3 Months Later
For the fourth day in a row I stand on the corner of Travis' street at about the time he used to leave for work and for the fourth day in a row there's no sign of him. I'm just about to turn and walk away when I hear someone shout 'Hey!' causing me to spin around so fast I almost lose my footing, when I manage to steady myself I see Travis' step mother stumbling towards me.
8:45 am and she's already drunk, how Travis lives with this is beyond me
"Are you going to turn up here every morning?" she asks as she gets to within a few feet of me "You could have just knocked on the door the first day and saved your self the trouble"
I gulp and shift from one foot to the other but don't speak
"What's the matter? Nothing to say for yourself?"
"I'm just... I'm looking for Travis" I finally stutter out and then curse at myself for how weak I am making myself seem in front of this women. She's nothing more than a bully and bullies seek out victims that are weaker than themselves and for 3 months I have been working on myself, strengthening myself and two words from Mary Kelce and I am basically on my knees at her feet
"He's not here"
Well that makes sense, maybe he has changed the hours that he works...
"Do you know where he is?"
"Gone" she all but spits at me
Gone?!
"Gone where?" I ask, my tone panicked and my voice shaky
"Just gone, the further away the better, ungrateful little bastard that he is"
I don't get to ask any more questions before she turns unsteadily and limps back across the street pausing once to yell over her shoulder that if she sees me here again she will send Tomas out to greet me
Gone?
I start walking in the direction of my house, a hundred questions pummelling my brain but one screaming in my head louder than any of the others
Where is Travis?
When I returned home 5 days ago he had been my very first thought but unfortunately I then began to over think.
What if he didn't want me anymore?
What If he had moved on?
What if he had realised he was better off without the walking disaster I had become?
So I didn't call, I didn't check his social media, too afraid that I would and there would be loved up snaps of him and some other girl, In my mind I know that won't be the case, Travis isn't the type of guy that goes 'Instagram official' with any girl but the fear was alive in my chest and it was real and it convinced me I was better off not knowing the truth, not sure if I was strong enough yet to face the truth
Gone...
One word inciting a hundred different emotional responses from me
Gone
***********************************************************
"What a day!" I throw myself down onto the worn brown leather sofa and pop the lid off a bottle of beer and then sigh at how good it feels to be off my feet.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I love my workmates but 12 hours a day in a garage in the Miami heat is pretty draining
"Left over pizza or left over pizza?" Asks my room mate Cez as he throws a half empty box in my direction and I open it, smell the pizza to make sure it's not rotten and then take a bite
