Across the Ocean - Kyra Cooney-Cross

Chapter Twenty Five - 5 minutes

As soon as I heard those words, "How'd you go with Laura?" everything else faded away. 

My ears started ringing, and my vision tunnelled. Kyra's voice, once music to my ears, now felt distant, like an echo. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. 

All I felt was a deep, gnawing pit in my stomach, a sensation that spread like poison through my veins.

"Elmo?" Kyra's voice broke through the fog, her face growing more concerned with each passing second. 

She tried to shake me back to attention, her hands gripping my face, but I was already lost in the panic. 

My feet moved on their own, driven by a primal fear. I had to get to my flat. I had to find Laura. In a blur of motion, I sprinted out of Kyra's flat. 

Do you know how much you can do in 5 minutes, it's just 300 seconds? In just five minutes, you can run faster than you ever thought possible. I didn't notice Kyra following me, her voice a desperate plea in the background. "Babe, what's wrong? Just stop, please!"

My mind was a whirlwind, thoughts scattering like autumn leaves in a storm. When I finally reached my flat, my hands fumbled with the keys. There were no lights, no signs of life. 

Kyra caught up to me, her own breath ragged although not nearly as much as mine, and she took the keys from my shaking hands. She pushed open the door, and we both froze in horror.

The flat was a wreck. Clothes were scattered everywhere, broken glass glittered on the floor like shards of shattered hope, and every surface was upturned. 

My sanctuary, my safe haven, my home, had been ransacked. Panic surged through me, snapping me out of my frozen state.

"Laura?" I wailed, charging into the kitchen. 

The sight was devastating. Cabinets were flung open, their contents spilled across the floor. My heart pounded in my chest.

Kyra moved beside me, her face a mask of fear and determination. "When did you see her last" she said, her voice steady despite the chaos around us. 

She pulled out her phone, dialling the police, but I could barely register her actions. All I could think about was my home and then Laura. She couldn't have done this, she wouldn't have. 

I tore through the flat, searching every corner, every possible hiding spot. 

"Laura!" I shouted, my voice cracking with desperation. There was no response, just the eerie silence of an empty, violated home.

Kyra stayed close, her presence a lifeline in the storm of my panic. 

"Elmo, you need to calm down?" she asked, trying to pull me back to reason. But my mind was a whirlwind of fear and guilt.

"I don't know," I whispered, sinking to my knees, Kyra's arms holding tight so I wouldn't crash to the floor, amongst the debris. "I should have been here. I should have... I forgot about her." The weight of my words crashed down on me, and I buried my face into her torso, sobbing.

Kyra lifted me slightly, wrapping her arms around me tighter. "Come on" she repeated, her voice gentle but firm. "We need to wait outside."

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but nothing worked. I just nodded tears falling, my breath slightly hitched. 

The minutes blurred as we waited for the police to arrive. Kyra and I sat on the foot path the cold concrete seeping into me, her hand gripping mine tightly. My mind was a foggy mess, unable to grasp the gravity of what had happened. All I could do was cling to Kyra, and shake my head.