Eye of the Hurricane

Chapter 39 - Chase

A part of the takeaway from Sage's type 1 diabetes is learning how to eat better for how her body works. We've been trying to cook more at home instead of always getting take out. Even if a part of me dies just a little not being able to eat my weekly Chinese food. It means Sage will be thriving and that's all I can ask for. I pull out containers from the refrigerator to heat up for us. We've been making extra every night at dinner so we have enough for lunch the next day. So far it's working really well. I bring out the shrimp we fix and grab a skillet to heat it back up along with the rice. We have a few veggies we sautéed too so I stick those in the microwave hoping that I'm doing this right. 

I get it all plated us and wonder what is taking my little hurricane so long. I know she was almost finished with her client whenI got a low sugar alert. I pull the app up again to check on it but it won't load. I'm getting a signal loss alert instead. It doesn't have that far of a range so it's not that concerning but our food is getting cold and she needs to eat.

I lift myself off the table and head back into the front. I scan all of the booths looking for her when I don't immediately see her up front. I'm all the way to Paul's station in the front and I still don't see her.

"Hey, where'd Sage go? I have her lunch waiting for her." I ask my best friend.

He's working on a difficult neck piece and I can tell he's hardly paying attention to me. I step a little bit closer and my presence pulls his attention towards me.

"Huh? Oh, Sage? I don't know. I saw her talking to someone up front but I haven't seen her since then." He shrugs. "Maybe she went to the bathroom before lunch."

I'm starting to panic just a little bit but after the last few weeks, I think I have the right to panic. Right? I turn towards Danial and ask the same thing. 

"I heard her talking to someone but then I think they walked out front. I haven't seen her come back in. Sorry, man. We've all been slammed today."

I know this. All of us have a full schedule today but I thought at least one person would keep an eye out for her. I can't do this again. I need to know where she is right now. I pull up my phone and call her. It immediately goes to voicemail so I send her a text. The text never delivers.

Panic mode is in full force as I start to pull up the camera feed from the front desk on my phone. I see an older woman walking in and she doesn't fit in. You can tell she's out of place but she heads straight towards Sage and gives her a hug. 

I can't see Sage from this camera angle so I pull up the camera that faces the till. She's still in this woman's arms, face blank. I really wish we had audio so I can make out what they're saying. It doesn't look like a pleasant conversation but Sage is walking towards the door and leads this woman outside. 

I check my text again but the message still hasn't delivered. I try to call again but it's still going to voicemail. I start to turn around but don't know which direction to go. Is this what spiraling feels like? I'm pulled in every direction with no idea what or where to go. I catch Marcus' eyes as he stands to finish up with a client.

"Hey, man. You good?" He taps me on the back of my shoulder.

Am I good? I'm not good at all. I can't lose her, not like this. She can't just walk out and never come back.

"Did you see Sage talking to this woman?" I shove my phone into his face. Marcus grabs my wrist to steady my phone from shaking in my grip. He nods his head.

"Yeah, I heard her say mom a few times. What's going on?"

Her mother? The same mother that she ran to for shelter and denied her? The same mother that threw her to the awful man that tortured her for years?

"Her mom? Are you sure? She doesn't have contact with her." I pull my phone back and tuck into my pocket. There's no way she was willingly speaking to that woman. 

"Yeah, man. She asked if she wanted to get lunch. Let me cash her out and I'll be right back." 

I watch him walk up the register that Sage is always at. A place that I know she'll be and she's not. She's just out to lunch with her mom. There's no reason for my head to be going in all the directions of how wrong this can be. Something eats at me though. There is no reason that her phone should be going to voicemail. After everything that's happened, Sage agreed that she would share her location with me at all times. I wanted a fail safe just in case. This is the in case. I pull it up and her location is unavailable.

"Fuck"

I spin again with my hands on the top of my head and Marcus is back in front of me.

"What's going on? You're scaring me."

I blow out the breath that I'm holding. "She's gone. Her phone goes to voicemail, I can't see her location, she left without saying a word. Something's wrong. There's no way she left without saying something to one of us. No way, man."

Daniel is now in front of me too. He's pacing. Paul's side eyeing me with concern and I hear a few murmurs from the other's booths. 

"Let's take a breath and try to figure out what going on here, okay?" Marcus is always a problem solver but his cockiness always outsides his skill. Right now, I'm comforted that he can always figure shit out.

"Okay. Where do we start?" I pull my phone back out and pull up the security footage.

"Did you check the one we have out front? Maybe you can see which way she went and we can go from there." He's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe because I'm in such a panic, I can't think straight. I pull it up and there she is walking down the sidewalk with her mom. At the top of the screen, I see them stop at an suv with her mom opening the back door. Sage get's in and they take off." 

You can't make much out of the video beside the color or the suv and maybe the make but that's stretching it. It's almost out of site and it's pretty grainy at best.

"Okay, so we know that her mom came in. It didn't look like a pleasant exchange and then she gets in the car and drives off. What the fuck? Why didn't she say anything to us? She looked right over at me and didn't say one word." Paul is just as tore up as I am. We finally have everyone out of the shop. Daniel called and canceled the rest of mine, Sage and Paul's appointments for the day so we could figure out what is going on here.

"I know. It's not like her. I know she wants to fight her own battles but I thought she would come to us now after everything Christian."

"Me too."

I hang my head in my lap. We're on the couch in the front of the shop trying to figure out what to do next. I don't want to overreact but I'm scared that if I don't, something bad is going to happen.

"I had just received a low sugar alert right before I came out here too. What if she hasn't ate. I can't monitor her levels if she's not close. What if she passes out or has a seizure or worse, Paul?" He pulls me in for a bro hug and doesn't let go.

"I know, man. We'll find her. It'll be okay. Do you think we should call the cops?"

We probably should. I mean, I know a crime wasn't committed but it sure seems like she's in danger. I pull up Officer Martha's number and hit call. She answers on the second ring. I explain the whole situation to her. I agreed to send over the footage that I have but she said as of right now, there's nothing that she can do."

I let a sign of frustration out as I hang up. "She said she can't do anything but she would look into it. Do you think we could find a way to contact her parents? We have their address from the background check. Maybe we can go from there?"

Paul agrees. "Yeah, fuck her privacy this time around. Let's find your girl."