Split Love

CHAPTER 48

CURRENT DAYS

Mikhail Romanov was never a man attached to premonitions. He never believed that nonsense. His motto has always been to do your best and calculate all risks and possible exits.

At that moment, standing on the porch in front of Jasmine's grandmother, he thought about the feeling that had accompanied him all day long - that something was wrong. He swallowed hard. A damn sharp, piercing whistle sounded inside his head and that was all he could hear. His mouth opened and closed a few times. Something was fucking wrong.

- Debra, she's not there. - The words came out with difficulty and her eyes darted between his for almost a whole minute.

- She must have gone to buy a coffee. - She shrugged and walked into the house. - Come in Michael, she should be home soon.

- Debra, - He followed her into the living room, but the old woman paid him no attention. She mentioned places her granddaughter might be or what she might be doing, but it all sounded like she was trying to convince herself. -Debra!

His strong voice made her finally look at him. Sweat beaded his upper lip.

- When you last saw her? - He asked.

- Hmm... - She scratched her head, her eyes fixed on the window. - When she left to run this morning I was in bed, but I heard her open and close the door. But I had a routine appointment with Dr. Carpenter very early, so I wasn't home when she came back. But she came back, she... - They looked at each other. - No, no,

Debra walked up the stairs with Micah close at her heels. She babbled disjointed words that he ignored until she pushed open the first door in the hallway. She quickly entered the room but he stopped at the threshold. For some fucked up reason it didn't feel right going in there. Don't be fucking stupid. Stop this.

His eyes darted across the small expanse of the room. The window was open, and the fluttering white curtain made the late afternoon light dance on the walls. The room was small and simple but he could see her in the details, like the light beach blue tone on the walls - blue was her favorite color; and on the bookshelf beside the window that made his lips curve upward imperceptibly.

Debra pulled the blanket off the bed and then the pillow. His eyes followed her movements as she pulled something out from under it. And he felt an unfamiliar feeling. Fear gripped him, at every corner of his heart. Jasmine's cellphone. Like him, Debra didn't speak a word, but he could see the fear in her eyes too as she reached out to hand him the device.

With small steps, he entered the room, slowly, as if he was afraid of the small object. In his hands, the device weighed like a brick. He pressed the side button making the screen light up. There were some missed call notifications and messages from him and Irina.

Debra said something but the words seemed foreign at that moment. He saw her leave the room hurriedly, but he didn't follow. He couldn't stop looking at the phone in his hand. He knew Jamie didn't take her phone with her when she went for a run and the possibility that she hadn't come home since that morning made him shudder. When the screen went out, he pressed the button again. He tried to think of something but his mind was a blank canvas.

- Fuck.

Micah put her cellphone in his jacket pocket and took one last look around the room. He couldn't see anything different cause he didn't even know what it was like on normal days.