did they say exactly?"

"They were really cold with her, they asked her if you too were close and I could see that their questions were making her uncomfortable. They basically said that you didn't like her and they didn't either. When she walked away, she was really emotional, I would even say at the edge of a breakdown. I think that Babette's death really got to her. By the way I didn't say anything, and I want you to know that I don't think the same as them" Richard said

"Wait a second, they really told her THAT? Are they crazy? Why are they so mean with her, I don't understand that." he shook his head

"I don't know either, do you want me to help you find her?" he asked

"It's okay, I'll try to find her, thanks for telling me" he said before walking out

"Loretta? Where are you?" he called out for her but she wasn't answering. He searched for her everywhere around the church, even her car was there so she couldn't be gone.
He immediately started to panic when he couldn't find her. He waited for the funeral to be over to talk to Richard.

***

"Richard!" he said when he saw him walking out of the church. "I searched everywhere, she's nowhere to be seen. Imagine that something happened to her"

"Are you sure? Do you think we should call the police or something?" it was now Richard's turn to panic

"I don't know what to do, I just want to find her" Oliver started breaking down

Richard looked at him for a while and broke the silence "so you really do love her, don't you?"

"I-I don't know, maybe I do but I just want her to be safe, she's my friend and I don't want anything to happen to her"

"Okay listen, let's try not to panic, I'm sure she's fine, we will find her" Richard said as he tried to convince his friend and himself at the same time "I'll help you, I promise"

"Do you think we should ask the girls to help us?"

"No I think that's a bad idea, they really don't like her" Richard said as he put his left hand on Oliver's shoulder

"Yeah you're right, then what should we do?"

"Do you have a key of her apartment?"

"Uhm yeah I think I still have it" he started searching in his pocket "here"

"Great, then go to her apartment and wait for her, maybe she just went for a walk somewhere and she'll come back tonight"

"Yeah I'll do that. But what if she doesn't come back?"

"Then we'll call the police"

"Okay, then I'll go there now"

"I'm really sorry but I have to go" Richard said as he looked to the girls "Just call me if you know something, bye"

Oliver looked at him walk away and then finally decided to go to her apartment.

***

When he walked in, he could smell her wonderful perfume. That apartment felt so empty without her, he just wanted her to come back so he could tell her that he had feelings for her. He just wanted her safe with him even if he didn't know if she liked him too.
After preparing some tea, he went into her bedroom and decided he would stay there until she came back. Being surrounded by all her things made him feel good and safe. He took one of her shirt from her closet and brought it to his nose to smell it, it smelled like her.
He finally fell asleep, still holding her shirt close to him and hugging her pillow.

***

When he woke up, it was already dark outside. He tried to get his eyes to focus on the clock and saw it was already 11:20pm. She still wasn't back.

Suddenly the phone rang.
"Hello ?" Oliver said

"Hey, it's Richard. Is she back?"

"No she's not" tears started to flow on his cheeks "I'm so worried"

"Okay maybe you should call the police now, it's starting to be concerning"

"Yeah I agree, okay now I'll hung up and call them. Bye"

He hung up and looked at the phone. He sighed and finally decided to call the police.

"Hello? How can we help you?" a woman answered at the other end of the phone, for a second he thought he heard Loretta's voice but it wasn't.

"Hi, sorry to bother you that late but I'm really worried. Today one of my friends disappeared, we can't find her. I'm actually at her apartment and she's not here" he explained

"Sir, don't you think that she could be somewhere else than at her house? What make you think that she disappeared?"

"Today was the funeral of one of our friends, some friends of mine told me that she came to talk to them before the ceremony and she then walked away but she never came back. Her car is still at the same place and I searched for her everywhere. Then I decided to wait for her at her apartment but she never came back and I'm really starting to worry"

"Okay I see, who's funeral was it?"

"Uhm maybe you saw something about it, a woman who went skinny dipping in Central Park during the night. Her name's Babette Claus"

"Oh yeah I did, thanks I'll make my research and I'll call you if I find something"

"Thanks, bye" he said as he put the phone down

'God Loretta, where are you? Please come back' he said as he looked at the ceiling

***